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Once again, one of those boring banquets. The food had long since been served and eaten, the performances had already reached their climax, and now everyone was standing or sitting around again, talking about politics, imports and exports, the upcoming harvest, forging alliances, and generally spouting a bunch of nonsense.
Idiots, all of them, thought Maomao. If only they would talk about medicine, herbs, or poisons. But of course, she wasn’t that lucky. She closed her eyes and sighed. She couldn’t even excuse herself easily, because the moment Jinshi’s cup was refilled, she had to test it for poison. Sure, she was allowed to drink alcohol, but with her tolerance, she wasn’t even tipsy by now. This is going to be a long evening.
“Well now? Who’s looking so gloomy?” came a voice right next to her ear, and when she opened her eyes and turned toward it, Rikusen was standing close beside her.
“I’m not gloomy, dear Rikusen. I’m just bored,” she replied flatly.
She hadn’t even noticed him breaking away from a group around Lahan and making his way over to her in the corner of the room. Dangerous, that someone could sneak up on her like that.
Rikusen raised his cup. “Then let’s toast — at least then we’ll both have something to do!”
Maomao clinked her cup against his. “Fact is, I’m actually working,” she told him as she did so.
“Oh really? Funny, I saw you standing here for nearly an hour just staring at the crowd. Trying to see if you can kill them with your gaze?” he asked, his voice tinged with quiet laughter.
Maomao took a deep breath. “That would be an interesting experiment. But to be honest, I’m observing the people around Master Jinshi to see if anyone might come too close to his cup and add something to it after I’ve already tested it for poison. Master Basen and his team are handling the rest.”
Indeed, Jinshi was surrounded by several guests — officials and their wives or daughters. Everyone wanted his favor, and he kept them all at a distance with as much sparkle as his body could manage.
“Ah. Our dear, lovely, dazzling Master Jinshi. Just look at those glances they’re giving him. As if he were a lamb on the altar, or the last pastry at a buffet,” Rikusen said, taking the last sip from his cup before refilling both his and Maomao’s. She nodded to him in thanks and turned her attention back to the crowd.
He really is more handsome than is good for him, Maomao thought. “Good thing he wasn’t born a woman,” she muttered under her breath.
Rikusen chuckled beside her. “I imagine that bothers your honorable brother Lahan the most,” he speculated, “but...” he clicked his tongue, “personally, I don’t care.”
Maomao turned to him in surprise and studied his eyes.
“What?” he asked. “Don’t look so shocked. You grew up in a brothel. You’ve seen it all.”
Fair point, she had to admit inwardly, and gave a small shrug. “I’m just surprised. You’re not as obsessed with beautiful numbers as Lahan, but I thought you only had interest in women. After all, you did ask for my hand,” she replied.
A radiant smile stole across his lips. “My dearest Maomao. Beauty is beauty, no matter what form it takes. And I still hold a bit of a grudge that you rejected my proposal,” he admitted easily. As he gestured subtly toward Jinshi, his voice lowered again.
“I would have given you every freedom you desired. You could have continued your work as an apothecary—I would’ve helped you open your own shop and expand your knowledge. There wouldn’t just be one Dr. Kan—there’d be two.”
Maomao frowned at his words. Until now, it wasn’t even permitted for women to become doctors. Even working as an apothecary was still rare.
“Let me think, Rikusen,” she replied with a wry smile. “What other freedoms would you have granted me?”
“Oh. Hmm.” He leaned in again, his voice a whisper near her ear. “I wouldn’t have forbidden you from meeting Master Jinshi—or even being with him, if that’s what you truly wanted.”
Without her noticing, he had shifted position, stepping just behind her. Now half-hidden by her figure, he could still glance past her without drawing attention.
A chill ran down Maomao’s spine. “What... do you mean by that?” she asked, uncertain whether she really wanted the answer.
“Simple, my lovely one,” he murmured. “I know Master Jinshi would never fully let you go. I’d have to make peace with that. If he called for you, I’d have no control over what happened between you two. I’d have to accept it.”
But now his tone changed—no longer teasing, but weighted, more serious.
“But... what kind of compromise would that be if I got nothing in return? You and I—we could’ve had our own kind of fun. I know your training as a Courtisan makes you difficult to unsettle or arouse, but perhaps... two men could succeed where one might not.”
Maomao stiffened at his words. What was he even saying? Of course she understood his meaning. But... did he understand what he was suggesting?
“Picture it,” he went on, still close behind her. “Jinshi, in all his brilliance, kisses you gently, lovingly—while your hands glide over his flawless form. And as his hands cradle your face...”
He paused.
“Mine are on your chest. Mhh, I would feel your nipples stiffen under my fingers and because my upper body is pressed against your back, I also feel your breathing quicken. As soon as Jinshi detaches himself from your mouth to place his lips on your neck and continue exploring, your lips are mine. But my kisses are passionate and greedy and not as light and gentle as his.
And when Jinshi's head is between your legs, I can finally massage your breasts again. My hand would have taken your hand and guided it to my stiff member. I know for a fact that you know some techniques that I wouldn't even dare to dream of. You lie on your back and after a few movements of your hand, I take the opportunity to offer my member to your mouth. You take it as greedily as my kisses have been and your tongue caresses its tip, gliding from the root back to the top. You suck and lick and I go completely insane.
This is the time when you reach your first climax. Jinshi has done a great job between your legs with his pretty lips and long fingers and now he wants his share too. And what he has done to you down there. His tongue glided between your folds, from top to bottom and back again. The tip of his tongue played around your pearl, which was swollen with excitement. Quick and light and yet with a certain pressure, like a butterfly with strong wings. His fingers slid along your folds again and again until one of them finally dared to thrust into you, gently at first and then faster and faster. A second long finger joins in as he greedily drinks from you. His fingers would have bent upwards inside you, finding that one particular spot and massaging it with delight while he continued to suck on your clit until you came.
And all this while his other hand was preparing your back hole. For what?
Oh Maomao, now would be the best part. I wouldn't be satisfied with just watching you, no no.
Have I ever told you that you have a perfect ass? So small and round and firm! I've often looked at it and wished I could sink my cock deep into it. So you would lie with your back on my chest. I would slowly push my hard cock into you. First the tip, so that you are stretched enough to take the rest of my length. Only when you were used to the feeling would I slide all the way inside you. Your ass would be completely filled by my cock, which you have just blown so lustfully.
And then Jinshi joins in. He gets your pussy, of course! Oh, and how it would annoy and excite him at the same time to have to feel my cock as well when it slowly slides into you and what pleasure it would give me not only to hear you moan lustfully, but also to see his wild face while he makes you, himself and me happy. He and I have to find a rhythm at the same time. We have to listen to each other's bodies and feel what the other is doing. First slowly and then faster and faster we thrust into you. He from the front, in all his splendor, over his certainly respectable length and I with powerful short thrusts from behind.
And since my hands are free because I don't have to support myself, I can pinch your nipples again and if Jinshi leaves enough space, I can even massage your pearl. In small circular movements, while you are fucked both front and back and showered with kisses.
The room is filled with the moans of three people longing for release. He and I, we would endeavor to take you over the edge again and when you tremble in your orgasm and scream with excitement and bring Jinshi over with it, and I have you lying on top of me panting and see his face as he pours himself into you with bliss, then I too can let go and spurt my hot seed deep inside you.
Three sweaty, released bodies would lie on top of each other. Panting. Fulfilled. Satisfied. And with any luck, I would also receive a kiss from Jinshi afterwards, as thanks for the good cooperation, while he leaves your innermost and ... ah, speak of the devil," Rikusen finishes his fantasy as Jinshi approaches them.
"Honorable Rikusen. I greet you,” said Jinshi as he approached the two of them. Turning to Maomao, he added, “Apothecary, is everything all right? Have you received bad news?”
“Huh?” Maomao replied, momentarily thrown off.
Jinshi’s eyebrows knit together. “Pretty Boy, what have you been telling her? I saw you talking to her nonstop these past few minutes. She seems completely shaken! Has something happened to Luomen?”
Rikusen, now standing beside Maomao again, glanced at her and noticed that her complexion was unusually pale—except for her flushed cheeks and glassy eyes. Pretty Boy? Who’s the pretty one here, hmm?
“No, no. Don’t worry. Her adoptive father is fine. Master Lakan as well—though she’d probably care less about that,” he said with a laugh. “No, no. We were merely discussing how heartbroken I still am that she rejected my marriage proposal.”
The crease between Jinshi’s eyebrows deepened visibly. “I don’t find this funny. And apparently, neither does the apothecary! Say something already!” He placed his hands on Maomao’s shoulders and gave her a light shake. Slowly, Maomao began to return to herself—wherever her thoughts had just wandered.
“Master Jinshi! Hello!” she said brightly, a strange smile playing on her lips and a glimmer in her eyes. The sight completely threw Jinshi off. The crease between his brows softened, and a faint blush crept onto his cheeks.
“I believe,” Rikusen began, “that she was simply lost in a very important thought. One so consuming it filled her entire being and refused to let go.”
What Jinshi couldn’t see, however, was Rikusen quietly placing a hand on Maomao’s rear—and giving it a firm squeeze.
Startled by the sudden touch, Maomao jolted forward—straight into Jinshi’s arms, effectively jumping against his chest.
“Ah, it all could have been so lovely,” said Rikusen, “but what isn’t yet may still come to be. If I’m no longer needed, I’ll take my leave now. Dearest Maomao, Master Jinshi.”
Rikusen gave a polite bow to them both and walked off without waiting for a reply.
Jinshi would have liked to stop him. To ask what he meant by that, and whether he knew how to bring Maomao back to her senses—before Jinshi lost his own.
But in the very next moment, Maomao pulled away from him. She cleared her throat, bowed politely, and smoothed down her clothes.
“Oh, uh. Thank you for catching me, Master Jinshi. I must have stumbled. Please forgive me if I caused you any harm.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Jinshi replied, glancing around to see if Rikusen was still within sight.
“Tell me, what did he say to you that left you so shaken?”
Maomao flinched slightly and tried to suppress the heat rising back into her cheeks.
“What he told me?” she repeated—until it suddenly hit her, what exactly he had said. There was no way she could tell Jinshi that.
“He... told me about a new kind of poison. One that can affect three people at once. Some kind of mass hysteria. And apparently, it can only be fought off if all three work together.”
She paused. “He offered to help, should you and I ever fall victim to it.”
“You seem rather uncomfortable with the fact that he offered himself as the third party,” Jinshi remarked. “Have you thought about it? Who would you prefer instead? What about Basen—could he help?”
Maomao considered it briefly. No, Basen is far too strong; he’d just crush and break the both of them. She shook her head.
“Gaoshun?”
She shook her head again. Even if she herself wouldn't mind, the esteemed Gaoshun viewed Jinshi like his own son—he would never agree to something like that.
“Lihaku? He’s a good man!”
And completely obsessed with my sister Pairin. Again, she shook her head. “No.”
“Laha…” Jinshi couldn’t even finish the name before Maomao shot him a deadly glare.
“If it’s about poison, then maybe one of your colleagues could help? Tianyu, perhaps?”
Also good-looking. And as a former hunter, he must have decent stamina.
Wait, what am I even thinking?!
“It’s fine, Master Jinshi. It’s highly unlikely it would ever come to that,” Maomao concluded the thought experiment.
But Jinshi wasn’t done yet. With a finger resting on his chin, he murmured, “Does it even have to be a male assistant? If a woman could fulfill the role, then the high-ranking concubines would also be candidates…”
Lady Gyoukou—so beautiful and exotic. She had Maomao’s trust and loyalty. The thought slipped through her mind.
Lady Lihua was also a beauty.
“…or one of the other maids you're friends with…”
Shisui. Oho, those breasts.
“…or your sisters…”
Boring. Been there, done that.
“…or your colleagues, Yao and En’en…”
En’en probably wouldn’t mind if Yao joined. But would Jinshi still enjoy it then? En’en would get so caught up with Yao that Jinshi and Maomao might not even get a chance—
“Let’s end this line of thought here, Master Jinshi,” Maomao cut in. “My head’s spinning already, and I fear I haven’t drunk nearly enough to want to keep thinking about it.”
Jinshi conceded, letting the idea drop as he looked around. Since he’d started talking with Maomao, the crowd had thinned. No one would fault him now if he, too, withdrew from the banquet.
“May I escort you back to your quarters?” he asked the apothecary.
"Gladly, Master Jinshi," Maomao said, bowing before the two of them set off.
They walked the path in silence, each lost in thought—similar thoughts, though not the same.
When they reached her door, Jinshi turned to her once more.
“Well then, I wish you a restful night, Apothecary. And… just between us—I’m still very glad you didn’t accept Rikusen’s proposal,” he said, his voice gentle and sweet as honey.
“I’m not so sure about that…” Maomao murmured, but quickly caught herself.
“Thank you, Master Jinshi. I wish you a good night as well.”
She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. For a moment, she stood with her back to it and took a deep breath.
If self-pleasure weren’t so boring, she might have given it another try tonight—but by now, she was simply too tired.
On the other side of the door, Jinshi rested a hand against the wood. His head dropped in quiet sorrow.
“Someday,” he whispered, “we’ll go to a bedchamber together and spend the night in a single bed. I’m certain of it.”
Then he, too, turned and made his way back to his rooms.