Chapter 16: Maomao and the Late Dinner
Maomao heated her dinner in the dormitory kitchen. She was just back, seen off by a Suiren who had looked positively crestfallen.
Maomao would admit to being a bit put off her stride, but she was also secretly relieved. She had the knowledge, yes, but she was still a virgin herself, so she wasn’t sure about everything. The whole reason she’d gone to Jinshi so prepared was because she figured it would be easier to be ready mentally if she was the one who got things started.
Once her dinner was warm, Maomao went to her room. Spring had come, but the evenings were still chilly. Bad manners though it might be, she decided to eat in bed.
Suiren had stuffed some buns full of cubes of stewed pork, eel stir-fry, and so on so it would be easy to carry back. The soup she’d put in a bottle, and it was still warm.
“All foods that boost stamina,” Maomao observed with a wry smile, then dug into the buns. Nothing was so tasty as a dinner made by someone else. Spiced with hunger from not eating, it was even better.
She cleaned her plate, then sipped at the alcohol Suiren had given her.
“Now what to do?” she mumbled.
She could take a guess why Jinshi had turned her down that night. He was no longer going to force his feelings upon her. His actions tonight showed he was giving Maomao priority. Even so, with the wind so out of her sails, Maomao wondered how she was supposed to face Jinshi after this.
“I guess I won’t see him for a while, anyway.”
She’d worry about it the next time they got together, she decided, neatly kicking the problem down the road. She had high hopes for her future self’s ingenuity.
The alcohol was strong stuff—Maomao didn’t get drunk, but she started to feel happier, a happiness that brought with it a pleasant drowsiness. She found thoughts passing aimlessly through her mind.
“I heard Lahan’s Brother is back.”
Chue had told her. She supposed she ought to go see him, much as she hated visiting the freak strategist’s house to do it.
“I’d like to see Meimei too.”
It sounded like she was being treated well enough at the Go Sage’s house. Maybe she could get Lahan to finagle a meeting with Meimei for her.
“And I can’t believe that guy was one of Joka’s customers,” she said. The drowsiness and the drink made her mind play games of free association, leaping from Meimei to Joka. “Wonder what he wanted, looking for Imperial family members.”
The thought of former branches of that family made her remember Tianyu.
“Wonder if Joka and Tianyu could be related?”
Joka swore a brigand had planted the seed of her, but if he hadn’t been a bandit, but a hunter, that would match up. He’d damaged the jade tablet not only to hide his Imperial blood, but also the fact that he was from a criminal’s family. There was still no telling why the tablet had been broken, but a hunter would explain the “beastly” smell and gnarled hands.
“Maybe this Wang Fang guy was looking for former Imperial family members all over court.”
Maybe it was the rumors of such people that had brought him to the palace in the first place. He’d been trying to use the women to learn whatever he could.
“But Tianyu himself was in the western capital...”
The alcohol and the sleepiness were muddling her thoughts. It crossed her mind that she should brush her teeth, but sleep won out. Maomao set the bottle aside and let her eyes drift shut.
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