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"MAOMAO! What's the matter?! Maomao!" Jinshi's voice literally cracked from sheer panic. He rushed to the apothecary in such a hurry that he almost tripped over the bed and ended up on the floor himself. Having finally arrived next to her, he fell on his knees and picked the limp and heavily breathing Maomao up into his arms, squeezing her desperately against his body. Her head landed on his shoulder, and the young lord's breath hitched for a moment upon feeling that she was basically burning up with fever. He kissed her cheek, terrified. She started to move a bit. A tiny glimmer of hope joined the terrible fear that was possessing Jinshi's wide-opened eyes. Her heart was pounding violently against his chest, and his heart against hers. "Maomao! What's wrong?! What... What happened?! Maomao! Hey! Open your eyes! Please open your eyes!!!" Every single shred of the composure he had been made to maintain during his entire life was now gone without a trace. If the ladies from the Inner Palace were to see him right now, they would surely not believe that this was the same man, who was always giving them honeyed smiles and looking like an unapproachable celestial being. Jinshi's voice sounded as if he was going to go insane from fear any moment now. Or suffer a heart attack. Holding the ill young woman with one arm now, he grabbed her shoulder and started to shake it. "Open your eyes, I beg of you! Maomao!" He didn't even realize that tears were flowing down his face. "Goodness! What happened here, young master?!" Suiren arrived in a rush. Surely, because she had heard his scream. However, Jinshi didn't answer her. No, it seemed as if her question hadn't even reached his ears in the first place. The only one he was hearing and seeing at the moment was Maomao, whom he was still begging to open her eyes, beside himself with fear. Eventually, he got up from his knees and started to anxiously walk to and fro in the room, still holding her in his arms. "Our lord couldn't concentrate on his work, so I allowed him to check on Xiaomao," Gaoshun explained in his stead. “But when we entered… we found her collapsed on the floor.” Suiren brought her hand to her mouth in shock. She looked exactly like the aide had looked upon entering the room. The two of them had never heard their lord scream like that before. Never. Not even in his childhood. "But I checked on her barely half an hour ago..." the chief lady-in-waiting muttered. "She was lying in bed and sleeping." She made a step towards Jinshi and stretched out her hand, probably intending to stop him. “Young master! You shouldn't-” Gaoshun, however, interrupted the elder lady by placing his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw him shake his head, troubled. "It's no use. He's not seeing nor hearing anything from what is going on around him at the moment." Suiren gave him a look and then put on the same expression. "You are right. Then I fetch cool water and a cloth for Xiaomao's forehead." And with these words, she hurried off once again. In the meantime, Jinshi was still busy walking through the room and holding Maomao's trembling body close. Suddenly, a cough filled the room. The young lord abruptly stood still and started to carefully pat the apothecary's back until she stopped coughing. "Maomao!" With some effort, Maomao finally opened her eyes and slowly raised her head from his shoulder. She seemed barely conscious and not understanding where she was. "Master... Jinshi...?" Her voice was quiet and a bit hoarse. Supporting her head with one hand now in order to keep it from falling back on his shoulder, Jinshi pressed his forehead against hers and looked directly into her eyes that were half-closed and glassy from the fever. His cheeks were still wet with tears. "Apothecary! Maomao! I'm here! Can you see me?" She blinked a few times and then looked back at him, much to his relief. But a couple of seconds later, she suddenly furrowed her brow. "Go... away..." "What?" The young lord stared at her in bewilderment, barely believing what he had heard just now. And his perplexity only grew when he felt her place both of her hands on his chest and try to push him away with all the strength she had left.  "You'll... get sick... again..." she managed to get out before being shaken by another brief coughing fit. Jinshi opened his eyes as wide as his eyelids allowed him to. For a moment, he was completely speechless. "How... How can you still think of me in a moment like that?!" He let go of her head, desperately hugging her with both arms once again. "Stop that! Stop! I won’t go anywhere!" With these words, he sat down on the bed and placed Maomao on his lap, so that she was sitting with her side pressed to him and her head against his chest. Then he raised his outer robe and wrapped it around her as if it was a blanket. "No..." she kept protesting weakly. "Go away..." Jinshi didn't listen to her. Instead, he began to gently rub her back with one of his hands until her tense muscles started to relax, and her body leaned powerlessly against him. He wrapped his robe even tighter around her, clearly feeling how violently she was still trembling. He didn't even want to imagine how much the poor apothecary had probably been freezing on the cold floor. Then he cautiously took her by the chin and raised it until her tired eyes were looking up into his face. "Apothecary..." he addressed her lovingly. "Can you tell me what happened? Why did you get up?" His tears had stopped flowing by now, and he also looked much calmer. Even though he was still terribly worried and his heart pounding like crazy against his ribs. "M-Medicine..." Maomao managed to blurt out. Jinshi gave her a questioning gaze. "Medicine?" The apothecary raised one of her shivering hands and pointed her finger at the table. The young noble looked into the indicated direction and spotted a few small bowls filled with a dark mixture standing there. A few moments later, it finally dawned on him. "Wait, is that the same cold remedy you made when I was sick? I can smell it up to here." Maomao nodded. "Ah, I see! You started to feel worse and wanted to take that remedy of yours, right? But then you collapsed on the way." Another nod. "So that's what it was..." "Xiaomao told me this morning that she prepared it last evening and already divided it in several doses, just in case, young master," Suiren explained, who had returned in the meantime and put the bowl with the water on the table as well. The young noble was glad, since he perfectly knew how effective that medicine was. "Very well! Then let me give you one of these doses now, apothecary." A bit later, Jinshi was already busy making her take the remedy with the help of a spoon, while Suiren placed a damp cloth on Maomao's hot forehead, wiped her slightly runny nose with a handkerchief, and then started to roll up the apothecary's sleeves and pant legs in order to check whether she was hurt from the fall earlier. But luckily, she wasn't. Maomao let them both do as they pleased without any objection and barely moved while gradually drinking and swallowing the medicine from the spoon. In the meantime, Gaoshun kept standing by the door and waiting for possible instructions. Maomao's room couldn't exactly be called very spacious, so it was already cramped with three people being inside. "You'll feel better soon," Jinshi muttered as he placed the now empty bowl aside and helped the apothecary drink a glass of water afterward. A few minutes later, Maomao let out a yawn and ended up falling asleep, completely exhausted and leaning against Jinshi's body. He wrapped his arms around her once again, placed his chin on top of her head, and took a deep breath, without saying a word. Proceeding to stay like that for a while. Then he carefully lifted her from his lap, gave her a kiss on the temple, and tucked her into bed, covering her well with the blanket. There was a certain relief in his eyes when he saw her sleeping soundly once more, but he still remained quite tense. After all, he had no clue what might await them in the near future. And Maomao sighed softly in her sleep and rolled onto her side, curling up into a ball. Just like a little kitten. *** The only sound in the room was Maomao's regular and slightly labored breathing. Jinshi was still sitting on her bed and slowly caressing her head. The gaze he was dedicating to her, was filled with a deep, undescribable affection, yet also with guilt and sadness. The two of them were bathed in the red and yellow light of the setting sun that was shining through the window into the room. It looked like a scene straight out of a painting. At long last, Jinshi let out a sigh and carefully took one of Maomao's hands from under the blanket, squeezing it. "Suiren. Gaoshun." The two who had been standing by the door and watching him in silence, immediately perked up when they heard his voice. "Yes, sir?" The young noble raised his gaze and looked at them. "I will stay with her tonight." His eyes and voice were filled with an unshakable determination. Suiren and Gaoshun were speechless for a moment. "But sir..." "To hell with work," Jinshi interrupted his aide before the latter even got the chance to finish his sentence. "It can wait. I'll do it tomorrow, don't you worry." "But what if you catch a cold again?" Suiren spoke up now. "To hell with that, too." “Xiaomao will surely be very displeased later, if you should get infected for real." Jinshi shook his head. "I know. But I just can't leave her alone after all what happened." Yes, indeed. Sick or not, he would continue working himself to the bone, prioritizing it over his own health without giving it a second thought. Just as it had been his life-long habit. But when it was Maomao, who was sick, he was ready to leave everything for her sake. Suiren frowned a bit. "I'm afraid I cannot allow that, young master." Jinshi got angry upon hearing these words. He had the highest respect for his chief lady-in-waiting, who had raised him and was one of the most important people in his life, and contradicted her rarely. But in that case, he didn't have any other choice. He pointed with his free hand at the sleeping Maomao, attempting to not raise his voice too much, so he wouldn't accidentally wake her up. "Suiren! Just look at how she's shivering! How can you expect me to leave her like this?! And what if she collapses again and hurts herself?! You can’t watch her all the time!" His voice was slightly shaking from suppressed desperation, and a shudder ran over his body as he pronounced those words. He took the apothecary's hand now in both of his own, to make the aide and the lady-in-waiting understand that he wouldn't budge, no matter what. And, of course, nobody would drag him out by force. The two of them seemed at a loss of what to do. Jinshi gave them both a defiant glare. "Enough!" he hissed, and his eyes were flashing with authority. “You will let me stay with her. This is an order from your master! Do you want to disobey me?! If you do, I will punish you, that you can be sure of!" Right now, he looked more like a member of the imperial family than ever before. Suiren and Gaoshun exchanged gazes. Of course, they were both used to receiving commands from Jinshi, but, normally, he wasn't a person who liked to emphasize his high status, and had almost never made them feel as if they were nothing but simple servants to him. So he must be really serious. And, of course, they couldn't defy his direct orders, be it with punishment or without. Hence, they had no other choice than to humbly lower their heads. "Very well, sir." After some time, Suiren brought him his sleepwear and helped him change clothes. “If you should need anything, young master, please come to me," she said with a soft sigh. Jinshi gave his chief lady-in-waiting a look. He had softened his features again and gone back to being the boy she knew. The elder lady's heart twitched when she realized just how terribly exhausted he looked. A lot more exhausted than he had ever been after having finished his work. He must still be incredibly worried about the apothecary. “Thank you, Suiren, I will. And… I also have a request...” "Yes, young master?" Jinshi made a short pause, and then continued. “If I should really get sick again… then please keep the apothecary away from me. I won't infect her once again. Under no circumstances.” "Understood…” *** Eventually, the young lord was left alone with the apothecary. It had gotten dark meanwhile, and a lonely candle was burning on the table. For a few moments, Jinshi merely stood where he was. Then he got closer and lifted Maomao's blanket. Her bed was considerably smaller than his own and actually a bit too narrow for two people to fit inside, thus it was no simple task at all for him to squeeze himself beside her, but he still managed to in the end. Good that Maomao was so petite herself. He just had to be careful to not fall out at night. "Mmm..." The apothecary seemed to sense his movements and started to stir a bit in her sleep, still lying on her side. Jinshi wrapped his arms around her and pressed his chest against her back. “Shhh. Sleep,” he whispered into her ear. Maomao relaxed again. The young lord had managed to realize that there was something he could do for her, after all: “You kept me warm, and now, it's my turn…”