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It had gotten significantly colder during the last few days, and instead of rain, the first snowflakes were now floating down from the cloudy late autumn sky. The fully recovered Maomao was squatting with a big smile on her face in front of a small, empty piece of soil and humming to herself, her cheeks reddened by happiness. She still could barely believe that said soil was truly hers. Hers alone! While she had still been sick with her cold, Jinshi had entered her room one day and announced out of the blue that he would let her have her own little herb garden right behind his residence. It had been in construction at the moment.  The apothecary had been so baffled that she had been at a loss for words. Although she didn't have the slightest clue how and why something like that had even occurred to him in the first place, her joy was just too huge, too overwhelming to rack her brains over such trivialities. A herb garden, just for her! The only thing she had wanted to do upon hearing these news, had been to jump out of bed and run outside in order to see for herself and make sure that it wasn't a dream, but Jinshi, who had naturally guessed her intentions, had stopped her right there and commanded her to stay in bed. Only after her cold was completely gone, had she been allowed to go outside and had still been made to promise to Jinshi that she wouldn't stay out in the cold for too long. Hence, she was now squatting there and enjoying wonderful daydreams about all the treasures she would plant into that soil. Oh, how she wished it to be spring already! "Maybe I should fall sick more often, if I get to receive such surprises after it," Maomao thought and grinned. If Jinshi were there and able to read her mind, he would have killed her then and there. And without any poison at all. "And? Is it to your liking?" she suddenly heard a much too familiar honeyed voice behind her and flinched. A hand placed itself on her shoulder. Speaking of the devil... Maomao raised her head and spotted right above her the smiling face of a certain young lord, who had bent down into her direction. But she was so happy right now that she even forgot to get annoyed. "It is! Thank you so much, Master Jinshi!" She got up and turned around to face him in order to bow to him. Jinshi straightened his back and patted her head with a chuckle before tucking his hands into his wide sleeves. But then his smile suddenly vanished and got replaced by a serious expression. "I'm glad to hear that, but no more herb gathering in the pouring rain, you hear me? Don't do that to me ever again! Otherwise, my hair might turn gray from worry. Or start to fall out," he scolded her in a strict tone. Maomao arched an eyebrow and gave him a weird look. Seeing that, Jinshi gritted his teeth, glared at her and began pulling her cheek. The apothecary reflexively grabbed his wrist. "Hey! What are you imagining right now?!" "Nophing, phir..." The young noble stared her into the eyes for a few more seconds, then snorted and let go of her cheek. But before she could take her hand from his wrist, he quickly placed his second one on it in order to stop her. "Oh, your hands are cold, apothecary." All the anger had disappeared from his face, and a slight concern was now lingering in his voice. He took both of her hands into his and squatted in front of her. "Come here." He pulled slightly, making her take a step into his direction, raised her small hands towards his mouth and blew his warm breath at them, before rubbing them carefully and enveloping them with his own, big ones. Maomao frowned. She found that he was exaggerating a bit once again, however, decided to keep that opinion to herself, since she really didn't want to start an argument right after having received such a generous gift from him. And besides, she had to admit that the warmth of his hands felt quite pleasant after the cold autumn air. After a while, he got up and let go of her. "Come, let's go inside so that none of us falls sick again." Maomao didn't object. After all, she had already thoroughly inspected her future garden and couldn't plant there anything at that time of year, anyway. So she obediently trotted behind him. "How is your elbow, sir?" she asked. Jinshi smiled at her again and slightly patted his left elbow with his right hand. "Everything's fine again. It doesn't hurt anymore, and I can move it without any problem." That elbow of his had crashed against Maomao's bed during their fall a few days ago. Maomao, who had been in his arms during said fall and thus, ended up completely unharmed, had examined the injured area and offered to make an ointment for Jinshi. He had assured her that he didn't need any since the apothecary had still been sick at that time, and tucked her back into bed without listening to her protests. But her stubbornness had won in the end, and she had been allowed to prepare the ointment after all and to apply it to his elbow. Sitting in bed, though. "I see. I'm sorry, sir." "Why am I apologizing here?" she thought. "I didn't ask him to sleep in my bed. He did it to himself." Jinshi seemed to share her opinion. "No need to apologize. It wasn't your fault at all." "Exactly." But to be honest, Maomao did wonder why he had actually decided to lie down into her bed that night in the first place. When she had pronounced that question out loud in Suiren's presence once, the only answer she had gotten from the elder lady had been: "The young master would do anything for you, Xiaomao." Maomao had to admit that she didn't really understand that statement and most of all, what it had to do with her bed. But before her thoughts could take a direction she really wanted to avoid, suddenly, music started to play from afar. It wasn't very loud, but still clear to hear. "Oh, I believe that's a rehearsal for the garden party that should take place next spring," Jinshi said, looking into the direction the music was coming from. "Is that so?" Maomao replied without any interest. The young lord stopped all of a sudden. Maomao did so as well, a bit confused. "What is it, Master Jinshi?" Jinshi looked around in order to make sure that nobody else was nearby and then directed his gaze at her. There was a wide smile on his face now. Maomao had a very bad feeling about that. But maybe she was wrong. "I know another way to warm us up." No, apparently she wasn't wrong. What in the world was it this time? "It's nothing bad, so don't make such a face, alright?" Oh, so her face was revealing her thoughts once more, huh? Maomao relaxed her features again, hoping that his statement was true. Still smiling, Jinshi stretched out his right hand into her direction. "This music reminds me of a western dance I had to learn a few years ago and... do you want to dance with me, apothecary?" Maomao looked at his hand and then into his face. His eyes were shining so brightly with excitement, and there was such a cheerful tone in his voice that there was only one answer she could give him. "No." And that answer was more than clear. Jinshi's smile vanished in an instant, and his expression changed, making him look like a sad puppy, whose ears were hanging down from disappointment. "Did he really believe I would say yes?" Maomao thought, genuinely surprised. She hadn't thought he was that naive. Jinshi puffed up his cheeks and crossed his arms. "And I thought we have gotten closer to each other. We even slept together. Twice." Maomao's mouth and eye started to twitch upon hearing these words. "Sir, I beg you to not pronounce things that could be misunderstood by others." "You're certainly the right one to talk," he grumbled, pouting. "You queen of misunderstandings.” He let out a snort and resumed his path, keeping his arms crossed. "Very well. Then let's head back inside, as planned." Maomao sighed. She didn't like to admit it, but he was right: they really had gotten closer recently. But well, that had been inevitable since they had slept in each other's arms. And another thing she wanted to admit even less, was that his disappointment had made her feel a bit guilty. Against her will, of course. In the end, Maomao clenched her teeth, took a deep breath, and grabbed Jinshi's sleeve. She really hoped she wouldn't end up regretting the decision she was about to take. "Hmph, alright! Let's dance, then. Take it as my gratitude for the herb garden you gave me." "What, really?!" The young noble stopped again and turned around to her. Now he looked like a puppy that was wagging its tail from happiness. His eyes were shining again to such an extent that everyone would have fainted except for Maomao. She looked at him as if he were a dead bug, in order to dampen his enthusiasm a bit. Unfortunately, it didn't work. "But let me give you a warning first, sir: I believe that I am a bit too short to dance with you." He shrugged it off. "Oh, we'll see. Let's try, alright?" "Fine." Jinshi approached her and took her by the hand, placing his other one on her hip. "Very well, and now, you have to put your other hand on my shoulder," he instructed her and slightly bent down to make it easier for her. Maomao had to stretch a bit, but she did it. His familiar smell of sandalwood entered her nose. "I did learn to dance at Verdigris, but no couple dances."  "Haha! Don't you worry, I will guide you!" And thus, their dance under the open sky behind Jinshi's residence began. Or rather something similar to a dance. "Ow!" Jinshi exclaimed when Maomao stepped on his toes for the fifth time. Accidentally, of course! After all, he wasn't her cousin Lahan, whose toes she crushed regularly when he said or did something she didn't like. "I'm sorry, Master Jinshi." It was really hard for her to look out where she was putting her feet, since, whenever she concentrated on them, her forehead was bumping against Jinshi's chest, which wasn't that pleasant of a feeling, to be honest. Finally, the young lord stopped and scratched his head with one hand, still holding Maomao's in his other one. "Hm. As it seems, our difference in height is a problem in this case, after all." "Told you so, sir.” "Ah, so he finally got it," Maomao thought. "Then he'll let me in pea-" She cheered too soon. Jinshi immediately put on another dazzling smile as an idea seemed to have occurred to him. "Then let's fix that problem, shall we?!" "Huh? What?" And before our apothecary knew it, she had already lost the ground under her feet, since Jinshi had suddenly picked her up with one arm while continuing to hold her hand. "Master Jinshi! What are you doing?!" Maomao demanded to know and grabbed his shoulder. Now, she could directly look into his eyes without having to raise her head. "Just fixing our little height difference-problem to keep you from stepping on my feet," he replied with a giggle. Carrying Maomao so that she was basically sitting on his forearm and quietly humming the melody to himself, he finally started to perform the same dance steps as before, but by himself this time. From a distance, it might truly look like as if they were dancing together. A few snowflakes landed on their hair and clothes. "This is so stupid," Maomao thought while holding on to his shoulder and casting grim gazes at his smiling face. She really hoped that no one would see them like that, since that would have been embarrassing beyond words. He spun around with her a few times, but the apothecary wasn't afraid of falling. Jinshi was holding her tightly, and she knew instinctively that he would never drop her. Suddenly, she noticed that he returned her gaze and then pressed his forehead against hers out of the blue. Both of the latter were of a normal temperature now. Then the young lord proceeded to look into her blue eyes. His own revealed that, once again, he was seeing no one else but her, having already forgotten everything around him. "Apothecary..." And gently started to rub his nose against hers.  Maomao froze for a moment, too perplexed to emit even one sound. Then she returned to her senses, took her hand from his shoulder... ...and flicked his nose with her fingers, irritated. "Ouch!" But to her surprise, Jinshi didn't get angry at all. Instead, he laughed and kissed her cheek. "I'm so glad that you're the same as always!" Maomao was annoyed as hell, but she had to admit that she, too, was glad that he was well again. She obviously preferred a happy and healthy Jinshi to a sick and crying one. The former was less clingy and didn't get any snot on her clothes. Well, even though you could sometimes argue about the first fact. The two of them looked each other into the eyes once again... ...and let out a sneeze at the same time. "Oh no, not again!" they both exclaimed.