The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 2 (Light Novel)

Emperor.
He had to win that wager. It was the only way Jinshi would be able to choose his own path. Perhaps other ways existed. But a man of ordinary intelligence such as Jinshi couldn’t imagine them.

Thus he had chosen the road he now followed.
Jinshi brought his cup to his lips and felt the sweet fruit wine wet his throat, the heavenly smile never slipping from his face.
○●○
“Here you go. Take this, and this—oh, and you’ll need one of these.”
Maomao winced at all the stuff that came veritably flying at her. The one flinging the rouge and whitening powder and clothes in her direction was the courtesan Meimei. They were in her room at the Verdigris House.
“Sis, I don’t need any of this,” Maomao said, taking the cosmetics one by one and returning them to their various shelves.
“Like fun you don’t,” Meimei said, exasperated. “Everyone else there is going to have even better stuff than this. The least you could do is try to look decent.”
“Only courtesans get this tarted up to go to work.”
Maomao had just glanced aside, privately wishing she could go mix those herbs she’d collected the day before, when a bundle of wooden writing strips came flying at her. Her esteemed older sister was solicitous, but sometimes short-tempered. “You finally get a job worth having, and you won’t even try to act like you belong there? Listen, the world is full of people who would kill to be in your place. If you aren’t grateful for what you’ve got, your hard-won clientele will run out on you!”
“Oh, very well...” Maomao said. Whether administered by the madam or Meimei, education in the Verdigris House

you only ask, you might be surprised how accommodating he may turn out to be.”

And this man, he had the potential to transcend gender entirely.

The rapid change in the eunuch’s expression from annoyance to amusement reminded her how immature he could seem. But then again, she found him easier to talk to that way, she thought, as she rocked in his arms

Besides—” He lifted her slightly and adjusted his grip so she wouldn’t fall. “—this is the second time I’ve held you like this.”

The second time? she thought. Oh!

It must have been the day she’d injured her leg. She’d been unconscious; someone had carried her away from the scene. It would make a lot of sense if it had been Jinshi. Which would mean he had picked her up in front of an entire ceremony’s worth of people..

There were a great many people in this world who shared Lakan’s predilections.

Now, there are those that like that kind of treatment, and they went mad for her. I mean, listen to me—takes one to know ’em, eh? Ah, the very thought sends a shiver down my spine!”

I’ll bet that wasn’t very appealing. Slowly, uncomfortably, she looked up, to discover Jinshi was suddenly beating his head against a pillar. It made a clacking sound like a woodpecker.

You were certainly hanging on every word Gaoshun said,” Jinshi remarked. He didn’t sound amused.

but Jinshi had ordered her to keep them (though she didn’t understand why), and if her master commanded, she had to obey.