𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗡 | ~ 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 ~ 𝖸𝖠𝖭! 𝖠𝗉𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝖼𝖺𝗋𝗒 𝖣𝗂𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗑 𝖥𝖾𝗆! 𝖸/𝖭

ꕤ 𝗖𝗬𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗗𝗘 ꕤ

Your flourishing hair billowed behind you as you gracefully—yet very quickly—sprinted to Maomao's humble home.

For being an apothecary with a supposedly ugly face, Maomao has a charm to her that can drive even some to enjoy being around her. She's quite humorous, in fact, alongside her vast knowledge of medicines.

The fact that you were so excitedly running to her and her father's home right now is a symbol of how fond of her you are.

Many of the people's attentions were drawn towards you once you started getting past everyone. From man to woman to even children getting a lucky look at you before you disappeared as fast as you came.

Once you got past the back alleys, your eyes quickly spotted the small shack that was the home of Mr. Luomen—Maomao's father—and Maomao. Upon reaching the entrance, you slowed yourself down, cleaned yourself of any rubbish that got on your dress or anywhere else, and knocked on the door gently. Opening the door slowly was Mr. Luomen himself.

"Good morning, Mr. Luomen! I'm so sorry I came so early, I simply had quite a lot of free time, and well... Maomao probably already told you I was coming here, right? Again, I'm so sorry!" You said worryingly, even if a kind smile came upon Mr. Luomen's pale, old face.

For a guy who has fully gray hair and has the stature of an old lady, he's not really someone that comes across as the father of a single 17 year old. He just seemed too old... but you knew not to pry further than that. What would Maomao think if you did that? She definitely would've been offended.

"It's no worries. Even so, Maomao woke up two hours earlier than usual." He said calmly. Mr. Luomen was an understanding and skilled old guy, adept in his apothecary work, which had inevitably led to Maomao following in his footsteps to become the genius apothecary she is now—even if she's not as much of a genius as Mr. Luomen, of course. Despite his age and how he's doing, he's an incredibly smart man. When it comes to dealing with issues in the brothels, you could come to one of the two and the mystery would still be solved, because they're both almost on the same level of smartness.

You've always admired Maomao and her father's ways, and because of them, had improved your knowledge of more poisons than usual.

Your initial training allowed you to learn about poisons and more things that others might not know in general. Due to that, you were able to eat poison...after many years of building that almost impossible tolerance. Maomao hasn't fully developed the immunity yet—rather, she's just able to enjoy the tingly, stinging tastes of poison before she may have to cough it up. She's still immune to most poisons, nonetheless.

"Ah, is that so? I hope I didn't take too long then! I'll get to her right now." Once you said those words, you rushed to Maomao's room. You slowed down, knocking on her door as you waited a moment, before you saw her face emerge from the door.

Needless to say, Maomao's eyes—albeit very slightly—lit up as her eyes befell you.

"Ah, you're here. Perfect timing, actually." She took out a cage that was under her bed. Contained in it was a snake, with a poisonously beautiful snake contained in it.

You turned excited at the very sight.

"Wah! It's so pretty! How did you find it?!" You said gleefully, your expression filled with joy as you crouched down to look at the snake in full.

It had a nice looking yellow color, with black lines making it appear like eyeliner around the snakes eyes, and black stripes lined the snake's long body as well.

"Just by luck," Maomao spoke with a small smirk, feeling proud that she made you smile in such way, "it's the beauty rat snake. You normally find it in the northeast or western parts outside of this area, but it seems it came here."

You were completely sparkly eyed at the snake, looking at it dreamily. You've always loved snakes, albeit it was odd. But you couldn't help it. The fact that they just don't have limbs is so interesting! Their round eyes are so cute, and sometimes they're so small and adorable, and when they slither it's just too cute to resist!

Maomao almost felt jealous of the snake, despite it not being shown through her nonchalant expression.

She's never been that expressive towards people, and rather more when it comes to things like poison. The reason why was because when growing up in the Verdigris House, she stopped caring and crying for attention because Pairin and the others would be serving their customers. Maomao wouldn't be able to see them until after they did their service, so she grew up to be somewhat uncaring, not seeking of attention.

When meeting you the first time, it was almost like she was splashed with fresh, cold water. You were kind, but quite self-sufficient. You stood your ground with absolutely anyone. One time, even the Madam of the Verdigris House herself!... but that was only once because I promise you, you would have probably died.

You looked at the snake with a cute smile, before perking your head up as you realized. Maomao's repayment!

"Oh, right! Here you go!" You took out a box of poison vials. All of them were assorted and had labels in the middle. As Maomao looked, she stared at the vials in the same way you had been staring at the snake.

"I found some poisons nearby that didn't look familiar, so I put them in this box. Please be careful Maomao—"

Maomao had opened a vial and almost poured it onto her hand, where her other scars were. Despite that gesture, she had a dreamy, excited look in her eyes, similar to the one you had towards the snake.

"I- Hey, don't do that!"

You reached and grabbed the vial from her small fingers, before noticing her face slightly got smushed by your breasts. You blushed a little.

"Ah! So sorry about that Maomao!.." you said, as embarrassment crept up in your face, making your face turn a rosy red color.

"It's fine," Maomao said, but on the inside...she enjoyed having her face smushed in your breasts. She was a little dirty—especially when it came to you—but that was a side she didn't exactly show to you. Oh well, it wouldn't be too long until you noticed anyway.

TIMESKIP TO LATER ON!

You and Maomao just left the Verdigris House, rushing away because the Madam offered you two to become courtesans.

This wasn't the first time, as the lady always tried to coerce you two into the job, but obviously you two said no. She especially tried to get you to do so, because you were already being demanded even though you weren't even a courtesan.

Maomao couldn't admit it, but some part of her almost wanted you to be a courtesan. To see you in a more revealing outfit rather than your humble hanfu, and the idea of seeing such impassion clear upon your usually innocent face... it 'intrigued' her.

As you two ran away, you could help but notice the herbal gardens and grabbed Maomao's shoulder before she ran off. Mr. Luomen had asked you two to stop by the gardens, so you took the role of looking out.

As soon as Maomao's eyes laid upon the gardens, an excited yelp left her lips.

"Okay, calm down Maomao—"

Your words were left unheard, as Maomao rushed over to the gardens, plucking out every single herbal plant she could find, with an excited gaze. You sighed with a tired smile, going to her as she held the basket. Before you could have predicted it, you suddenly saw three men, smirking evilly.

'Wait a minute... OH FUCK, KIDNAPPERS?!'

"Remember to be careful, there's kidnappers going around," Mr. Luomen's words echoed into your ear.

And alas, as you tried to fight them, they just tied you two up, picked up the both of you over their shoulders and put you into the carts they had.

_____________________________

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴! ♥︎

𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗨𝗘𝗗...