Jinshi and Maomao Short Stories Collection

The honey-scene: an alternative ending

Summary:

How would Maomao have handled the honey-scene, if Gyokuyou hadn't come to her rescue? Like a boss, of course!

The honey-scene: an alternative ending

Maomao swallowed heavily. She was standing with her back to the wall, while the sticky, honey-covered fingers of the "celestial nymph" in front of her ("Celestial, my ass," she thought. "He's just a common pervert, after all.") were coming closer and closer to her face, like a deadly weapon, meant to destroy her dignity. A weapon, indeed, but unfortunately not a poisoned one, which would have made it more bearable...

There was no escape. Nowhere to run. Jinshi was towering over her with that childish grin on his lips, determined to humiliate her by sticking his fingers into her mouth and letting her lick them clean. The mere thought of him enjoying having driven her into a corner like this was beyond disgusting. And that useless Gaoshun was still staring out of the window, pretending to neither see nor hear anything. Maomao gave him her angriest glare, hoping to at least make him shiver (but unfortunately he wasn't that easy to intimidate like certain palace ladies). So she swore under her breath that his next meal would have unpleasant consequences caused by a laxative.

Without Gaoshun, there was no one else to save her. Fine, then she obviously didn't have any other choice than to save herself. Gritting her teeth, she thought hard of what to do, and suddenly, an idea crossed her mind. It was very simple: she would just give him exactly what he wanted! Nothing more and nothing less.

That was it! She would teach him a lesson and give him a taste of his own medicine, even if she should get punished for it later! That guy had asked for it himself!

Jinshi's face had changed into an expression of confusion, and his hand froze midair, just a mere ten or fifteen centimeters away from her lips, when he noticed that she had stopped glaring at him as if he was a piece of dirt she had found under her shoe sole. Now, she was looking him straight into the eye, her lips curved into a malicious grin. This caused a strange feeling in him, an unfamiliar yet not entirely unpleasant tingling in his stomach.

"Apothecary? What is-" But his sentence ended abruptly with a gasp as he felt her grab his wrist out of the blue, her thin fingers clasping around it tightly.

The honey on his fingers threatened to drip onto Maomao's arm and the floor. Of course, he could have easily freed himself, he was much stronger than her, after all, but for some reason, he found himself completely unable to, not daring to move a muscle and doing nothing but staring at her as if he was hypnotized. Wondering what would happen next.

She didn't say a word. Instead, her grip around his wrist tightened even more, and his eyes opened wide with disbelief, when she started moving his hand slowly towards her still grinning mouth, not taking her eyes off him.

No way! No way in hell!

"No, wait! What are you doing?" There was a hint of panic in his voice, which she found certainly amusing.

"What do you mean, Master Jinshi? I'm simply following your orders. You want me to lick that honey off your fingers, don't you? So I will."

Her voice was calm, yet almost mocking. He couldn't believe his ears. This could not be happening for real!

"I don't! Stop! That was just a joke! I simply wanted to tease you a bit! I never thought you would actually do it!"

Gaoshun was now looking wide-eyed towards them as well, but quickly turned his head back to the window, still trying to pretend that nothing was happening. That it didn't have anything to do with him. Perhaps, he too was of the opinion that his young lord had deserved it.

Sweat was dripping from Jinshi's forehead, and she could feel his pulse accelerate. He must have realized that the trapped one was now him.

"A joke? Really, Master Jinshi, it's not nice to play around like that with a young unmarried woman. It could scare some for real, even seriously traumatize them, you know?"

Maomao wasn't going to have any mercy. In fact, she was rather enjoying making him pay for his teasing. More than she had thought. But eventually, she realized that she was maybe torturing him a bit too much, since he looked by now as if his soul was about to leave his body, pale as a sheet, as if all color had drained from his face.

"Well then, let's get this over with," she thought.

And with that, she started to pass her tongue along his trembling fingers, licking off every drop of honey and hoping that she had achieved to maintain her dignity as much as possible while doing that. It wasn't even that bad, she had to admit. Plus, there was something else mixed with the sweet fragrance of the honey, a delicate, pleasant smell, emanating from his body and registered by her sensitive nose. Maybe something his clothes had been perfumed with.

When she was done, Maomao looked up again, noticing that Jinshi was now beet-red, looking as if he was about to have a heart attack. Shaking violently, he was staring at her, his eyes and mouth wide open and his pupils contracted. As though paralyzed by a monster that was about to devour him.

Maomao let out a quiet snort. Dramatic, aren't we? Well, at least, starting today, he would probably think twice before pulling something like that again.

She let go of his wrist and, seeing that he still hadn't made any move (besides breathing and blinking), just shrugged and headed to the door.

"If that was all, then I'll go now, I still have duties. If you'll excuse me, sir."

From the corner of her eye, she could see that Gaoshun had finally stopped "listening to the birds" and was now approaching his lord with quick steps, asking if he was alright. Obviously the latter wasn't, but Maomao figured that he would get over it after some time. That it had ended up like this was his fault, anyway, and she also believed it would do him some good to actually face some consequences for his behavior. At least once.

She stepped out into the hallway, licking some remaining traces of honey from her lips and muttering, "I really wished it was wolfsbane honey..." The first thing she would do was go rinse her mouth. Jinshi obviously didn't have any dirt on his hands like a farmer or even a simple commoner, but she still didn't know when exactly he had washed them for the last time.

And Jinshi? Well, needless to say, he didn't get much sleep the following night.