Not even two hours had passed since Maomao had finally managed to fall asleep with great difficulty after an eternal tossing and turning and being tormented by highly unpleasant thoughts, so she felt a bit dazed after having been torn from her slumber so very unexpectedly.

Without thinking, she brought her hand to her face and began to rub her eyes, opening her heavy eyelids afterward. A light pain was throbbing in her temples. Probably due to her exhaustion.

The darkness told her that it still had to be the middle of the night. Nowhere close to sunrise. She felt as if she hadn't slept at all.

The apothecary needed a few seconds to recall where she actually was. Ah yes, in Jinshi's sleeping chamber on top of a straw mat Gaoshun had been so kind as to fetch her after she had explained to him that she couldn't leave the young lord alone after his panic attack the previous evening and needed to stay near him. Just in case.

In addition, the aide had brought her a bag containing a few new sets of clothing maidservants were usually provided with, including sleepwear and underwear, and also everyday items such as a toothbrush, for example. All that without her needing to say a word. It amazed her to no end just how attentive that man was, and she was really thankful to him.

Her herbs and tools were still in the Jade Pavilion's shed though, but, feeling that she couldn't bother Gaoshun more than she already had, she decided to get them herself sometime later.

Maomao blinked a few times and suddenly realized that her other hand was trapped in something.

"Maomao..."

There it was again, that soft whimper she believed to already have perceived in her sleep... Wait a minute!

Still a bit sleepy, she turned her head, and what she saw was more than enough to erase every trace of her sleepiness at once. So it hadn't been a dream after all! Jinshi was indeed calling for her! And also standing on his knees and holding her hand. Something must have happened!

She quickly sat up and faced him. From what she was able to see in the dark, his brows were furrowed, and he looked quite anxious.

"Master Jinshi? What's the matter?"

"Hm, maybe his pain has gotten worse again,"

she thought, frowning with slight concern.

"Or he needs to use the bathroom."

Hence she got up to accompany him, if the latter should turn out to be the case. Even though Jinshi luckily still had no trouble walking on his own feet, Maomao and Suiren had decided to better not let him head to the bathroom on his own for the next few days, fearing that he might get lost on the way in his current state, especially at night. So one of them (mostly Maomao) accompanied him every time and then waited outside in the hallway until he was done in order to take him back to his chambers.

That was what she was thinking about while quickly slipping on her shoes. But what would come next, she hadn't expected in the slightest:

Instead of hearing an answer from him, she felt him wrapping his arms around her once more and pressing his head against her chest.

"Maomao... sorry I woke you up, but... I was so scared... and I'm so cold..."

His body was shaken by a tremble that even transferred a bit to her own with how tightly he was hugging her. Her stomach tightened.

The apothecary widened her eyes, taken aback to such a point that she was rendered speechless for a while.

***

Jinshi, in the meantime, was still kneeling in front of Maomao and clinging to her with both arms, as if desperately begging for something. His heart rate had increased once more.

"Scared?" the apothecary finally spoke, having composed herself and found her voice again. "Did you have a nightmare, sir?" She ran her fingers gently over his cheek before promptly placing her hand on his forehead to check his temperature, almost as though it had already become something akin to a reflex. Which was understandable, since it would be extremely fatal for him should his wound end up getting infected even despite all the precautionary measures.

Although his temperature was a tiny bit elevated, he still hadn't developed a fever. Maomao allowed herself to take a deep breath.

She could feel humidity on her clothes where they had come in contact with Jinshi's face.

"Sweat? Tears? Has he been crying again?"

"N-No... but the dark is so scary... that it almost felt like one..." He sniffed like a small child that was afraid of ghosts at night and would crawl under the blanket to hide from them, whimpering and terrified.

Maomao was unsure what to reply to that, thus she limited herself to softly run her finger over his shoulders instead, checking whether they still hurt. The young lord didn't flinch from her touch.

"At least something..."

she thought and felt a burning anger well up inside her once again for a second as she recalled how Jinshi had been treated by the Emperor. Now it occurred to her that it was the same anger she had felt towards that one of Consort Lihua's ladies-in-waiting, who would probably remember her slap in the face for as long as she lived.

However... no. This time and to her own surprise, her fury was even stronger. Way stronger. She would not let anyone hurt him like that ever again. Not a chance.

"Huh? What the hell am I thinking now?"

A bit confused by her own unusual thoughts, Maomao shook her head. She didn't have time for something like that right now.

"I felt so lost and so helpless..." Jinshi continued in the meantime, and his voice broke as if he would start sobbing any moment now while he pressed his cheek even tighter against the apothecary.

"Shhh. Please don't cry!" Maomao hurried to soothe him and began to rub his shoulder blades while doing her best to think of what to do next. Those words he had said just now... that definitely wasn't the Jinshi she knew! Granted, he had behaved like a child before the accident as well from time to time, but... but never like that! Just one single time had she seen such a vulnerable side of him before... when she had landed on his lap one night, and he had been clinging to her from behind and crying into her shoulder.

But he had been drunk that time, hence she was unsure if that even counted.

Of course, she didn't judge him for his fear, after all he was, as already mentioned, only human, however, that was the very first time she was witnessing him being as terrified as that. And also the very first time he was expressing his fear and his feelings in general so openly with words.

"Is that perhaps a personality change, caused by his concussion? I have to examine him again!"

It worried her a lot, because, if it really should turn out to be the case, then that meant that other, maybe even worse symptoms could still show up with time. No one knew.

"How is your head? Has the pain gotten worse?"

"No... it does hurt, but not that bad."

His tone had gotten calmer again which meant that he was probably enjoying her massage. What a relief.

"I see. Good, then I won't give you more of the painkiller for now. Please tell me if it gets worse after all."

She didn't have a lot of it left and also wanted to avoid possible side effects from giving him too much, since he had already swallowed four pills the previous evening. It was better to be careful in his current state, she found.

Jinshi didn't say anything, instead he just closed his eyes and started to gently rub her back with one of his hands, still holding her close. Maomao decided to take it as a "yes".

She continued.

"What about your eyes? Can you see well?"

He opened them again at the question and looked up to her.

"Uhm, yes, I guess so. As far as I can tell in this darkness."

Maomao thought for a moment and then gave his upper arms a brief pat.

"Could you get up please, sir?" she asked, carefully pulling at his arms to emphasize her request. Jinshi opened his mouth. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," she quickly added before he could even pronounce a word. "I just want to get you closer to the window to take a better look at your eyes. In the position we are now, I cannot see much, unfortunately."

"Ah, alright."

Holding on the bed behind him, he managed to get to his feet with some effort. Maomao, in the meantime, had placed her hands on his waist, even though she was actually aware that she wasn't much of a support because of her short height and her low physical strength and would hardly be able to catch him if he were to fall. But she did it anyway.

As soon as he stood, Jinshi bent down and rubbed his legs for a moment. They were surely tingling a bit from his kneeling earlier.

When he had straightened his back again, the apothecary suddenly reached for his sleeping robe and arranged it, covering up part of his chest that had been bare until now.

"Maomao..." Jinshi's cheeks turned a shade of pink and his voice was barely a whisper.

"You said you were feeling cold," she merely muttered as an explanation and then grabbed his wrist. "Let's go now please."

Jinshi gave her a loving smile while letting her guide him the few steps towards the window without any resistance. His fear seemed to be entirely gone now, as if it had never been there in the first place. And all it took to achieve that was Maomao's presence and her touch.

The apothecary positioned Jinshi in front of the window so that the little light of that moonless night was falling directly onto him, and then turned around, facing him and asking him to bend down to her. He obeyed, and she brushed a few stray strands of his hair behind his ears, before cupping his face with both hands, holding it.

Jinshi became bright-red and swallowed heavily while she was looking deep into his eyes with an expression of utmost concentration on her face. Neither of them had noticed that his large hands were now resting on her small shoulders, as though they had moved on their own.

He was staring at her with his mouth slightly opened as if hypnotized and as if the world around them didn't exist. If he hadn't forgotten his identity already, then he might have done so at that very moment.

From the distance, the silhouette of those two looked almost like one belonging to a young couple that was about to share a kiss.

After a while, Maomao ended up putting on a frustrated expression and let out a sigh.

"No, that won't do. It's still too dark for me to see everything clearly."

"Ah..." was the only sound the still blushing Jinshi produced as he slowly returned to reality.

The apothecary stretched a bit to carefully wipe away with her sleeve the last traces still left from his tears that she had spotted during her examination and then let go of his face. His hands still stayed on her shoulders, though.

"I need more light..." she mumbled under her breath.

There were a few lanterns in Jinshi's sleeping chamber, however, she had absent-mindedly put them all out before lying down on her mat, which she now deeply regretted.

Next, she remembered the candles she had prepared the previous evening, realizing that she had completely forgotten about them due to everything that had occurred. They were currently lying on the table next to the young lord's bed, together with the water carafe and the medicine.

Maomao headed there and picked up one of them, while bringing her other hand to her chin, pensively. Jinshi followed her in silence and put one of his hands back on her shoulder, briefly looking around with narrowed eyes, as if checking whether something dangerous might be lurking somewhere nearby. Something only he could see.

At least some of the lanterns in the hallway had to be burning right now. Hence, the apothecary figured that she should quickly walk out there and use one of them to light her candle. And then keep it lit for the rest of the night, because who knew whether she or Jinshi might need it again.

However...

She turned around and looked up to Jinshi with a light frown on her face. He tilted his head a bit to the side and gave her a quizzical look, putting on another small smile, as far as she could tell in the darkness.

"He could start panicking again if I leave the room now,"

she thought.

"During the day, it's mostly no problem to leave him alone for a short amount of time, I have already verified it, but right now... I'd rather not take any risks. Well, then there is only one thing I can do. I still need to check more closely whether he's swaying or stumbling while walking, anyway, so that would actually work out well."

Maomao sighed and took his hand from her shoulder.

"Come with me, sir, we'll go out into the hallway for a bit to light this candle, to make it bright enough for me to examine your eyes."

"Understood."

Holding him by the hand, Maomao already intended to start walking, but suddenly froze in place and frowned even more.

"Maomao? What's wrong?"

"Your hand... it's ice-cold..."

Having snapped out of her thoughts, she finally fully realized that fact. To have such freezing hands on such a warm summer night was definitely not normal... let alone to feel cold at all. She had no clue what to think of it, to be honest.

"And yours is nice and warm..." he replied gently.

Not dignifying his words with an answer, the apothecary took his hand into both of her own and started rubbing it, attempting to get at least a bit of warmth into it. Then she proceeded to do the same with his other one.

"I don't like this in the slightest! I need to talk to Pops. As soon as possible."

She took a mental note to write a letter to the inner palace, to her adoptive father the next day, asking him for advice and perhaps to come and take a look at Jinshi himself.

Jinshi, in the meantime, opened his mouth in surprise and blushed again, but then just closed his eyes and put on a blissful smile, clearly enjoying her touch.

"It's indeed dark tonight..." he commented eventually with a soft sigh. "I believed that the darkness was going to swallow me, just as the one in my head has already done..."

"What the hell is he talking about?"

Maomao thought, alarmed, and raised both eyebrows.

"No way! Is he hallucinating?!"

She felt her chest tighten at that idea, which made it harder for her to breathe, yet still did everything she could to appear as composed as always.

"The darkness won't harm you, sir. It can't."

The apothecary decided to pretend as though there was nothing unusual about his words and to play along for now.

"Haha, yes, I know. Because you won't allow it, right?"

"Right..." she replied after a few seconds in a slightly strained voice. She didn't know what else to say to that. No clue at all.

And besides...

Maomao didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but... hearing him talk like that...

...seriously frightened her... made her scared of what might be yet to come.

She unconsciously squeezed his hand she was still holding a bit tighter.

"Are you alright?" Jinshi inquired with concern and opened his eyes once more, as if he was able to sense all those horrible feelings plaguing her (again).

And before she managed to give him an answer, he bent down a bit, placed his other hand on her head and tenderly tousled her hair.