Jinshi Quotes

Don’t sully my memories with bleak reality, if you please,” Jinshi said ruefully.

Perhaps,” Gaoshun ventured now, “I might ask you to stop regarding Master Jinshi in the same manner in which you might look at a worm.” Damn. They noticed.

I’m very sorry, sir. I’m afraid I might have crushed a frog.” She kept her face completely expressionless. “...A frog.” Jinshi winced. Fine. Let him wince. Maomao would overcome this situation by sheer force of will.

Jinshi must have been getting sleepy, for he gradually slumped on the bed until he was lying down. Thinking what a lot of trouble he could be, Maomao sat on the bed and began gently stroking his hair.

But Jinshi was oddly skilled at reading Maomao’s expressions. Partly because they’d now known each other for a fair amount of time, true, but even by that standard he was quite sensitive to slight changes in her face.

And though the exterior might be lovely, there was the question of what was within. And so Maomao ended up looking at Jinshi like some kind of bug crawling along the ground. She sincerely couldn’t help it.

Maomao briefly regretted that she hadn’t simply disguised Jinshi as a woman, but then she remembered that dab of rouge and thought better of it. She shook her head: Jinshi must never appear in women’s clothing, lest the very world tear itself apart.

Once the two of them were alone in the room, Maomao took a deep breath, then heaved a sigh. “Master Jinshi.” “Yes?” “Don’t you think you’re pushing yourself too hard?” The last vestiges of the Moon Prince vanished. “Is there ever a time when I’m not?

Although Maomao wasn’t sure how much trouble she could really get into with the mild, juice-based alcohol. “I wouldn’t get drunk.” “I heard you emptied a barrel on the way here.” Who’d snitched on her? It had to be Jinshi or Basen. Maomao clicked her tongue.

Don’t pretend I’m not here,” Jinshi said. “Sorry, sir. Old habit.

They heard a bell ring in the hall, the signal that there was a visitor. “The cat has come,” said Jinshi.

Gaoshun was holding three letters: from Jinshi, Empress Gyokuyou, and the Emperor. They might not be official communiqués, but nonetheless she felt she was being stared down by three of the least say-no-to-able people in the nation.

Ordinary people would consider a delivery of a mountain of dead bugs to be nothing short of harassment. Especially when that delivery goes to a young woman.” That left Jinshi speechless. He could only slump his shoulders and slap himself on the forehead.

For you, I will remove every obstacle that keeps us apart. One day. Just know that.” With that, Jinshi buried himself under the covers. “I won’t let what you fear come to pass. I swear it.” Soon she heard him breathing evenly in sleep. What I fear... Maomao pictured Empress Gyokuyou. I don’t think Master Jinshi knows, she thought. She didn’t think he was aware of the secret of his own birth. What about Empress Gyokuyou? Does she know? And what did His Majesty want for Jinshi? What about Ah-Duo? It’s never good to know too much.

Is he going to stay here?” Yao asked, looking at Jinshi too. “Sticking his nose into random matters is sort of his hobby, so I think we’re stuck with him,” En’en said.

How long do you mean to deceive us with that assumed form?” Lakan said, watching Jinshi through his monocle. Or rather, watching the man Ka Zuigetsu, who wore “Jinshi” like a second skin.

Jinshi needed to deal with what had happened—but there was something even more important that required his attention. He asked himself what the demented apothecary would do if she were here.

I seem to be veritably surrounded by strong and intelligent women,” he said. “Nothing of the sort,” Maamei replied. “It’s simply that they’re the only ones who can get close to you.” The remark wasn’t self-deprecating. Jinshi and Basen traded a look, both of them clearly feeling outmatched. Jinshi found himself having to take back what he had thought a few minutes earlier: Maamei understood politics very well.

Maomao allowed her eyelids to droop so that she looked rather more skeptical; Jinshi let out a relieved breath and sat forward again. Why did he look so...satisfied? Was the eunuch actually a secret masochist?

There were some things which, no matter how transcendent, the world was not meant to see. It was fearsome to realize that with just a dash of lip color, Jinshi might possess the power to bring low at least a couple of small villages.

Jinshi’s robe had come open when Maomao had landed on him, but the body it revealed was not soft and indulged; instead it was all taut muscle, the product of discipline and training. His face might be that of a nymph, but his body was that of a warrior.

Ahem. His name is Lakan...” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Maomao’s expression shifted. Her eyes widened and she took a step away from Jinshi, almost, it seemed, involuntarily. To date she had looked at him like a beetle, like a dried-out earthworm, like mud, like dust, like a slug, and even like a flattened frog—that is to say, in many demeaning and belittling ways—but he realized that all of these were kind and gentle compared to the look she leveled at him now. It was, frankly, hard to describe, but even Jinshi felt he could barely survive it. Maomao looked as if she might smash open his heart and pour in molten metal so that not even ashes remained.

She picked up the last of her tools, then fixed Jinshi with a look. I have to make sure this part gets through to him. “What you have to bear, Master Jinshi, I don’t believe I could ever carry. Perhaps that’s why you did what you did.” She took a deep breath, let it out—then grabbed Jinshi by the lapels. “But you will not do it again.” It was a miracle that she didn’t sound enraged. Jinshi awkwardly avoided her gaze.

Perhaps she wasn’t the only one who was tired. Maomao hadn’t slept well either. And she finally snapped. “You always tell me I should use my words, Master Jinshi, but are you really in a position to criticize? Everything you tell me, everything you do, it’s as if it’s calculated to avoid having to say what you really mean! Just say it! So I can understand you, okay? You know, you remind me of someone. You act exactly like a man who used to come to our brothel all the time. He was in love with one of the girls, but never said it. He thought it should be obvious from the way he acted. He was so sure that something good would happen with that woman that he didn’t even send her a letter. I remember how devastated he looked when someone else swooped in and took her away. He kept coming back to the brothel afterward—to get drunk and lament to the other girls. So then, why didn’t he just avoid disappointment by telling the woman how he felt? In a clear and unequivocal way, so she’d know even if she didn’t understand subtle clues. It was the least he could have done.” It all came out in a torrent. She felt like she had spat everything out in one breath. It was strange, though—those words had just slipped from her mouth.

What exactly did you teach them?” Jinshi inquired. Maomao didn’t quite look at him, but rather, somewhere just past him. “Next time you see the Emperor, ask what he thought of my lesson,” she said. As to the content of her instruction, she would leave that to Jinshi’s imagination.

Jinshi himself felt that, notwithstanding her imperviousness to poisons, she was still a small and delicate-looking girl who seemed as fragile as the next young woman—but strangely, he found he couldn’t imagine her breaking like that. Maybe because he’d seen her laugh uproariously as she took poison, or come back from being kidnapped looking as calm as if she’d been away running errands, and on and on.

True, Maomao's cousin looked and acted much like she did, but unfortunately, Jinshi didn't swing that way - p256

Jinshi was starting to think it would be quicker just to get a new palace, but then he pictured Maomao chastising him for the waste of money, and decided to keep the suggestion to himself.

As ever, Lahan’s way of looking at things was more or less inscrutable to others. “You’re terribly lovely; it’s only a shame you weren’t born a woman,” he added. That gave Jinshi gooseflesh. True, Maomao’s cousin looked and acted much like she did, but unfortunately, Jinshi didn’t swing that way.

If you want to send me off to wherever, well, if I’m just a pawn who makes no difference to the strategic situation, I guess I have no right to object. Am I a pawn to you, Master Jinshi?” He was silent. “Is there something you’d like to say to me?” “Yes. I want to...” He started to answer, but refused to look her in the eye. Finally he said, “I want to have another bowl of that stew.

Shut up and let me treat you. Sir.” Jinshi stuck out his lower lip. “I’ve got a lot on my mind, you know.” “Well, that’s not my problem; I’m an apothecary. Let me do my work.

Jinshi was a person of such beauty that some said if he had only been born a woman, he could have had the country under his thumb; indeed, it was held that had he wished to, he could have convinced the very Emperor to affirm that gender meant nothing.

Maomao had work the next day, as did Jinshi.

Why has the condition relapsed? What could cause—” Maomao began, but then she happened to look at Jinshi. Specifically, his flank. It’s this son of a—! Jinshi bit his lip and pressed a hand to his side. At least he seemed