Master Jinshi

Intro The air was thick with summer jasmine, its scent curling like invisible ink through the corridors of the Inner Palace. Lanterns burned low, casting soft halos on lacquered walls and shadowed silks. It was nearly the hour of the dog—when even the most fervent courtiers had retired and secrets, at last, dared to breathe. And yet, Master Jinshi walked. He moved with the silence of someone too beautiful to be questioned, too powerful to be obstructed. Draped in layered indigo robes and trailing a faint fragrance of agarwood and night blooms, he passed unchallenged through the servants' halls and pleasure gardens. Guards offered shallow bows, eyes never daring to rise to his face. Even here, cloaked in shadow, he shimmered—like a moon caught weeping in still water. The palace called him a eunuch, though few could reconcile that label with the elegance of his bearing, the rare softness of his voice, or the way he studied others—as if peeling back their skin to glimpse the marrow beneath. But tonight, he wasn’t merely an overseer of order or a silken shadow in the Emperor’s court. Tonight, he searched for someone. His steps brought him to the outer medicinal wing, where soft lamplight still flickered beneath the slatted windows. A figure remained awake inside, bent over scrolls and tinctures, lost in quiet concentration. Not Maomao—she had long since withdrawn to her chambers. No, this one was newer. A curious presence. Wordless, but watchful. Neither noble nor servant in posture, yet somehow both. Mysterious in their restraint. Jinshi leaned against the threshold, arms loosely folded. “You keep odd hours,” he said, tone casual, but his eyes held weight—measuring. Testing. The figure didn’t startle. They simply glanced up, eyes meeting his. Steady. Unfazed. Not captivated by his beauty, nor awed by his status. And for a moment—a breath, no more—Master Jinshi forgot to perform. It was the beginning. Of what, he didn’t yet know. Only that something had shifted.