Chapter Text
Maomao was mourning the loss of her uncomplicated life as she packed her things to move into the Jade Pavilion. Why did she always have to stick her nose into things that didn't concern her?!
It was when she was looking for another one of her hair ribbons that she blinked and suddenly found herself in another room.
She jerked up, her eyes wide as she looked around. What the hell was this place? She tried to calm herself, though her heart felt like it was trying to beat out of her neck. She needed to figure out where she was.
Traditional decoration, and it seemed to be of pretty high quality. There was a blank wall where all of the seating was facing, lined in three rows, six benches made out of nice wood and cushioned with maroon pillows.
There was one door in the entire room, but no windows, though warm lighting came from lanterns and bathed the room in a nice glow. Everything seemed simple, but still almost elegant. The air smelled slightly of sandalwood, like somebody lit incense maybe an hour before.
Maomao felt herself just panic more and more as certain things didn't add up. How was she brought here? Was she drugged? She didn't feel the aftermaths of any sort of sedative in her body, and she was just in her room a few moments ago, her memory not feeling very fuzzy.
She gritted her teeth as she looked around, determined to find out what had happened and how she got to this strange room.
She walked to the door, opening it only to see a strange, sterile room with something made of... porcelain? In the corner. Then a bowl that seemed to be made of the same with a silver faucet and what looked to be a handle on either side just a couple feet away, a towel hanging from a hook next to it.
She decided it must be a restroom. She looked around the room with her lips pressed together firmly as she tried to find a hint of anything that she could use to escape. No windows, though there was a couple more lanterns burning that seemed to be lit recently. The walls seemed to be reinforced with stone, or maybe metal with how a certain spot creaked when she pressed her hand against it.
She almost gave up until she spotted a couple doors for a cupboard under the faucet and bowl. She pulled them open, hit with a strong scent of alcohol, but she found something interesting. A small white box that was made of a weird material with a red cross on it.
She lit up when she opened it, finding a few medical supplies that she recognized, then a few that she didn't. She pulled them out curiously, sitting on the hard floor of the restroom as she looked through the box with a hint of excitement overcoming her sense of fear and self-preservation.
She was just about to lick a piece of gauze that she soaked in one of the strange bottled liquids she found in the box that she didn't recognize before she saw through the open door a few people suddenly appearing in the room.
The commotion that arrived as just under two dozen people arrived, realizing that they had been suddenly transported into a strange room, was headache inducing.
Maomao hesitated as she heard the commotion, looking between the door and the gauze she had soaked in the strange liquid. Her curiosity won out as she licked it while listening to the panic of the others in the adjacent room.
Her tongue had just made contact with the bitter substance as she made eye contact with a familiar purple-haired eunuch through the doorway.
She paused before pulling the gauze away from her mouth, ignoring him in favor of tasting the mystery substance and focusing on the effects.
"What are you doing?!" Jinshi exclaimed, gaining the attention of a few others. An older woman came into view and she rolled her eyes with a scowl.
"Of course you're here, idiotic girl! I was in the middle of haggling a customer, what happened for me to be brought here?!" The granny sneered and Maomao sighed as she set the box aside, half of her mind still focused on the substance.
It bubbled on her tongue, sizzling against the roof of her mouth as she finally ingested it. It didn't seem to be harming her, but only time would tell. She hoped that if she died from it, she'd at least be able to feel the symptoms for a while to write them down.
"I don't know what brought us here, Granny. I was only brought here a couple minutes ago. There are no ways of escape from what I can see, no windows or places of weakness along the walls that suggest where a door used to be before sealed." Maomao said as she stood up, placing the box on the surface next to the weird bowl.
"Your Majesty!"
Maomao startled when she heard that as Granny looked over her shoulder, Jinshi following suit and immediately bowing deeply. The Emperor was in the room as well.
And he seemed agitated.
"What is the meaning of this?" He growled as he looked around, seeing his high-ranking concubines along with a few servants and unfamiliar people that he hadn't ever seen in his palace. He was vulnerable, something he knew he couldn't afford as the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid nobody knows where we are or how to escape." Jinshi spoke from his bowing position, his sleeves up to his forehead. The Emperor looked at him with a small grunt, his eyebrows furrowed, but slightly more relaxed than they were a moment ago at seeing a trustworthy face.
"Jinshi," he muttered with an acknowledging nod, "I suppose I can trust you to find out how to get out of this room?"
Jinshi nodded without hesitation before rising from his bow, looking to his own trusty servant, Gaoshun.
Maomao finally left the restroom with her Granny beside her to look around and see many recognizable faces.
What was her family from the pleasure district doing here anyways?
Pairin, Meimei, and Joka all spotted her and rushed over, pulling her in for hugs.
"Maomao, you've been missing for so long!"
"It's been almost four months! Where have you been?!"
"What happened?!"
Maomao grunted as she was squished between all of their impressive cleavages, struggling to breathe between them all.
"I-"
She was barely even able to get out a syllable before a shrill scream rattled in the room, everybody startling and looking to the source to see the high-ranking consort, Lady Lishu, standing terrified in front of an androgynous being that seemed to be almost... glowing.
Everybody held their guards up as Lady Lishu scrambled back, hiding behind her lady-in-waiting with her, who seemed less than pleased to have the young girl clinging to her.
"Do not be afraid, I am not going to hurt you." The being said. Maomao stayed tense as she studied the entity's appearance.
That seemed the only way to describe them. An entity. They didn't seem to be human, or even of the mortal plane.
It was an androgynous, anthropomorphic being with hair that shone like starlight and fell down to their ankles in a long braid, their eyes black with crescent-moon-like irises, and dark blue garments draped down over their figure. Their skin was paper white and seemed to almost glimmer as if made from the dust of stars. They had a smile on their face that seemed as elegant as it was mischievous.
"I am Yueshi. I brought you all here to watch something, so please, settle in. I do not wish harm upon any of you, nor do I wish for any of you to be afraid," they said, their voice soothing and layered, as if it was from a deity, "Please sit down and I will add just a few more people."
Everyone was reluctant to follow the instructions of someone--or something--so clearly otherworldly.
"What is your business with showing us whatever it is you wish to show us?" The Emperor's voice boomed through the room, everyone else anxiously waiting for a response.
The being smiled softly and bowed toward the Emperor, rising after a few moments.
"I only wish to show you the past, present, and future of a few things that have and will happen, Your Majesty. Everybody will leave this room unharmed, and I will provide you with whatever necessities you may need while in here." They say, their voice calming everybody down unwillingly, as if it was hypnotizing.
"If I may ask, how did you bring us here?" High-ranking consort, Lady Ah-Duo, spoke up, her eyebrows furrowed and her voice stern. Yueshi directed her soft smile towards the woman.
"I am a being of power that would take far too long to explain to you. I am not a deity, but one with the universe, time, and space. Now, please take a seat wherever you wish." They said before their figure dissipated into a shimmery outline, then disappearing all at once.
Everybody looked around at each other before complying and sitting down on the benches. The Emperor sat with three of his concubines int the middle row, the young princess asleep in her mothers arms, Lishu sitting on the bench next to them with her servant next to her along with Jinshi and Gaoshun.
In the row behind sat the courtesans and workers from the pleasure district, while the row in front sat the servants from the Rear Palace.
Just as everybody finally got settled, three more people finally appeared in the front of the room.
A man with a monocle, a lady with a vacant look in her eyes and rashes along her neck and face, and a young, muscular man with an almost energetic demeanor.
The two men startled at being transported so suddenly while the woman continued to stare of into space.
Granny stood up immediately in the back, rushing forward with a scowl as she wordlessly backhanded the monocled man, to most others' shock, and crouched down to check on the woman.
Lakan grimaced as he stumbled from the force of the hit, but stayed upright for the most part. he turned to look to the woman and apologize, as he had done every time he came across her, but he froze.
He froze as he saw something other than a go piece in front of the woman who despised him.
Maomao grit her teeth as she saw her biological parents appeared in the room in front of her. She wished she didn't sit in the front, but everybody else had claimed the other seats before she could do anything.
Lakan had silent tears streaming down his face, uncaring of who saw them as he saw the love of his life yet again, a shuddering breath racking his shoulders.
The Emperor was confused, and slightly concerned, seeing his clever strategist reduced to such a state by just the glimpse of an ill woman, but even more so when Lakan dropped to his knees with sobs nearly overcoming him.
The older woman scowled and bat him away with a harsh glare.
"Get away! She doesn't need you around her!" She spat out with venom in her voice.
Not another word was spoken before they all disappeared into a shimmery dust before reappearing on the benches.
"Apologies, but I don't have much time with you considering your mortality. I wish to get this done so I can return you to the correct timeline that I pulled you from without issue." The same androgynous voice sounded throughout the room, though the entity was nowhere to be seen.
It was nerve-wracking to be in the presence of such power, but they knew to comply, even though the new-comers were confused.
"Now. Let us start."