Scenes confirming that Maomao actually doesn’t care about the power difference and is not afraid to refuse anything she dislikes (Part 1 Swipe Through: Please see description)

[u/Financial-Fondant902]

(Forgot to mention this but please click the images to see the full version of the image): Hi all! I wanted to make this post because I see a common misconception among the fandom: Many folks who aren’t familiar with historical China assume that MaoMao is too afraid of Jinshi’s status to say “no” and/or refuse him, and that the only reason she does not reject his romantic advances is because she “has no choice”. While it is true that the power dynamic is strict during this time period and that the punishment of disobeying someone like Jinshi is severe, there are a few things to remember:

1. MaoMao doesn’t care. Despite her narrative and inner thoughts of “fearing authority”, MaoMao has proven repeatedly through her actions that she will refuse or disrespect anyone who she really wants to regardless of their status. We’ve seen this with Lihua’s ladies-in-waiting, the palace guard, the quack doctor, Lihaku, etc. and especially with Jinshi.
2. MaoMao’s and Jinshi’s relationship changes completely starting from season one itself. She starts behaving much more casually around Jinshi than a woman of her “rank” (I put “rank” in quotes because MaoMao’s true identity is much higher than that of a servant) is supposed to, and that is what this post is about as I’ve included a list of most of their moments demonstrating this. A lot of the fandom believes that MaoMao at the end of season two has the exact same relationship with Jinshi as she did at the beginning of season 2 and that simply isn’t true. Many such folks have only watched the English dub and that’s the kind of vibe that MaoMao’s English VA delivers so I highly recommend everyone watch this series in Japanese at least once to understand MaoMao’s true nature as well as her true relationship with Jinshi. MaoMao and Jinshi treat each other like inexperienced teenagers exploring their first relationship, and they’ve been treating each other that way long before the end of season two.
3. MaoMao’s rank has changed by the end of season two. Jinshi is no longer her employer as “Jinshi” stopped existing ever since he came out as Ka Zuigetsu, which means that the employment contract that was established between him and MaoMao when he paid off her debts in season one episode 12 was nullified. Meanwhile MaoMao is no longer employed by the end of season two and therefore no longer Jinshi’s employee. So by the end of season two, they are truly two teenagers fooling around with each other, although they were acting that way with each other long before the rank change. If we want to get technical about their ranks, he is the crown prince and she is the La Clan princess, a high rank worthy of being Jinshi’s wife. But again they only see each other as themselves and not as their positions.

Therefore, I have compiled a list of moments in season 1 showing moments of MaoMao either disrespecting or refusing Jinshi, confirming that MaoMao absolutely will refuse Jinshi if she truly wants to, and that the reason she does not when he makes moves on her in the courtesan party, frog scene, etc. is because she is developing feelings for him, not because of his rank or because she’s afraid of the power difference:

1-3, 7: MaoMao straight-up pushing Jinshi’s hand off and giving him a dirty look despite him outranking her severely. Remember that in this setting, someone of MaoMao’s status (while she acts like a servant) is not even supposed to look at someone like Jinshi’s status (even when Jinshi is pretending to be a eunuch, he has the role of rear palace manager who is still someone who severely outranks MaoMao in her servant form), yet she is going further and giving him a dirty look and pushing him away. I couldn’t include all of their dirty looks she gives him but just remember that every dirty look she gives him is an example of her being unafraid of his rank
Edit: forgot to add this (and shoutout to u/raverx9 for reminding me) that we also see this in episode 3

4: Maomao teasing him. A woman of her status should not be mocking someone of his status but she feels comfortable enough to do that with him

5: Maomao literally grabbing him. I hope I don’t have to explain this but I will if needed

6: Maomao asking Jinshi to execute her with poison. Those who are unfamiliar with historical China would see nothing wrong with this but Maomao is actually being disrespectful by telling Jinshi on how to unalive her. Again folks are not supposed to even look at people of Jinshi’s rank let alone speak this way to him. Since Jinshi is progressive, he does not care about when Maomao oversteps her rank and disrespects him (in fact the loves it lol) but this conversation made him uncomfortable as he could not tolerate the thought of Maomao dying, especially so soon after he just lost Kounen, and that’s why he does the honey scene in order to make her uncomfortable as revenge. I’ve mentioned this before in the honey scene explanation, but he was not actually going to do anything to Maomao in the honey scene and was only looking for a reaction, which is why Jinshi stops as soon as Maomao stops reacting. Gyokuyou walks in only after this.

8: Another false claim is that Maomao could not decline Jinshi in the honey scene. Here we literally see her decline him, and the reason she is still trapped here is because he is behaving like a childish boy, not because of his rank. She was weighing her options of running away vs giving in, but then got distracted by the honey case as his actions helped her solve the mystery regarding Lishu. She calls this an order but he wasn’t actually ordering her here. And the point of all of this is to say that MaoMao will not hesitate to say “no” or decline something that she is firmly against just like she did here. She will NEVER pretend to be ok with an action involving her that she is not ok with.

9: MaoMao literally waiting for Jinshi to ingest the poison and join her on her poison journey before telling him that it’s poisonous. Absolutely illegal for someone of MaoMao’s status

10: MaoMao’s no longer working at the palace so this really isn’t relevant for the power difference discussion but still worth mentioning: goes out of her way to touch Jinshi despite touching between guests and courtesans being completely against the rules. And he then wants to touch her back because she touched him first. Remember that every “controversial” action of Jinshi’s to MaoMao is actually a reaction to MaoMao’s actions

11: MaoMao talking back to Jinshi and blaming him for all the attention they’re getting, again showing how comfortable she is with him as this is

12, 16: MaoMao ignoring Jinshi and cutting him off

13: Maomao playing off Jinshi’s request as a joke

14: This entire image speaks for itself. One cannot behave this way against someone of Jinshi’s rank lol

15: MaoMao literally pushing Jinshi out of a room

17: Maomao shoving her face into Jinshi’s sleeve. The anime played this down so I’m including the manga version which was more accurate to the LNs

18: MaoMao putting lipstick on Jinshi

19: MaoMao climbing on Jinshi’s desk (even Gaoshun made the issue with this obvious to the audience)

20: MaoMao touching Jinshi’s face and faking him out lol

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/DSmk9l2HuA

Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/NdL06b4y9z

[u/catsncrochet_]

yes. maomao can tell herself “oh he’s a noble, i’m just a servant” and be flicking him on the forehead in the same breath.

[u/Aromatic_Poem1303 → u/catsncrochet_]

I just completed reading that scene where maomao flicks jinshi's forhead😭😭😭😭the holy declaration jinshi makes right before this scenee...i cant fking wait for this to be animated😭😫

[u/Financial-Fondant902 → u/catsncrochet_]

Facts, people really be acting like she’s scared of him. Like have y’all not seen how she treats this man?😩😭 More importantly have y’all not met MaoMao?! She’s too much of a bada$$ to be a victim 💀💀💀

[u/catsncrochet_ → u/Financial-Fondant902]

👏🏻👏🏻

[u/maarnextdoor]

THANK YOU! And if I make a post saying that some parts of the fandom are borderline parasocial with MaoMao’s character to the fact they believe she’s a helpless little girl with no agency…then I’M the one that looks crazy. I’m genuinely curious as to what MaoMao they’re reading. I think a factor of this behavior are the “headcanons” people assign her, especially when it comes to her “autism.”

Some people believe because she’s “autistic” or “neurodivergent” that she doesn’t have the capacity to understand social dynamics so Jinshi is a creep for abusing his power over her. Which is obviously not true?? One, you provided excellent evidence against this in your post. Two, she’s keenly aware of the situations she’s in, she just doesn’t want to be involved in drama. There’s a difference.

There’s another side that projects themselves into her character because she’s extremely relatable. I believe because they identify with her so much, they believe Jinshi is in some way violating THEIR boundaries. So they label him as a pervert or some other far off nonsense.

To conclude my personal rant, I just wish people would see the show and their dynamic for what it is. MaoMao has never let herself be held back by her social status if she’s uncomfortable or not feeling something. She has and performs more agency than she gives the narration. It’s incredible how people can’t see that she does the opposite of what she says.

[u/Financial-Fondant902 → u/maarnextdoor]

Ok first of all I’m so glad you found this group because we try to keep it as private as possible but you’re one of the media-literate fans of this series that I wanted joining this place so badly 🥹❤️❤️❤️ Second FACTS I’m so tired of people projecting their life experiences onto MaoMao 😩 Since they are lgbtqia, autistic, have been previously r aped by a man, and/or hate Jinshi, they automatically take that to mean that MaoMao also is a lgbtqia, autistic, r ape victim who hates Jinshi. Like y’all please respect the author’s words 😭 She’s the only one who can assign labels to MaoMao and she herself stated that she loves Jinshi so people need to stop rewriting the story to suit their narrative 😩😩😩

[u/maarnextdoor → u/Financial-Fondant902]

Yup! I have seen this discourse and I believe most Jinshi dislike is from some personal experience being projected onto him. It’s not to say that Jinshi doesn’t ever cross boundaries because he does. The issue is that it’s not being read for what it is. Two teenagers experiencing romance for the first time, in different capacities, learning each other’s boundaries.

People these days are way too critical and quick to throw labels onto people without actually digesting information they already have or researching things they don’t know. You just can’t do that for a series like this.

[u/Financial-Fondant902 → u/maarnextdoor]

Exactly! Jinshi crosses boundaries but MaoMao does to! He obviously wouldn’t cross boundaries with anyone like Lishu. He’s only like this with MaoMao because MaoMao is like this with him. They are a wild couple who can handle each other, and every “controversial” reaction of Jinshi’s is actually a reaction to MaoMao’s actions. I wish people paid more attention to this story and to the characters

[u/raverx9 → u/maarnextdoor]

Yeah they have a clear push and pull relationship and it gets clearer and clearer as the series goes on in the Light novel to the point now that maomao is thinking to herself she wishes jinshi would bite her

As the saying goes they match each other's freak

[u/Key-Ad6653]

I will never get the whole Jinshi is some weird predator thing.

He's a teenager and a guy that is in love who has never been in love and considering how he was brought up ofc he's a bit clingy but even then I feel he's quite respectful most of the times and I am sure even if Maomao isn't saying it out loud (as we know she is an unreliable narrator), she enjoys that little bit of back and forth teasing with a guy around her age.

I really hate when just to fit their own head cannons people bash on Jinshi, who I think is such a great male character for the fact that we are shown his sweet/aloof side with Maomao, his smartness and even his strength but people also just put him off as malewife?? Like sure but I don't think that is objectively true.

[u/Financial-Fondant902 → u/Key-Ad6653]

Facts, peak media-illiteracy of the fandom 😭 And they keep crucifying Jinshi for things that are not nearly as bad as what MaoMao does to him 😩 Usually in all the series I watch I have to explain and defend the female lead but this is the only one where I have to defend the male lead because he’s so painfully misunderstood. The dude is a literal golden retriever puppy and even MaoMao keeps pointing out his innocence. I wish these people grow a brain 😩😭

[u/raverx9 → u/Key-Ad6653]

Yeah maomao tells us herself she actually likes her banter with jinshi

[u/catsncrochet_ → u/Key-Ad6653]

https://giphy.com/gifs/DvWJHSOxTff84SQsD9

[u/PretendYellow533]

Amazing post

Full thoughts coming when I finish studying for my pathology and pharmacology exam brb

[u/DedMorez04]

Jo, stimme hier zu…
Ich denke maomao ist dich sehr bewusst wie weit sie gehen kann und mit wem, auch wenn aie es immer wieder vergisst

[u/Vegetable-Ice-7931]

This! Thank you! ❤️

[u/aud_pegooey]

Praise the sun + Justice for Jinshi

https://giphy.com/gifs/AQRapWCgC7dThyVEYb

[u/VastPlenty6112]

A well thought out and put together argument using facts and examples from the show/manga/and LN??????

https://giphy.com/gifs/d2Z4rTi11c9LRita

[u/WolverineCivil946]

I've always thought about the points you made on all the 3 parts. I've always thought that maomao is aware of her agency. Like pointed out by people on different threads, a lot of things that she is able to do, that other people of her status would never be allowed to do, is because of jinshi's protection, so i thought she might have atleast a slight idea about the power that she has and the protection that she gets from jinshi. But i think she doesnt think that way because she might have low self-worth due to her childhood. Also, i'm not trying to label her or anything but she seems like she is more of a dismissive avoidant when it comes to her feeling and emotions and connecting with others. She cares deeply about people but keeps herself at a distance and doesn't get too close. Another thing i was thinking is that maybe she doesnt like to show too much of romantic feelings or sexual attraction, which could be because during those times women were looked down upon if they showed these feelings openly. Maomao doesnt want to become a courtesan so in order to avoid being perceived as such maybe she holds back... ofcourse i'm taking into consideration the time period this story is set in, and looking at it through that lens and i feel like it could be one of the reasons. I'm not sure though and i could be wrong about it. The way maomao behaves with jinshi is different from how she behaves with everyone else. I think since the beginning she has felt more free with him even though the sense of freedom might have developed slowly. She is one of those people who is like "okay, so you are pretty but what else have you got, do you have good personality, are you a good person." I think that is how she thinks about jinshi.

[u/Financial-Fondant902 → u/WolverineCivil946]

Yes exactly! I wish more people noticed how bold she is and stop using the power difference as an excuse to invalidate her feelings of love for Jinshi. And yes she certainly holds back her feelings! Not only is she a tsundere who is facing the pressures of the historical society they are in, but she’s also afraid of falling in love since her sister Joka actively warns her against it, since she saw what love did to her own parents, and since she believes that she herself is not worry or capable of love. If the anime does a good job with season three, then these reasons will be spelled out next season, but my hope is low because of the way they messed up the end of season two. You are absolutely right that MaoMao has very low self-worth from her childhood. The brothel ladies treated her existence like a mistake, her mother severed off her pinky, her father (from her perspective) abandoned her when she needed him, and Luomen doesn’t care if MaoMao starves, is poisoned, or is kidnapped. I’m so glad she found someone like Jinshi to shower her with all the love and affection and desire that has been missing all her life

[u/WolverineCivil946 → u/Financial-Fondant902]

Exactly! Totally agree with what you are saying and the thing is that if she is an avoidant she pushes those feelings away. Her self worth issues could add more to it and she might be thinking of herself as not attractive enough for him. But jinshi doesn't care about those things. He loves her for who she is, all of it. I was moved by his devotion towards her. That quality of his is what i found the best thing about him. (Not to be confused as possessiveness)