Disguise the limit as Maomao is pressed into service helping Jinshi alter his look to journey into town. However, when the tables are turned, things may just glow up in her face. Then the connections between events are revealed and there’ll be some falling, but maybe not the way we’re expecting.
The first half of this story is pretty cute. It’s good, if unexceptional, work for the series as we get Maomao goofing around with makeup and Jinshi primping her into looking like a lady of high standing in return.
It’s the long tail of the budding romance, which doesn’t actually exist anywhere, except maybe in Jinshi’s mind. His servants are clearly on board for the ride as well, but Maomao has other interests at heart. The pairing of these two is fine, but I would be lying if I said it was the primary draw of the story.
Maomao is so perfectly dedicated to what she loves that her incredible density to this point is actually believable since she has all the clues right there but never puts them together because it isn’t anything to do with chemistry. The one hint we get that we might see that change is a slightest whiff of jealousy that’s as brief as can be.
Besides a couple of revelations, one I did not expect and one I’ve been calling since the first volume, this section involves a lot of goofing around and radishes and reaction after reaction. It’s fun, with the art making up for where the writing is just okay.
The second half pushes Maomao back into her comfort zone, unravelling a mystery that in this case is made up of previous mysteries that all turn out to have a possible connection. Not necessarily of interest to Maomao normally, but a little gall goes a long way.
This section is a corker as it plays to Maomao’s strengths (and weaknesses) as a character. Her involvement is totally mercenary, but she won’t back down from doing what’s right and that forces her to go beyond her limits here. And the reward has something to do with it, of course.
Her treatment and how she reacts to it are phenomenal and the way she comes to try and save the day are real hero moments. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, well, one of those panels where somebody comments on her condition says so, so much with so little.
Basically, I am here for everything this book has to offer. It’s clearer (I mean, it had hints) that this has been kind of a romance all along, but directed towards a character who loves poisoning herself more than anything else. It explains why it has been so staid, mostly because it reflects the attitude of the character who is our point of view. That’s a nice touch.
As long as we have Maomao being her normal crazy self and the occasional mystery shows up that her clever nature can solve, I don’t care where the romance part goes. She and Jinshi already have a great chemistry together (there’s that word again!) so it’s not the worst thing if they grow closer.
4.5 stars - 4 star first half, 5 star second half, but that second half is so brilliant that it’s an easy tilt. This is one of the gems of my reading list and I adore it every time a new volume comes out.