Why is Maomao loyal to Gyokuyou?
Maomao was dragged from her position as laundry servant to being Gyokuyou’s lady in waiting which created a target for her and she was made a poison taster when neither Gyokuyou nor any of the other lady in waiting’s had any idea she had trained her poison resistance and that she was accustomed to dealing with poisons. Maomao was constantly being placed in a dangerous scenarios with no real benefits, such as being brought into palace gossip, even reaching the ears of the Emperor resulting in her being ordered to take care of Lady Lihua where she was completely drained by the end of it. I don’t think that her time as a lady in waiting, despite the outward affection Gyokuyou showed, would be enough to break the emotionally detached Maomao. And that approach of bombarding her with affection is proved to be pointless to her shown with Lakan and Jinshi, who show her genuine affection despite how she views it.
Moving on from her time directly serving as a poison taster, when she was a physician in training, a position that was pretty much made for her, Gyokuyou and her lady in waiting’s constantly tried guilt tripping Maomao back into a position that she adamantly didn’t want. And it wasn’t like Gyokuyou was doing it cause of her loyalty to Maomao, directly put, it would be an effective way of guaranteeing both Jinshi, the Moon Prince and biological son of the Emperor and Lakan, the feared Grand Strategist’s loyalty to her. Additionally Gyokuyou continued to try and make her a lady in waiting despite the emperors direct intervention against it, making me question her true motives.
It seems to me that she wants to use Maomao completely without any real care for what Maomao wants. I can’t fault her for that cause of her precarious position as Empress and the xenophobia against herself and her son, but still, her use of Maomao doesn’t sit right with me.
Despite constantly being used, Maomao still chooses to pledge her loyalty to Gyokuyou, placing herself in a difficult position and placing a rift between her and Jinshi. And with her acceptance of Jinshi’s feelings, a major development in her character emotionally, her loyalty to Gyokuyou is a direct factor stopping both her and Jinshi’s happiness.
I don’t really get why she’s loyal to Gyokuyou tbh and if someone could clarify why Maomao is, that would be really helpful.