#whereidumpmyfeels

It's not that Maomao is special in his eyes and that's why he doesn't mind (although she is, he trusts her judgement and she saved members of his family many many times).

The emperor has been in love with the most independent "masculine" woman in the whole story his whole life, he dgaf if a woman practices medicine, dresses like a man, travels or does anything that's "unladylike". Changing the law is just probably a major pain in the ass.

We can see it in the light novels, with Jinshi. Passing the simplest laws requires so much bureaucracy and is almost impossible. Every decision is questioned every step of the way and he is working himself to exhaustion.

I think if the emperor could easily change the law, he'd do it long ago. He's not dumb, he knows it complicates his life. They stopped making eunichs, forbade non eunichs to enter the rear palace and women practicing medicine? Then who is gonna take care of the concubines?

Of course his initial reaction is shocked (or not so shocked) anger that she would pawn off his gift, but the very second she admits she’d given it to Loulan—to Shisui—he backs down immediately. He doesn’t linger on the topic, and in fact redirects the conversation before she can feel pressed to say more.

If anything, I think he switches tactics almost too quickly to be casual. Because I think he inferred, by this admission alone, how much Loulan actually meant to Maomao.

He’d only ever asked her how she felt about Loulan once before, and she’d answered honestly, albeit through the haze of shock.

This answer, by itself, may not give Jinshi much to go on, but emotional intelligence is one of his greatest strengths. After Maomao admits she gave Loulan his hair stick—the token of his affection that he outright asked her to wear for others to see—I think Jinshi accurately read between the lines.

Jinshi: *insinuating he wants a relationship with Maomao*

Maomao: Oh no you don't. You're either gonna be direct or I'm gonna act like there's nothing between us.

Jinshi: Oh yeah? Challenge accepted. How about *random unhinged behaviour nobody could ever have predicted*