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I am not great with Chinese-style names, but I think there's a Qishuang near the end where a Xiangchun should have been.
I'm liking Mei. I hope she manages to effectively navigate this... predicament.
Mei is my new favourite character (after Da Xiao, of course); I look forward to her being utterly out of her depth and extremely confused yet enjoying herself immensely.
Come to think of it... Everyone affected by the spell sees the people affected by the spell as if they were not transformed, right? Which means that the Emperess and her three transformed concubines all see her as the man that she formerly was. This may prove to be a problem for them in the bedroom, because the emperor no longer has man-bits, and so any attempts to pleasure said man-bits will result in phantom sensations at best. (They might be fairly strong and enjoyable phantom sensations, mind you, given the efficacy of the spell, but phantom sensations nonetheless.)
Mei and Qishuang, by contrast, can see the transformed empress's real body - including its actual anatomy, proportions, erogenous zones, and how it reacts to various forms of stimulation, putting them in a perfect position to bring the emperor to heights of pleasure she has never before experienced. Their ability to see the transformed concubines' actual bodies may give them an advantage in pleasuring the them as well, if (for example) the emperor decides they need tutelage in the bedroom arts.
Qishuang is something of a mystery so far... Here's hoping she gets along with Mei, even if they can't ever actually speak about the thing they have in common.
Finally got to read this. Amazing job, WS.
Obviously, anon, it's going to turn out that due to how the magic works, what they see (a man and a woman having sex in a normal manner for that) will not match what's actually going on (two women having sex in a normal manner for that). If you're talking magical virus perception blockers, inevitably, they'll involve a point where their actions don't match their words (see also "cleaning the breastplate" not resulting in someone wiping the air in front of them, but literally tugging their breast)
I'm just trying to come up with an excuse for Mei to be lauded as a sexual genius and be accorded a special place among the Emperess' wives despite technically being less experienced than most of them, since that sounds like it'd be funny and hot.