A couple of small things. I'm fairly certain this was mentioned in an earlier episode, if not sorry for a spoiler, but Maomao's "father", Luomen, is a eunuch. Any male in the inner palace with a position of importance that wasn't royalty would have been made a eunuch. Also the brothel that Maomao visited a couple episodes prior with the murder plot was not Verdigris house, her/her dad serve the whole pleasure district, they're just most acquainted with Verdigris. The whole getting let go thing was a big case of terrible communication. Jinshi had the power to let Maomao stay, but didn't want to force her if she didn't want to, so tried to get her to say it herself. Maomao wanted to stay, but thought that asking was beyond her station, so she left the decision up to Jinshi, who in turn though it meant she didn't want to stay.

The Court Intrigue just gets better and better.

"Cluck, cluck." 😂

I really loved your theory about Feng Ming but sadly only eunuchs are allowed inside of the rear palace, not just those who serve the pavilions. In the first episode, they stated that the emperor's concubines don't interact on a day to day basis with men capable of fathering children to ensure every child born there are all the emperor's children. So Maomao had to be adopted.