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EP. REVIEW: The Apothecary Diaries

Even if his relationship with Maomao's mother was consensual, there's something underhanded and unpleasant about the man, and I really don't want him near Maomao – or knowing Jinshi's true identity. He seems like someone who would use knowledge as a weapon without caring about the consequences.

But is Maomao's mother also the woman in the annex dying of syphilis? ...since we know she played go, we can guess that she was quite high-ranking at one point. ...it feels very likely that the two women are the same.

The single frame of Maomao's face at about the eighteen-minute mark shows that she agrees.

Lots of info for Jinshi to process here. It seems he might be starting to put together who her adoptive father is, but he's still fairly in the dark about what Lakan is up to.

I hope explains himself at least a little, because that's a pretty awful question to directly ask someone who grew up with courtesans as adoptive sisters. It's not exactly his fault (though he really doesn't help himself) that Maomao has already jumped to an entirely incorrect assumption as to the purpose of this trip (she really is always ready to assume the worst of him isn't she?), but his timing there was terrible. I wouldn't be surprised however if that wasn't the half the purpose of Lakan indirectly suggesting to him that he ask Maomao about it.

We should cut him a little slack though, because quite a bit of his processing capacity is taken up by the fact he's on a not-date with Maomao while she's looking like that, and that she bought him skewers, and did that adorable grin thing. The guy has it pretty tough.

I was expecting that to be the thumbnail for this episode’s review

Thanks to Rebecca's review and some of the comments here, I think I'm piecing together the timeline:

- Lakan gets Maomao's mother pregnant, reducing her value as a courtesan (but then he doesn't follow through on purchasing her bond? She remains a courtesan? Wasn't that why he wanted to take her value down?)

- Maomao is born. Jinshi is born around this time, too, since they're putatively the same age? Maybe Jinshi is older? The timing of Jinshi's birth theoretically relates to Maomao's adoptive father Lumen being dismissed from the inner court and exiled to the pleasure district.

- The Maomao's mother, forced to take a lower class of customers (ones who don't play chess or go with her, but take her to bed), gets syphilis. Some time after that she is confined --- rather generous of the Old Madam, really.

- Some time later Luomen becomes consulting physician to Verdigris House, and adopts Maomao. This is probably when he learns about Maomao's mother's illness, and begins treating it.

Since she was apparently trying to lay out a go board with her pebbles, I think it's more than very likely. I had actually forgotten that we knew that about her, but when I saw what she was doing, I kept wanting Maomao to move a stone to see if she would try to play, or be upset that she disrupted the pattern she was building. Hmm, that came out more cruelly than I intended - what I wanted was to be spoon-fed a small confirmation that it was a go board she was imagining and not just laying out pretty stones (and that Maomao recognized what she was doing).

Lakan gets Maomao's mother pregnant, reducing her value as a courtesan (but then he doesn't follow through on purchasing her bond? She remains a courtesan? Wasn't that why he wanted to take her value down?)

- Lakan gets Maomao's mother pregnant, reducing her value as a courtesan (but then he doesn't follow through on purchasing her bond? She remains a courtesan? Wasn't that why he wanted to take her value down?)

Gina Szanboti wrote:

dm wrote: Lakan gets Maomao's mother pregnant, reducing her value as a courtesan (but then he doesn't follow through on purchasing her bond? She remains a courtesan? Wasn't that why he wanted to take her value down?) Huh, good question.

Thanks to Rebecca's review and some of the comments here, I think I'm piecing together the timeline:

- Lakan gets Maomao's mother pregnant, reducing her value as a courtesan (but then he doesn't follow through on purchasing her bond? She remains a courtesan? Wasn't that why he wanted to take her value down?)

- Maomao is born. Jinshi is born around this time, too, since they're putatively the same age? Maybe Jinshi is older? The timing of Jinshi's birth theoretically relates to Maomao's adoptive father Lumen being dismissed from the inner court and exiled to the pleasure district.

- Sometime after this, Maomao's mother, forced to take a lower class of customers (ones who don't play go or chess with her, but take her to bed), gets syphilis. Some time after that she is confined --- rather generous of the Old Madam, really, as Maomao notes.

- After this Luomen becomes consulting physician to Verdigris House, and adopts Maomao. This is probably when he learns about Maomao's mother's illness, and begins treating it, but it is too late to halt the progress of the disease.

dm wrote:

- Lakan gets Maomao's mother pregnant, reducing her value as a courtesan (but then he doesn't follow through on purchasing her bond? She remains a courtesan? Wasn't that why he wanted to take her value down?)

I'm guessing the Madam wouldn't let him buy her out? We established that she's been refusing to let him buy out Maomao so that's presumably within her power.

I'm a little curious if Maomao knows Lakan is her biological father. That's my interpretation of her reaction to Jinshi at the end, but it could also be a reaction to the creepy guy who's been trying to buy her for years.