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EP. REVIEW: The Apothecary Diaries Season 2

. As you probably remember, lead-based whitening makeup was a key plot point at the start of the first season, and you probably also recall that this was tied specifically to infant and fetal deaths.

I think I need a refresher on how Maomao wound up back in Gyokuyou's employ. I tried skimming through some older episodes, but couldn't find when it happened. I remember it happening but don't remember the circumstances surrounding it. I forget, is she still technically in Jinshi's employ, but on loan to Gyokuyou while she's pregnant?

I think I need a refresher on how Maomao wound up back in Gyokuyou's employ. I tried skimming through some older episodes, but couldn't find when it happened. I remember it happening but don't remember the circumstances surrounding it. I forget, is she still technically in Jinshi's employ, but on loan to Gyokuyou while she's pregnant?

It was actually arsenic, not lead. The light novels said it more explicitly.

I think I need a refresher on how Maomao wound up back in Gyokuyou's employ. I tried skimming through some older episodes, but couldn't find when it happened. I remember it happening but don't remember the circumstances surrounding it. I forget, is she still technically in Jinshi's employ, but on loan to Gyokuyou while she's pregnant?

OpenYourEels4TheNextFeels wrote:

It was actually arsenic, not lead. The light novels said it more explicitly.

You're right; I wrote the wrong thing. I got switched around by listing the Scheele's Green before the lead makeup.

“Well,” Fengming said slowly. “You’ve got it all figured out, haven’t you? Even though you’re the daughter of the worthless quack who couldn’t help Lady Ah-Duo.”

“Yes. Even so.” Blame in medicine couldn’t be dismissed with a helpless shrug: something else her father had said. He would have readily accepted abuse like “quack.” “You know that quack prevented your mistress from using face powder with white lead in it. And you were too smart to have given the child something so deadly.”

Maomao suspected this youngest child was the only one who saw what the old craftsman had been after. Soldering involved mixing several different types of metal together so that they would melt at a lower temperature than normal. Maomao knew of one such possible combination: lead and tin. Why in the world did she know this? Because lead was poisonous, of course. She’d once seen a metalworker who had poisoned himself melting lead. Then there was the face-whitening powder that had been popular in the rear palace: her father had told her that it was lead-based.

One more thing nagged at Maomao. “Doesn’t this remind you of...you know?”

“Remind me of what?” Jinshi replied, unsure what her vague remark was getting at.

She was thinking of something that seemed like perfectly respectable merchandise for the rear palace, but which could have an unexpected side effect.

“The toxic face powder,” Maomao said, and a flash of understanding could be seen on every face in the room. The summer before, Princess Lingli had fallen ill for reasons unknown. Simultaneously, the same thing had happened to Consort Lihua’s son, the heir apparent, who had subsequently died. Now, a non-lead-based face whitener was used in the rear palace, and the old stuff was no longer allowed. Perhaps it had caused them to let down their guard.

No, you were right the first time. The LNs are indeed explicit, and they say the exact opposite.

No, you were right the first time. The LNs are indeed explicit, and they say the exact opposite.

Then I take back my apology. I've had a long few days with family stuff, and I'm not sure what's what tonight.