The Apothecary Diaries

Episode 12

If there's one thing you can say about Jinshi, it's that he tries. Sometimes he tries to drive Maomao mad, sure, but this week when push came to shove, he honestly tried to do the right thing—and that, he thought, was ignoring his own feelings and letting Maomao go home. Given how depressed the very thought made him (and then that the actual fact made him), that's impressive. He had no way of knowing that Maomao, who declined to be as clear as she ought to have been, would rather stay due to her fears of being forced into sex work by the madam of Verdigris House.

Given this, it's understandable that when he sees her at a party working as a courtesan he freaks right out. Although Maomao acerbically notes that he seems to take any occasion to doubt her chastity, I'd say he's genuinely horrified to see her there, as if his actions in removing her from the inner court brought her to this new low. Maomao may reassure him, but the sight of him charging back into Verdigris House at the end with what I assume to be her purchase price (the money she borrowed from Madam, most likely) and a nice bribe for Maomao herself indicates that he's decided that he's going to “save” her. Does this cast doubt on whether or not he's really a eunuch? Maybe. But more than that it, along with his deep blue funk earlier, let us know what Gaoshun has only just figured out: Maomao is more than just a “convenient pawn” or a “toy” for Jinshi.

Both Gaoshun and Jinshi are impressively quick to act once they've settled on a course. It doesn't take Gaoshun long to realize that he needs to put Maomao in Jinshi's way again after she left—and Jinshi probably doesn't take much longer to gather up his funds and bribes and head on out to Verdigris House. That makes for an interesting contrast with Maomao herself. While she rarely holds back when she's settled on an idea, she's also much more laid back in general. She follows her whims, but she also is very much aware of when it would be better to use a subtle approach, or even when to just hold back and do nothing.

Jinshi, once he thinks he needs to save her, wastes no time. Is this a nod to his status as opposed to hers? Possibly; it could also simply be a commentary on the gender norms of their world or their varied life experiences. It looks like Maomao won't have much choice but to go with Jinshi in episode thirteen, but since she doesn't believe he can participate in, shall we say, traditional sex work activities, she may not see it as a concern. At least her father will know where she is this time.

As to why Maomao has to leave the inner court at all, that comes down to the made-up family the kidnappers gave her. After Fengming's execution, a full eighty women in the inner palace who had purported ties to her had to be let go, and Maomao's assumed family of origin worked for Fengming's family. These numbers should probably give us all pause—if eighty out of two thousand women reportedly had business ties to Fengming's family and we know that Maomao was kidnapped and given falsified records, that could indicate that Fengming's family is somehow complicit in the kidnappings. While it's possible that they just have a lot of business associates, the numbers still seem high (as Jinshi himself notes)—and when we add in Fengming's words last week about how she entered the inner palace at her family's behest, we should probably wonder about what political intrigues are in play.

One chapter of Maomao's story seems to have closed, the one analogous with volume one of the light novels. Jinshi is set to make sure that he's part of the next chapter (that indirect lipstick kiss!), and given her lessened reaction to him at the party compared to usual, she may be getting used to the idea. Either way, mysteries and questions are sure to find her, and we should all be glad that the adaptation is continuing in January.

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The Apothecary Diaries is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.