The Apothecary Diaries Ep 13

Maomao is sure loved by Verdigris family. They are such an endearing and hilarious bunch to her (being sure to pretty her up for her departure that left Jinshi speechless), and freaking Granny, who tells her to find rich customers before she heads out!

Though of the lot of her Verdigri sisters, I almost consider Meimei more like a mom to her than anything else. The way she was scolding her about how she needs to look appropriate for the job, and making her carry all of that back home again only to not really bring it along with her. The two things Maomao really wanted to bring her freaking Mortar and Pestle and but even her dad was like, “Maomao, no.” Go figure, she’s not a doctor. Until she has gained some rep and trust in the Outer Court, it would be a bad idea to bring something that could potentially frame her as someone trying to kill someone with the poison and stuff she’s brewing hahahaha.

Now Maomao is back at the palace again, this time working under Jinshi in the Inner Courts. Initially, Maomao was under the impression she would be returning to the Inner Courts, so she was quite surprised to hear that she could not because once someone’s fired from there, they can’t go back, (go figure for security reasons). Instead she would be working in the Outer Court. Another thing she did not anticipate was that Jinshi had planned for her to take and pass the Court Lady examination but… well… unfortunately that didn’t go according to plan. Maomao may be a very bright girl, but they largely over-estimated her attention span when it comes down to textbook studies. So as you can imagine, because it had absolutely nothing to do with herbs and poisons, nothing got retained in Maomao’s head, thus she failed. Whelp. So much for their all-nighters studying eh? I understand that pain so well. Poor Maomao looked like she was going to faint from sleep deprivation. Since she failed, despite Jinshi’s hopes to have her assigned in a more significant role to formally serve as his aid, she will merely work as his servant– something Suiren (his Jinshi’s attendant) will certainly welcome by having an extra pair of hands to help her around.

Needless to say, under Jinshi definitely comes with its perks, as such she now has the freedom to go back home to visit her dad and has a comfy room, to which he even asked her if she needed a new one if she wasn’t satisfied with the one she had. Maomao almost indulged in that offer until she saw Gaoshun begging her no to say anything.

At Jinshi’s house, the only servants who works/has access there are Gaoshun and Suiren. Given Jinshi’s popularity with the ladies, as one would expect: It’s almost impossible to hire any personal servants to attend him. They simply cannot be trusted, and one of the worst cases involved one putting an underwear sewed together with their hair— DISGUSTING. Talk about traumatic. Thankfully Maomao isn’t one of those crazies— though one may beg to differ if they knew she had compared Jinshi’s morning state made her think his beauty attracts people like an insect in mating season and became inspired by the idea of collecting his scent and sell it as an aphrodisiacs. MAOMAO NO!

Unlike the Inner Courts, there’s not a lot of medical herbs so when Maomao did see a bunch, as you can expect she went crazy about it until she got scolded by one of the Court Ladies (the tall one that was a quiet observer during the  jealousy court ladies fiasco about Maomao serving Jinshi– which, she naturally handled like a champ). One of the first things Maomao picked up after her was the smell of sandalwood and another bitter smell she couldn’t put a name on at the time. That’s enough to catch her attention, especially since one isn’t supposed to be handling this kind of stuff in the Outer Court unless they worked as a doctor. Suspicious indeed…

And finally last but not least: In the beginning of the episode, they lightly touched upon the fact the things Jinshi truly desires has always been out of reach. That’s why (contrary to Maomao’s initial impressions) he’s a busy person who’s working hard so that he would be able to choose his own path. But as someone who was born with ordinary intellect and physical prowess, the one thing he does have is his unparalleled beauty. It is his most reliable weapon, and uses it at every opportunity he sees fit. Nevertheless, given that it further explains why he had such high hopes for Maomao to work as a court lady.

Next time, we’re back to the mystery game and the new consort has finally arrived.

PS: Gorgeous new OP Theme and ED Themes! 😀 I really love the OP in particular with the little details of what’s to come, it was put together so beautifully!