The Apothecary Diaries Discussion

Ahh, so he is chemically castrated. Needs to take regular weiner poison. Gotta keep the Jinshi x Maomao ship open.

I still think this entire evil plan is too far fetched. It requires too many things to go right.

I only just learned that Mao is Chinese for cat so her nickname is literally Cat Cat. Hence the cat ears. How I did not notice that sooner I don't know.

Well that was too short. Seemed like they were a little too unconcerned with the plot and murders that happened during it and were too quick to dismiss Surei as behind it all when she obviously had to have help.
And Jinshi sure is still muscular and ripped for taking something that is suppressing his maleness. o_0 Playing the role of a eunuch, he can seemingly end whenever he wants. What I don't get is he was switched at birth right? So he is the current emperor's half brother or son? I kind of last track. I know he's the one concubine's son but got switched with the dead one who her maid fed honey to and accidentally killed.
Obviously it's a romance (eventually?) between Maomao and Jinshi but there also seems to be some other future plot that the groundwork is being laid for (just like the current one) can't figure out what it would be though it's obvious someone wants Jinshi dead for some reason. Weird they were'n't even speculating why someone would try to kill him and what they would gain, unless they already know. (though it would have been nice for the audience).

@runec

Ha you youngsters, all I had was soft core Cinemax. I guess I could have snuck my dad's vhs tapes but never had the guts to try. Do still remember the early internet days though, nothing worse than being able to dowwnload parts 1/3 and 2/3 but not being able to find file 3/3 to complete the pic/video on the old news groups lol.

Try scrambled "Spice" channel that every once in a while you might catch a nipple ot bare butt

How many hints does Maomao need before she realizes that our boy is sweet on her. I mean she wakes up in his bed!

I think another factor is Maomao's strong desire to not get involved in anything troublesome.
She knows he's more important than he lets on, and she has decided she is better off not really knowing. I figure she is deliberately ignoring a lot of it

If the family of one of the other high ranking concubines knows, or at least thinks, that Jinshi is the emperor's son that could motivate them to want to get rid of him. He's basically in the way of them becoming related to the next emperor.

If she knows the sick woman is her mother, and I think she does, then she must at least suspect that Lakan is her father.

She's had a pretty bad impression of him since the beginning when she saw the way he uses his looks with the women in the rear palace. She basically thinks that just about anything nice he does for her is either to ingratiate himself to her or that it was Gaoshun's idea. On top of that she's always aware of the gap between her and anyone of a higher station and acts like they view her as simply a toy or a tool that they might throw away as soon as they get bored--especially the men. Probably in large part because of Lakan. I doubt its ever even occurred to her that someone like Jinshi could have genuine feelings for her.

Bah, what's up with the 5 minute episode. I thought we were going to get to see the fallout of Lakan seeing what happened to Maomao.

So there seemed to be a hint that maybe the targeting of Jinshi is some kind of revenge plot.

I also have to wonder if Suirei...

Does Jinshi really need to accept this guy's every random whim? Especially when it's ridiculous like this?

Controlling the humidity via sweat lodge would be really hard.

@runec and also considering Jinshi seems to outrank him?

Yeah I didn't really understand what Lakan was trying to accomplish by asking to see blue roses and Jinshi feeling the need humor his ridiculous request other than for the author to give Maomao another opportunity to show how clever she is, though at this point it seems like the author is more trying to show how clever they are.(I'd read about this way to make blue roses years ago when they finally genetically engineered a "real" blue rose) I mean we already get how smart Maomao is but realistically where would she have picked this knowledge up from, and if it was something well known enough (in reality it was probably known in China from this time) that she could how did no one at the palace where all the smartest and talented people live and work? Really hope this story isn't running out of steam. It almost seemed like after Maomao saved Jinshi the author got ahead of themselves and wanted a reset so started inserting filler instead of allowing the story to take it's natural course. Well hopefully Lkan gets taken care of this week (something that should have happened two episodes ago).

Turns out Lakan isn't the moustache twirling cad he's been made out to be. He just wasn't able to read between the lines and figure out Fungxshi... Fengxshway... Fengshoe... whatever her name is, was pregnant. Poor guy. Typical woman, hints at something and expects him to read her mind rather than telling him directly. ;p (that's only halfway a joke)

Love how Maomao outsmarted him. lol

So Maomao get her mom's looks, both her parents smarts, and, apparently, her father's inability to focus on things she's not interested in.

And who knew Moamao's dad was really her great uncle? Explains why he took her in.

From the story Lakan told before it sounded like the horizontal tango wasn't a part of her services before she got preggo. It was probably just coincidence that she got pregnant. Unless she set up the time of Lakan's visit to maximize their chances.

Yeah, the place is well-run now, but Verdigris House wasn't as reputable in the past.

So why the build up that Lakannis some evil dude when he really isn't (wait he did kill a bunch of people right or are we just supposed to tuink he did?) and does Mao mao not know the truth? If she does why does she hhate him? Why didn't he raise her?
As for tue courtesans, I think the high priced ones only entertain but can sleep with guys if they choose to. Maomao described how the one is insatiable around guys of her type. It's only the low value ones (like ones who get pregnant) who then have to work as straight up whores, which would imply they don't do anything to get pregnant. And as Maomao has demonstrated they are completely knoweldgeable about bedroom stuff so probably can do lots of things to avoid getting pregnant.

So why the build up that Lakannis some evil dude when he really isn't (wait he did kill a bunch of people right or are we just supposed to tuink he did?) and does Mao mao not know the truth? If she does why does she hhate him? Why didn't he raise her?
As for tue courtesans, I think the high priced ones only entertain but can sleep with guys if they choose to. Maomao described how the one is insatiable around guys of her type. It's only the low value ones (like ones who get pregnant) who then have to work as straight up whores, which would imply they don't do anything to get pregnant. And as Maomao has demonstrated they are completely knoweldgeable about bedroom stuff so probably can do lots of things to avoid getting pregnant.

Maybe he turned sour toward court politics after his father banished him just because of his uncle getting kicked out, and he in turn ruined a few careers in protest of the whole situation.

Maybe Maomao is mad he didn't stick up for himself when his dad sent him away and or her mom soured her on him before the syphilis ruined her mind. Or maybe she's mad that he stayed in the palace after palace politics screwed up their lives.

What about the severed fingers...Maomao has all of her fingers, so obviously the small one wasn't real.

@HOOfan_1 Not sure what's up with the finger either. If there was an important detail like that you would think it would have been foreshadowed long before this but far as I recall Maomao isn't even missing the tip of a finger let alone an entire finger.

@runec Fun fact: if the person is young enough, especially under two years of age, a fingertip can actually grow back.