Considering there’s a wannabe assassin roaming free at the rear palace, this was quite a calm and relaxed episode of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. Admittedly Jinshi is working long hours, but apart from that there are few overt signs of stress (never mind crisis). Heck, Maomao even takes advantage of the circumstances to finagle a homecoming trip (though she does contribute to the investigation first).
The headline of course: the freckles are back. I like Maomao better with them, shallow as that may be. And she’s showing no ill-effects from her near-ingestion of the poison, as much as her boss and co-workers try and baby her. In fact Gaushun shows up at Gyokuyou’s palace at Jinshi’s behest, bearing the poisoned soup. In addition to allergies, Maomao is also wise to fingerprinting – she really is ahead of her time. She speculates on who might have been responsible, and informs Gaushun of her belief that Lishu’s ladies-in-waiting are bullying her. It’ll be interesting to see if Jinshi chooses to take any action on that score (a case can be made that it’s none of his business, politically speaking).
At that, the focus turns to the aforementioned trip (a short one in terms of distance at least) home. Maomao has no idea of the myriad ways in which the hairpins are important, and one of them is that it means she can use the giver to escort her on a trip outside the palace. Personally I think she’s wrong in the assumption she makes about Jinshi, but Maomao chooses Lihaku as her target. I’d been under the impression he fell for her at the garden party, but his reaction when he realizes who’s sent him a meeting request suggests anything but. He also fails to recognize her when she appears sans her makeup but with her freckles, though he’s hardly alone in that.
Maomao proposes a simple quid pro quo – if he vouches for her, she’ll get him an invite to hang with one of the “three princesses” of Verdigris, the high-class brothel she worked so closely with. Lihaku is skeptical but recognizes this is a rare opportunity, and decides to chance it. A three-day visit is arranged, and off the pair of them go. Refreshingly, there are absolutely no signs either of them has the remotest interest in the other romantically – if that’s ever to be a complication, you’d never guess it by their interaction here.
Most of the intrigue here involves Maomao’s father (Yanaka Hiroshi), who’s extremely nonchalant when she strolls through the door. Especially considering Maomao openly suspected him of selling her off, she too is very nonchalant about this reunion. It’s all very pleasant but there’s obviously an undercurrent of something else here, and his comment about what a “twist of fate” it is that Maomao ended up at the rear palace is veritably fit to bursting with possible implications.
Ronbb
November 19, 2023 at 4:09 pmYeah, Maomao’s father acted weird, and I am curious about who Jinshi truly is. Why does he have a hairpin only the special individuals would have and why does he have to hide it?
leongsh
November 19, 2023 at 10:34 pmIt was made blatantly obvious who Jinshi is in the previous episode.
Nellie
November 19, 2023 at 4:12 pmSeeing Gyokuyou mess with Jinshi like that made me cackle. Poor sap- if anyone’s gonna be framed as Maomao’s (eventual) love interest, it’s him.
I couldn’t help thinking that Maomao’s father seemed old enough to be her granddad. Adopted, maybe? Or did he simply have her late in life? Something tells me it’s not a case of him merely looking older than his actual age.
Otsuka Takeo’s been having one heck of a breakout this year. Monogatari, Oshi no Ko (huge), AI no Idenshi, and Kusuriya (also huge). It seems like he went silent for years after starring in Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteru back in 2018, and then exploded. He’s shown impressive range, too, so I’m not complaining.
Guardian Enzo
November 19, 2023 at 4:23 pmAnd Medalist and Yubisaki coming up, too.
frubam
November 19, 2023 at 5:44 pmWhat makes you think Maomao’s dad tried to sell her off? I think if she actually had that feeling, I feel that given her character, they(the author) would have narrated her to say so. She also explains to him that her freckle makeup had worn off, and traffickers saw her as a good enough-looking girl to sell off, which is consistent with what she told Jinshi 2 episodes back(when he gave her the hairpin).
I also thought the inconsistency of Lihaku seemingly liking her or thinking she was cool in that one episode, but then seeing her as off-putting in the next didn’t make much sense to me. But I guess that’s fine; I’d rather not have any romantic interests for the main heroine right now. Jinshi as the char who’s interested in her and Gaoshun as a “role model” of sorts is sufficient enough. Save the political romances for later.
Guardian Enzo
November 19, 2023 at 5:47 pmDidn’t Maomao openly speculate about that in the first episode?
frubam
November 19, 2023 at 7:04 pmI see I see. Briefly skimming through the 1st ep, yes, she did make a comment that she could have been sold off. I’m not exactly sure what her father would have to gain from such an action; he seemed to be well acquainted with the proprietress of Verdigris House(which I’d assume is one of his bigger customers given its importance in the district) and, while I’m not at all familiar with the class structure of that era, judging from his home, he seems to be living well. While it is quite the coincidence he would mention kidnappings, then literally next scene, have kidnappers spot her, I feel it is just that; a coincidence… one that tends to happen at the beginning of series to start the real setting of the story. Nonetheless, I at least see where you got the idea from, and given the events in that ep, it does open the possibility to make sense.
tsirrus
November 20, 2023 at 1:15 amWhere was that comment?
I saw a comment that she was sold off, but I assume that it was referring to the kidnappers, not her father.
MFF
November 19, 2023 at 9:58 pmShe did sort of mention it here, but one of the reasons for the kidnappers spotting her in the first place was that her tattoos were fading.
(deleted)
Guardian Enzo
November 19, 2023 at 10:00 pmThat sure sounded like a spoiler.
Nicc
November 20, 2023 at 9:39 amIndeed, things at the palace seem rather normal and considering that there was an attempt to poison one of the Big Four concubines. Maomao doesn’t need a lot of time to recover from her poisoning and still wishes she could have had more of that soup. She thinks she’d has enough rest and so she decides to go back to work. Yep, the freckles are back and it’s a better look for her. And, it turns out that Gaushun did save some soup, but it’s not for her to drink. There might be clues on that bowl and she knows about dusting for fingerprints. She can tell that multiple people handled that bowl, which makes sense. One of them put in the poison and then it got swapped. We still don’t know who put in the poison and it’s possible that it could be from outside of the rear palace.
It’s thanks to Xiaolan that Maomao learns about how to make use of the hairpins she has received and decides she wants to head home for a bit after having a dream about her dad at the beginning of the episode. Singling out Lihaku is a good choice as she knows a good way to get him to agree to be an escort. It did indeed seem like he was showing interest in Maomao, but instead it looks like he got a bit weirded out from watching her enjoy the poison. If he agrees to escort her, she gets him a leg up with meeting one of the Three Princesses at the Verdigris House, which is the brothel that Maomao has been frequenting. Apparently, just to be able to get the services of one of the Princesses costs a year’s salary for somebody of Lihaku’s position. It’s an offer he can’t refuse…
So, she’s able to head home for three days, which apparently isn’t all that far from the rear palace. A carriage is arranged and the first stop is the red-light district where the Verdigris House is. The Madam “greets” Maomao for the first time in nearly a year (So, it’s been ten months already). At least Maomao brought in a new customer. Lihaku is going to spend some time with one of the Princesses who is named Pairin. She likes muscles and he’s got the guns. It sounds like they’re both going to have a good time.
In the meantime, Maomao heads home, which is on the other side of the tracks. Yep, dad doesn’t seem to react much when she strolls into the door. Indeed, I do remember that she speculated that dad may have sold her off. In any case, neither one tipped their hand and the reunion was treated like she was gone for a little while. She gave the skinny on palace life while dad quietly listened. We can tell how comfortable she is at her old home as she slept soundly on the floor with just a sheet. As others noted, he looks old enough to be her grandpa than her father and then there’s that comment about the “twist of fate”. I wonder if there’s more to that as the homecoming continues in the next episode.
Lurk-chan
November 22, 2023 at 12:39 pmNon-chalant you say…
Well, this is only my own experience speaking, but this is essentially how me and my own old man would have greeted each other, after not having seen each other for a long span of time.
“Hey, I’m back”
“Oh, welcome back, you were gone?”
It’s kind of one of those biblical lost son kind of deals, I guess, that no matter what might have happened in those last 10 months – it isn’t important anymore.
“You’re back home now, nothing’s changed, everything’s still the same as it was when you left, so you can feel at ease now.”
But yeah, that was a bittersweet scene for me, because I have lost my own father this year after not having seen him for a long time, so I might have seen this whole scene from another perspective.
Guardian Enzo
November 22, 2023 at 1:00 pmFirst of all, my condolences. I lost mine a few years ago and it’s not an easy thing.
As regards your comment, this would be my question. Would that still have been the greeting if your disappearance had been a complete surprise, with no warning that you were leaving and no communication during your absence?