I think it’s pretty obvious that this is no murder of the week subplot, but the canon mystery of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. It’s the MacGuffin of this part of the series at the very least. And it’s an interesting one, no question about it. We have had some of our questions answered here, but by no means all of them. If Kusuriya chooses a traditional two-cour “mini-finale”, I expect we’ll get some sort of resolution next week that will leave the biggest questions for later in the series (and based on sales, these two cours are only the beginning as far as the anime is concerned).
I thought I had this puzzle more or less figured out, but my theory is wrong on at least one part – we’re one baby short. I figured the two infants were swapped (that did happen, almost surely). But my guess was that one of them was actually the Emperor’s son (with Ah-duo) and grew up as his brother, and that the other was his actual brother and was falsely declared dead but grew up to be Jinshi. If Maomao’s “fanciful” theory (which I suspect she actually believes to be true) is correct, I was right about the first part but wrong about the second. But that leaves a glaring question – why does Jinshi look so much like Ah-Duo? And why is he so distraught that she’s leaving the Rear Palace?
That’s not by any means the only remaining mystery of course. It does appear that Luomen (still undetermined whether he’s Maomao’s real pops) was the fall guy for the death of one of the babies. The implication could be drawn that Maomao being kidnapped and taken to the Rear Palace is no coincidence, then – though that’s still inference at this point. Her having a seeming connection with Fengming circumstantially supports that hypothesis. But the limbs start getting pretty thin when you make this many assumptions, so it’s wait and see time for all that.
Fengming is certainly a crucial figure in all this. She’s fiercely loyal to Ah-Duo, a trait seemingly engendered in many by that woman. She inadvertently caused the death of the baby Ah-Duo was caring for by giving him honey (and a poison nectar may be involved too). Her endless grief over this could mean that she didn’t know about the switch, or simply that Ah-Duo came to love this baby as her own and Fengming is distraught over causing her mistress such sadness. She took pains to cover up her involvement but that was brought into peril when Lishu arrived and started talking about her own near-death honey incident.
I think Fengming being that worried about this particular threat is a bit of a stretch, but I could certainly see Lishu’s threat to Ah-Duo’s status worrying her. The ironic part of all this is that Ah-Duo and Lishu developed a close relationship – a woman who lost her child (twice) and a child ripped from her parents’ arms. This probably irked Fengming too. One servant already committed suicide (remember that unresolved case?) to try and deflect suspicion from Ah-Duo, and now it falls on Fengming to take the fall – after Maomao makes it clear that she’s puzzled out most of what happened.
Maomao was smart enough at least to try and protect herself with a “stab-proof vest” when she confronted Fengming, but that was a very risky move. What stands out to me about this interaction is that once again, we see that The Apothecary Diaries – and Maomao – have a very consequentialist moral compass. Maomao is quick to appoint herself judge and jury – she’ll fudge the facts and cover up whatever she decides is best based on her perceived proper outcome. As a result crimes often go unpunished in this series. That’s obviously not the case here – Fengming was executed for her attempt on Lishu’s life, but Maomao unilaterally decided to let her cover up her role in the baby’s (whichever one it was) passing.
That’s an interesting sort of heroine, to be sure. One can convincingly argue she was right in this case – Fengming was dangerous and needed to be neutralized, and nothing would be gained by revealing what was a totally involuntary tragedy with the baby except tarnishing her relationship with Ah-Duo. But is Maomao – smart but very young – always going to make the right call? She’s rather arrogant about this to be honest, but again, that’s interesting. As is Ah-Duo, obviously a strong and caring women much loved by everyone from the Emperor on-down. But a concubine who can’t have children is a luxury an Emperor can’t afford, and it was bound to come to this sooner or later.
As for Jinshi, he has a lot of ground to make up for after that honey-licking ugliness but he’s obviously an important figure in the fabric of the story. Ah-Duo drinking him under the table and then going off and drinking with Maomao is very amusing, but Jinshi as a morose drunk is more pathetic than anything. More than anyone else his true identity and true place in the tangle of relationships in the Rear Palace remain a puzzle.
Nellie
December 17, 2023 at 1:49 pmThere were two errors in the subtitles this week. A friend helped put it together.
The mother of the current emperor and his younger brother is referred to as “Empress Dowager” by staff at the time the babies of interest were born and as “then-empress dowager” by Maomao in her speculation. We know the boys were born 17 years before the story, and the current emperor’s father and immediate predecessor lived long enough that he could take Lishu in as consort 5 years before the start of the story. At the time of the babies’ birth, she would’ve been simply Empress- not Empress Dowager, as the previous emperor was still alive and reigning.
My friend said that in both instances the audio used the Japanese word for “empress” (Kougou) and and not “empress dowager” (koutaigou).
And now onto my interpretation of week’s bombshell: Maomao’s speculation about the swap. If her theory is correct, and we’re all on the money about Jinshi being Ah Duo’s son (and this episode unsubtly added fuel to the fire in that regard), than Jinshi’s the current emperor’s oldest son posing as his younger brother. Does he know? I saw some people saying yes, 1)because he would’ve have noticed the resemblance and 2)because of the scene in which he got teary with Maomao while drunk.
I don’t necessarily agree- I think it’s possible he’s clueless to the swap and he got sentimental with Maomao because he respected Ah Duo as the emperor’s first consort and as a person (he did get invited to have drinks with her, which would indicate they’re on good terms), not as his mother. He could’ve brushed off any resemblance to her as mere coincidence. And considering the servants seem to believe the emperor’s younger brother still alive (which would logically extend to them thinking the emperor’s oldest child is dead)- it might be better for peace within the palace if he didn’t know. I dunno- I get the impression that Jinshi’s being deliberately written as a childish (and sometimes unpleasantly so) character despite his age and position (see the honey stunt last episode and Gaoshun telling Maomao he meant it as a prank, and a previous mention about “his toys”)- and “I’m the emperor’s son posing as the emperor’s brother posing as a eunuch” seems a much weightier secret than “I’m the emperor’s brother posing as a eunuch.” I don’t think he’d keep quiet about it. Speaking of- we still don’t know why he’s pretending to be a eunuch.
Maomao’s speculation is premised on the fact that Ah Duo knew- does she really? I think it’s likely. Does the current emperor know? That question technically remains unanswered- though I hope he does. If swap was indeed found out later, I can’t imagine him not knowing- it’s HIS son and HIS brother, after all. There’s enough potential drama already- if he didn’t know things would become infinitely more convoluted.
I hope I made sense, lol. This episode was crazy, and I (and other anime-only noobs) went crazy with the speculation in return.
I don’t think we’ll be getting definite answers soon, though. This feels like the sort of climactic thing the author would resolve fully near the end of the story, and the LN series is still ongoing at 14 volumes.
Dove
December 17, 2023 at 3:15 pmI came by to point out the translation error, but you’ve beaten me to the punch.
As for the rest of your wall of text… I too, freaked out when I got to this part in the original LN. The adaptation of the first volume should conclude next week.
Panino Manino
December 18, 2023 at 12:10 amWhat seemed obvious was really true, Jinshi is Ah-Duo’s son.
About the details… it’s all interesting enough but again, Xiaomao just knows too much in too many details, Fengming even points that.
I feel that this series that the easy way to tell it’s story.
Nicc
December 18, 2023 at 3:33 pmThere was certainly a lot to unwrap in this episode. This is one of those episodes that I should have probably watched at least one more time before writing, but I’ll try to recall it from watching once.
Maomao personally confronts Fengming about what she knows, and it seems that she’s pretty much right on the money. The difficult labor that cost Ah Duo her ability to have children again, the death of the baby, the aftermath which included Luomen as the fall guy (If he was a eunuch at the palace, then who is Maomao’s biological father and why did Luomen adopt her?). Fengming has been carrying this guilt about being responsible for what happened to Ah Duo during her labor and then when the baby died under her care. It turns out it was honey, which is what nearly killed an infant Lishu, but Fengming only learned after the fact. Speaking of Lishu, she really did treat Ah Duo like some kind of surrogate mother and for both stints of palace life. It looked like Fengming might want to do something to Maomao (The camera kept on showing the cleaver), but instead it appears that she’s ready to turn herself in. Fengming is fully aware there’s no way to escape death for this, but Maomao gave Fengming a way obscure her role in the baby’s death. Maomao keeps everything else to herself, including when Jinshi asked her about it.
Ah Duo is still leaving the rear palace and that cleaning up that Maomao participated in was just a pretext to that as she’s to be leaving before Lunar New Year. She certainly has loyal servants as two of them gave up their lives for her. Otherwise, we don’t see that much of her in this arc. The nighttime conversation on the top of the walls is their only face-to-face conversation, which even that was a case of being in the right place at the right time (Or wrong, from Maomao’s perspective). As she makes her way down from the wall, she meets with Jinshi, who’s the weepy-drunk type. He was having some drinks with Ah Duo earlier that night and then got kicked out. The next morning, Ah Duo officially leaves the rear palace and will now be staying at a different one. She gives up her title as the “Pure Consort” and we’ll have a new Big Four. Lishu runs over to say goodbye and then Maomao starts putting together her theory about a baby swap. Things were already complicated enough with the former Emperor and now this. Maybe this will become clearer in the remaining episodes.