aquietjune

And we're back for another week of The Apothecary Diaries! This is another episode of setup, and as many mysteries are starting to pop up in the rear palace, the story presented here doesn't really work as a standalone piece.

Still, many elements of note. This is the Maomao Sniffs Clothes Episode, after all:

Maomao sniffs clothes

My non-spoiler comment:

I'm enjoying the Xiaolan & Maomao scenes very much. Like it was when I read it (in the manga most recently), it's interesting how Maomao approaches her affection for others given her emotional baggage with love. But as she knows and rationally accepts sisterly love, she places herself in the "big sister role" in case of her relationship with Xiaolan; even so, however, the way she phrases it sounds distant, detached ("If I had a little sister she would be something like this creature"), while it's clear she enjoys that exchange.
Her "anomaly" at relationships pops up again not much later, when the Quack comments "I didn't know you had friends" when she brings Xiaolan and Shisui to the clinic. It's interesting there to see that she agrees, given that, in fact, all the relationships we've seen until now are all unbalanced in power: she has loved ones back home, but they're not peers (her adoptive father, the madam, the older sisters); she has employers and superiors who respect her and that she may admire for one reason or another, but are in another place in life and generally older (Gyokuyou, Lihua, Gaoshun). The other ladies-in-waiting are colleagues and while pleasant are not really clicking with her on a deeper level. Xiaolan is much younger (she should be around 14-15 here to Maomao's 18, and that is a big difference in age).

Of course that makes Shisui's entrance all the more exciting: a girl who looks around the same age and is very knowledgeable and very passionate about bugs? Sure it's not plants, but...
I did not mention Jinshi is in the list above, although technically he's in the "older employers" category, because despite all the denial on Maomao's part this is where she is confronted with her walls, since she's aware that in truth he's younger than he presents himself as, and hence closer in age to her, and despite all the miscommunication, there are moments where they connect - yet, the world goes against them, and the social class divide is too wide, the political secrets too dangerous, and she of course takes always several steps back because there cannot be any relationship. In doing so, somehow, she always ends up remarking about his eunuch status, who knows why >.> (the mind is an incredible thing)
Jinshi has problems of his own, the world keeps them apart and he's very aware of this (see this cour's ED), and yet he still searches for her, tries to have conversations, and gets annoyed when things do not go his way because he expects his wishes to be known without him saying them out loud.

How did you read the jasmine tea scene with Jinshi? (And following this chain of thoughts - does he have friends?)
Relationships (and romance) aside, another highlight of the episode is how Maomao sees herself as she takes the blame for not having noticed the signs of possible foul play against concubines earlier.

Of course, this is also her job, but I think this also speaks of her character: she remembers her dad warning her not to speak just on conjecture, but she wants to be on top of things, and this also brings back her jealousy of Lakan's intuition (if she was as "good" as him, then...)
I won't speak much of the mysteries because I'm a LN reader; however, I'll say that back when I first read it, I really liked Maomao noticing the clothing styles offered by the merchants and how suspicious it was.
I also enjoy how consistent is the writing with the characters, not just Maomao (who is the daughter of Luomen's as much as she is the "daughter" of the old madam's: she's so concerned with money, and this is something Jinshi will never understand), but also of other characters: Gyokuyou's group comes from the Western region of the empire, a place that is generally less affluent than the capital: we see how she cares about her place of origin, and we see she's generally more modest; Lihua, on the other hand, (this is not stated in the anime clearly I think? but it's not a spoiler) is distantly related to the emperor; this means she's not an "almost-foreigner" like Gyokuyou and being from a noble family (possibly from the capital itself?) makes her more liberal with her purchases, and her ladies-in-waiting, who probably have a similar upbringing and similar expectations, are the same (following trends and all).
Maomao misses the simple old times with her sisters even if it meant precious tea was something to drink in secret, when allowed: