THAT SLAP WAS SAVAGE! | The Apothecary Diaries Episode 4 Reaction

[@saitouyakumo8959]

hi.! a new sub here, i love your reaction to this show so much. just want to clarify, when Maomao put the flower with message about the poison powder in episode 1, it was Lady Lihua's lady in waiting that throw it out, not Lady Lihua. And when Lady Gyokuyou tried to tell Lady Lihua, i think she was in grief and so devastated by her baby being sick that she refused to listen because 1) Lady Gyokuyou is her political rival 2)since her baby was a boy while Lady Gyokuyou's was a girl, she thought Gyokuyou was lying to her due to baby boy got more priority in ascending the throne than baby girl

[@GreySeashell-j3m]

13:19 They didn't. The _nurse_ and mother wears them. Make up, esp powder, can have fallouts and can enter a babies' mouth.

[@Le7emeChat]

Another commentor gave an explaination on another reactor channel. I copy it here for you. (Credit to @jakeDgirl) The Emperor ordered Maomao to cure Lady Lihua in front of Lady Gyokuyou as a political move. It's been mentioned a couple of times now that Lady Gyokuyou is the emperor's current favored concubine. Especially since Gyokuyou's child is the only baby alive. Lady Lihua is also very sick and unable to serve the emperor with nightly duties. So obviously the entire rear palace and all political factions can feel that Lady Gyokuyou has monopoly of the emperor's affections right now. By appearing that he cares for Lady Lihua right in front of Lady Gyokuyou, the emperor is subtly giving Lady Gyokuyou a message that she is still a mere concubine, and the emperor has not decided to make her empress yet. "So stay in line, don't let the current situation rush to your head." Using Maomao, Lady Gyokuyou's servant, is also another political move. For sure, the emperor has other imperial doctors, and yet he chose someone from Lady Gyokuyou's faction to save her political rival. If Maomao succeeds, Lady Gyokuyou might be rewarded, but not much. And the harem power will be balanced again. But if Maomao fails & Lady Lihua dies, the emperor won't allow Lady Gyokuyou to have all the power in the harem. It could be spun that Lady Gyokuyou ordered Maomao to let Lady Lihua die. Thus, Lady Gyokuyou will lose power in the harem, and her family and her homeland/vassal state's power would suffer consequences. The rivalry between Lady Gyokuyou and Lady Lihua makes it difficult for Maomao to tattle. Her direct superior is Lady Gyokuyou. If Maomao tattles to Lady Gyokuyou, then if Lady Gyokuyou takes Maomao's side and tattles to the emperor, Lady Gyokuyou will be viewed as meddling with her rival concubine's people. Maomao doesn't ask help from Jinshi because: 1) she's already distrustful towards him & she questions his motives for roping her inside the rear palace 2) Jinshi's power in the rear palace is weird. As a mere eunuch, he should be lower than a high rank concubine. But because he is directed by the emperor, the concubines can't just dismiss him. So there is also a weird power balance between Jinshi & the concubines. Jinshi isn't allowed to give benefits to 1 concubine over the other. So Maomao can't ask him to meddle in-between Lady Gyokuyou vs Lady Lihua factions. But if Jinshi offers help himself, that's another story. 3) In the previous episode, Maomao already deduced that Jinshi's official status is a eunuch tasked to be the harem manager, but is actually hiding his real status which might be close to the emperor. Asking help from Jinshi might open a can of worms & attention she can't anticipate. The Emperor may have ordered Maomao, but it's Maomao's responsibility in the end. That's what royalty means. The emperor will absolutely stand by and watch Maomao fail just to balance out the power in the harem.

[@sweetpixiesmile]

Jinshi is the current Head Eunuch, so he has position and authority in addition to his looks. Given Maomao's experience with affection and emotion, especially where the opposite sex is involved, it's undersatndable that she may interpret romantic interest as fear or disgust. Whatever her true feelings, Jinshi always elicits an extreme reaction from Maomao.

[@neretilderem7029]

Chewing on the ice-cream sticks?!? The hair stands up on my back just from my tongue touching it

[@ChillihNesa]

RIGHT !!!!!!!!!!

[@janewow77]

- When you are in rear palace, it's not easy to trust people. Yes, Gyokuyou did warn her but in that situation, it won't be easy to trust Gyokuyou esp knowing it's from your own rival who competes for emperor's love, emperor only visits these two concubines currently. Lihua did not get Mao Mao's warning in ep 1 because her lady-in-waiting threw it out of window. Her child got sick, she was sick....it is easier to be not in the right mind to listen to a warning from someone like Gyokuyou, adding with the symptoms of the lead powder can be like headache, weight loss, insomnia, depression, etc [thus, Lihua's aggressive reactions for Gyokuyou in ep 1]. Adding with all superstition things people believe in that era, she can even believe in curses, etc. Once she's in the right mind, she did feel guilty for ignoring the warnings. - More than rival for emperor's love, concubines can also represent their families for political reasons. With rivalry and politics involved, it is not easy to trust outsiders esp like Mao Mao who serves Gyokuyou, Lihua's direct rival. If we don't know Mao Mao at all, we may assume like "what if Mao Mao attempts to poison or do something bad to Lihua with order from Gyokuyou?", Mao Mao may have emperor's order but she can use that chance to do something bad to Lihua - if we don't know Mao Mao. - Instead of Lihua, I have no sympathy for her incompetent ladies-in-waiting. The ladies-in-waiting are ignorant and fool indeed. They already banned the powder for being poisonous but the ladies-in-waiting still kept it hidden and used it on their master. [Assumption, maybe they think it's political thing from someone in the rear palace so that they won't have access to the powder or something, ignorant for their part]. - The powder was not on the child. Lihua used it, maybe her ladies-in-waiting used it as well. Gyokuyou's child's symptoms were mild because Gyokuyou herself did not use the powder because she already have fair-skinned, her baby's nurse used the powder but not on her baby. Indirect contact with the nurse got Gyokuyou and her baby the symptoms but it's worse for Lihua who used it herself. - Life in the inner palace is hard indeed esp for lower status ones. If something happened and Mao Mao couldn't cure Lihua, like it or not, it will be Mao Mao's fault. Even the eunuch who failed to find the powder got punished. How little higher rank ones think of the lower rank ones. Even smallest mistake can make one got punished, sometimes even when one has no mistake, they could put the blame on her/him. That's why Mao Mao has been extra careful not to get involved much and stay low as much as possible but sometimes her curiosity beats her😂

[@calronkeltaran493]

the powder prob wasn't on the child, but it was still everywhere else. the mother used it and most likely some of the ladies in waiting as well. infants are very subceptible to illness and other outside threats so the poison didn't take long to affect the baby. they ignored the warning maomao left, so the baby died. a bit later, the powder was banned but one of the ladies hid the powder so her mistress would have an advantage in beauty and it was only used for her. this worsened her condition even more

[@Nichols_Santa]

Not to mention that babies touch everything and put things in their mouths incessantly. My kids touched my face all the time and I would kiss them and make noises at them and there was near constant contact. If she was also nursing, then the amount of powder exposure would be much higher. Many heavy metals used for whitening can be sweet to the taste. This is why Lead was banned in paint cause toddlers would eat paint chips and teeth on painted furniture preferentially because it was sweet. So, it is no surprise that a baby that found out that touching the mom's face made their fingers taste good would do it over and over again.

[@Taneth]

The powder was used by the wetnurse who was feeding the baby. At least on Gyokuyou's side. Remember that she was taken ill as well, but she was only given time off rather than a visit from the physician.

[@GreySeashell-j3m]

13:37 Her free "staff" is limited to Linghua's ladies in waiting. Idk how well to explain it, but basically she's in charge of the operation, but that was the only order the emperor gave, it didn't exactly obligate the maids to listen (bc they have misplaced prides and not enough tact so this is their belief), nor did it mean the whole palace is under her command. The cooks, of course, listened - probably bc they're sensible. And the making of the sauna was under Jinshi's order (or else it would've never happened). So she doesn't have as much power just bc the emperor ordered her as you believe. She _is_ the primary worker. Taking care of Linghua with her own hands is her job. And would you really trust those ladies for any laborious task? lol. Maomao trusts herself more (esp since the sauna is a pretty new thing in the inside palace, she doesn't know if other people there knows how to regulate the right temp).

[@Le7emeChat]

Remember most courtisan are noble ladies of status. Their ladies in waiting are usualy a mix of friends, family friends, family servant and, often, daughter of nobles of lower stature vassal to them. Other than being thought by family servant (sometime), those daughter can realy lack 'common people common sense' and 'practical knowledge' about thing servant would do for them before they became Ladies-in-waiting.

[@grimmturd]

MaoMao takin' charge is the best!

[@ChillihNesa]

absolute boss

[@DesertHomesteader]

They didn't put powder on the baby. The baby's wet nurse was using it and it got into the baby's mouth while nursing.

[@mendiganina6001]

I don't chew the sticks, but I usually keep it in my mouth for a while. I love the texture of it. I do chew on lollipop sticks though!

[@TrueThanny]

17:54 As with most things sexual outside the banal, the Japanese have a name for the technique in question - paizuri.

[@GreySeashell-j3m]

4:23 I wouldn't say they're jealous lmao. What would they be jealous about? In their eyes she's less then them in every way. It's just basic hazing and superiority complex.

[@clowtears1898]

Burning someone alive? Dude always thinks the worst case scenarios.

[@pirate6487]

Hell yeah I chew popsicles, straws etc.

[@luigimanzelli3786]

ye Lihua is not getting any simpathy from me, Gyokuyo warned her, and she treated her like crap, and as a result of her arrogance and foolishness her child died, if anything i feel bad for the child, she should not bear another one, killing one is enough already. Maomao was awesome in this one tho, love her.

[@Omichok]

This anime reminds me of series for our moms from 90s, about poor girl some kind of cinderella. cliche after cliche, uninteresting predictable story, boring riddles that Maomao solves every episode like in Scooby Doo, and stupid cliffhangers at the end of every episode. I'm on episode 15, is it worth watching further? (question for subscribers) Apart from some comical scenes, I haven't seen anything good so far.

[@starrymoon194]

You should continue watching! The mysteries from the episodes you’ve already watched are an over arching plot that later connects in episode 19.

[@yucinalo]

I think this series is great from start to finish, among the top 3 of 2023 for me. So since you're at episode 15 and still find it boring, then just cut your losses and drop it, because it doesn't "get good" - it's good throughout.

[@Tyarrk]

Just drop it. If the story hasn´t caught you so far, it´s obviously not your cup of tea. And that won´t change even when the larger arc comes forth later on. Don´t waste your time on something you can´t enjoy.

[@rusenakman]

This is a perfect series to me (and obviously most of the people if you look at the ratings), not a single episode or scene that I find boring. So this type of shows clearly not for you. Don't continue watching it