reluctantlyback

[reluctantlyback]

JINSHI (壬氏)

THE APOTHECARY DIARIES ⋆ 薬屋のひとりごと (2025)

#31. the shrine of choosing ⋆ 選択の廟

[reluctantlyback]

i love being dead and dying

[reluctantlyback]

I'm having a thought about Lakan's visits to Jinshi in Season 1. This isn't a head canon, more just brainstorming, if that makes sense. I haven't seen others talk about what I'm pondering, but that doesn't mean they haven't, so apologies if you've read all this before.

Lakan hears Maomao's contract was bought out by Jinshi & she's now living in his house & "working" for him. During the game at the garden party he is genuinely surprised to find that Maomao actually works for Jinshi, so I think he thought that was just a cover up until that point. Anyway, Lakan knows that buying out a contract, the way Jinshi did, can mean marriage is the intention. After all, that's what Lakan would've done if he'd been able to buy out Fengxian's contract years earlier. Plus, he's had to have heard about Jinshi giving Maomao his hairpin, and it's obvious to anyone with eyes and half a brain Jinshi is very much head over heels for Maomao.

Lakan's visits to Jinshi are presented as being about Lakan trying to get Maomao back. After all, he's spent nearly her entire life trying to do so from the Verdigris House. He knows the truth about who Jinshi actually is, & he knows getting Maomao back from the man is going to be incredibly difficult.

I'm wondering if he has a secondary reason for the visits. Namely, to judge Jinshi's character & decide if the man is worthy of marrying Maomao. I don't know if securing the father's blessing is necessary in their culture, but if it is, it would make sense that Lakan would want to get a read on Jinshi. Mostly because he doesn't want Maomao to be with someone who won't be good to her/love her, but also since he knows what Jinshi aligning himself with the La Clan would mean. Jinshi makes it clear that he's always avoided Lakan, so the man hasn't had a chance to really get a sense of who Jinshi is before this point.

[reluctantlyback]

cherry blossoms in central park

[reluctantlyback]

THE APOTHECARY DIARIES SEASON 2 (EP. 16)

>> anime spoilers below

while there are other more definitive ways to discern them, how maomao treats luomen and lakan tells us a lot about her values.

at this point in the story, maomao has the most respect and admiration for luomen, something she's made very clear since the very beginning. he's intelligent and skillful, capable of finding a solution even with the fewest of clues. in this episode specifically, she praises his resourcefulness and how he makes the best use of the limited resources he has, calling it a merchant's sense. she's even confident that, if it weren't for his lack of ambition, he would've been renowned as one of the best doctors in the empire.

but who else is extremely intelligent, is also very good at making use of his resources, and has shown he has the drive to achieve his goals and to make a name for himself due to his talents?

this guy.

on paper, lakan should've been just as (if not more) respected and admired by maomao, but he isn't. she hates him, wants nothing to do with him, going so far as to publicly denounce having any sort of relationship with him. and a large part of that is because she recognizes and feels very strongly for what makes these two talented men different. because where luomen moves to help others even at his own expense, lakan only moves to serve himself, even if his inaction incurs a cost to others. because while maomao acknowledges and admires intellect and skill, she respects those who use their abilities to help (or at least, to avoid knowingly harming) others, especially when they're working in a system where being self-serving really would be easier. it's consistent with her feelings towards people like gyokuyou, hongniang, and even the empress dowager, who are all painted as people maomao holds some level of admiration for. (suirei is an exception tho, and i'd like to chew more on why that could be, apart from the obvious.)

something i'm thinking about tho: because luomen and jinshi (at least, to some extent as depicted in the manga and anime so far) feel very much like people who embody the idea that "to do good work is to do good", i wonder how much that attitude of luomen's shaped her own values and if that's something that also endears her to jinshi. (the glimpses i've seen of the LNs lowkey persuade me to think that it does, but i don't want to draw hard conclusions for myself until i've read them.)

[reluctantlyback]

How to please your boyfriend: 1. lend him your coat, 2. kiss him senseless 

[reluctantlyback]

Rewatching Apothecary Diaries and remembering how much I love these dorks

[reluctantlyback]

[reluctantlyback]

Lakan truly is one of the wife guys of all time. He goes from saying how his team interrogated a man so harshly that he can't speak anymore and then immediately goes on to "Look at this game of Go I played with my WIFE! My WIFE is so smart! I love my WIFE so much!"

[reluctantlyback]

[reluctantlyback]

One thing I find facinating about Lakan in this latest episode is just how cunning you can see he is. (and just how much he and Maomao are alike. This latest episode really showed how much she is her parents child)

First, and probably most apparent, he doesn't directly accuse Shishou of having anything to do with the guns involved in the assassination attempt on Jinshi, but we as an audience know exactly what he's getting at. (and Shishou does too, probably)

But then what does he do? He calls the next thing he talks about the "main topic" and what is said topic?

The game he played with his wife.

And he's so ridiculously and genuienly enthused about that you can't help but be taken in. But you know what else it was, besides a chance to talk about his wife?

A diversion.

Add in the green grape juice that Shishou doesn't comment on, but is obvious to everyone, and you have a situation in which Lakan, by sheer eccentricity, can distract from letting on just how sharp he really is and what he's figured out. It trivializes what he was asking before that.

It's hard to say how smart Shishou is (though he's obviously not stupid) but either way, if he took Lakan at face value (like Lakan wanted him too) its doubtful he'd give Lakans inquiry about the guns anymore though than he already has. Makes it seem (to Shishou) much more like something Lakans inquiring about because he has too, not because he's actually on to something.

Edit: and another thing is, by the end of their meeting, you kinda get the sense Shishou isn't taking Lakan that seriously, which is exactly what Lakan wants

[reluctantlyback]

A while ago it was a trend to draw this screencap of Tamaki. I wanted to join in 🤧💖

I finally touched my busted computer again, it has been not working as well and part of the touch screen is broken. I love paint tool Sai 2 but using my computer is a hassle 😭. Where can o petition to get an app for Sai.

[reluctantlyback]

i think it's rare and precious that maomao is an inquisitive character who will go to great lengths to uncover the truth, but who can recognize when knowledge is a curse and that there are things she is better off not knowing

[reluctantlyback]

[reluctantlyback]

ahem, meowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeow

[reluctantlyback]

Full pair

[reluctantlyback]

maomao my luv