Can We Talk About the Apothecary Diaries in Excruciating Detail? (S1 EP13)

[00:00:00]new setting, new faces, same probably neurodivergent Maomao. Welcome back to Can We Talk About The Apothecary Diaries In Excruciating Detail, the series where we overanalyze every single word, meaningful glance, and Imperial Decree that this story throws our way. My name is Yamna, my current hyperfixation is The Apothecary Diaries, and today we're going to be talking about season 1 episode 13, where Maomao has a new place of employment, and we also get some more insight on the inner workings of the outer court and Jinshi's residence. This episode opens with an interesting but also vague conversation between the emperor and Jinshi. Now, at this point in the story, the emperor has only made a handful of appearances. We have seen him interact with Gyokuyou and Maomao at the Jade Pavilion, and we also saw him seated at the garden party. Speaking of the garden party, Jinshi is wearing pretty much the exact same outfit here as he wore in that episode, which continues to state the obvious without explicitly stating the obvious, which is that he is somebody of quite notable rank in this world. And beyond the outfit, Jinshi also just seems quite at ease in this conversation, where there are obviously social proprieties that he is abiding by, but he doesn't seem to be nervous at all talking to a man whose word is the word of the heavens. He just seems a little more curious about what he is being asked to do during this conversation. Now, do we learn explicitly what the emperor wants Jinshi to do? No. Though I do think it might have something to do with Loulan because she gets introduced as the new pure consort in the next episode, but we do learn other things here that I think are quite important. The first being we get some reflections from Jinshi about his sense of self, where even though he comes across as being quite confident and flirty and suave, that he is actually quite insecure and feels like when it comes to smarts and physical prowess, he only slightly outperforms the average person, and that where he really and truly excels, the only place where he excels, is being good-looking.

[00:02:01]And these reflections are quite interesting when we are watching Jinshi as viewers, and we are seeing how he is very much able to hold his own with Ba Sen, who is a very prolific fighter, and how he is also smart enough to, one, catch Maomao in the first episode, even though her plan was pretty foolproof, and also just generally keep up with her and her train of thought, which is something that gets confirmed further later in the series where in light novel six, Maomao is trying to explain a revelation she is having to Lahan, and she notes in her internal dialogue that it would have taken Jinshi way less time and way less of an explanation to understand and start to follow her train of thought. And both of those things suggest, at least to me, that Jinshi is quite smart and quite capable. But, despite this, the only thing that Jinshi genuinely thinks that he excels at is his good looks, and he wields them as a tool in his work in the rear palace, which we've seen on a couple of occasions, like using them to take control of a situation and to get people to do what he wants in the case of Li Hua's attendants when they wouldn't let Maomao provide the concubine with care, and also how he serves as this test of loyalty to see if these women are able to control their attraction to him when they are not being visited by the emperor. In this conversation, we also start to get a sense of Jinshi's situation being a little bit precarious.

[00:03:17]As we see him think about how the thing that he truly wants is out of his reach, and that thing seems to be freedom and the ability to choose his own path. And we also start to get a sense that there is some kind of wager here between Jinshi and the emperor as he also thinks about how he needs to succeed in this role as manager of the rear palace in order to get a little bit closer to this thing that is currently very out of his reach. And I think along with giving us some more insight into who Jinshi is as a person, this interaction also sheds some light on why he likes Maomao as much as he does. As we've learned from this conversation and just seeing Jinshi throughout this season, he uses his looks as a tool. And people also respond to him in a particular way because of his looks. And so, it's this kind of cyclical loop that he is in, this kind of status quo that he is very comfortable with operating within. And then suddenly, here comes this random apothecary girl who is not only unmoved completely by him using his charms and his flirtations and his looks, she is also actively repulsed tries to do this with her. Which we see initially is this kind of breath of fresh air for him.

[00:04:25]It's a challenge, it's enrichment, if you will, [clears throat] and it's a break from this very monotonous status quo that he has become very accustomed to. Which is exciting, but along with that, I think that the story of how Maomao ended up in the rear palace is something that Jinshi could relate to.

[00:04:40]Not the specific circumstances, obviously, because as we've established, Jinshi is very much in a position of privilege. Being a member of the imperial family will give that to you, but I think he resonates with Maomao's experience of being trapped within a particular set of circumstances that are out of her control and that she can't escape. And where she has to use the smarts and resources that she has on hand in order to make this the most bearable experience possible. Speaking of Maomao, we then cut to her at the Verdigris House with Meimei the night before she is set to leave to go back to the palace. And Meimei is stocking her up with all kinds of things. A lot of things that Maomao does not think that she is going to have any use for, like cosmetics. And Meimei very heavily disagrees with the sentiment. And she points out to Maomao that she is being given a job that a lot of people can only dream about getting and that she should put effort in because people will start to pick up on a bad attitude. And Meimei's mindset here is very much in line with the type of job that she has.

[00:05:39]Because to be successful as a courtesan in the way that Meimei is, according to Maomao, she is getting to the age where she can start to consider retirement, but her popularity has not gone down at all. You not only have to be skilled, you also need to present yourself in a way that makes people receptive to you and open to you. And that's especially important for the type of courtesan that Meimei is, where instead of physical intimacy, the skill that she really sells to customers is her ability to play strategy games and to sing songs and write songs. And I think Meimei saying this when we consider where she is coming from, where both her and Mamao are coming from, the world they're coming from, puts this opportunity that Mamao has into perspective a little bit more. Because while Meimei is wildly successful in her field of work in a way that is not the norm for most women in the pleasure district, this is still an incredibly difficult job. Everybody sells their bodies in the name of labor in some capacity, but there is something very uniquely harrowing about being a courtesan, about being merchandised for a brothel, where you are the property of a brothel. Because these women are essentially indentured servants, and they are in these really long contracts, and they also don't have a ton of freedom and autonomy within these contracts. They can't leave the brothel without permission or without being accompanied by somebody. Much in the same way that concubines are the property of the emperor and can't leave the rear palace. And so even though she has personally done well for herself, I'm sure that Meimei has seen many women fail and many women have really, really awful ends in this world that is incredibly harsh and difficult to survive in. And so beyond the fact that this scene is endearing and funny in how Meimei is excessively packing this bag with a bunch of stuff for her, I think that thinking about Meimei's experience and just what this world is like lends a lot of weight to what she's saying to Mamao in this moment. That more than just this being a good job that a lot of people would like to have, it is also an opportunity that a lot of people from their world are not typically afforded.

[00:07:39]And that Mamao should recognize the gravity of what she is being offered here. And then Joka and Pyrene come into the room to see what's going on and to also bid Maomao farewell as she leaves to go back to the palace. And I think the moment between Maomao and Joka is particularly lovely where she tells Maomao that she is so happy that she's been able to find meaningful work, which I feel like is a very good piggybacking off of the conversation that her and Meimei have just had. I talked about this in the last video, but in the light novel chapter that episode 12 is based on, we learned that the reason that Maomao never had to kind of fully delve into work at the Verdigris house and start seeing clients was because of the advocacy that Lomen and her older sisters did for her. And so it's just really lovely to see Joka tenderly holding the side of Maomao's head and being sincerely happy for her. And with the packing done and the conversations had, Maomao leaves the Verdigris house with her huge bag of stuff to go back to spend one more night at her house with her father. And since this is the beginning of the next core of the season, we get Maomao recounting and reflecting upon the events of the story so far. And one of the things that Maomao reflects upon is her father, the fact that she will be leaving him again.

[00:08:47]And also, she recounts the conversation that they had when this initially became a possibility for her to go back to the palace where her father's response was telling her to do as she likes, which Maomao found to be a little bit confusing and wasn't totally sure what he meant by this. And I feel like the anime makes this whole thing a little bit oddly confusing because you just get a still of Lomen looking at a piece of paper and Maomao staring at him as she thinks about her confusion about this thing that he said. But in the light novel, it's specifically stated that during this conversation when Lomen tells Maomao to do as she likes, he also gets a kind of darkened look on his face as he is looking at the contract that has been written up for Jinshi to buy Maomao out of the Verdigris house. Now, do we learn exactly what is in this contract that made Lomen's face darken?

[00:09:35]No. But I would assume that Lomen's mixed feelings come from his own personal experience in the Royal Palace when he was employed there and not wanting Mao Mao to have anything remotely similar happen to her. And we see this concern showcased in the next scene where Mao Mao is pondering out loud about what items she is going to take with her and what she's going to leave behind because May May has given her a bunch of stuff. She can't take it all with her. And so she is thinking out loud and she's like, well, I definitely have to bring my mortar, my pestle, my notebook. And Loman cuts her off like, "Hey girl, listen.

[00:10:08]It might look a little bit sketchy if you show up with a bunch of things that only physicians are supposed to have because technically only physicians can make medicine. And so if you show up with a mortar and a pestle and a notebook with a bunch of ramblings about different experiments you're doing, they might think that you're doing something a little bit conspirational like making poison and that you should probably wait to bring those things once you've earned a little bit more trust in your new role." And while Mao Mao is a little bit kind of annoyed, sad, upset about this, she understands. And then we get a really touching moment later on in the night when it's bedtime and Mao Mao brings her mat right up next to Loman's to sleep next to him, which is something that according to him she hasn't done since she was very little. And while she kind of tries to play it off and say, "Oh, it's just because it's cold," she smiles as he pats her head affectionately. And this is lovely for a number of reasons. The first being that it's just nice that the two of them get to have a proper goodbye and proper final conversation unlike what happened the last time when she was kidnapped.

[00:11:11]And the other thing about this that is so wonderful is that up until this point, we have only really seen Loman and Mao Mao interact in a capacity where he has been this teacher instructor figure whose opinion she holds very highly like in the homecoming episode.

[00:11:27]And in those interactions, while we have seen that Loman is a good teacher, that he can fall a little short when it comes to adult responsibilities like making sure that his rent is paid and that he has enough money to pay it. But despite those shortcomings when it comes to certain responsibilities, Lomen in this moment is very much her dad. And we see how she seeks comfort in him in the way that any child would seek comfort from a parent. And even though he told her to do as she likes and very much supports her independence and her ability to make decisions as a burgeoning adult, he also knows that things are going to be lonely and quiet when she's gone. And even though Lomen is undeniably interesting as a character, as every member of the Law clan is, we see through these moments and just who Maomao is as a person that Lomen did a really good job being her parent. And that he raised her to be someone who is independent, resourceful, smart, industrious, and also kind at heart and principled. And it's clear that Maomao doesn't take him or Granny or her older sisters for granted. And notes that even though her situation is unconventional, that she does have a family to come home to. And I feel like this is a really good moment to talk about a popular fan theory that is always making the rounds in the Apothecary Diaries fandom, which is this idea that Granny is Maomao's biological grandmother. Now, obviously the point of fandom is to talk about different things in the story, come to our own conclusions, and discuss those conclusions. And there is this freedom to interpret things however you want to interpret them. And that is part of the fun of fandom is that people are going to see fictional works differently. But I personally don't love this theory because one, I think it undermines a lot of who Granny is as a character. And I also think that it takes away from something that is a very core tenant of the story of the Apothecary Diaries, which is found family. Starting off with Granny. Now, on first glance, we see that she is this shrewd businesswoman who runs a reputable brothel in the pleasure district and also wants Maomao to become a courtesan due to the debts that she owes to the Verdigris House.

[00:13:33]But, throughout the story, especially in the latter half of season 1 that we are starting to get into, we also see how much Granny cares about the girls that she manages and how she takes her responsibility to the courtesans seriously, which is part of the reason why money and profits is something that she prioritizes because if the Verdigris House is not making enough money, then the courtesans and the serving girls and all of the other people that work at the brothel and are under the care of the brothel are going to suffer. And we also see how Granny cares about Maomao and Lomen when she tells Maomao that everybody was really worried when she was missing for 10 months, how she urges Maomao to go and see her dad during the homecoming episode, how she entertains Lihaku even though Maomao does not have the money to actually afford paying services. And like we talked about in the last episode, Granny's motivations for wanting Maomao to become a courtesan lean a lot more practical than they do sinister. And then we have this idea of found family. This is something that gets brought up in The Apothecary Diaries a lot from Maomao's found family to Azibo and Lihua to the entire Jade Pavilion staff to Jinshi and Baosen.

[00:14:44]This idea of choosing to have these meaningful connections with people that you are not blood related to comes up again and again and again in the story.

[00:14:53]And this is reaffirmed in this episode where on her last night in the pleasure district, Maomao is reflecting upon how she has a family, however unconventional it is. Obviously, people are allowed to believe what they want to believe. I am just speaking for myself here when I say that I think this heartfelt reflection that Maomao has in this scene and in this moment loses a lot of its emotional punch and resonance if, surprise, Granny is actually her biological grandmother and has been related to Maomao this entire time. But, that's just me. Then, we cut to the next day and Jinshi has arrived at the Verdigris House to come and pick Maomao up. Now, this is a fun sequence of events that is actually not in the light novel. In the light novel, we go straight from Maomao having this last night at home to her being in the outer court and being very confused as to why she's in the outer court. Now, I think that this whole sequence of her getting picked up and going in this carriage is really great for a number of reasons. The first being that it confirms that Maomao is canonically beautiful and it's really fun to watch Jinshi go from being awestruck to being jealous of the attention she's getting to being very cautious about the attention she's getting. It's delicious, it's a wonderful, it's great Jinmao content. But, the other thing that is really lovely about this is that it's a great parallel, in my opinion, to the reflections that Jinshi has earlier in this episode where he talks about just being slightly above average in everything but his looks. Which, as I mentioned earlier in this video, is not the most measured self-assessment, fair self-assessment, that Jinshi could give himself. And so, in the same vein as his self-assessment not being totally accurate, we see here that Maomao is also not great at making self-assessments because she immediately blames all of this ruckus on Jinshi, the carriage, Gaoshun being here, like all of it. She's like, "This is all so extravagant. Of course, it's attracting all this attention." Which, Jinshi is very visibly exasperated by because the reason that everybody is looking at them and talking about them is not because there is a carriage in the pleasure district. It's because a beautiful girl has just walked out of a very reputable brothel and is clearly being bought out of her contract. But, this is a beautiful girl that people have not seen before, despite the fact that, again, the Verdigris House is very popular. And this ties into how Maomao sees herself and the attributions that she often makes about her appearance, which is that she is scrawny and ugly. But, obviously, that is very much, in reality, not the case. And so, we have two characters here who are very smart and capable, but when it comes to making assessments about themselves, a lot of that smartness and capability goes away.

[00:17:23]And then as we start to enter the palace, we see Jinshi continues to be protective over Maomao as he blocks her from the view of the men around them and also tells her that while she is here, she should make sure to keep her freckles on. But I think it's pretty clear here that this request isn't just about his personal feelings. It's also him seriously considering the awful things that men are capable of given that it is that awful scary truth that got Maomao to start putting freckles on her face in the first place, especially given the change of setting here where Maomao is going to be around a lot more men than she was previously and a lot more powerful men in authoritative positions than she was previously. And so it's understandable that Jinshi is considering her safety in a different way than he was when she was in the rear palace. Speaking of the rear palace, Maomao is very confused as to why they are not there. And they are not there because Maomao now has a new place of work, which is the outer court and Jinshi's personal residence. And as we start going through Jinshi's house, we meet his one attendant, Suiren, who immediately addresses Maomao as Shaomao and Gaoshun looks away. And I think this is a really lovely little addition because it tells us that when Gaoshun is not with Maomao, he still addresses her as Shaomao when he is talking to other people about her. And I think that it also suggests to us that even though he is often quite exasperated at the idea of Maomao because of how much it changes the way Jinshi behaves and how that causes stress for Gaoshun, he also very clearly has affection for her. And then we start to get an understanding of what Jinshi's goals are here with bringing Maomao to the outer court because she goes to her quarters and she sees that everything is just a little too nice for somebody who is supposed to be doing servant labor. And that is because Jinshi does not intend for her to be doing servant labor. He wants her to take the court lady exam in order to serve in the outer court. And while Maomao is not thrilled about this, I think that this is a really important moment, not just in the season, but in the series in general, in not only showing us how much Jinshi cares about Maomao and cares about his relationship with her, but also in how this relationship is incredibly dynamic and complex and is going to ebb and flow and have all of these ups and downs because we start to see the seeds of this difference in power dynamic between the two of them and the conflicts that arise from it during the garden party episode, where Jinshi learns how Maomao ended up in the rear palace to begin with. And initially, this disclosure actually makes them closer. This disclosure encourages Jinshi to put his walls down a little bit, to not always present himself as the sparkly, flirty unique persona that he uses with everyone else.

[00:20:05]And they start to have more fun banter and it seems like they are actually starting to become friends. And then the Master Conan episode happens, where Maomao names this thing that has been unspoken between them since they first met, where Jinshi has this level of power and authority over her. And he does not react to this well and suddenly there is this rift between them. And that rift is what informs how he reacts to her firing, where he tries his best to honor her wishes and not exercise his power over her by erasing her name from this list. But in his attempts to honor her agency, Jinshi actually ends up doing something that Maomao doesn't want him to do because she actually wants to stay in the rear palace. And so now, in this moment, even though she sounds less than thrilled about being forced to do this, this is Jinshi trying to correct his previous behavior and decisions.

[00:20:54]This is Jinshi still making decisions colored by this truth that Maomao spoke into existence during the Master Conan episode. This is Jinshi trying to not do the same thing he did last time when he fired her when she didn't want to be fired. This is Jinshi trying to create a situation where Maomao has more autonomy, where the gap between them when it comes to power and class is a little bit less severe, and where Maomao could potentially spend all of her time doing work that she is really passionate about, which is poison and medicine, without having to do additional stuff like servant labor. But nonetheless, even though these are all lovely intentions, that doesn't stop Maomao from being who she is and being an early riser and a go-getter and immediately getting up in the morning and going to find Suiren to ask what she can do to help out. And she just naturally falls into this rhythm of helping out with different household tasks. And this is where we get some important insight on how Jinshi's personal household is run, specifically the one person who runs it, Suiren, and how there are no other attendants, especially young women. And there are a lot of conversations about looks in this episode from earlier where we see Jinshi reflecting upon his looks to Maomao not really having a clear idea of what she looks like and how people perceive her to this moment where Suiren is explaining to Maomao why she is the only attendant in Jinshi's personal residence because when they have had young women in the past, because of what Jinshi looks like, these women have done certain things that just wouldn't make anybody feel the most comfortable and safe in their home. And all of these things showcase the pitfalls and nuances that come with being attractive. Where it obviously has many advantages, like Jinshi using it as a tool and how that makes his work a lot easier. We also see how it has its drawbacks for Jinshi in terms of safety and comfort and who can be employed in his personal residence, and also his ability to have meaningful connections with people. And I wonder if beyond the fact that Maomao obviously appeals to him because she is not moved by his looks, that she represents this freedom that Jinshi himself would like to have. Because Maomao, even though she is canonically beautiful, elects to be perceived as ugly. She can put on freckles and she can control how she is perceived in this way without it having a consequence on her ability to do her job. Whereas he has to actively peacock and use his appearance in order to fulfill his responsibilities in order to hopefully get closer to the thing that he wants, which is his freedom and his ability to choose his own path. So Maomao is almost like aspirational in this way and also because she is unmoved by his appearance, he actually sees an opportunity to have a genuine connection with her. And listen, if I was a member of the Imperial family and grew up basically alone with Basen being my only companion, the only person who I have a meaningful connection with who is around my age, who also even though it is a meaningful connection, is still tied in power and privilege because the Ma family has historically served the Imperial family for many centuries. Like that power dynamic is baked into his relationship with Basen, then I too would be jumping at the chance to make another friend, to make a friend in this random apothecary girl who happens to not care about what I look like. And we continue to see how Maomao is unmoved by Jinshi's appearance because while he is shirtless in front of her, just woken up, she is just thinking about how she could potentially profit off of the situation by bottling up Jinshi's scent to sell it as an aphrodisiac. But these reflections are promptly interrupted by Jinshi asking her how she feels about her accommodations and if she would potentially like a new room or what anything changed. And Gaoshun is not happy about Jinshi asking this question and Maomao is confused as to why Gaoshun is unhappy with Jinshi asking this question. And it's not totally clear why Gaoshun is not happy about this. My best guess would just be that all of this has already been a lot of logistical work for Gaoshun, so the idea of having to switch around Maomao's accommodations, adding that on to the long list of stuff he probably already has to do in his role with Jinshi, I just feel like that's not the most exciting prospect for anybody, especially when Maomao's room is perfectly fine. And while Jinshi, much to his chagrin, has work to do, Gaoshun takes Maomao out and gives her a tour of the outer court and shows her the various private residences, like Jinshi's, and also public offices, like the Ministry of Water. And while Gaoshun is showing her the different buildings and giving her a lay of the land, all Maomao can think about is how she hopes that she can remember all of this stuff because she is historically not particularly good at learning or remembering things that are not related to stuff that she is interested in, which I want you to put a pin in this.

[00:25:33]Later that day, while Maomao is running some errands, she realizes that she is being watched by a group of court ladies. We then get an explanation of what court ladies are because at this point all we know about them is that they don't do servant labor. And Maomao explains that they are essentially like secretaries. They typically come from good backgrounds, they have good education, good breeding, and they take exams and they are much more qualified than the kind of hodgepodge group of female officials that are in the rear palace. And due to the education they have and the families they typically come from, these women can have a bit of an ego and they will not go out of their way to clean the things because that is not within their job description. And while Maomao is cleaning because she does not think it's a task beneath her, they come up to her and start to pretty aggressively interrogate her. And Maomao, hilariously, notices that the ringleader of this operation is quite heavy in the chest area, to which she thinks, "Wow, I guess the better the food, the bigger they grow." Which, I would like to point out, affirms something I talked about in the very first episode of the series where The Apothecary Diaries draws a very clear relationship between physical appearance and social status and access to resources. Now, despite the fact that these women are educated and servant labor is above them, at the end of the day, what binds everybody in the world of the Apothecary Diaries together and puts them all on the same playing field is infatuation with Jinshi. And these women are no exception to this infatuation, and so they are interrogating Maomao about how she ended up working directly with Jinshi. Why was she directly assigned to Jinshi? And Maomao decides to approach this conversation from a place of honesty and just flat out is like, "Oh, so you're all jealous of me." Which none of these women take very well. It earns Maomao a slap in the face, and she realizes that she needs to switch up her tactics a little bit. Now, I want you to also put a pin in this in the way that Maomao initially navigates this social interaction. And so, upon realizing that honesty is not going to work here, Maomao goes the route of making these women feel ridiculous because she's like, "Why would this beautiful man, with all of his qualifications, ever give me special treatment? Are you assuming he's giving me special treatment? Are you assuming that he would give an ugly, scrawny, nobody girl special treatment? So, either you don't trust his judgment or you think he has some weird proclivities." Now, Jinshi, of course, overhears this entire interaction and asks Maomao if getting harassed is just a normal thing for her.

[00:27:58]Which I fear Jinshi is the last person who should be asking her this question considering the fact that most of the time when Maomao is getting harassed, it is in some part because of him and his desire to keep her near him. And then we cut to Maomao making an attempt to study later that night where she gets bored, and then she just looks at the herb that Jinshi gave her when he bought her out from the Verdigris House and gets distracted and then doesn't study. And we can assume that this is the pattern that kept happening every single time Maomao tried to study for this exam because she fails it. And Jinshi is incredibly shocked at the fact that she has failed it. Let's also put a pin in this, the fact that she failed this exam, and now let's take a moment to talk about all the pins that we have collected so far in this episode. From Maomao noting that she is not very good at remembering or learning things that are not directly related to stuff she's interested in, to how she initially approaches the social interaction with the court ladies, to her now failing this exam. And I think that all of these things make a pretty strong argument for Maomao being neurodivergent. And obviously, I'm not the first person to say this. This is a very popular discourse in the fandom. But I think I would be remiss to not talk about it in this episode specifically where we see so many examples of it. Where even though the author's intention may not have been explicitly for Maomao to be neurodivergent, all of these things that happen in this episode and just in the series in general suggest it pretty heavily. And I think that it's a very strong head canon. Where we see throughout the series that Maomao has a very clear special interest, medicine and poison. And how she often times has a flatter affect, but also has these moments where she gets really overtly excited and expresses that joy like when she dances in the quack doctor's office after seeing all the medical supplies for the first time. We also see how in this episode especially Maomao can navigate certain social interactions without realizing what the kind of tone and vibe is until after there has been a certain consequence like her getting slapped in the face. And though she is clearly smart, she struggles to learn and excel in subjects that she is not interested in, hence her failing this exam. And I'm sure that there are other things that can be listed to add to this, but those are just a couple. Now speaking of expressing joy overtly, as Maomao is running an errand later on that day, she sees a bunch of medicinal herbs, gets very excited about this and begins to harvest some of them. And after she's done collecting them and is just kind of staring off into space into this kind of area on the east side of the outer court I believe that she's in, she suddenly gets whacked in the back of the head by the same tall girl that we met earlier in this episode with the other court ladies, who tells Maomao that she should know her place and that there is no reason for her to go further than this point in the outer court. And as she's walking away, Maomao catches a whiff of her, which smells like sandalwood and this other bitter aroma.

[00:30:46]And then we see Maomao realizing what side of the outer court she has found herself on in her harvesting, and that is the part of the outer court where the military is based. And we see a mysterious monocled figure watching her, and the episode then ends with an unnamed person being handed a smoking pipe while a light layer of snow falls and covers the ground. And before we wrap up, to do a little rapid-fire talking about the differences between the light novel and the anime episode.

[00:31:14]Because this one actually has quite a few differences. To start, like I mentioned earlier, that whole chunk of Maomao making her way from the Verdigris House into the outer court does not happen in the light novel. We also don't get any build-up to her failing the court lady exam in the light novel like we do in the anime, it's just stated in the chapter right at the beginning that she fails. And the light novel and the anime also take a very different approach to Maomao's reaction to Jinshi assuming that she would pass. So, in the anime, we see that when Jinshi is like, "You failed," Maomao is just kind of like, "I don't know why you thought I would pass." And it's kind of very nonchalant, relaxed, like she's not really moved by this assumption. But in the light novel, when she is thinking about Jinshi and Gaoshun's expectation that she would pass, she's in the middle of cleaning, and the light novel describes how she cleans very angrily thinking about Jinshi assuming that she would pass. So, a little quite a bit different there. The events in general are also just in a slightly different order in the light novel compared to the anime. Also, in the light novel, we see that in Maomao's internal dialogue, she says that she has her own aversion to staying away from where military personnel are in the outer court. Beyond Gaoshun telling her not to be there, she also doesn't want to be there, which hints at what we're going to see later on in the season. And that is all for this episode. Is Maomao being neurodivergent something that you guys were thinking about while you were watching The Apothecary Diaries for the first time. Let me know in the comments.

[00:32:40]And as always, can we talk about that?