After a scandal in the last volume (which she only had a tiny role in unraveling), Maomao has been released from her forced service at the Rear Palace and yet, she finds herself working there once again. Jinshi, eunuch and overseer of the Rear Palace, has hired Maomao back on as a maid for his quarters and it’s certainly harder work than being the poison-taster for the Imperial Consort Gyokuyou.
But Maomao is diligent at her work and, with her talent for unraveling mysteries that don’t even appear to be mysteries at first glance, it’s clear why Jinshi and others want to keep her around.
With her new position in Jinshi’s quarters Maomao realizes what readers learned in the first volume of The Apothecary Diaries, namely that Jinshi is actually not the lazy layabout that she first assumed he was and is actually incredibly busy all the time. Add in Jinshi’s dazzling appearance and there aren’t many people who can actually keep their heads and do work around him; Maomao is certainly earning her wages with her new work and the extra “gifts” that Jinshi get to entice her to fulfill requests, like “teach the imperial consorts the ways of the bedroom that you picked up from the courtesans you previously lived with” are quite effective at motivating her.
That said, again like in the first volume, even Maomao doesn’t fully know everything Jinshi is dealing with behind the scenes and this volume heavily implies, although stops short of outright stating, that Jinshi is not a eunuch after all which is good for future romantic prospects between the two of them (not that Maomao is a fan of this hypothetical idea). I was amused to discover however that Maomao’s theory in the first volume, that Jinshi may actually be the presumed-deceased crown prince, is apparently something that no one else in-universe has come up with and certainly promises opportunity for shenanigans in future volumes.
While there are still mysteries about Jinshi’s past, we get some surprising insights into Maomao’s past in this volume including the identities of her biological parents! Unsurprisingly, Maomao’s mother was another of the courtesans at the same brothel Maomao herself was affiliated with but surprisingly (well, unless you’re trope-savy) is that her biological father is actually a noble in the Emperor’s court. It’s immediately and abundantly clear where Maomao gets her personality from, as her tendency to ignore the world and focus on only what interests her, even if she has the brains and skills to be talented in many different areas, describes her father and to a lesser extent her mother perfectly and that was fun to see.
I am a bit unsure how I feel about the portrayal of Maomao’s father’s face blindness however, as someone with a case of face blindness (although more mild). It seemed as if Natsu Hyuuga was using it as a little bit of a crutch to explain his more villainous qualities and not making it clear how much his lack of regard for other people comes just from his natural personality and how much of it is related to his trouble just recognizing and remembering people. On the other hand, the metaphors used to describe his face blindness, with how some faces just feel more distinct for hard-to-grasp reasons, felt rather true to my own life.
However, the biggest surprise for me was that Maomao is in fact related to her adoptive father! I’m unsure if Maomao knows about the connection or not. I suspect she does since she is completely aware of who her biological father is and her adoptive father’s past, but he is in fact her grand-uncle which does help solve the “mystery” of why she was taken in by him instead of simply raised to be a courtesan in the brothel once her mother was unable to keep caring for her.
In the same spirit as the first novel, the “mysteries” that Maomao finds herself tasked with are largely rather mundane and at first glance don’t even usually seem like mysteries, but the stakes are a bit higher with arson and murder on the line a few times. Hyuuga has done a nice job at weaving back in some events from the first volume, which again didn’t seem like mysteries at the time, and it feels like the story is building towards a climax that will tie everything that’s happened so far together. However, given that the series is on-going in Japan with 11 volumes, I can only guess that nothing will be wrapped up too neatly in volume 3 and beyond.
It does seem as if Maomao will be spending more time with Gyokuyou once again, with Gyokuyou pregnant she certainly needs a poison tester, and I’m sure Maomao will be glad for a break from her work and a break from Jinshi as well.