The price of beauty.
What They Say:
Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!
E17 – A Jaunt Around Town
Covering up Jinshi’s otherworldly beauty is no easy task, but after Maomao takes the challenge head-on, she’s surprised when she’s also asked to don the disguise of a noblewoman and escort “Jinka” outside the palace.
E18 – Lakan
Back at home, Maomao visits an annex building at the Verdigris House that hides one of the brothel’s secrets. Lakan continues to antagonize Jinshi as his connection to Maomao becomes clear.
The Review (contains spoilers):
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Jinshi has a secret mission in town, one he doesn’t want to be recognized while doing. Enter Maomao, who happens to know a thing or two about make-up and disguises.
The entire scene of Maomao diligently working to make Jinshi look like just some dude is both mesmerizing and amusing. Some padding to look fatter and something to dull his silky locks and she still can’t make him look ugly. In fact, if she added anything to make him look more feminine he would become a literal Helen of Troy.
Once Jinshi is done up as “just a dude,” Maomao is sent with him as a chaperone. They disguise her as a respectable young lady, which leads to a fun day out on the town with Maomao using Jinshi as her servant. Both have trouble trying to fit into their roles, but all of the acting falls aside when both duck down an alleyway for a snack. For as much as Maomao acts like she finds Jinshi a pain in the ass, she is awfully quick to buy him a chicken skewer.
Eventually, Jinshi manages to ask Maomao a question about what it takes to ruin a courtesan and the joyful mode and friendship immediately becomes all business once again. Maomao tries not to show any emotion about the situation but it’s difficult. She quickly departs, leaving Jinshi to his business as she heads home to visit her father.
We get confirmation of two things that have been heavily hinted at. The dying courtesan is Maomao’s mother and Lakan is her biological father. Maomao is aware of both these facts and even knows that her ‘dad’ is her adoptive father who is also a court-ordered eunuch. Yikes, that is a lot of baggage. The good news is Maomao isn’t a secret princess or anything!
I have a theory about Lakan and Maomao’s mother’s relationship. I’m guessing that Lakan’s move to buy out Mao’s Mom’s contract was convincing her to sleep with him and get pregnant, thus lowering her contract price. Something must have happened to make it so he still couldn’t buy her out and thus once she was ruined she was forced to serve lower-class clients. Then she got sick, blamed the baby for ruining her life, and well…. syphilis is a horrible fresh eating, brain-melting disease. (It’s also one that’s spreading around the US again! HIV ain’t the only STD people, use protection folks!)
Lakan trying to purchase Maomao is probably trying to make amends by freeing his daughter from the same fate. Probably out of guilt. Maomao’s hatred for him is understandable. Speaking of hate, I had to pause and frame-by-frame back to see that Maomao jump scare expression and it was pure malice. Jinshi was correct to drop the subject entirely at that point.
The episode ends with a note of pure intrigue as Maomao once again runs into the outer court lady who appears to be operating on a different level. She is the one who created the mystery herb garden on the tiny hill. She also appears to know something about medicinal herbs. Will she be a friend or foe?
In Summary:
There’s a wonderful mix of the fun and the serious in these two episodes. We learn a lot about Maomao’s family history while Maomao keeps getting closer to the truth of Jinshi’s identity. (Which she already figured out but didn’t believe.) The difference in station is still a point of contention, but watching the two reverse roles for a day out brings out just how well both of them get along. The story wraps back around to Maomao coming face-to-face with the serious woman who appears to be working in the outer court once again. Now if we could only figure out what her deal is.
Episode Grade: A-, B+
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
