WEBVTT
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The Apothecary Diaries
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The Apothecary Diaries
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This story is a work of fiction. The names of all of the characters, organizations, and so on
are imaginary. It also bears no connection to any specific real-life events.
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That man can't be trusted!
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Episode 9: Suicide or Murder?
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That'd create other issues.
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Drinks! Bring more booze...
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Wow, he's changed a lot.
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Seeing his face makes the drinks taste bad.
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On that, I can agree.
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Hey... Thanks.
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How much longer are you going to sulk?
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I'm not sulking.
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Please don't forget that
you're still on the job.
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I understand.
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He doesn't understand.
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The one known as Jinshi does not
respond in such a childish way.
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The one known as Jinshi does not
attach himself so strongly to a toy.
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Here is some more work.
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It took considerable effort to get
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Concubine Gyokuyou to stop laughing
uncontrollably and explain.
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Misunderstanding...?
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The payment she gave in return
for acting as her guarantor
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was a meeting with a star courtesan.
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Who knew that girl had such connections?
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Who knows what image
the master had in his mind?
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Youth is a scary thing.
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That said, to put so much effort
into finishing work quickly...
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And going out to meet her...
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Only to find out she had left
for home with another man...
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That must have been quite a shock, for sure.
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They should put more thought into these...
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Many bureaucrats try to pass bills
that benefit them personally.
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I feel sorry for my master, who has to do
extra work for those useless bills.
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Master Jinshi!
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It's already after hours. Can this wait?
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It's not about work... Well...
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Sir Kounen?!
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Master Jinshi.
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Let's go!
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That's terrible news...
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Someone high up bit the dust.
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Maybe this is callous, but I can't
sympathize with someone
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who I've never met or heard of.
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A man past the age of fifty,
who died from drinking too much.
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Clearly self-inflicted.
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Since he went out of the way to make
the head lady-in-waiting leave...
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Apothecary, do you think
the alcohol was really what killed him?
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I knew he'd ask.
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Anyone who likes alcohol should know that
overindulgence in drink is poison in essence.
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Drinking constantly can sicken the organs.
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Drinking too much in one
sitting can lead to death.
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It was a party for a group of co-workers,
and I heard he had a lot to drink.
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That could kill him.
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But Sir Kounen could
really handle his drink.
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I don't think overindulgence would kill him.
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The man who died was named Kounen.
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He was a dynamic warrior
who drank entire jars of alcohol,
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and had a well-liked personality, to boot.
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Gaoshun.
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Yes.
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This is the drink from that party.
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Ooh, booze!
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The specific jar that Sir Kounen drank from
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got dropped on the floor
and the contents were lost.
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So, if that jar had poison in it,
we'd have no way of knowing.
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Indeed...
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How modest. He realizes
he's asking for the impossible.
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He should just be excessively
shiny like his usual self.
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For a while now, Master Jinshi has seemed
much more childish than before.
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It's both sweet and salty.
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Like someone took a sweet
drink and added salt to it...
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What's wrong?
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It's a distinct taste.
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Yes. Sweet, isn't it?
That's how Master Kounen liked it.
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He had a serious sweet tooth.
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He'd never lay a finger on even
the finest smoked meats and rock salts.
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Huh...
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I heard he used to love spicy foods, but
suddenly developed a sweet tooth one day.
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Even his meals became all sweets.
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That'll cause diabetes.
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Stop spoiling my nostalgia with reality.
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You're having more?
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From spicy to sweet, huh?
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Were there salts available at the party?
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Yes. Rock salts, moon cakes, and dried meat.
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Do you want those, too?
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No, I'll be done with the drink by then.
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That's not what I meant...
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Can you get the jar that
Master Kounen was drinking from?
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It's broken and in pieces.
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That's fine.
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Also, there's one thing
I want you to look into.
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Excuse me.
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Here is the report.
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Thank you.
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I knew it.
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Here's the bottle.
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Is it safe to lick that?
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There's no poison here.
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Salt?
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Yes. Master Jinshi, you mentioned how Master
Kounen suddenly developed a sweet tooth, right?
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And that he only ate sweet foods after that?
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Yes.
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Yet this jar contained so much salt
that it left crystals behind when it dried.
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Salt is essential to the human body,
but too much salt can also be poisonous.
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So, the cause of his death is...
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Given the amount he drank,
and the salt included,
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it's easy to conclude this was the cause.
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Yes, but you should be able to tell
if something tasted this salty—
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But he didn't. Please take a look at this.
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It's a report on Master Kounen's lifestyle.
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Judging from what's written here,
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it seems like Master Kounen
lost his ability to taste salt.
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Oh, no...
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Kounen seemed like a serious
and skilled bureaucrat,
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with a stoic personality.
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Many years ago, he lost his wife
and child to an epidemic.
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From that day on, he was all work, all day.
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His only forms of entertainment
were drinking and sweets.
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There is an illness that
eliminates the sense of taste.
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It can be caused by
an unbalanced diet or stress.
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Serious people will sometimes
repress their feelings,
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and that stress could lead to illness.
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So, who put the salt in the bottle?
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That's not for me to determine.
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However, there was also salt
in the drink I had yesterday.
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It could have been put there
by someone at the party
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who didn't like sweet drinks.
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Alternatively, there are many who
resent overly serious coworkers.
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Maybe they put some salt in the drink
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because they didn't like him and
wanted to pull a little prank.
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But because he kept drinking
seemingly without issue,
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perhaps they kept adding more,
hoping he would notice.
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Gaoshun.
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Yes.
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Understood.
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I'm a coward.
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I've practically named the culprit at this
point, given the amount of hints I dropped.
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But I don't want to be directly
responsible for someone getting punished.
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Sorry for your trouble. Thank you.
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It's fine.
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An obsidian tassel...
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He's in mourning.
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Was he such a person of high esteem?
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Yes. He helped me a lot when I was younger.
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He seems like a normal young man.
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I guess he is human, after all.
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Oh, right.
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Huh?
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Here's your reward.
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A bottle?
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Yes. It's not the same
as the one from yesterday.
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Booze!
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Don't drink it out in the open.
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Yes! Thank you!
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You don't seem all that grateful.
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Is that so? Perhaps you
should return to your work.
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That reaction... I bet he's slacking off.
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Perhaps you should finish it
before it starts piling up.
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I am working seriously...
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What kind of work?
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For example, there's a certain bill.
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The idea is to set an age limit
for alcohol consumption,
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to prevent young ones from
losing themselves in drink.
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Huh?
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The bill proposes a ban on drinking
alcohol until the age of twenty.
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Master Jinshi...
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Please, please don't pass that bill!
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Hmm. Well, it's not something
I can decide on my own.
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M-Master Jinshi!
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Doctor!
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This way!
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There it is!
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We're lucky it's winter now.
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She's still in good shape,
despite being a drowned corpse.
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How can you look directly at her?
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Where was she found?
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She was floating in the outside moat.
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From her dress, we assumed
she was a servant at the rear palace.
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I see. That's why they called our doc.
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But a doctor in charge of
autopsies acting like this...
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He truly is a quack.
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Little lady, can I leave this to you?
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Nope.
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Huh?
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I've been ordered to not touch corpses.
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That's unexpected.
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Master Jinshi!
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Greetings, Master Jinshi.
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You don't seem to be
uncomfortable around corpses.
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I've gotten used to them.
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The pleasure district is just
one street away from lawless chaos.
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Why can't you touch corpses?
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My teacher told me not to.
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Is it an aversion to death?
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No...
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It's because humans can become
medicinal ingredients, too.
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Given your curiosity, once you give that a try,
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it wouldn't be long before
you start digging up graves.
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Do not cross that line, ever.
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Y-Yes.
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I see.
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What a rude response.
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Doctor, could you please
do a proper autopsy?
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Understood...
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Eek!
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"Eek," indeed...
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She's tall. Hard wooden shoes...
Bandages on one foot...
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Fingers are all red.
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It must have been cold in that water.
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The girl was a servant and was
working normally yesterday.
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The guard believes she climbed the wall
last night and threw herself in.
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A suicide.
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Suicide...
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What do you think?
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I can't tell if she committed suicide,
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but I think it was impossible
for her to do it alone.
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What do you mean?
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There were no ladders on the wall,
and no other climbing tools.
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The rear palace walls are at least
four times my height.
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So, you mean she couldn't
have climbed it without tools.
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In most cases.
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Strictly speaking, scaling the wall
without tools is possible.
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Do you remember the ghost issue
from a while ago?
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Concubine Fuyou?
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Yes.
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I was wondering how she climbed the wall,
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so I did a thorough investigation of it.
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That's where I found the protrusions
that I believe the craftsmen used.
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That said, it would be difficult
for most regular women,
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especially those with
bound feet, like that servant.
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Foot binding is a custom where
small feet are considered beautiful.
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It's not done on all women,
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but I do occasionally see the distinct
walking style in the rear palace, too.
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If it's not suicide,
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are you saying it's murder?
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I don't know that.
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But I think it's fairly certain that
she was alive when she fell in the moat.
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She must have clawed at
the walls to try to climb out.
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Her fingers were bloodied and red.
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Yes...
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Suicide, or murder...
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I would never think to take my own life.
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I'd hate if someone killed me, too.
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If I died, I wouldn't be able
to test any more drugs or poisons.
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But if I were to die...
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What are you thinking about?
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About what kind of poison I would use to die.
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Are you trying to die?!
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Not at all. But nobody knows when they'll die.
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Even if it's not something they
wished for, a malicious third party
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can cause an undesired death.
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Like with Master Kounen.
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Nobody knows when it could happen.
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There is no way to resist fate...
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Master Jinshi.
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What is it?
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If you're ever tasked with executing me,
can you make sure it's with poison?
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Where'd that come from?!
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If I made a mistake, you would
probably be the one to give the order.
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Did I step in it just now?
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I'm sorry, it's not my place to say.
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I won't complain if it's
a hanging or a beheading.
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No, really, why are you saying all this?!
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Because I'm a commoner.
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My life is easily taken away
over the slightest mistake.
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I would never do such a thing.
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It's not a "would-or-would-not"
type of issue. It's "can-or-cannot."
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Looks like I struck a nerve there.
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If there's no further
business, I'll excuse myself.
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Later, I heard through rumors
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that the dead servant was at the garden
party where the poisoning took place.
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They found a will with
some relevant content in it,
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so the case was closed as a suicide.
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The report from the other day is finally ready.
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It's been two months since I asked for
you to find someone with burns on their arms.
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You took too long.
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I'm very sorry.
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So, who is it?
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Yes. It's actually higher up than I thought.
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Fengming, from the Garnet Pavilion.
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Head lady-in-waiting under Concubine Ah-Duo.
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I see.
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You're excused.
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Concubine Ah-Duo...
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Not just some superficial sweetness
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I want more warmth than I can even use, oh
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Having these selfish idealistic thoughts
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I swallowed them again today
before putting them into words
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Still in my memories,
the scent of fragrant olive
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The color of twilight in the city
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We were laughing...
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Filled with sadness,
the tears welled up in my eyes
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I found a glow during those days
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I guess I took everything for granted
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The wind was so loud I covered my ears
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I gotta stop being like that
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Even if I stumble over the words of love
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Next Time
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Next time: "Honey."
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Episode 10: Honey