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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Hey, did you hear about the fire the other day?
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Lihaku did a really good job with it.
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I never expected he'd be able to solve it.
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Actually, I heard a rumor that
a servant girl helped solve it.
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A servant girl?
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They say she's a personal
attendant of Master Jinshi.
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Wow, really?
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Didn't Master Jinshi buy out
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a courtesan from the Verdigris
House the other day?
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I hear she's a beautiful
intellectual with cold eyes.
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Yeah, the guys who saw her
wouldn't shut up about her.
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Master Lakan?!
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Mind telling me more about that?
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Episode 15: Raw Fish
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Xiaomao, could you spare a moment?
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Master Gaoshun. What is it?
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There's something
I'd like you to take a look at.
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Records of an old incident.
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Ten years ago, at a merchant's home,
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there was a food poisoning incident
involving a raw pufferfish dish.
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Pufferfish poison...
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I love how it tingles and stings.
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Oh, I really want some now!
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I can take you to a place
that serves it sometime soon.
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So, what about this?
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A while ago, I was officially
involved with this case.
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A colleague asked me for advice, because
a similar incident occurred recently.
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A similar incident?
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A bureaucrat ate pufferfish, raw and seasoned
with vinegar, and fell into a coma.
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A coma?
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Master Gaoshun, my apologies.
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Is it appropriate for me to learn about this?
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That won't be an issue.
You are someone who knows her place.
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In other words, stay silent about this.
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Besides, this story involves poison.
Are you sure you want me to stop here?
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Please, do continue.
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Pufferfish
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In this instance, they served
parboiled pufferfish skin and meat.
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He ate this and fell into a coma.
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The meat? Most of the poison is in the gut.
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Yes, the skin and the meat.
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The meat isn't supposed
to have much poison in it...
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Maybe it depends on the type of
pufferfish or the environment it's from.
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Nothing seems out of place, then?
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The thing is, in both cases,
this time and in the past,
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the cook claims they hadn't
used pufferfish in the dish.
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That sounds interesting.
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That's not the only thing in common.
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The two who fell ill...
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The bureaucrat from this case
and the merchant from the past one
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were both gourmets who loved eating rare foods.
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They both often ate raw fish and
pufferfish was one of their favorites.
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After the incident, all of the organs
and skin were discovered in the trash,
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so it was determined that
the guts were never consumed.
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In both cases, the cooks claimed innocence, said
the pufferfish was served the night before,
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and that on the day of the incident,
they'd used a different fish.
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However, there were
no witnesses to provide proof.
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The bureaucrat ate all the food served,
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then became intoxicated
and collapsed half an hour later.
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He was discovered convulsing.
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He did a more thorough
investigation than I'd expect.
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Plenty of other bureaucrats would put
in zero effort and just make up a suspect.
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What do you think?
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The symptoms do sound
like pufferfish poison,
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but I can't say for certain
without more details.
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Master Gaoshun, can you try
to find more information?
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Understood. I will look into it.
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At this time of year, it's not rare to
have food trash sit out for a few days.
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The testimony of using different fish
matches the evidence of the leftovers...
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What were you talking about?
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That look would wound anyone, even me.
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You seemed to be listening
very eagerly to Gaoshun's story.
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People naturally pay attention to
stories that are actually interesting.
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Wait, hold on. You often
cut me off mid-speech—
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Oh dear, it's getting late.
With that, I'll take my leave.
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Hey, I'm not done talking—
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Oh no, don't move.
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Come on, stay still.
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Xiaomao, about the discussion
we had yesterday...
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These are the cook's notes.
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According to the servant, it describes
everything served to their master.
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Thank you.
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"Parboil the fish. Add cut vegetables.
Season with vinegar."
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The recipe looks normal.
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There are several types of
vinegar mixtures outlined,
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but the list of ingredients lack detail.
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That must be because the types of fish
and vegetables available differ by season.
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This won't help us understand the key facts
around what was actually used to cook the dish.
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You can't understand?
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He wants to join in.
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So, what can't you understand?
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It will be mealtime soon.
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I know.
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That's quite childish.
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When did the incident occur?
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About a week ago.
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Meaning winter vegetables,
so probably radishes and carrots?
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Actually, I hear they used seaweed.
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Seaweed?
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Seaweed.
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If he likes rare foods, I guess
he could have tried strange seaweeds.
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If possible, could I take a look
at the kitchen involved?
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I'm here under Master Gaoshun's orders.
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I'm Basen. I've heard about you.
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I am Maomao.
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We're heading to the mansion now,
but remember, you're my follower.
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Don't do anything without my permission.
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Understood.
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Once we arrive, the servant there
will show us to the kitchen.
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Understood.
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Master Gaoshun sure does work fast.
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That aside...
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I've never seen this officer before.
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He looks familiar, though.
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He doesn't seem to have
a good impression of me.
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Oh, well.
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This is the kitchen.
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It hasn't been used since the poison incident.
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Hmm? Hey!
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Who let you in here?! Get out!
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What are you doing?!
Did you bring these people here?!
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I've gotten permission from the mistress,
and this is official business.
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Is that true?
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May we continue? Or would that
inconvenience you in some way?
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Whatever.
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Who is that?
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That is the master's younger brother.
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After the master fell into the coma,
and the mistress took ill from fatigue,
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the younger brother manages the mansion.
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I see.
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Master Basen.
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Yeah.
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The cook washed all the cooking utensils.
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Other than that...
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What is this?
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Ah, the master loved that.
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It's his favorite. He ate it often.
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I don't think it's poisonous...
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He doesn't seem to be lying.
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So that's that.
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If you're done here, please leave.
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Indeed.
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Sorry to bother you.
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Why did you back down so easily?
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I don't consider that backing down.
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You brought it with you?
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This is strange.
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This seaweed isn't in season quite yet.
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But even if salted and preserved from
last year, it wouldn't last this long.
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I see.
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I don't think it was gathered in our region.
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Perhaps it was imported from the south.
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It would be good if we could
find out where it came from.
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I think he gets what I mean.
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In that case, I'll do what I have to do.
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What's this?
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The seaweed I got from the mansion.
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I've split it into two
and put it in some water.
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Why is Master Jinshi here?
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The seaweed was indeed
imported from the south.
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According to the servant, the master
never ate that seaweed in the winter.
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The cook also said this is the same
as the seaweed they normally use,
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and can't be poisonous.
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You can't assume it's not poisonous
just because it's the same seaweed.
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Maybe this seaweed
isn't eaten often in the south.
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Perhaps a merchant learned that
it's a favorite of this bureaucrat,
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and, looking to profit from that,
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went out of his way to get some locals
to make a salted version of it?
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Why is that a problem?
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Sometimes, poisons can become not poisonous.
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For example, eels are originally poisonous,
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but by bleeding them out or cooking
them, they become edible.
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In the case of this seaweed, I think
it had to be soaked in limewater first.
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What I have here is one batch soaked in
limewater, and one batch without that.
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What are you doing?!
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It's fine.
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Probably.
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What do you mean, "probably"?!
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Don't worry. I have
an emetic agent right here—
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Don't say that so proudly!
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Gaoshun!
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Yes.
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Hey—
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Vomit, now!
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I wanted to test if the detoxification
could be done overnight...
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Um, back on topic.
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So, the issue is: who suggested that
the trader bring the salted seaweed?
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If the one who ate it imported it himself,
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it'd be his own fault, in a sense.
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But, if he didn't...
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Bringing it in from a region
that doesn't eat it
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is obviously taking a pretty big risk.
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I understand.
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The people here are smart.
I don't have to elaborate further.
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I guess that settles it for now.
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Hey!
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The culprit was the official's younger brother.
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When we found where he bought the seaweed,
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he confessed to being
the one who'd purchased it.
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His motive was that, being
the younger son, he wasn't treated well.
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He wanted to remove his older
brother from the picture.
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A commonplace story.
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But how could a person who'd plot to murder
someone for such a thoughtless reason
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have learned about the seaweed poison?
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He happened to hear about it from a person
sitting next to him at a tavern, apparently.
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"Happened to," huh? Sure...
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In the end, I didn't get to try
the poisonous seaweed...
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By the way, what should I use it for?
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That mushroom the color of dry leaves
growing from the dead insect!
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Should I make medicinal booze?! A pill?!
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Welcome home!
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Welcome home!
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What's going on?!
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It's not my fault.
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You seem tired.
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I have so much work piled up,
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but there's someone
I just don't get along with.
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We just can't see eye-to-eye.
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I never would have thought you'd
ever have trouble with people.
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This man's a razor-sharp
high official in the military.
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He comes from a good family, but even
though he's past forty, he hasn't married.
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He adopted his nephew as his son
and has him handle his household.
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A famous weirdo.
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A forty-plus, high-ranking
military officer... and weirdo?
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His only interests are go, shogi, and rumors.
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He files complaints, barges in,
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and keeps extending deadlines
on decisions that need to be made.
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I think he has it out for me for some reason.
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He's been camping in my office
for several days in a row.
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Okay, let's forget about this!
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No good can come from dwelling on this.
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However, no matter how hard I try to forget,
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as usual, my bad hunches are correct.
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This matter was settled already.
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Flower viewing in the winter is difficult.
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I thought this would be better instead.
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This man is Lakan. He is a strategist.
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It seems like the reason
he's confronting me
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is because I made Maomao, who is connected
to the Verdigris House, my servant.
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Come to think of it, I have an old
acquaintance in the Verdigris House.
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That's unexpected. I thought
he had no interest in romance.
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What kind of courtesan is she?
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Shoot, I asked without thinking.
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She was a good courtesan.
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She was very good at go and shogi.
I could beat her in shogi, but never in go.
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Defeating our master strategist?
She must have been good.
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I considered buying her out,
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since I felt I would never meet
another woman as interesting as her.
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But sometimes, things just don't work out.
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Two rich men with curious tastes
endlessly tried to outbid each other.
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Is that so?
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It's said, at times,
buying out a courtesan
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could cost about as much as a small palace.
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She was a strange courtesan.
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Where is he trying to go with this story?
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She would sell her skills, but never herself.
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In fact, she didn't treat
guests as customers at all.
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Even when pouring tea,
she had an arrogant look,
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like she was being charitable
to a lowly peasant.
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But there were many with curious tastes
who were head over heels for her.
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Myself among them, naturally.
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That chill down my spine
was truly irresistible.
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Oh, how I wanted to try
to force myself on her one day.
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In the end, I couldn't give up on her,
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so I had no choice but
to use a bit of a dirty trick.
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Meaning?
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If something's too expensive,
you simply lower its value.
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I made her less exquisite.
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Do you know how I did that?
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Why play hard-to-get all of a sudden?
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Well, before I get into that,
I have a favor to ask.
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What is it?
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I heard that the servant girl you hired
recently is quite intriguing.
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They say she has a strange
knack for solving puzzles.
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I was acquainted with a metalworker
who was the palace purveyor.
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He suddenly passed away a few days ago,
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and failed to name a proper successor.
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He had three children who
were also his apprentices.
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Unfortunately, he died before passing on
his secret techniques to his children.
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He left a puzzling will, which might be a hint.
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That's been bothering me for a while.
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Where are you going with this?
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Nowhere special, really.
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I just wonder if there's some way
to learn that secret technique.
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Perhaps, for example,
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by having your clever servant girl take a look.
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Well... I suppose I could hear the whole story.
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That's a lot of rain.
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Next Time
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Next time: "Lead."
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Episode 16: Lead