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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Sandalwood incense...
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Master Jinshi's bedroom...
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How did I end up here...?
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Oh, you're awake.
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Don't push yourself.
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You had fifteen stitches.
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Master Jinshi brought you here,
since it's better here than at the infirmary.
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Here you go.
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Thank you.
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I'm sorry to bother you after you just
woke up, but can you get dressed?
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I want to bring everyone in.
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Understood.
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What in the world is going on?!
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Basen!
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Episode 20: Thornapple
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I mean, his master's life was at risk.
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That said, I don't deserve to be yelled at.
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I apologize for my lack of manners.
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Don't worry about it.
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So, how did you end up there,
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and how did you know
the pillar was about to fall?
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Do explain.
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Understood.
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That was an accident caused by
multiple coincidences converging.
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But it's as if the coincidences
were drawn together intentionally.
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In that sense, it's a conspiracy,
not an accident.
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The first coincidence is
the death of Master Kounen,
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a high-ranking official
at the Board of Rites, last year.
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Next, the fire at a warehouse,
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and the theft of some ceremonial tools
at a different warehouse.
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And the third is the manager
of ceremonial tools
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falling ill due to food poisoning
at around the same time.
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Those were all caused
intentionally by someone?
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Probably.
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There's also probably
one more important factor.
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What is it?
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The stolen ceremonial tools.
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During the ceremony, the pillar above
the altar was pulled up by metal wires,
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and fixed on to the floor with metal parts.
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If the goal was to make this
appear as an accident,
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aiming for those metal parts would be effective.
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If someone stole those,
they'd just make replacements!
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Of course they did.
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Since they're used in ceremonies,
I'm sure the design was elaborate.
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I can think of one artisan
who might have been tasked with it.
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The metalworker who passed away?
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Yes. The stolen ceremonial pieces
were rebuilt by the metalworker.
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So, what if those metal parts were
designed to break when heated?
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Idiot! What kind of metal would...
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Using the late metalworker's secret technique,
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the metal could be made to melt
just by being near an open fire.
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Are you saying the metalworker
was part of this conspiracy?
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No, I think he didn't know anything,
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and just built the metal parts as ordered.
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Perhaps he was asked, "Please build one
of these, but using that special metal."
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But if an accident occurs at a ceremony,
of course the metalworker would have doubts.
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If the artisan is eliminated
before the incident,
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both the identity of his commissioner
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and the secret of the easily-melting
metal vanish with him.
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That would have been ideal for the mastermind.
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Was he killed?
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That I can't tell.
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It could be a crime made
to look like an accident.
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The customer who had
the metalworker remake the parts
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knew the technique that
made that metal possible.
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That's all I can say.
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Understood.
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Anyway, who would have thought Master
Jinshi would be at that ceremony?
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If that ceremony continued...
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Who is this guy?
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If he's someone worth trying to kill
with such a complicated scheme...
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Knowing the truth would
just get me in more trouble.
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It has nothing to do with me anymore.
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Xiaomao.
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Yes.
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You have a guest.
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About that incident. A court lady named
Suirei had something to do with it...
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Suirei. I knew it.
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They found her corpse.
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Huh?
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When an officer of justice entered her room,
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she'd already drunk poison
and was collapsed on the floor.
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The doctors have already finished
examining her, and she's confirmed dead.
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What next?
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I think they're going to cremate
her corpse tomorrow, coffin and all.
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Any other co-conspirators?
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Nobody. Just Suirei.
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She did all of those
complicated things by herself?
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Anyway, it's solved. See ya.
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She poisoned herself and died?
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That's really it?
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No, more importantly,
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was Suirei the type of person
to commit suicide?
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Was she behaving apathetic and unemotional
because she knew she had no future?
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But the way she spoke, as if testing me...
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I'll be planting some morning glories here.
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Resurrection medicine...
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I can't leave it as conjecture.
I have to know for certain!
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Master Jinshi!
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I have a request for you!
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W-What is it?
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I'd like to speak to the doctor
who examined the corpse.
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At the morgue.
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Why are you smiling...?
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Curiosity got the best of me.
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Master Jinshi, you don't have
to go in there with her...
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If the apothecary is going, I'm going too.
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Understood.
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Xiaomao, here.
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Thank you.
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My apologies for the long wait.
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I knew it. This doctor did the examination.
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A court lady he seemed close to is dead,
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and she's accused of crimes on top of that.
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No surprise he seems worn out.
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But is that really all?
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I'll be blunt.
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Did the poison ingested by
the court lady include thornapple?
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That's...
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The small hill near the stable.
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Did she not plant thornapple there?
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It has a strong poison, but in right
amounts, it can work as an anesthetic.
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I'm sure the pharmacy stocks plenty.
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Thornapple looks like a white morning glory.
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I can't say for certain.
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It's quite likely, given the symptoms,
but I can't say for certain.
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Let's confirm with our own eyes, then.
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W-What are you doing?!
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Just shut up and watch!
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S-Stop!
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It's open.
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That's... not Suirei?!
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It can't be...
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It was... It really was Suirei...
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Are you certain it was Suirei?
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There's no way I'd mistake her.
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She had no pulse. Her heart wasn't moving.
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She was so clean.
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In other words, you've been exploited.
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You didn't think to cut open her corpse
to find out what poison she used.
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That's what Suirei expected.
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You!
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It wasn't just thornapple that Suirei took.
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If we investigated
the drug stocks at the pharmacy,
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we should be able to tell what she used.
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I guess the only thing
we can fault this doctor for
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is not keeping track of the drugs properly.
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What do you mean?
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That the corpse is wrong.
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Even if the coffin was supposed to be burned,
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it would be too suspicious if it was empty.
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She must have placed a different corpse
in a new coffin to replace her.
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Then what about Suirei's corpse?
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Carrying it out would have caused a scene.
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There's no need to carry it out.
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What do you mean?
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She walked out by herself.
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But wasn't she dead?!
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There is a certain drug that can
make a person appear dead.
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Are you aware of it?
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I've heard about it, but that's just fantasy.
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What is it like?
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That drug, which is said
to exist in a faraway land,
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is able to kill a person,
then resurrect them later.
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I don't know the details,
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but I've heard thornapple and
pufferfish are used as ingredients.
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Xiaomao?
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Master Gaoshun, could you
investigate the empty coffins?
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Yes.
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Fingernail marks.
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That must have been the one
with the dead Suirei in it.
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By the time her rescuer arrived to open it,
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she came back to life.
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They set up a different coffin
with another corpse to replace it,
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then disguised her as a vendor to walk out.
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They employed such a risky method?
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If she got caught, she'd get executed anyway.
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I'd take that bet any day.
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I think with you, it would be different...
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Since there's no corpse here,
Suirei must have won her bet.
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If the replacement corpse got burned,
it would have been a complete victory, but...
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Not on my watch.
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If she's still alive, I'd like to meet her.
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Not to arrest her.
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The intellect that allowed her to make
so many crimes look like accidents.
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The courage she had to pull it all off.
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Most of all, the nerves of steel it took
to bet her own life to trick us all!
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A person like that dying so
soon would be such a loss!
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Medicine to bring people back to life!
She will teach me how to make it!
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Pardon me.
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W-What is it?!
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Can we get my leg stitched up again?
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I think the wound reopened.
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Say that sooner!
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Lady Loulan.
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We ended up taking care of
the Suirei incident in secret.
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Many things remain unclear
about the court lady Suirei.
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According to the doctor,
she was backed by his teacher.
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He took note of her talents a few years ago
and brought her in as an adopted daughter.
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Not much is known about her past before then.
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This is going to take a long time.
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I helped Xiaomao get home.
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Sorry to trouble you, as always.
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We can't let her open up her wound again.
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Yes.
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But it's not just her wound that worries me.
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There's also the matter with Lakan, the weirdo.
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It's clear that he's her father,
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but given the apothecary's attitude,
there must be some issues there.
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To the rear palace tomorrow, right?
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Yes.
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There seems to be no problem.
It's the same as always.
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Meaning it tastes bad.
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You don't have to drink it
if you don't like it.
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It's a responsibility of mine, as a eunuch.
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You shouldn't hold your nose
like that in public.
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It makes you look very young.
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I know.
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Refined mannerisms, heavenly
smiles, and a voice like honey.
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The "twenty-four-year-old" man who became
a eunuch when the rear palace
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became the current emperor's, five years ago.
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That's "Jinshi."
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From the day I decided to wear this mask,
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I've been drinking this medicine
to suppress my manhood every day.
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It will make you actually impotent one day.
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Hey, same with you!
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My children are adults now.
I even have another grandchild.
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A grandchild? From your older son?
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Yes. My youngest son is ready
to get married too, but...
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By youngest, you mean Basen? He's only nineteen.
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Yes, nineteen, just like you.
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"Jinshi the eunuch" is twenty-four.
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Your look is telling me to
find a wife and end this work.
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I'd like to have time to
spend with my grandchild.
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I'll do my best.
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Greetings, Master Jinshi.
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Another wonderful outfit, I see.
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Thank you.
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Master Jinshi...
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The emperor does visit
Concubine Loulan often,
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but apparently, he doesn't
find her very appealing.
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Concubine Loulan is very fashionable,
changing her hairstyle and makeup often.
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Apparently, he can't tell who she is
every time he visits her, and gets confused.
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Still, he visits her once every ten days.
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Concubine Loulan's father is
an important high-ranking official
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who was the previous
empress dowager's favorite.
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He needs to be careful around her.
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In terms of lacking appeal,
Concubine Lishu is similar.
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The current emperor despises his
predecessor's taste for younger girls.
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He doesn't intend to lay a finger
on Concubine Lishu.
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The empress dowager, who gave birth
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to the current emperor
when she was just a girl,
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also gave birth to another child,
some ten-odd years later.
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At that time, the doctor spent all his time
tending to the empress dowager,
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so the birth took place without an issue.
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However, Concubine Ah-Duo,
who gave birth at around the same time,
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received no attention,
resulting in the loss of her uterus.
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The current emperor's firstborn
child was lost soon after.
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If that child had survived...
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No, it's just a silly delusion.
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He just needs to make himself a new prince.
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Oh, you're here.
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You seem exhausted.
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All right, back to work with you all.
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Y-Yes.
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To be honest...
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The rear palace?
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Yes. Concubine Gyokuyou's
lunar cycle has stopped.
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Lunar cycle. In other words,
she might be pregnant.
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Starting when?
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Can you start today?
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Yes.
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I'm counting on you.
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This is a good opportunity for me.
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Men aren't allowed in the rear palace.
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There's no chance I'd run into that man
whose name I can't even stand to hear.
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Does this mean Master Jinshi
is looking out for me?
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At any rate, more tasting for poisons!
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Oh, you're in a good mood.
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Huh? No, not at all!
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It's unfortunate. I thought I'd finally found
someone worth cracking the whip on.
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Right?
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Life at the rear palace
is similar to the last time,
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tasting for poisons every day.
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This is safe.
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Besides the pause in her menstrual
cycle, there's no definite evidence.
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I'd had this thought during
the events with Concubine Ah-Duo,
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but perhaps he's more than just
a lewd middle-aged guy.
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With Concubine Ah-Duo gone
as a trusted adviser,
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and replaced by a quirky girl who
could cause political issues, as well...
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Someone he can't just ignore, yet would
cause trouble if she birthed a child...
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It all sounds like a headache.
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Verdigris House
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Hey, did you hear?
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Verdigris House
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What? One of the Three Princesses?
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Yes! She's getting bought out!
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Bought... out?
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Next Time
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Next time: "How to Buy
Out a Contract."
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Episode 21: How to Buy Out a Contract