Man this felt like such a short episode, it was over before I knew it! It was definitely the most light-hearted one to date even though they spent a bit of time about how the ladies-in-waiting is bullying poor Lishu who didn’t ask to be put in this situation in the first place. But Maomao made a good point how it doesn’t feel good for a food-taster to be doing the job when the consort doesn’t have any respect in the rear palace, and is a child no less… But still, doesn’t excuse their pathetic behaviour.
Maomao also contributed to some detective work for Jinshi and Gaoshun by sharing a technique to identify finger prints on the poisoned dish. Thanks to dusting it, she was able to identify four potential suspects. The one who poured the soup, the one who carried it, the one who tasted it, and the outsider that touched the bowl on the outside. Maomao believes it’s the outsider that’s the culprit, but tracing down the finger print is still going to take some time. As it stands, Gaoshun and Jinshi are led to believe the best way to identify the culprit are burn marks, but still haven’t had any luck with tracking them down. For the time being, they have concluded it’s an inside job, but that just makes matters even more troubling because they need to figure out who’s behind it, and fast.
But once that was done and over-with, it was back to some pure comedy with Maomao capitalizing on the hairpins she has received once she received a partial explanation for the importance and value of receiving the hairpins, she didn’t get the other significance of its meaning, and it probably will be a while being she ever does. As soon as her friend told her that they are the keys to gaining access outside of the Rear Palace for a bit, Maomao was immediately, “GIVE ME ALL THE DETS!” And understandably so, and it didn’t take her long to cleverly put together a plan, which worked perfectly thanks to the consolidation hairpin that was handed to her by Lihaku. He was definitely the best candidate for the job of enabling her to have a three day home visit by capitalizing with the ultimate ace up her sleeve: Presenting a trade he could not refuse. The opportunity to meet one of the three Princesses of Verdigris House, Pairin, Joka and Meimei. As it turns out Pairin is obsessed with good muscles, and Lihaku happens to be quite a buffed military officer, so he will fit her tastes very well– to the point that even Granny immediately called out Pairin because she knew she’d love him.
Speaking of Granny, oh my goodness– the old lady can sure land a punch! What a greeting, one which Maomao hilariously thinks fondly of as it’s the type of punch that’d get her to vomit up all the poison she ate. The dynamic gives us a good understanding where she learned how to fire back at the ladies-in-waiting in the rear palace!
As for Jinshi, poor guy been so caught up with the investigation (which is still a dead end despite having finally found a lead of a sort thanks to Maomao’s technique to reveal finger prints on the bowl), among other things ended up missing Maomao before she had gone home. Lady Gyokuyou is certainly getting a kick out of teasing him for an exchange.
That said we did learn that there is more to Jinshi than meets the eye (though go figure, I think most people already assumed that from the get-go, myself included). The first hint was his hairpin’s replacement. After having given his silver one to Maomao, Jinshi ended up wearing a gold one as a hasty replacement– which as we later learned: Means an even higher status, one that you could probably say is akin the the consorts. Heck, it may even be a higher status given it bears what I’m assuming is a ruby with a beast emblem on it. (Just a note, I don’t know exactly what type supposed to be, so I’ll refrain from guessing until I’m told otherwise). And if that isn’t enough reason to suspect, the fact it’s mentioned that Gaoshun was even said to have been by his side ever since he was young further suggest his prestigious status. If Maomao recognized this, perhaps it might make her think twice with how casually she interacts with him, but I don’t think Jinshi would want anything to change between then anyways because he likes the way Maomao doesn’t have any ulterior motives around him.
Whew, and with that I’m finally caught up! Episode 8 will mark return to the usual schedule of the entry between Saturday and Sundays! With that said, now I can finally catch up on sleep, ehe! /FAINTS
If not apothecary, Maomao would do a good job as a detective with her observant nature. (^w^)