The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 2
Chapter 1: Serving in the Outer Court
""Over to the east from here you’ll find a great many soldiers and military types, so I would suggest steering clear.""
Gaushun says this for her safety, as arguably a woman being around military men who may not see women often could be more dangerous than the "dissatisfied" men in the pleasure district. Maomao would avoid it because of that, yes, however she would also avoid it for another reason.
"She stuck out her tongue at the other women,"
Her pettiness is funny. She's just like, "hey, fuck off."
"She had, at least, opened the materials she’d been given to study with every intention of reading them through, but the next thing she knew it was morning. This happened several times in a row. So Maomao consoled herself that the outcome had been inevitable. She nodded in agreement with her own conclusion."
She genuinely did try to study, but that dysfunction hit her and she didn't end up learning anything. She made a genuine attempt and was actually disappointed, sad, and angry at herself that she wasn't able to pass the test. So she tells herself that it was inevitable that she would fail, she doesn't dwell on it and so she doesn't make herself any more upset than she already is.
"The better they eat, the bigger they get, Maomao thought, her glance unconsciously taking in both the girls’ height and their bustlines."
TITTIES!!! MAOMAO LOVES THOSE
""Do I understand correctly that what you’re saying is that you’re jealous of me?" It was more than enough to anger the ladies. It was only after she had been slapped across the cheek that Maomao started to reflect that maybe she’d chosen the wrong words."
Maomao, your autism is showing. She's also just trying to understand just why this group of court ladies are accosting her. She trying to reason it out, she started in her head but her staying silent annoyed them even more so she had to say stuff out loud. Her thoughts are rude and mean and she knows that, so she tends to keep quiet. This reaction from the court ladies only further makes her believe she should keep quiet.
" She seemed like the type who might follow a mob just to see where it went, though not be a part of it herself."
I love Suirei, she wants the tea.
very demure, very nice, very much fake and detached but she'd rather not die from a mobbing.
"The tall one glanced back at her, but was soon gone as well."
Suirei is curious. She feels as though she may relate to Maomao, she is curious about how Maomao got her scars. Did Maomao get her scars like Suirei did? Why does Maomao have scars? We, the readers, know that Maomao commits to self-harm in order to test her medicines, but Suirei doesn't know that.
"...she heard Jinshi mutter: “Proclivities...”
I don’t think I said anything wrong, Maomao told herself. "
He heard her and is disbelief. At both himself for having such proclivities, and at Maomao for actually saying so. Also this is just fucking funny.
"Apparently you weren’t supposed to go shouting in the middle of the night. Allegedly, people were trying to sleep or something."
I feel you, Maomao. Who sleeps these days? Consistently? Not me that's for sure.
""Perhaps a stable near a well, then," she offered, and there it was: her true desire was out in the open.
"A stable," Jinshi repeated.
To her, this represented the place she was least likely to be intruded upon as she cooked up her concoctions, but she couldn’t help noticing that Gaoshun was shaking his head and forming an emphatic X with both hands. So the guy has a playful side, Maomao observed to herself.
"No stables," Jinshi said flatly.
Yeah, uh, I guess that makes sense, Maomao thought, but she said only, "Of course, sir.""
Long annotation, but I find this whole bit funny. Maomao wants a stable and well so she has enough room to work on her medicine. Jinshi just wants to please Maomao by giving her a bigger room, but doesn't want to put her in a stable like a horse. Gaoshun is just so tired of all of this. Suiren seems to not really care at the moment.
Suiren is older, she is a mother, she is a grandmother, she likes kids. Her and Gaoshun raised Jinshi. Suiren should retire soon, if she can. At 50, she should be able to enjoy life without worry.
""Anyone would be upset to find underwear they didn’t recognize in the dresser," she said. Made from human hair, at that! And with a name carefully embroidered on it. Maomao got goosebumps. This was not quite the explanation she had been expecting.
No one is their right mind would ever expect this as a response. This is just insane! Made out of hair? Embroidered? Poor Jinshi for the harassment and poor Suiren for having to deal with this.
"...how life might be better if that eunuch were to wear a mask anytime he went out."
"...when she felt something hit the back of her head."
Suirei just thwacked Maomao on the back of the head like she would for a sibling.
"...very blunt but sounding somehow tired."
She is so tired. Please, Maomao, just listen to her so she can have one less person bothering her right now. She is stressed.
"The camp might not be as dangerous as the back streets of the pleasure district, but there were plenty of young (and not-so-young) men with their blood up there, and an attractive young woman would do well to avoid them."
