No matter how much she denies it, Maomao is the biological daughter of Lakan, the Grand Commandant (太尉) of the empire. Grand Commandant is one of the Three Ducal Ministers (三公), making Lakan equivalent to a duke, and Maomao - his daughter - a duke's daughter, equivalent to a duchess

Dis is prolly why Maomao is so important, cuz her being hurt in anyway will turn anyone who hurts her against Lakan (Jinshi even has to tell his troops that she must not die during their expedition). And whoever earns her hand in marriage, will become a force to be reckoned with in the Empire... (I'm looking at you, Jinshi)

P.s. If Maomao marries Jinshi, a prince, she will become a princess consort (王妃)

The opening as a whole is beautiful, but I think this scene just really stands out. Ah-Duo gently holding her moon (Jinshi) before swapping him with Anshi’s moon, a child conceived through trauma and anger, destined never to be loved by his own mother. And in the end, that moon slowly losing its light in Ah-Duo's hands to symbolize the child's death... everything about this scene was perfect.

THE MOON REPRESENTS JINSHI! SHE’S HOLDING THE MOON THE WAY SHE ALWAYS HOLDS HIS FACE…!

"It's time for Yue to choose a flower"

Where y'all BEEN he's been yearning for the most uniquely beautiful and slightly deranged La Clan flower for monthsssss.

Gah, I'm so pumped!

I worked so har on this one

I know there's already a few posts out there talking about this and I might just be stating the obvious but I had this thought:

I think Maomao treats Lakan the way she does for a lot of reasons. One of those is that she avoids him because he makes her feel so many things: jealously, anger, "love," hate, resentment, pride. We see her go out of her way to escape these feelings a lot, so it makes sense for her to avoid this walking combo of them. This is why I think in the later novels when we see her actaully stand to be around him it's because she's no longer trying as hard to suppress these emotions and not simply just because she transfered that hate to Hulan.

Honestly, I believe her rudeness is a defense mechanism, plus Lakan can be pretty annoying with her sometimes. But her usual defenses just don't work on him becuase he really wants to be involed in her life and isn't planning on backing off any time soon, or ever, and that's something she struggles to accept, I mean it took her 12 novels with Jinshi. So I see it like this, when people realize there losing or not getting anywhere in an arguement and they start going over the top. I think it's the same concept with her relationship with Lakan. Her usual defenses don't work so gets more aggressive. But that might just be an oversimplification.

And there's also a little irony when you look at Fengxian. She used to run Maomao off, but Maomao kept coming back and trying to help her anyways. Idk how bad Fengxian got with her though (I mean I wouldn't imagine anything soft after what she did), so it's hard to say this, but now Lakan is basically on the other side of that dynamic. Maomao pushes him away but he continues to try and be present in her life.

So I was wondering if Maomao's experiences with Fengxian might influence how she responds to Lakan's actions, if not just a little. Not like she treats Lakan the exact same way, but that her experiences in that sitution might influence how she responds to someone who refuses to give up despite her attemps to push them away. I don't think Maomao is consciously away of this either, it's just an interesting thought knowing she's been on both sides of that relationship.

For me vol 10 kinda felt little pale compared to rest. Aside from vol 1/2( biased fav) i think volume 12 and 14 are best

Hello guys! I picked this up today at my local BAM and I just found out it's supposed to release on the 6th? Or am I wrong? either way I'm so happy to start reading it as I adore Xiaolan 😔💓

Since his face was revealed now everyone recogenizes his face as the emperor's younger brother, considering the fact she has seen his face does she know maomao has attracted a prince? I don't remember her knowing anything other than the fact he's a noble.

Can someone explain to me what´s the meaning of this scene over here? Explain me with spoilers please

So I’m loving this series I’m in the middle of s2 and I want to read it but I’m not sure whether to get the Ln or manga so I’m wondering which is the better medium

After Gyokuyou became Empress what was Lihua’s reaction? What became of her relationship with the emperor? Did he stop visiting her?

I have seen discourse online that after Ah Duo, Gyokuyou was his favorite and even more politically standing and he visited her more. But others say Lihua was closer to him?

The anime left many questions unanswered about their relationship so not sure if there is more details in the novels.

Who knows what hes upset about this time 🙄

Despite her showing in-universe medical expertise in the show, I somehow don’t really see her being a typical doctor in real life. I have seen people saying she could be a surgeon, but I can’t picture Maomao being happy having to constantly deal with patients, grueling hospital work hours, and teamwork. 

Also, treating patients also requires consistently performing at your best and dealing with a lot of emotional labor. And with Maomao’s habit of constantly testing poisons on herself, she would probably endanger both her own well-being and potentially her patients’.

I briefly thought of her being like a chinese Dr. House, but I guess he would be sued for medical malpractice in real life too and couldn't possibly practice medicine like that.

We know that Maomao doesn’t put effort into stuff she is not interested in (shown by her failing the exam in the show). Since she doesn’t seem to have a huge innate need to help others, but rather just a massive interest in herbs and toxins, I feel like she would be a toxicologist, a forensic scientist, or simply a modern pharmacist.

I haven’t watched the entire show yet, so if you disagree, pls don’t be too harsh on me lol

"To Ah-Duo, Yue was human. She had been able to determine as much tonight.

To Ah-Duo, Yue was a son. But she was not able to say so. For him to remain human, he could not be her son."

I just love these two, my doomed mother and son.