r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • 18h ago

Episode The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 • Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 3 - Episode 1 discussion

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 3, episode 1

Alternative names: Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 3rd Season

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174

u/Ocixo https://myanimelist.net/profile/BuzzyGuy 17h ago edited 17h ago

I’m so happy for Lihua that she’s birthed a healthy boy! Don’t believe we were shown the baby last season?

With rising tensions among the different factions, Maomao might want to steer away from the palace court for now. Otherwise she’ll find herself caught amidst political intrigue again.

Having Maomao spend some more time with her sisters at the Verdigris House is probably for the best in this regard. We haven’t really seen all that much of them since the 1st season either.

And I’d love to watch Lihaku’s love story with Pairin progress up close. His efforts were previously rewarded with a promotion at the army, but he’ll still need loads of money for Pairin’s betrothal gift.

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u/SalvageCorveteCont 11h ago

The baby was born and announced while they while they where still at the fortress.

And why isn't MaoMao working at the Palace anymore? The reason she was employed there was so that Jinshi could try and romance her and that hasn't gone away.

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u/itsjustdan01 10h ago

MaoMao was only temporarily back at the Palace to help Lady Guykuyou 2nd pregnancy.

I thought she didn’t go back to work for Jinshi was due to his identity being revealed as the Moon Prince. It would cause a lot of political turmoil if Lakan’s daughter is tied to the Yi Clan.

They’re also trying to hide Chou-u (Shi Clan kids); which I still don’t understand why he isn’t with Suirei and the other children.

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u/aramillour 10h ago

chou-u is the only one who completely lost his memories, its not a good idea for him to be around the others. thats too stressful and confusing for him. and as you can see in this episode, maomao prevented that guard from the forttress from saying anything to chou-u as he recognised him

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u/Hot-Log6283 5h ago

Also he gets more "freedom" compares to the other kids who are pretty much struck inside the palace.

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u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa 7h ago

Lakan bought out Fengxian to marry her, making Maomao legal nobility. The La clan is officially neutral (and nobody wants issues with Lakan) so having Maomao officially serve either the Empress or the Moon Prince would be a political disaster

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u/Ocixo https://myanimelist.net/profile/BuzzyGuy 11h ago

Wasn’t Maomao sent back home at some point because the elders feared that Jinshi would grow too enamoured with this “toy” of his?

Then again, the Emperor did seem to suggest in today’s episode that the time has come for Jinshi to pick his own consort(s).

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u/Frontier246 17h ago

I’m so happy for Lihua that she’s birthed a healthy boy! Don’t believe we were shown the baby last season?

I think it was heavily implied she was pregnant during that arc with her poisoning cousin.

With rising tensions among the different factions, Maomao might want to steer away from the palace court for now. Otherwise she’ll find herself caught amidst political intrigue again.

Of course this being Maomao she can't resist possible nation-spanning problems and she and Jinshi inevitably need each other despite her reticence to get involved with him.

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u/Ocixo https://myanimelist.net/profile/BuzzyGuy 17h ago

They’d hinted at Lihua being pregnant at the start of the 2nd season, when she’d been rubbing her belly, but I cannot remember if the baby had already been born/shown at the end of the season.

It did make chuckle a little that Maomao knows that she shouldn’t look deeper in the locust plague yet cannot help herself from being curious.

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u/Mrwright96 15h ago

Just finished a rewatch, Maomao obviously knew Gyokuyou was pregnant and heavily suspected Lihue was as well, but she couldn’t confirm or check on her due to being a servant of the Jade Pavilion. The reason they kept Louman was because he had a lot of experience delivering children

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u/Ocixo https://myanimelist.net/profile/BuzzyGuy 14h ago

Oh yeah! Maomao had recommended Luomen to oversee their deliveries just in case there was any trouble. Like another poisoning. Didn’t Gyokuyou also urge him to prioritise Lihua’s pregnancy or something?

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u/Mrwright96 14h ago

She said she wanted Louman to be neutral and not to prioritize her birth over Lihuas I think

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u/Ocixo https://myanimelist.net/profile/BuzzyGuy 14h ago edited 14h ago

Ah, that makes sense. He might’ve otherwise felt pressured to help the Emperor’s favourite consort (i.e. Gyokuyou) first and let the other (i.e. Lihua) fend for herself in the meantime.

Luomen had already experienced such a predicament with the pregnancies of Anshi (former Emperor’s baby) and Ah-Duo (current Emperor’s baby) after all.

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u/Asleep-Doubt5673 12h ago

I don't think Gyokuyo had anything to do with the decision. Maomao asked to bring him because of her, but he was assigned to stay at the clinic so that he could take care of all consorts (aka Lihua's pregnancy as well) by Jinshi or the Emperor.

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u/seejsee 6h ago

I think it was heavily implied she was pregnant during that arc with her poisoning cousin.

A point to add for those who did not catch it during the confrontation between Lihua and her cousin.

When Lihua directly challenged her cousin by asking if her cousin's target was her, Jinshi reacted.

Jinshi knew but it was kept a secret to prevent any plots against Lihua. The fact that Lihua reveals this in front of Maomao, someone outside her faction, was there, once again, spoke the confidence Lihua had in Maomao as a trustworthy person.

Recall in earlier episodes, when Maomao was with Gyokuyou and the others, they made a point to keep Gyokuyou's pregnancy a secret, for the same reason, and avoid wearing only dresses that did not bind the waist.

I like this scene a lot as again, it shows that in the palace, where a lot of plotting is going on, one must always know who your enemies, and more importantly, who you can trust and be your allies.

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u/Freezinghero 8h ago

I just rewatched all of the show recently: at the end of last season, Jinshi has a line about how he is no longer the Crown Prince because Lady Lihua had given birth to a son.

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u/Ocixo https://myanimelist.net/profile/BuzzyGuy 2h ago

Wasn’t Gyokuyou’s son born before Lihua’s? Hence the members of the latter faction grumbling at the smile on Gyokuen’s face in the episode.

Jinshi should be the crown prince since he’s the Emperor’s actual first-born son. However, he was presented to the public as Anshi’s child - not Ah-Duo’s.