The Apothecary Diaries

Episode 21

There's something lovable about Lihaku. Part of that is down to his overgrown puppy energy; he's perhaps not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's also clearly got an earnestness that makes up for that. When you pair that with the lengths he's willing to go to for Pairin, though, you get something special. No, I'm not talking about his willingness to strip down for Pairin's little sister's inspection, but rather the decision he comes to when Jinshi offers him the silver to buy out Pairin's contract at Verdigris House. It would have been very easy to take Jinshi up on that offer, even if it came with the tacit understanding that no wayward men would be presenting themselves to Jinshi's “cat” in the buff anymore – that's barely a string attached. Even being in Jinshi's debt isn't a terrible burden, largely because he's laying his cards on the table, and every single one of them features Maomao.

When Lihaku declines the offer, he's not thinking about those things. What he's doing is making a statement about how much Pairin means to him. He tells Jinshi that Pairin may be a random courtesan, but to Lihaku, she's the only woman in the world, and that's at the heart of his choice. Taking Jinshi's money to buy her out means that he's seeing her in terms of her monetary value. If he's going to pay off the madam, it has to be on his terms, with money he earned – a reverse dowry, of a sort. If he can pay Pairin's price, he's making a statement that he can afford to give her a comfortable life and that he cared enough to acquire that money. It's Lihaku's way of telling Pairin he loves her and showing anyone else who may care the same. That's even more lovely when we consider that he doesn't have any issue with what she does for work, which Maomao notes; he accepts all of her, and if she sleeps with other men (or, as is briefly implied, women), that's just part of the life she's made for herself. While her high sex drive is a piece of the woman he loves. Even without getting an eyeful of his private area, Maomao's happy with his plan to buy out her sister, because he accepts all of Pairin, not just the pieces he's fully comfortable with.

On that front, Jinshi's got a bit of a ways to go. He could learn a thing or two from Lihaku about not getting jealous, although admittedly the show would lose one of its funnier elements if he did. Of course, Jinshi's not as confident in himself and his body as Lihaku, and seeing Maomao attempting to get a gander at those parts of Lihaku that she thinks Jinshi doesn't have (and that he has to pretend he doesn't have) could easily have pushed his insecurities over the edge. He wants Maomao to see him as a man but is afraid that his “Jinshi” act may be hampering that, and he's so wrapped up in that idea that he hasn't stopped to notice that she's never really shown romantic or sexual interest in anyone; she even says that she wanted to see if Lihaku measured up to Pairin's standards rather than just itching to see his penis. For someone who's increasingly obsessed with Maomao, Jinshi still lacks a complete understanding of her, and that could come back to bite him later on.

For now, all eyes are on Lakan and what he wants with his daughter. Maomao. The ladies of Verdigris House distrust him completely, and Jinshi seems to be leaning that way as well. But Lakan did step up when Maomao needed a hand, and his sad murmurings about blue roses may say more about his feelings for Maomao's mother than we've been attributing to him. You don't have to be the inner palace doctor to miss a few clues being dropped in front of your nose, and figuring out Lakan himself is proving to be a mystery that everyone seems to have a different answer to.

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