Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 2 • The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 - Episode 15 discussion

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Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 2, episode 15

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[u/OldInstruction5368]

And.... It was Loumen's punishment that caused Fengxian's and Maomao's disaster.

More specifically, when a member of the La clan (Loumen) gained the ire of the Palace and was exiled, the head of the family/Lakan's father used that as an excuse to pre-emptively soft-banish Lakan as well. He claimed concern over the palace being angry/petty enough to go after Loumen's closest associates as well, so essentially kicked Lakan out of town for a few years until the scandal blew over. Not out of Lakan's safety, mind you, but just because the head of the family considered the disgraced Loumen's closest family member to be a liability at the time... or, honestly? It was all just an excuse to lash out at Lakan further.

Man was a colossal prick.

Anywho, the point is that Loumen's exile also forced Lakan out of town for a few years... right after Maomao's mother had just seduced him in an attempted baby trap. That was the only way she felt she could get out of the marriage to a man she didn't want while lowering her price enough for Lakan to afford. As Meimei later said and Maomao acknowledged... Lakan was the one being tricked by Fengxian. She should have just been honest from the start and he would almost certainly have agreed.

Then no one in Lakan's family cared to let her know he wouldn't be returning for a while: hence that giant mountain of (increasingly unhinged) letters as Fengxian's life deteriorated more and more severely.

And once again, the inciting incident for this Rube Golberg of Shit was Loumen's exile. His kindness towards a troubled nephew was then later used against Lakan, destroying his chance at a happy family life.

To be perfectly clear, I blame the shitheaded father of Lakan more than anyone else here with only the previous Empress Dowager deserving additional scorn. It's just... tragic, how Loumen's kindness towards Lakan backfired so painfully.

[u/Crikyy → u/OldInstruction5368]

Lakan was the one being tricked by Fengxian. She should have just been honest from the start and he would almost certainly have agreed

The problem was that Fengxian's defining feature was her pride. That's why she never told Lakan about her plan, and Lakan was too eccentric and obsessed with Go to realize, even though he had more than enough intellect to catch her drift.

Also, Luomen was skilled enough to prevent Fengxian's siphyllis from deteriorating to the current extent, but the Old Lady didn't trust him back then as he just came there after being exiled. The entire tragedy was indeed a massive trainwreck of unfortunate coincidences. Literally if only 1 thing went right so much pain and suffering could have been avoided.

[u/OldInstruction5368 → u/Crikyy]

Oh, I'm not saying it was out of character for Fengxian. Nor am I particularly blaming her here. Courtesan life is difficult when you are little more than a plaything to be bought and sold. She was trying to take agency over her life and secure a happy future for herself and chosen husband. It's just... She and Lakan both were terrible communicators: a trait Maomao has unfortunately inherited.

The Old Madame can't be blamed for chasing Lakan away either. We've seen some of the horror stories of courtesan life: used, abused, and tossed into the ditch to die. Hell, with many additional horror stories from the Rear Palace which isn't much better. We can't blame her for assuming the worst out of Lakan, especially since the scandal nearly broke the Verdigris house.

Which is why she lied to Lakan and let him believe Fengxian died. She was trying to protect her girl from this (assumed) bastard. Think about that rich merchant's son that got a sick thrill out of ruining courtesans. Men that don't care about the flowers they trample are likely far too common. But Lakan was too wracked with guilt (for not realizing the truth sooner) to properly defend himself, even if the Madame was willing to listen.

It really was a huge cavalcade of unfortunate misunderstandings, bad timing, and shear tragedy... that was started when Loumen's kindness was trampled by petty spite and hatred. Both his kindness in facilitating the baby swap at the request of both mothers, and out of kindness to Lakan. Punishment for the former lead to punishment of the later.

[u/RedRocket4000 → u/Crikyy]

Have learned reading about Luis and Clark that a mercury treatment was fairly effective on syphilis. Of course it was mercury they were using. So it was the massively superior immune system that the one in four children that lived to adulthood had that could take that long term.

Talk about something that needs a word for word animation. And it type of tale Star Trek based off of. They were using roughly 6,000 calories a day about double the modern Oympic Athlete uses.