Kusuriya no Hitorigoto - Ch. 75.1 - The Lantern Plant (Part 1)

[WhimsiCat]

quick someone make a graph of jinshi’s insanity in relation to the amount of time spent separated from maomao

I mean, there is sorta one already:
https://xkcd.com/231/

 

[Doomer]

i'll be honest i can't remember any of the names in this series other then mao mao and jinshi. is the missing consort the little girl MC figured out that part of the kidnapping plot?

 

[SatchelBagman]

i'll be honest i can't remember any of the names in this series other then mao mao and jinshi. is the missing consort the little girl MC figured out that part of the kidnapping plot?

The missing consort, Rou Ran, is the one who was added to the top four after the retirement of Ah Duo, the one who was Jinshi's birth mother. Until this arc most of her camera time has involved people talking about her role as a participant in her father's politics and the emperor having trouble telling who she is when he visits her due to all the different outfits and makeup she wears each time, which we here see was partial cover for her to be replaced by one of her attendants when she ran out.

Rou Ran is also the daughter of Shi Shou, a civil servant of roughly equal standing to Maomao's birth father Rakan (he's compared to a tanuki where Rakan is compared to a fox). A few chapters ago Rakan did a bit of mischief at a meeting that seems to have confirmed Shi Shou has red-green color-blindness and thus is probably descended from the imperial line, since there was a whole building setup in the palace designed to spot color-blindness. The actual scheme in play re: how this relates to Maomao getting kidnapped is still unfolding/being figured out on-panel.

 

[Braidzay]

Thanks for the chapter ^^

 

[Manko-sensei]

It was refreshing seeing Jinshi hot-blooded, the males of this series have been acting as wimps for so long it seemed that even those with its manhood intact were incapable of anything. More even, I'm amused watching how confident in his skills he is that it took seconds to make an attendant piss herself with two leading questions, even Mao Mao needs more preparation to intimidate. The only unexpected part is that high consort escape, I thought it would spicy somehow the gardens but she has remained as a high-maintenance loli, now that I was looking forward a heated confrontation it ended as a Jinshin outburst.

 

[Arthorios]

I’m actually lost in this plot lmao. That’s the downside of reading once in a month, I honestly did not get most of jinshi theories related to the eccentric consort

 

[Meijin]

Calm yourself Jinshi. You'll make every woman in the vicinity of you soaking wet if you add on dark, brooding and forceful to your traits.

 

[StormSen]

No, Maomao suspects that the emperor's "brother" is actually his son that got switched at birth, but she doesn't know (or deliberately doesn't follow the train of thought that would lead her to the conclusion that) Jinshi is the imperial prince.

Jinshi himself obviously knows that he's the imperial prince, but he doesn't know he was switched at birth. He mentions in chapter 55 that when he was young he thought the current emperor was his father but was actually his brother, ironically being correct in his initial assessment, not that he'd have known.

Well, it's odd because here he is complaining that he doesn't look like his brother

• Jinshi's resemblance to Ah Duo was so strong that it inspired Maomao's theory that Ah Duo was his actual mother.
• In addition, the resemblance is so strong that Ah Duo was used as a stand-in for Jinshi recently.
• Moreover, Jinshi must have an unusually close relationship with her since she invited him for drinks the night before she left the inner palace; and he was able to prevail on her to act as his double.
• So they have a very close resemblance, a close relationship, and she had a child about his age... But it never occurred to him that he might actually be her son? Unlikely.
• And this despite the fact that he's complaining that he doesn't look like his mother or "brother". So if lack of similarity is causing him to doubt one relationship, shouldn't the presence of similarity cause him to suspect the other relationship?

Jinshi & Emperor?

• Though it is odd that he claims to not resemble his "brother" (presumed father).
• Perhaps Ah Duo is his mother but the emperor is not his father.... But that seems very unlikely. No other (non-castrated) males allowed in the Inner Court, and his mother would have every reason to remain faithful.
• (Maybe some guy snuck in through the secret door and raped Ah Duo?)
• ...
• Edit: Nevermind. Jinshi looked like the previous emperor when he was young. That's what freaked out the old maid -- she overlapped him with the previous Emperor. (But Jinshi didn't recognize this because Jinshi only saw the prev Emperor as an old man.) Ironically, the thing that triggered Jinshi about his identity actually proved his identity.

Jinshi & Previous Emperor

• I ended up thinking some more about this... And there's a good possible explanation for why Jinshi looks like the previous Emperor. See this follow up post.

 

[ultrabread]

Jinshi this chapter be all like:

 

[NJOcelot]

furious jinshi sure is something...

 

[StormSen]

Hopefully I have this right...
Ages are my best guess -- see Age section near end.

Shen Ryu [50-70 yo]

• Old maid, head of the clinic. (So, some connection to medicine like Tai Hou.
• Has enough affection for Tai Hou that she left flower's at Tai Hou's grave.
• Tai Hou's mother? Or lover? Or just very close friend?
• Involved with plot to destroy current emperor's family.
• Committed enough to attempt suicide. [By wood alcohol? Seems highly likely to fail to work.]

Tai Hou [50-60 yo RIP?]

• Tai Hou told ghost stories. We probably met her ghost during the "ghost stories" mini-arc.
• Was a maid to Shi Shou's wife when said wife was a consort to the (prev) Emperor. Also was distantly related to her.
• She had a child with a medical officer.
• That child would be a two years older than current emperor.
• (Assuming that the father really was the medical officer. And assuming that the child was really hers.)
• But in 59.2, it's mentioned that she was (unofficially?) a bedmate to the late emperor. So perhaps this was the late emperor's child.
• It's possible that she isn't dead, but rather was spirited (lol) away. So that when the ghost story attendants nearly died, that was at the hands of a living woman rather than a ghost.

Sui Ren [50 yo]

• Jinshi's maid.
• (Not sure about this) Also Emperor's milk maid. If so, that would make her the mother of Ah Duo (former Pure Consort and (almost certainly) Jinshi's real mother.)
• No relation to Sui Rei. (Presumably.)

Shi Shou [40-60 yo]

• Lurking villain. Seems likely to be the driving force behind all of the shenanigans.
• Shi Shou is a true descendant of the original empress. (Evidenced by his color blindness.) Vs. the current emperor who is not color blind, and thus not a matrilinear? descendant of the original empress).
• If he were to attempt to take the throne, then his color blindness could be used to prove his rights.
• Seems likely that he's behind the attempts to extinguish the current emperor's line by: 1) killing off babies (via face powder, etc.); 2) sophisticated, indirect attempt to kill Jinshi during ritual; 3) additional attempt on Jinshi on the hunting trip.
• He was heavily favord by Empress Regnant (mother of previous emperor, and who acted as actual ruler).
• He still holds much power in court.
• "Racoon Dog of the West"

Shi Shou's Wife [40-60 yo]

• Tai Hou also served Shi Shou's wife who was consort at the time.
• So, she served as consort to emperor, then left that and became Shi Shou's wife.
• So, she was allowed to marry another man, despite having been consort to the emperor? I thought that was not allowed. (According to the story about the "consort dancing on the walls" story.) Unless... she never had sex with the emperor. ... Oh... there's an exception for high ranking people.
• Daughter of ruler of Shihoku (region in northern part of country).

Shi Sui [16 yo?]

• Bug girl. Obviously hip deep in it.
• Gee... Her name is very close to Shi Shou's name.
• With what we know now, it looks like... Shi Sui == Ruo Ran. Sui Rei is her older sister. Kyou is their younger brother. And they're the children of Shi Shou.

Rou Ran [16-20 yo?]

• The current Pure consort. Shi Shou's daughter by his wife.
• Apparently has been playing musical chairs, by changing her attire and makeup so frequently. We've even seen a comment that the emperor has not bedded her because she seems to be a different woman at different times. Which was implied to be due to the change of clothes, but now can be seen as her actually being different women at different times.
• And now she's run away from the inner court. This is major. She should be executed for this, probably along with her servants.
• Presumably this is all Shi Shou's game. He's now at the point of either he wins by force/blackmail or he loses everything. (Though he does have a ton of power, so it might not be that easy.)

Tai Hou's Child [37-42 yo]

• If the child were male, and was actually the child of the prev emperor, then he should have been first in line for crown.
• Rough age: Jinshi is about 17. If his father was about 17 when Jinshi was born, then the emperor would be 34. And this child would be a couple of years older -- so... late 30's.
• Mother of the child would probably be 10-12 years older than the child. So, around 50 when she died a year ago.

Sui Rei [20-30 yo]

• (The one who faked her death), was trained in medicine, and was recommended by the teacher of one of the current medical officers. However, she's probably in her early twenties.
• So, too young to be Tai Hou's child (probably?). Just seems very unlikely to be in her late 30s.
• Shi Sui's older sister.

GaoShun [35-40 yo]

• Jinshi's attendant. Helped to raise Jinshi.
• His family (Ma) has served Jinshi's family for generations.
• Maomao oblivious and being kept in the dark that "Jinshi's family" == "royal family line".
• Gaushun's son (Basen) does know who Jinshi is.

Ages (lots of guesstimates here; "age if still alive" for the dead)

• [Current Emperor's Reign begins about 5 years ago?]
• Consort Rishu: 14
• Maomao: 16?
• Shi Sui: 16? (about the same as Maomao)
• Jinshi: 17?
• Basen: 18-23 (just guessing based on Jinshi and Gao Shun's ages)
• Sui Rei: 20-30 (just guessing based on appearance and situation)
• Emperor 35 (same age as Ah Duo; would have fathered Jinshi around age 17)
• Ah Duo 35 (age given in ch 7)
• Gao Shun: 35-45 (about the same as Emperor or older)
• Tai Hou's child: 37-42 (2 years older than current emperor)
• Rakan: 40-50 yo (assuming 25-35 years older than Maomao)
• Emperor's mother: 44-45 (about 9 when she gave birth to current emperor)
• Sui Ren: 50 (we're told this directly)
• Shi Shou's Wife: 40-60 (guess based on Tai Hou's age & prev emperor's age)
• Shi Shou: 40-60 (same age as wife or a little older)
• Tai Hou [RIP?]: 50-60 (got to be at least a couple of years older than Emperor's mother)
• Shen Ryu: 50-70 (same age, or older than Tai Hou)
• Previous Emperor [RIP]: 55-70 yo (assume about 10-20 years older than current emperor's mother)
• Luomen 60-70 (guessing that he's about 20 years older than Rakan)
• Ritual Master 60-70 (same age as Luomen)
• Empress Regnant [RIP]: 75-95 (assume about 20 years older than her son)

Questions/Thoughts

• Clearly someone is trying to obliterate the current imperial family line.
• Clearly Shi Shou is a main driver behind that, with the intent to seat either himself or some descendant of his on the throne.
• However, there's also an inner court rage coming from the women who were brought in as girls to service the previous (pedophile) Emperor, who as a result, ended up stuck in Inner Court for life, with no hope for a normal life. Shen Ryu is probably about the oldest of that cabal of women.
• Those two groups are working together towards the same end.
• So what's the relationship between those two group? Might be a personal hatred (Shi Shou's wife escaped from it, but knew the other women in it). And/or it might be pragmatic -- Shi Shou leveraging that group of inner court women to his own benefit.

 

[Perfurator]

Rare footage of Jinshi actually angry

Let's go Rou-stin!

Also, how many of you wanna bet that that was not fear flavoured gamer girl tea. That's like, all kinds of like four to seven seasons and probably not all of it was tea but also juice!

I know I'd gush all over the floor if a hot femboy was looking at me funny at smooch range.

 

[alacaelum]

Remember kids, do your taxes

Tax evasion is an obligation.

 

[alacaelum]

Rather than a plan or a plot, this is more of a complicated mess - the right hand doesn't seem to know what the left is doing.

Jinshi should just head to Rakan and see what happens at this point. As humiliating as that would be.
inb4 next chapter, .2 or full one, he just marches in with a solution anyhow.

That is a really good way to put it.

One thing I think is that we sometimes give too much credit to these "political schemes", we sometimes know the results and think there was some really smart planning, but "no plan survives first contact"... the plan clearly demanded to kill Jinshi, that much we can at least say and they really wanted to make it look like an accident, but that is the extent of it, the why is still vague... or is a reason so simple that is almost ridiculous.

The palace's old maids are a third party that was "exploited" because they themselves had their grievances and wanted revenge.

I think for now the most we can all agree on is... that there is a lot of ugly business and rotten puss going around, and no shortage of pettiness from many sides.

 

[musicfreak12]

Man, I'm so lost at this point with the who's who and what's what. Just end this arc already

 

[Fushiginiku]

Hopefully I have this right...

Shen Ryu

• Old maid, head of the clinic. (So, some connection to medicine like Tai Huo.
• Has enough affection for Tai Huo that she left flower's at Tai Huo's grave.
• Tai Huo's mother? Or lover? Or just very close friend?
• Involved with plot to destroy current emperor's family.
• Committed enough to attempt suicide. [By wood alcohol? Seems highly likely to fail to work.]

Tai Huo:

• Tai Huo told ghost stories. We probably met her ghost during the "ghost stories" mini-arc.
• She had a child with a medical officer.
• That child would be a two years older than current emperor.
• (Assuming that the father really was the medical officer. And assuming that the child was really hers.)
• But in 59.2, it's mentioned that she was (unofficially?) a bedmate to the late emperor. So perhaps this was the late emperor's child.
• It's possible that she isn't dead, but rather was spirited (lol) away. So that when the ghost story attendants nearly died, that was at the hands of a living woman rather than a ghost.

Shi Suo

• Lurking villain. Seems likely to be the driving force behind all of the shenanigans.
• Shi Suo is a true descendant of the original empress. (Evidenced by his color blindness.) Vs. the current emperor who is not color blind, and thus not a matrilinear? descendant of the original empress).
• If he were to attempt to take the throne, then his color blindness could be used to prove his rights.
• Seems likely that he's behind the attempts to extinguish the current emperor's line by: 1) killing off babies (via face powder, etc.); 2) sophisticated, indirect attempt to kill Jinshi during ritual; 3) additional attempt on Jinshi on the hunting trip.
• Shi family was very close to previous empress regent (mother of previous emperor, and who acted as actual ruler).
• Shi family still holds very strong power in court.

Shi Suo's Wife

• Tai Huo also served Shi Suo's wife who was consort at the time.
• So, she served as consort to emperor, then left that and became Shi Suo's wife.
• So, she was allowed to marry another man, despite having been consort to the emperor? I thought that was not allowed. (According to the story about the "consort dancing on the walls" story.) Unless... she never had sex with the emperor. ... Oh... there's an exception for high ranking people.

Shi Sui

• Bug girl. Obviously hip deep in it.
• Gee... Her name is just one vowel off from Shi Suo's name.

RuoRan

• The current Pure consort. Shi Suo's daughter by his wife.
• Apparently has been playing musical chairs, by changing her attire and makeup so frequently. We've even seen a comment that the emperor has not bedded her because she seems to be a different woman at different times. Which was implied to be due to the change of clothes, but now can be seen as her actually being different women at different times.
• And now she's run away from the inner court. This is major. She should be executed for this, probably along with her servants.
• Presumably this is all Shi Suo's game. He's now at the point of either he wins by force/blackmail or he loses everything. (Though he does have a ton of power, so it might not be that easy.)

Tai Huo's Child

• If the child were male, and was actually the child of the prev emperor, then he should have been first in line for crown.
• Rough age: Jin Shi is about 17. If his father was about 17 when Jin Shi was born, then the emperor would be 34. And this child would be a couple of years older -- so... late 30's.
• Mother of the child would probably be 10-12 years older than the child. So, around 50 when she died a year ago.

Sui Rei

• (The one who faked her death), was trained in medicine, and was recommended by the teacher of one of the current medical officers. However, she's probably in her early twenties.
• So, too young to be Tai Huo's child (probably?). Just seems very unlikely to be in her late 30s.

GaoShun

• Jinshi's attendant. Helped to raise Jinshi.
• His family (Ma) has served Jinshi's family for generations.
• Maomao oblivious and being kept in the dark that "Jinshi's family" == "royal family line".
• Gaushun's son (Basen) does know who Jinshi is.

Some spelling corrections for you:
Tai Huo -> Tai Hou
Shi Suo -> Shi Shou
Ruo Ran -> Rou Ran

 

[PinkSakuraFlower]

Thanks for the awesome translation work as always! Really appreciate it!!

 

[lostflares]

Well, it's odd because here he is complaining that he doesn't look like his brother

• Jinshi's resemblance to Ah Duo was so strong that it inspired Maomao's theory that Ah Duo was his actual mother.
• In addition, the resemblance is so strong that Ah Duo was used as a stand-in for Jinshi recently.
• Moreover, Jinshi must have an unusually close relationship with her since she invited him for drinks the night before she left the inner palace; and he was able to prevail on her to act as his double.
• So they have a very close resemblance, a close relationship, and she had a child about his age... But it never occurred to him that he might actually be her son? Unlikely.
• And this despite the fact that he's complaining that he doesn't look like his mother or "brother". So if lack of similarity is causing him to doubt one relationship, shouldn't the presence of similarity cause him to suspect the other relationship?

Jinshi & Emperor?

• Though it is odd that he claims to not resemble his "brother" (presumed father).
• Perhaps Ah Duo is his mother but the emperor is not his father.... But that seems very unlikely. No other (non-castrated) males allowed in the Inner Court, and his mother would have every reason to remain faithful.
• (Maybe some guy snuck in through the secret door and raped Ah Duo?)

famously, Ah Duo's child died in childbirth. Everyone, including Ah Duo, believes this to be the case. Regardless of how similar the two look, no one makes the connection because her child died! And, keep in mind that Mao Mao still doesn't know that Jinshi is the prince (though I think she has her own suspicions). She does however have the theory the two children were swapped despite not knowing Jinshi is the child.
Now, there are in fact children who are like carbon copies of only one parent, so while there might be some of the emperor in him, he very much so does not share enough similarities for him to not have his own suspicions over his birth.

 

[Aureliano]

I will have to read this one several times

 

[Elhao]

Smells like execution. And urine.