No cold open for this one but we’re jumping straight into the opening. After waiting far too long, I finally got the song for this on my Spotify playlist. Glad they finally released it, Yorushika is one of my most listened to artists. Other contenders for that spot are Bump of Chicken, Greenday and Counting Crows, but all of them pale in total listens when compared to Fall Out Boy. I digress, let’s talk about episode 4!
Ah-Duo says to not mind her, but she’s totally just going to sit there and listen in. Suiren and Maomao talk about the books and Suiren says one is missing. When she says this, we see a shot of the two of them with the focus actually being on Ah-Duo’s hand in the background. I wonder if that is alluding to something or if it’s simply there to remind us that she is listening closely. We learn that the apothecary at the Shi family home used the resurrection potion to get out of there. Unfortunately for Maomao, the side effects of the potion hit him as hard – if not harder – as they hit Chou-u. Again we see Ah-Duo’s hand in focus. These shots feel intentional, so she is probably going to at the very least add something to this conversation.
And of course, Ah- Duo is immediately catching on. Shisui might have left something important behind and it takes a reminder of the most impressive of the women in the rear palace to figure out what is going on. Maomao does a little happy dance when she finds out where the book was and then promptly gets Jinshi to retrieve it for her. It is interesting to think that in a world without the internet – or many copies of books in libraries everywhere – having access to a series of books can make a huge difference. You can be clever or knowledgeable to an extent, but having the research and clear drawings of someone who actually knows their stuff is a big deal. Maomao and Jinshi finally have to accept that a large locust plague is on its way.
We learn here that the betrayal of the Shi family hasn’t shown its full damages yet, as they’ve taken out the forest that was supposed to be protected by the previous empress. With no trees there, not only do they have no wood to sell in exchange for food but there is also no place for the birds to thrive, leaving their natural enemies few and far between. Maomao has a bunch of ideas to deal with it, but none of them are particularly good. It’s just like her to feed grasshoppers to a royal like Jinshi. He doesn’t let her win and instead lets her feed him one of the grasshoppers and some porridge. I guess anything is game if it’s fed to him by Maomao.
With how involved all of the women at the Verdigris house are with relationships, romance and sex, it only makes sense that they’re all very perceptive when it comes to these things. Everyone’s caught on to Maomao’s fondness of Jinshi, Maomao herself is of course no exception to this. It is kind of sad to think that these women are considered too old when they look like they’re probably still younger than me. Maomao agrees. The rumors they’re talking about when it comes to a strange girl spotted around that the people are into is likely the girl that has been going around feeding drugs to the people.
This sorceress seems to be doing some pretty big manipulation among the upper ranks in the city. She’s gathering a crowd by claiming she can bring immortality. Surely this won’t become an issue in the long run. We saw her briefly at the very start of the episode, but we see more of her at the very end. In a crowded room full of officials and incense, a young woman with red eyes and bright white hair drinks something that looks metallic. Something fishy is definitely happening. A shorter recap this week, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Thanks for reading.
