E21
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Okay, so Maomao was apparently 17 when she was kidnapped, and she was sucking on Pairin as an infant. If Pairin was 20 then, she's 37 now. If she was 15 then, she's 32 now.
E21
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Okay, so Maomao was apparently 17 when she was kidnapped, and she was sucking on Pairin as an infant. If Pairin was 20 then, she's 37 now. If she was 15 then, she's 32 now.
Pairin is in her undefined 30s. Kamuro seem to start when they're 8-10, so I assume lower end. Pairin implies that she's still plenty fertile.
It's nice to see Maomao vetting potential suitors for her 'sisters,' and Jinshi is testing to see if people orbiting Maomao are trustworthy. If Lihaku took the loan, he probably would have been expelled from imperial service. The episode mostly served to prove to the audience that Lihaku is a good man and an honorable one who doesn't have an ounce of subterfuge to him.
Bottom line, Pairin can probably buy herself out at any time. Same with the other two princesses. Maomao didn't share that with Jinshi or Lihaku. They seem to make a lot more money than any other courtesan in the entire district by a wide margin, and the old hag treats them like family more than her other charges. Pairin is just waiting for someone who can satisfy her needs and also fulfill her fantasy of being carried out like a princess.
The whole pricing part is weird, in that they also calculate their earning potential - so it's not the usual "I bought this slave for 1k, that's how much it'd cost to sell them" type of deal.
I imagine any skills and fame the courtesan has developed during their career are counted as being sponsored by the employer. Which is not entirely wrong either, of course. That being said, a courtesan already in their late 30s shouldn't be evaluated as being able to produce a lot of profit in the future anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buffalobiian
The messed up pricing calculation was the *2 part. Why would it be (earning potential+profit)*2?
If there's someone willing to pay, the madam would obviously charge as much as possible. That being said, even if a "random" calculation was used, it ought to be just the starting point for negotiations. That's far more reasonable than, for example, Apple's prices, which are calculated with a formula just as unrealistic, but aren't negotiable. Yet since there are millions of people willing to sell a kidney to afford Apple products, the prices work.Quote:
Originally Posted by shinta|hikari
Just watched all of this that's out so far.
Really enjoying it. But the constant "Oh well, it's none of my business..." every time she's about to uncover plot has become infuriating at this point.
For a story that's otherwise so well written, it just feels like an incredibly contrived way to draw out the main mysteries.
It's absolutely critical. While it's unrealistic that Maomao somehow ends up involved in some many things, otherwise there would be no story, but that desire to stay out of any business that's not her business is something people in such a setting would need to have to stay alive. Back in the day, a person's life was super cheap. Maomao's old man, as well, was doing his best, but was punishned nonetheless. I reckon Maomao would have been taught that attitude also by the people in the red lights district. It would have all sorts of customers, including important officials and other aristocracy, so the employees there really should mind their own business, lest heads start rolling.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthEnderX
So am I the only one that thought Suirei was actually Maomao's mother?
Lakan implied that he got the woman he fancied pregnant so her price would come down, so he could buy her. Which, if he did, she would be with him, and not sick in the back of a brothel.
He's a military strategist. She's a Court Lady working in the military section of the castle.
Lacan described his lady as someone who looked down on everyone condescendingly. Which describes Suirei's personality.
She has a ton of apothecary knowledge. Which she could have if she used to spend a lot of time with Maomao's dad.
But it's NOT not her business. The fact that anytime the subject of "My boss, who's always doting on me, seems like he might be more important than I keep assuming" she's just like "eh, whatever" get's ridiculous the 10th or so time our amazing detective character goes, "Is he actually some kind of bigshot?"Quote:
Originally Posted by Kraco
I could accept that as being "not her business" when she was working for the concubine. But when she's working directly for him, it's silly.
Isn't it even more important when working for Jinshi? The more comfortable (relatively speaking) she gets in his company, the easier it would be for her to make a mistake. She very much suspects already he's far more important than he should be, which might make the consequences of any mistake she makes that much greater. Plus the mightier a person is, the less valuable they'd evaluate a commoner's life. I don't believe Maomao believes Jinshi likes her or anything. In fact she couldn't care less about romantic thoughts. She only cares about poison, medicine, rare food, and occasionally mysteries.
I agree that Maomao has the density of a neutron star. She behaves with these assumptions in mind:
1. No one would ever see her as a romantic interest, much less a eunuch who has no bits.
2. She must avoid trouble as much as she can.
She generally ignores anything not directly related to her job and medicine/poisons.
TBH, if she stopped wasting her time with her usual duties and went full time helping others proactively, she would do so much more good. Unfortunately, she is not interested in that at all.
Knowledge of who the people around her are and what they do would make it easier for her to avoid mistakes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kraco
She's extremely intelligent and makes excellent decisions...when she's in possession of the necessary information. Her intentionally avoiding that information only leads to her making bad, and potentially dangerous, decisions.
On that note, I LOVED that she wore body armor when she went to accuse that murderess on her own. It drives me crazy when murder mysteries do that.
Maomao is a woman of ignoble birth (everyone in power knows her father is Lakan, but he hasn't claimed her, so she isn't even a military family daughter) in 18th-19th century China. Getting the shit kicked out of her by a guard is exactly what she can normally expect to get for being impertinent. She's always hiding her face with her sleeves to nearly everyone. That's the position she's in. She's not a Court Lady. She's not a concubine of any ranking. She's not a senior servant. Officially, she's one single step above her friend in Laundry Duty. She grew up in an area just outside the palace where getting raped by syphilitic rejected customers and pedophiles is common.
She's displaying the correct abundance of caution to stay out of the crosshairs of the Inner Court, and out of the inner court with things that will get her beheaded. Jinshi is disappointed that she's rarely showing her true self, but that's because he's pretty sheltered. Gaoshun and all the head concubines know that Maomao is acting appropriately for her station.
Suirei is way too young to be Maomao's mother. She's very tall, but she's not much older than Maomao. Suirei is the same age as Gyokuyou. Looks are deceiving in this series. Everyone is younger than you'd think because it is more accurate to the period than most series.
Maomao snooping around would easily land her dead like all the recent deaths/mishappenings that she's been investigating recently.
She's also not wrong when she told Jinshi very early on that her life is cheap so she doesn't try to give anyone a reason to off her.
Again though, she doesn't have that same level of caution when pursuing other investigations. Only the ones that would actually, ya know, advance her own plot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buffalobiian
It's pure contrivance. She draws conclusions all the time, but any time it's metaplot related, she always has that "Don't voice assumptions" line from her dad. It's as if the writer is literally reaching down and going "Stop trying to solve the series."
Her turning to Gaoshun and being like "So what is Jinshi's actual job?" is hardly snooping.
It's not really fake though. He's just chemically castrated instead of surgically castrated. Meaning it can be undone if he stops taking the drug if he ever stops working in the Rear Palace.Quote:
Originally Posted by shinta|hikari
A eunuch would have to be physically castrated. Temporary and reversible impotence does not make a eunuch. I was not using the term figuratively, and neither does the show.
She's already put all the pieces together. She's willfully denying what she's already learned. Maomao doesn't know if Jinshi knows or not. She doesn't know who knows at all. But she knows if she provides any hints that she knows the truth, there's a high likelihood it is being kept secret on purpose, and she will be killed to keep it that way.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthEnderX
Only we the audience know that Jinshi has no solid proof or any firm intention of pursuing them either. Only suspicions he lacks the proof of, and he's certainly not going to ask Ah Duo outright about it. We don't really know if he has any intention of acting on it either. We know that Ah Duo knows, Maomao's adoptive father possibly knows, that Maomao figured it out, and that's the extent. Everyone else we know of who knew is dead. We don't know if the Emperor knows, if the Empress Dowager knows, or anyone else is holding it as a secret.
That's worse than position Maomao is in. She has no idea who is would be than happy to kill her to ensure that knowledge doesn't spread. She's exactly the type to push it down and pretend she never learned it, because that's the society she lives in.
Of course this is all intentional by the author. It creates tension. There is a looming threat now that someone is going to find out Maomao knows a very grave secret. Or that Maomao slips up. Or that someone asks her and she fails to hide it in her expression (just like Jinshi figured out she can read with a trap set just for her).
I'm not talking about the secret of his parentage. I'm literally talking about what his actual job is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryllharu
At first, she thought he was just the manager of the Rear Palace. But it's obvious at this point his job is WAY more important than that.
And considering she's constantly being asked to help him with his work, you would think it'd be in her best interest to know what his job actually IS. Because that relates directly to HER work.
Except it doesn't relate to her work, she failed the Court Lady exam. She's a general laborer. Jinshi and Lakan and most of the four head concubines just happen to know she's very capable as a generalist and knowledgeable about medicines, poisons, biology, and botany. She's officially cleaning staff or poison taster, neither of which are particularly involved in the actual daily productivity of the court or its occupants.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthEnderX
She knows his true position. 100% without question. It went unsaid because it was linked to finding out he was presiding over the ceremony that nearly got him killed. It also immediately relates to the secret she's not supposed to know.
He was watching over a Medium Ceremony. If you know enough Imperial Court lingo, it's a huge reveal for her. Medium ceremonies don't require the Emperor (those are the High ceremonies). It was always going to be a family member further down the succession or even an extremely high ranking official (Jinshi could count as either role). Pair this with the Spring Party and the empty seat for the Emperor's brother by the time she entered the tents, and Maomao knows exactly who he is supposed to be (if Jinshi was anyone else as highly ranked and therefore qualified to run a Medium ceremony, he would have been seated in the two rows at the center suffering in the cold instead).
That does not at all line up with her internal dialog. If she does know, she's refusing to admit it even to herself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryllharu