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The Apothecary Diaries

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This story is a work of fiction. The names of all of the characters, organizations, and so on
are imaginary. It also bears no connection to any specific real-life events.
By the time we started
to smell spring in the air,

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it became certain that
Lady Gyokuyou was indeed pregnant.

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That's curious. Can she tell
there's a baby inside?

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So cute!

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Maybe I also should start to...

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Even if she did get a proposal,

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they'd probably never let her leave.

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Being too good at one's job
can be a curse at times.

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Time flies when every day is so fulfilling.

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In comparison, the two months spent at
Master Jinshi's offices felt like forever.

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Would you like to draw pictures again?

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Yes!

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This is the woolly milkcap,
a poisonous mushroom—

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Ow!

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Draw normal flowers, please.

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Normal flowers, huh?

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A blue rose?

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Yes. Perhaps you've never seen one before?

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The striking blue petals are so beautiful.

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I used to see them in the palace often.

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Perhaps you were dreaming?

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Blue roses do not exist.

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But in fact, they do.

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Oh, how I'd love to appreciate them
with everyone again.

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What do you think? Could it be done?

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With your power, there must be
nothing outside your reach.

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Understood. If such a rose does
indeed exist, I'd like to see it as well.

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Then it's settled.

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Goodness, I can't wait!

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Excuse me.

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I hope to see it at next month's garden party.

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You're already so busy.
You didn't have to take on more work.

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Don't rub it in. Please just go ask
every florist in the nation about this.

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The florists say that roses are not in season.

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Sorry to call you up so suddenly.

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We were talking about getting
together to admire blue roses.

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Blue roses...?

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I'm just an apothecary, you know.

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Yes, I'm aware...

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I wonder what prompted this?
He seems awfully tired.

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Roses, huh? I do know
a thing or two about them.

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I've sold them before to make some
quick cash with the courtesans. But...

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They really said they saw a blue rose?

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Is there some new popular hallucinogen, or...?

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That'd ruin our whole nation!

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Master Jinshi.

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Is it impossible?

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What exactly is it that you desire?

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Can you find some by next month's garden party?

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Next month? Roses bloom
two months later at the earliest.

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I know...

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I'll find a way to turn him down.

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Master Jinshi's reaction, and this style of
forcing people to attempt the impossible...

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Was this brought up by a certain strategist?

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Yes.

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Understood. I will take this on.

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Are you sure?

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I don't know if I can pull it off,
but I'll try my best.

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I don't want to just run from him.

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I might as well take a swing at
smashing his creepy monocle.

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Master Jinshi, may I make a few requests?

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Thank you for allowing me
to use it, Lady Lihua.

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I don't mind. You were the one that
had it constructed in the first place.

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It's been a while.

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I remember back then, I got them to
make a steam room for Lady Lihua,

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I'm borrowing it now,
but I feel bad using it for free.

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This is the emperor's favorite book.

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I appreciate this.

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I'm glad I got it through the brothel.

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Take that side.

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Master Jinshi.

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Ah, you're here.

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I had them build this as you asked, but...

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What is this for?

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We're going to make the roses go mad.

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Make the roses go mad?

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What does that mean, apothecary?

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We're going to let the sunlight in,
and blow steam inside through there.

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The roses will grow in this warmed room.

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This way, the flowers might
mistake it as the time to bloom.

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I see, so they'll "go mad."

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I can't guarantee it, though.

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Maomao!

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Xiaolan?

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I'll help, too!

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Is your leg okay?

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Did he summon her to chaperone me?

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They did repeatedly tell me
not to push myself too hard.

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I'm fine. Sorry to make you help.

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It's okay. It's been a while since
we've worked together, huh?

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Yeah, it has.

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We brought in over one hundred roses.

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This is the last one.

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Wow, this is a lot!

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We diversified the species, selecting
early-blooming ones where possible.

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Will they all bloom?

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I hope so.

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Temperature control requires utmost care.

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I got them to send some help, but this is
a tough task to delegate to others.

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If we make a mistake and kill them all,
that would be the end of it.

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On sunny days, we bring them
outside to expose them to sunlight.

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That must feel good!

104
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How are you doing?

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Here, a gift.

106
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Thank you very much.

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I get to skip work and
eat snacks? This is great!

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This is work too, though.

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What's with them?

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I don't know. Maybe they're just curious.

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Or they want to be scared.

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What should I do next?

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If a seedling has a lot of sprouts
on it, can you pick a few?

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It concentrates the nutrients into the
remaining sprouts and helps prevent sickness.

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Ah.

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Whoa!

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It's fine.

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Thank you.

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Don't mention it!

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Hurry!

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It's taking them a long time to bloom.

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On days where it gets cold,

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I stay up all night to maintain the heat.

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Weather can't be controlled.

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Did you pull another all-nighter?

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I did sleep, around dawn.

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Dawn was just moments ago!

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I'll do what I can,
so why don't you get some sleep?

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I can't leave this alone.

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They're looking at us again.

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Every single day. Don't they get tired of this?

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It's irritating.

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I wonder if I can divert their attention...

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Wow! So this is what a manicure is like!

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Everyone does it in the pleasure district.

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It sure is pretty!

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Oh, you did it too, Maomao?

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So cute!

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It's been popular recently.

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Indeed.

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The high-ranking concubines are always
at the cutting edge of fashion.

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Seems like a waste of time.

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Lady Hongniang prefers work over fashion.

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I've finished tasting for poison,
so I'll go back to the Crystal Pavilion now.

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Already?

146
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The garden party is coming up soon.

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I see...

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Oh, by the way, Lady Gyokuyou
won't be attending this time around.

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We're letting the focus of this event
be Lady Loulan's introduction.

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To hide the pregnancy, right.

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Understood. Excuse me.

152
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Hey, is everything alright
at the Crystal Pavilion?

153
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You look worse for wear every day.

154
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Don't push yourself too hard, okay?

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Thank you.

156
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Maomao!

157
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Maomao, hurry!

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A bud...

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I found it just now.

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Our first one, finally!

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At this rate... We might just make it in time.

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Maomao? Maomao!

163
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Maomao!

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Has the apothecary sent any word?

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No, nothing.

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I haven't been able to visit her
for the past few days.

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We were both busy preparing
for the garden party.

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Master Jinshi.

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So, that's Concubine Loulan,
daughter of Master Shishou.

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How splendid.

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Regarding Concubine Loulan,

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is there anything that needs improvement?

173
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Please, hold nothing back.

174
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Please.

175
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Oh.

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Blue roses?!

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It can't be...

178
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It may be entertaining

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to enjoy the beauty of these buds while
imagining how they look at full bloom.

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Yes. They're beautiful.

181
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The attention that "Jinshi" gets.

182
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Unlike some of the worthless officials,

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many don't appreciate a young eunuch
hoarding attention, no matter how beautiful.

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Lust is fine. It's easy to exploit that.

185
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Envy is fine, too. It's manageable.

186
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What's really troubling is...

187
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When I can't tell what they're thinking.

188
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Shishou. Concubine Loulan's father, the man
favored by the mother of the former emperor...

189
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Even now, the emperor
can't look him in the eye.

190
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That's why I also can't let
my smile fade, either.

191
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And besides, the one who's more
worrying than Shishou right now is...

192
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That man, Lakan.

193
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How annoying.

194
00:16:35,577 --> 00:16:36,620
Are you awake?

195
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Yinghua.

196
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Don't go to the Crystal Pavilion anymore.

197
00:16:40,666 --> 00:16:43,627
You always come back looking so exhausted.

198
00:16:45,629 --> 00:16:47,589
I'm sorry.

199
00:16:47,589 --> 00:16:48,590
You're up.

200
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Excuse me.

201
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You can stay seated.

202
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It was hard. I couldn't get them
to fully bloom.

203
00:17:05,607 --> 00:17:09,611
You're not apologizing to me, are you?

204
00:17:10,654 --> 00:17:13,615
Never mind. You did well.

205
00:17:14,700 --> 00:17:16,660
How did you do it, though?

206
00:17:17,578 --> 00:17:19,580
I just dyed them.

207
00:17:19,580 --> 00:17:21,665
Dyed? But there's nothing on them.

208
00:17:22,624 --> 00:17:26,628
Not on the outside. We dyed them from the inside.

209
00:17:30,591 --> 00:17:33,635
All of these roses were originally white.

210
00:17:35,679 --> 00:17:40,642
We mixed water with several colors
and had the white buds s*** them up.

211
00:17:40,642 --> 00:17:44,605
So that's why there were
many colors, not just blue.

212
00:17:44,605 --> 00:17:49,693
Yes. The leaves ended up coming out
black, so we plucked them all.

213
00:17:50,652 --> 00:17:54,615
Then all we had to do was to fix cotton
soaked in the dyed water to the stems,

214
00:17:54,615 --> 00:17:58,619
so they wouldn't lose their
vibrancy during the garden party.

215
00:17:58,619 --> 00:18:00,579
It really was quite simple.

216
00:18:00,662 --> 00:18:05,626
What was actually difficult was
getting the roses to bloom at all.

217
00:18:05,667 --> 00:18:08,587
Simple, indeed.

218
00:18:08,587 --> 00:18:12,674
Also, because some officials might
have picked a quarrel about this,

219
00:18:13,634 --> 00:18:16,637
I went ahead and revealed
the trick to the emperor.

220
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He seemed to enjoy the fact that
he got to know the secret first,

221
00:18:20,641 --> 00:18:22,684
and had a good time listening to me explain.

222
00:18:23,644 --> 00:18:27,689
So, about the story of the blue roses
being seen in the palace...

223
00:18:27,689 --> 00:18:33,612
There must have been someone with a lot of
free time feeding blue water to the roses.

224
00:18:36,573 --> 00:18:37,658
Who would do something like that?

225
00:18:39,576 --> 00:18:43,580
Who knows? Maybe they wanted
a gimmick with which to woo women.

226
00:18:43,622 --> 00:18:46,667
That's unexpected. Are you painting your nails?

227
00:18:46,667 --> 00:18:48,627
It doesn't suit me, though.

228
00:18:49,586 --> 00:18:53,590
If I had some balsam and woodsorrel,
I could have made them look prettier.

229
00:18:54,633 --> 00:18:59,596
Balsam is often used to dye fingernails,
and woodsorrel is nicknamed cat's foot.

230
00:18:59,596 --> 00:19:03,600
Mixing them together and applying them
on the fingernails creates a vivid red.

231
00:19:03,642 --> 00:19:05,686
But then, even if I made them prettier...

232
00:19:06,645 --> 00:19:08,689
This is better than it was before.

233
00:19:10,649 --> 00:19:13,610
Master Gaoshun, what about
the item I requested?

234
00:19:13,610 --> 00:19:15,612
Yes, as you wished.

235
00:19:16,572 --> 00:19:17,698
Thank you.

236
00:19:19,575 --> 00:19:21,660
Now the stage is set.

237
00:19:22,578 --> 00:19:27,624
All I have to do now is catch
that nasty creep off guard.

238
00:19:30,586 --> 00:19:34,673
I didn't expect my provocation to fail.

239
00:19:42,681 --> 00:19:46,643
Most humans only look like go stones to me.

240
00:19:46,643 --> 00:19:49,688
Men are black stones, women are white stones.

241
00:19:49,688 --> 00:20:02,618
Pawn
Even my subordinates in the military
only appear as chess pieces, at best.
Most are soldiers, pawns.
As they gain ranks,
they become cavalry and cannons.

242
00:20:02,618 --> 00:20:08,582
River
Working in the military is easy.
I just need to know where to place the pieces.

243
00:20:09,583 --> 00:20:13,629
The right pieces in the right places.
Most wars can be won by that alone.

244
00:20:13,670 --> 00:20:18,592
It's quite easy. Even if I were
completely useless,

245
00:20:18,592 --> 00:20:22,638
as long as I placed others in the right places,
the work would get done on its own.

246
00:20:23,639 --> 00:20:26,642
My eyes hurt more than usual today.

247
00:20:26,642 --> 00:20:28,685
A red color keeps flickering into my view.

248
00:20:30,103 --> 00:20:32,105
Manicures...

249
00:20:32,147 --> 00:20:37,110
The manicures in my memories
aren't this overly flamboyant crimson.

250
00:20:38,070 --> 00:20:41,156
They're the soft color of balsam.

251
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,125
Advisor