apothicarytranscripts

[apothicarytranscripts]

01x01 - Maomao

Dub transcript

This exists because I was way too tired of watching the same episode over and over just to find a specific quote for fanfics.

Some descriptions of what is happening on screen may be wrong along with some incorrect grammar as this took me several days and I have no sense of consistency.

Maomao appears to be fiddling with some flowers in a garden. Loumen stands at the back door watching her.

LOUMEN: Maomao?

MAOMAO: Hmmm?

LOUMEN: Could you deliver some medicine to the Verdigris house for me?

MAOMAO: Sure, Dad. I'll get right on it.

A silent Image of Maomao's hands bound and slung over a man's shoulder. Hard cut to Loumen sitting down on a stool, rolling a tea grinder. Maomao slings her basket over her shoulders simultaneously.

LOUMEN: Try to be careful out there. They're saying abductions are on the rise.

MAOMAO: I know, I know.

MAOMAO: I'll stop by the herb plot too.

LOUMEN: Thank you. Don't be long.

MAOMAO: I won't!

Maomao runs through the Pleasure District, to the Verdigris House. A few male onlookers stare longingly at the Verdigris House as Maomao enters. The Madam taps her pipe against a small pot filled with tobacco powder with her right hand. A scantily clad woman is shown, nestling a small golden hairpin with a blue gemstone in her brown locks in front of a mirror. Cut to the Madam, standing behind a desk before a line of men holding pouches of money to enter the Verdigris House.

MADAM: Huh? Is that all you got?

MAN: Please! An evenings all I'm asking!

Another cut to a courtesan playing the guqin. Switching back to Madam, smoking and now holding a match in her left hand lit aflame, one of the three Verdigris princesses, Pairin, walks past the open curtain separating the entry desk of the Verdigris House and the inside of the establishment. This catches the eye of the man standing before the desk.

MADAM: I'm running a business here sir, not a charity.

MAN: Wasn't that Pairin? One of the famous three princesses of the Verdigris House!

MADAM; No gawkin' before payin'!

Maomao sets her basket down on the floor, takes off her boots, and sets them down on a small step that looms below a raised platform. This platform possesses a shelf filled with drawers, a desk, and a few books stacked on more shelving off to the side. She holds an ink brush tinted with its bristles tinted with black paint. She uses it to paint hanzi. on a piece of paper. Simultaneously, Maomao looks down at her left arm covered in bright red rashes and bruises in displeasure.

MAOMAO: Hmm. It's taking to long to heal, recipes not right.

PAIRIN: Oh, Maomao!

MAOMAO: Hm? Hey, Pairin-

PAIRIN: What? Have you been wounding yourself again?

MAOMAO: Well, yeah. I needed something to experiment on.

Pairin moves behind Maomao, hugging her kneeling form from behind. She presses herself tightly against Maomao's smaller frame.

PAIRIN: You're so thin! Are you eating?

MAOMAO: Feels to me like you're well-nourished enough for the both of us.

MADAME: Maomao! If I find you playing around with the combustibles near the good mahogany again I'll box your ears!

MADAME: Or maybe we find another way to have you pay us back.

MAOMAO: Your medicines there on the counter granny!

MADAME: Say hello to your old man for me... Or not.

Meimei ad Joka walk into the room, standing just below the arch.

JOKA: Was that Maomao's voice I just heard?

MEIMEI: So is she here or?

PAIRIN: She just took off.

MAOMAO: Greedy old hag, always trying to turn me into a lousy courtesan.

Maomao stumbles across a small brush of, presumably, herbs. She immediately pounces on the opportunity to pick some up Soon after, a shadow of a man is shown looming over Maomao. Panning upwards, three men can be seen grinning wickedly, with one holding a rope in a threatening manner.

MAOMAO (thinking): You have got to be kidding me.

The image of Maomao slung over a man's shoulder with her hands bound flash before the screen again. The image fades into a scene of Maomao sitting inside a basket strapped against one kidnapper's shoulders. The kidnapper holding Maomao enters the Imperial Palace, along with the two others. They walk past some double doors with two eunuchs on either side, holding notepads and ink brushes, presumably to log entries and exits from the palace.

MAOMAO: Ah, damn. Dad is going to be pretty worried when I don't come back.

The scene cuts to Lady Lihua giving birth in the sitting position, holding tightly onto two pieces of cloth suspended from a high place. She yells in pain.

DOCTOR (GUEN): it's a heathy baby boy. this is a proud day indeed lady Lihua.

HONGNIANG: Thankfully, the prince was born without issue.

GYOKUYOU: I see, wonderful.

Three months later.

MAOMAO: What I wouldn't give for some good meat skewers right now.

MAOMAO: Hopefully dad's still eating properly without me around.

MAOMAO (thinking): I'm not sure if I was sold off or ransomed. But their way the result was the same. I've been stuck here three months. Turns out, palaces and brothels aren't that different. Given the choice I'd take Verdigris house over the rear palace any day.

MAOMAO: Well, lingering on it isn't going to do any good.

MAOMAO (Thinking): Life. One minute you're an apothecary, the next a servant.

MAOMAO (Thinking): The Rear Palace is a garden of women cultivated to grow the emperor's seed. Men are strictly forbidden from entering; the only people permitted access to this inter sanctum are the Emperor, his kin, and, of course, eunuchs. Males who've lost a pretty important part of their anatomy and trusted to keep the peace. Overall there are two-thousand concubines and servants, and one-thousand eunuchs set to protect them. Sadly, unlike the high, mid, or low-ranking concubines, we serving girls are considered expendable, and can lose our life's for the most trivially of infractions. We're valued less than even the low ranking shut ins. But, at least they deign to pay us, I suppose.

A serving girl, with her hair braided into buns, runs up to Maomao.

XIAOLAN: Maomao! You gotta help me! Do you know what room this is supposed to be?

MAOMAO: Oh, that'd be the token for Wisteria-9. Over there.

XIAOLAN: Right! Thank you!

MAOMAO (Thinking): Illiteracy's not all that uncommon among the servants. In order to work in the rear palace they're taught the bare essentials of etiquette. Reading and writings a whole other story. The raise I'd get for being literate would only line the purses of my kidnappers. So I'm happy to keep that skill in my own back pocket.

MAOMAO (Thinking): The job isn't without prospects, you could well become a concubine if you have. . . assets. Freckles, Flat-chest, unfortunately there's not a great demand for the skin and bones look.

MAOAMO (Thinking): Standing out around here can be it's own brand of dangerous. Better to keep my head down. If I work hard, I'll be home free in two years. I really need a drink.

The scene changes to a group of serving girls washing the laundry in a stream running through the ground.

XIAOLAN: Hey, did you hear?

MAOMAO: huh?

XIAOLAN: They say a beautiful new eunuch been posted to the central courtyard. It's practically all anyone in the Rear Palace has been talking about!

MAOMAO: oh.

XIAOLAN: I mean, nothing wrong with a little looky-look to check the goods. . . Am I right Maomao!

MAOMAO: A handsome eunuch, huh?

Again the scene changes. The camera pans up to see Jinshi and Gaoshun checking in on the ill Lady Lihua and her son, who is being taken care of by the doctor. Lihua and the Prince look very unwell and seem to be having trouble breathing. Jinshi and Gaoshun leave the room and begin to walk.

GAOSHUN: The stress is taking a toll on her health.

JINSHI: Yes.

Lady Goykoyou's head lady in waiting can be seen standing at the end of the path waiting for Jinshi and Gaoshun.

GOYKOYOU: Poor Xiaoling.

JINSHI: My sincerest apologies. It won't be long now, the physician is just seeing to the young prince.

GOYKOYOU: I see.

Later, we see Maomao and Xiaolan sitting and eating food with the other servant girls as the other serving girls gossip about what is happening to the Emperor's children.

SERVING GIRL 1: They're only three months and six months right?

SERVING GIRL 2: Yes, Princess Lingli and Prince aren't even out of swaddling clothes yet.

XIAOLAN: You don't think this curse stuff is real, do you?

MAOMAO: What are you talking about?

XIAOLAN: Don't you hear anything Maomao! The entire palace is buzzing with rumors of hexes and dark sorceries! Because of all the heirs that have been dying in the rear palace.

XIAOLAN: Each one of the Emperor's previous three children grew frail and died not long after they were born. Doesn't that seem a little weird?

MAOMAO: All three?

XIAOLAN: Yeah! And it looks like it's happening again.

MAOMAO: The newborns are unwell?

XIAOLAN: That's right! With the Prince and Princess both ill the royal physician's been running back and forth between Lady Gyokuyou and Lady Lihua!

MAOAMO: Ah.

XIAOLAN: If I'm not mistaken since the emperor didn't yet have one, that makes Lady Lihua, mother of the heir, empress consort!

MAOMAO: Well, yeah, that's only logical. Since there's no preestablished empress consort and Concubine Lihua gave birth to a prince, her position is assured.

XIAOLAN: Maybe so, but rumor has it that the emperor's favorite lies firmly with Lady Gyokuyou. Which allegedly is somehow connected to all this curse business.

MAOMAO: A hieratical power struggle, huh?

XIAOLAN: Lady Lihua must be suffering the worse of the afflictions, the court physician seems to be attending her to the most!

MAOMAO: Lady Lihua is sick also?

XIAOLAN: Yeah, mother and child both have the same things, stomach and headaches apparently with pretty bad nausea in the mix as well.

MAOMAO: Stomach ache, Headache, and nausea. . .

XIAOLAN: I'm telling you Maomao this curse is going to doom us all!

MAOMAO: The only thing that will doom us is gullibility.

XIAOLAN: Whaaaa?

Hard cut to lady Lihua hovering over her son breathing heavily. We then see Maomao walking along the path holding a basket of clothing.

MAOMAO (thinking): So, headaches stomach ache, and nausea. Poison would fit with the whole power struggle thing. Although if it's political why would they bother going after the princess too? Her getting ill only serves to raise suspicion. Perhaps a straightforward malady then. Could it be something hereditary?

MAOMAO (thinking): Get it together! You're taking these rumors way to seriously. It's just a bunch of overexcited conjecture from bored serving girls. But, that said.

MAOMAO: It wouldn't hurt to take a little bitty peek, would it?

Maomao then strays from here intended path and starts to walk quickly towards the central courtyard(?).

MAOMAO: Talk about opulence. Ladies of high ranking like their pillars smeared redder than red and their roof tiles yellow enough to make the sun jealous.

The sound of a slap can be heard and Maomao turns to the commotion. A group of lady's in waiting and eunuch's have gathered around Lady Lihua and Lady Gyokuyou, who are arguing. Lady Lihua looks very ill and Lady Gyokuyou is on the ground, holding her cheek where Lady Lihua slapped her.

LIHUA: You're the cause of this!

YINGHUA: Lady Gyokuyou!

LIHUA: You have cursed my son, and for what?! Because you could only give birth to a daughter?!

GYOKUYOU: That is preposterous! Do you really think I would do that? My sweet Xiaoling is suffering from this as well, you know!

EUNUCH 1: I've never seen Lady Lihua so furious.

EUNUCH 2: But to take it out on Lady Gyokuyou.

The camera flickers to Gaoshun and Jinshi.

GAOSHUN: Master Jinshi. . .

JINSHI: Ugh.

The two men quickly leave Jinshi's office and head off towards the commotion.

GYOKUYOU: If you don't believe me you're welcome to examine my daughter yourself!

GUEN: I'm not sure that would, well, uh. . .

MAOMAO (thinking): That bumbling old eunuch is the palace physician? That quack is a bill short of a duck. He seriously still hasn't noticed, after all the time he's spent with the concubines? Or would it be that he just plain doesn't know?

MAOMAO (thinking): Infant mortality, proceeded by headaches, stomach aches, and nausea, as well as the exhaustion Lady Lihua is exhibiting. The cause is obvious and it sure as hell isn't a curse. But how do I clue them in?

Maomao leaves the crowd and starts to walk about to the servant quarters mumbling and she passes Jinshi, who turns to watch her as she quickly walks away.

MAOMAO: If only I could find something to write with.

Shin, Lady Lihua's head lady in waiting, is shown pushing a flower with a note tied around the stem off of the windows edge. The scene then changes to show heavy rain and Lady Lihua curled up on the floor sobbing as she mourns the death of her son.

MAOMAO (Thinking): It was barely a month before the sorrowing news spread around palace. The infant prince had finally succumbed.

We see Jinshi quickly walking while Gaoshun holds a red umbrella over Jinshi. They meet with Lady Gyokuyou in the Jade pavilion.

GYOKUYOU: Odd as this is, I'm sure you have questions.

JINSHI: Just one.

GYOKUYOU: The day I visited the crystal pavilion and ran afoul of Lady Lihua's understandable grief, I returned to find that note on my windowsill. It was tied to this flower.

JINSHI: Rhododendrons infer warning.

GYOKUYOU: The child is in danger. The white face powder is poison. Ignorance is truly a sin.

JINSHI: The palace physician would not employ quite so indirect an approach to alert you.

GYOKUYOU: Agreed, and his treatment of the prince belies in the actual awareness

JINSHIN: Then if not him, who was it that sent this?

GYOKUYOU: I'd like for you to uncover that thing.

JINSHI (Thinking): Thinking back, I do recall. . .

MAOMAO (Memory): If only I could find something to write with.

JINSHI: Hm.

GYOKUYOU: Huh?

JINSHI: I'd be happy to. Until then, would you mind of I hung onto this.

Maomao and Xiaolan sit together near drying laundry as they eat.

XIAOLAN: I heard the emperor's been visiting Lady Gyokuyou a lot recently, as a way of showing his love for the surviving princess.

MAOMAO: And how's Lady Lihua doing?

XIAOLAN: What makes you think I'd know anything about that?

MAOMAO: Uh. Your trivia's oddly selective.

EUNUCH: Ugh, finally, there you are. You need to report in with the Matron of the Serving Women, immediately.

MAOMAO: Huh?

XIAOLAN: She's being summoned? Hm?

MAOMAO: What do you think that's about?

Maomao and a group of other serving girls are gathered in front of a room and are being addressed before entering.

EUNUCH: Alright, now that everyone's here if you could all please head inside we can get this underway.

MAOMAO (Thinking): Serving girls getting summoned by high officials is never good. Could this be punitive, or just a new work detail?

JINSHI: I would like to thank you all for coming on such short notice.

MAOMAO (Thinking): And who's the arrogant looking woman supposed to be?

JINSHI: I am Jinshi, the manager of the rear palace.

MAOMAO (Thinking): Wait, that's a man? Oh yeah. Xiaolan was going on about a beautiful looking eunuch awhile back. I guess that must be him.

MAOMAO (Thinking): Yeesh, what a waste. Grade A quality genes and no way of proliferating them.

Jinshi finishes write and holds up a paper that reads "You with the freckles, stay here."

MAOMAO (Thinking): Huh? You with the freckles stay here? Crap!

JINSHI: Thank you all so much for your time. You may return to your rooms.

SERVING GIRL: Aw, what was that about?

MAOMAO (Thinking): Why me? Did I step out of line somehow? Or wait, this this because of the warning?!

MAOMAO (Thinking): Of course! I'm the only one of the serving girls here who can actually read! That message was a trap designed to single me out! I've really gotta go-

Maomao turns to attempt to leave with the other serving girls when Jinshi places his hand on her shoulder.

JINSHI: Now, now, miss, didn't you read? I told you to stay.

JINSHI: Keep quiet and follow me.

MAOMAO (Thinking): It was a trap. . .

JINSHI: I must admit, this is perplexing, when I had looked up your record, it claimed you were illiterate.

MAOMAO: Yes, well, I am but of lowly birth, it must be some kind of mistake.

MAOMAO (Thinking): Good luck getting me to confess. Feigning ignorance keeps things uncomplicated, just the way I like it.

MAOMAO (Thinking): Speaking of complications. How did this guy even find me out. I made absolutely certain no one saw me leave those notes. Doesn't he have anything better to do than this! I mean it's not like he has a palace to run.

HONGNIANG: Please, this way.

JINSHI: Thank you.

MAOMAO (Thinking): I wonder what my punishment will be. I hope I at least make it out of here alive.

JINSHI: I've brought her, as requested.

GYOKUYOU: Come in! Sorry to drag you all the way up here.

Lingli coos up at her mother, recovered from her illness and Maomao gasps.

MAOMAO: That's good.

GYOKUYOU: So it was you. For saving the life of my precious Lingli, I am in your debt.

MAOMAO: Please my lady, I fear your gratitude is far to generously given.

GYOKUYOU: I won't hear of it. Who could be more deserving then my child's savior. I can never thank you enough for what you've done for us.

MAOMAO: Forgive my impudence, but maybe you have the wrong person? Perhaps there's been a misunderstanding.

MAOMAO (Thinking): I don't want to get beheaded for lying but I don't want to get wrapped up in all this crazy court nonsense either!

JINSHI: Ah-hem. Concubine Gyokuyou was kind enough to let me hold on to the note she found.

Jinshi pulls out a piece of torn cloth that reads "The white face powder is poison. Don't let the baby touch it."

JINSHI: Are you aware that this particular fabric is used in the serving girls clothing?

MAOMAO: Well, I suppose it does look familiar.

JINSHI: Yes, I'm quite certain any of the palace girls would recognize it. Especially one like yourself, who works amongst the laundry. Tell me true, did you tear apart a skirt for want of good paper?

Maomao makes a sound of surprised and steps back, her hands going behind her to where her skirt had been sewn back together.

MAOMAO: I can't believe he reasoned that out already.

JINSHI: Now that we've established it was you, would you care to explain why you put that flower on the window?

Maomao sighs and turns to face Lady Gyokuyou. The camera zooms in on Maomaos face as the lighten darkens.

MAOMAO: I placed there that day because I deduced the cause of the illness. It was the white makeup powder.

The scene pans up on a courtesan with incredibly pale skin.

MAOMAO: In the brothels I grew up around there were many courtesans who used the same high-end powder to lighten their skin. It poisoned them slowly, draining away all of their vital spark little by little, until there was nothing left.

The scene flickers to Loumen attending to a courtesan who is very ill (presumably Fengxian) while Maomao stands in the back watching.

MAOMAO: They traded the fullness of their lives for a fleeting moment of beauty and lost everything in the bargain. Before this, I was an apothecary, I am familiar with poisons.

JINSHI: Then that's the powder.

GYOKUYOU: It was used by the babies nurse as daily ritual she claimed it had a better whitening effect compared to similar popular cosmetics.

GYOKUYOU: She fell ill not long after Lingli, so I permitted her some time to rest, all fully compensated of course.

JINSHI: Kind of you.

GYOKUYOU: Ignorance is truly a sin. As a mother I should have paid more attention to what my child was eating.

JINSHI: That sin is mine, too. Had I only been more aware of the things around me, a needless loss of life could have been avoided. The poor prince.

GYOKUYOU: After I saw the message, I went to tell Concubine Lihua of its troubling content.

The scene shows when Lady Gyokuyou found the note tied to the flower, the shows her trying to tell Lady Lihua what the note said only to be pushed away.

GYOKUYOU: But it seemed like everything I said only served to make her believe me less.

MAOMAO: So then. . .

GYOKUYOU: hm?

MAOMAO: Now that you know the truth, what do you intend to do with me?

GYOKUYOU: Well starting today you're going to be my new lady in waiting!

MAOMAO: huh.

NARATOR: They're are some qualities Maomao just can't mute. Curiosity, a thirst for knowledge, and a sometimes troublesome need to right that which is wrong.

Maomao quickly walks back to her room in the serving girls quarters muttering the whole time.

MAOMAO: Not good. Not good. Not good. Not good. Not good. Not good. Not good!

XIAOLAN: Ah! There you are! Welcome back Maomao!

MAOMAO: How am I supposed to keep a low profile now?

XIAOLAN: So you gonna tell me what happened?

NARATOR: And so Maomao became a lady in waiting of Concubine Gyokuyou, the emperors most cherished love. An unprecedented elevation in rank for one so young.

The Scene changes to that of a soldiers camp. Several soldiers are sitting around a fire, some using knifes to scrape of bits of wood into the fire, while others eat. One solider collapses, and then another joins him.

SOLDIER: Hey- Poison!