Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Episode 7 Recap & Characters (Spoiler-Free)

Episode Summary

Homecoming

Maomao examines the poisoned soup by applying powder to reveal finger traces on the vessel, concluding that four people touched it: an unidentified person who touched the rim likely added the poison, while Riishu's food taster had switched the dishes on purpose to bully Riishu, unaware of the poison. Jinshi concludes the poisoner is likely an insider.

Maomao then secures Lihaku's sponsorship for a three-day home visit by offering an introduction to the Rokushoukan brothel. At the brothel the proprietor scolds her for her long absence and calls Pairin for Lihaku, and Maomao then goes home to her father Ruomen for the first night of her visit.

• Poisoned soup investigation

  Maomao uses powder to reveal finger traces on the silver vessel, estimating four people touched it and suspecting a hidden poisoner alongside a food taster's unknowing dish switch.

• Leave arranged through Lihaku

  Maomao asks Lihaku to sponsor a temporary home visit and offers an introduction to the Rokushoukan brothel as repayment, which he accepts.

• Brothel visit and return home

  At Rokushoukan the proprietor scolds Maomao for her absence and urges her to see her father, and Maomao then returns home to Ruomen.

Recent Timeline

• Attendant's poisoned cosmetics punishment (Episode 4)

  An attendant who kept applying the poisonous face powder to Rifa to preserve her beauty was punished by Maomao, who condemned her for using the same poison that had killed Rifa's child. After confinement she returned, was allowed to serve Rifa again, and promised not to repeat the mistake.

• Rifa's recovery from poisoning (Episode 4)

  Maomao took over Rifa's care after the attendants obstructed treatment, feeding her thin rice gruel and tea to flush out the lingering poison, and gradually adding richer foods. About two months later Rifa could walk on her own again, and her willingness to eat showed she did not want to die despite the loss of her child.

• Failed search for arm-burned person (Episode 5)

  An order was issued to find someone who had recently burned an arm. By the eve of the garden party, Gaoshun reported that the search had failed, leaving the person unidentified and Jinshi hoping the party would pass without trouble.

• Poisoned soup at banquet (Episode 6)

  Maomao detected poison in the soup served to Gyokuyo and announced it, causing an uproar. A minister who drank the soup collapsed, and Maomao supplied a strong emetic for him. She traced the altered jellyfish dish to a swap of Gyokuyo's and Riishu's meals, since Riishu cannot eat mackerel.

• Lihaku's sponsored Rokushoukan visit (Episode 7)

  Maomao secured Lihaku's sponsorship for a temporary leave from the rear palace by offering him an introduction to the Rokushoukan brothel. At the brothel, the proprietor accepted the arrangement, but the advance Maomao had paid, half of her palace wages so far, could not cover Pairin's fee, so the proprietor demanded that Maomao send more good customers.

Character Graph

Gyokuyo

Rear palace

Consort favored by the emperor, mother of a surviving princess (Lingli); received a warning about face powder and appointed Maomao as a lady-in-waiting.

• Role

  Mother of the surviving princess Lingli, favored by the emperor

• Maomao (Hierarchy, Affinity)

  Thanks Maomao for saving Lingli and appoints her as a lady-in-waiting

Gaoshun

attendant to Jinshi

Jinshi's attendant, who has looked after him since he was born. On Jinshi's behalf he brings Maomao the poisoned garden-party soup and hears her analysis of the bowl.

• Warning on misuse

  Warned that Maomao's medicinal knowledge could also be misused.

• Jinshi (Hierarchy, Affinity)

  Serves Jinshi as his attendant and has looked after him since he was born.

• Maomao (Other, Mixed)

  Warned about the misuse of her knowledge and objected to Jinshi trying the aphrodisiac, while granting her access to supplies.

Jinshi

Rear palace

Beautiful eunuch who runs the rear palace and keeps relying on Maomao's knowledge of medicine and poisons. Troubled by the garden-party poisoning, which he judges an inside job, he learns only after she has left that she went home for three days with Lihaku as her guarantor.

• Role

  Introduces himself as the rear palace administrator

• Maomao (Other, Hierarchy, Mixed)

  Has Gaoshun bring her the poisoned soup to examine and values her analysis, but is left stunned to find she has gone home with someone else as her guarantor.

Emperor

The emperor. While visiting the Jade Pavilion he asked Maomao to look after Rifa, whose condition was worsening at the Crystal Pavilion, and for a while afterward his visits to the Jade Pavilion sharply decreased.

• Maomao (Hierarchy, Neutral)

  Maomao accepted his request as an order to cure Rifa and feared the consequences of refusing.

Rifa

High-ranking consort of the Crystal Pavilion who lost her infant son to poison and fell gravely ill herself. Under Maomao's care she recovered within about two months enough to walk on her own.

• Maomao (Other, Affinity)

  Maomao cared for her during her illness and later reassured her and passed on a technique.

• Gyokuyo (Other, Hostility)

  Rifa questioned whether she could rival Gyokuyo in beauty.

Maomao

Rear palace

Apothecary raised in the pleasure district who was kidnapped and sold into the rear palace, where her knowledge of poisons made her Gyokuyo's lady-in-waiting and food taster. She paints fake freckles on with dried clay to look plain. After examining the poisoned garden-party soup, she uses a hairpin from Lihaku to arrange a three-day visit home.

• Start in the rear palace

  Began as a lowly servant in the rear palace before Gyokuyo appointed her lady-in-waiting

• Gyokuyo (Hierarchy, Affinity)

  Gyokuyo made her a lady-in-waiting after Maomao's anonymous warning helped save Lingli; she treats Maomao as her own attendant and teased at the garden party that Maomao was no longer hers alone.

• Jinshi (Other, Mentor, Affinity)

  Her superior, who keeps drawing on her knowledge; at the garden party he gave her a hairpin and apologized that her kidnapping had happened under his watch, which she said was not his fault.

Aaduo

At 35, the most senior of the four high-ranking consorts. Yinghua and Guiyuan gossip that she and the young Riishu do not get along, partly because Riishu was once the previous emperor's consort.

• Age

  Thirty-five years old.

• Riishu (Other, Hostility)

  Yinghua and Guiyuan say the two do not get along; at the garden party, Aaduo's ladies-in-waiting rebuked Riishu's for dressing her in a clashing pink.

Lihaku

Military officer who handed out hairpins at the garden party, giving one to Maomao as a courtesy. He agrees to vouch for her three-day trip home in exchange for an evening with the Rokushoukan's top courtesans.

• Introduction

  Offered Maomao a gift and introduced himself; Maomao assumed he gave gifts so no attendant would feel embarrassed.

• Maomao (Other, Neutral)

  Agreed to act as her guarantor for a visit home, won over by her offer of an evening with Pairin, Joka and Meimei.

Riishu

consort

Fourteen-year-old high-ranking consort who had been the previous emperor's consort, entered religious life after his death, and returned as the current emperor's consort. She cannot eat mackerel, and Maomao suspects her own ladies-in-waiting of bullying her.

• Background

  Had been a consort of the previous emperor, entered religious life after his death five years earlier, then returned as a consort of the current emperor.

• Condition

  Cannot eat mackerel; reacts with hives to the food, and Maomao warned the reaction could also obstruct breathing.

• Aaduo (Other, Hostility)

  According to Yinghua and Guiyuan's gossip, the young Riishu and the veteran Aaduo do not get along.

• Maomao (Other, Neutral)

  Maomao treated her as a patient for the food allergy and gave her food taster written precautions.

Ruomen

Maomao's father, an apothecary in the pleasure district. He welcomes her home on her three-day visit and hears how she ended up in the rear palace.

• Maomao (Family, Affinity)

  Her father; Maomao returned home to him and explained her disappearance, and he reflected ruefully on her ties to the palace.

World Memo

• Rear palace administrator post

  The rear palace has an administrator role held by a eunuch, who oversees the servants gathered there.

• Food taster duty

  The Jade Pavilion keeps a food taster who checks meals for poison; tasting is limited to two meals and afternoon tea, and a previous taster lost the use of her limbs after poisoning attempts during Gyokuyo's pregnancy.

• Guarded rear palace perimeter

  The rear palace is enclosed by guarded gates and a surrounding moat.

• Twice-yearly garden party

  The palace holds a garden party twice a year, offering entertainment and food, and the emperor attends it with his high-ranking consorts.

• Silver tableware wiped before use

  Silver tableware is wiped before use, so the marks left on it afterward can still indicate how it was handled.

• Hairpin gifts as recruitment

  In the rear palace, gifting hairpins can serve to recruit talented women, and the gift also carries a second, unstated meaning.

  A hairpin received at the garden party can be used to ask its giver to arrange permission to leave the rear palace. A hairpin reserved for someone of special standing is also worn by a person of rank as a token.

• Expensive Rokushoukan brothel

  Rokushoukan is an expensive brothel whose courtesans, such as Pairin, Joka, and Meimei, are highly sought after and beyond the reach of many senior officials.

• Pleasure district within walking distance

  The pleasure district lies within walking distance of the rear palace.

Clue Board

• Illness of imperial children (Episode 1)

  Rumors blamed a curse for the deaths of three imperial children, and doctors were treating Rifa's and Gyokuyo's sick infants; Maomao judged it was no curse but poisoning from the face powder used around them.

• Jinshi may have tested Maomao with drugged food (Episode 2)

  Maomao suspected that Jinshi had knowingly tried to make her eat the drugged bun, a question left unresolved in this episode.

• Soldiers' collapse after a village meal (Episode 2)

  Soldiers sent against a foreign tribe collapsed amid cries of poison after eating a meal made in a nearby village. The headman was seized for siding with the tribe, but an officer calmed the scene and his punishment was put on hold. Since the soldiers ate outdoors with utensils they had prepared themselves, Maomao suggested poisonous plants, even fresh wood that turns toxic when burned, rather than the villagers; the cause has not been confirmed.

• Maomao's reading of Fuyo's sleepwalking (Episode 3)

  At first Maomao wondered whether distress over being given away had caused Fuyo's sleepwalking. Later she told Gyokuyo her conclusion: like a courtesan she once knew, Fuyo faked it so the emperor would not be tempted to keep her before she was handed to the officer. Maomao stressed it was only conjecture, and Fuyo never confirmed it.

• Burned garment and wooden tablet (Episode 5)

  A worker burned palace refuse and found a woman's garment with a scorched sleeve and a wooden tablet, then threw them into the fire; his hand trouble and the flames were taken as a curse, and Maomao suspects something on the tablet irritated his skin and may carry a secret message.

• Search for the arm-burn person (Episode 6)

  An order was given to find someone who had recently burned an arm; the search had failed by the eve of the garden party, leaving Jinshi hoping the event would pass without trouble.

  Gaoshun linked the incident to the earlier wooden slips, noting the attendant they had just questioned had no burn marks, so the culprit's identity remains unresolved.

• Culprit of Gyokuyo's poisoned soup (Episode 7)

  The soup served to Gyokuyo was poisoned and a minister collapsed after drinking it, but who poisoned the dish remains unidentified; Jinshi asked and Maomao requested that Riishu be summoned.

  Fingerprint traces show four people touched the vessel, including an unidentified person who touched the rim. Maomao conjectures this person added the poison, and Jinshi concludes the poisoner is likely an insider; the culprit remains unidentified.

• Possible swap of Gyokuyo's and Riishu's meals (Episode 7)

  A dish normally made with oily fish contained jellyfish, suggesting the meals of Gyokuyo and Riishu were exchanged; Riishu confirmed she cannot eat mackerel, and whether Riishu was the intended target depends on whether other dishes also contained poison.

  Maomao conjectures that Riishu's food taster switched the dishes on purpose to bully Riishu, not knowing the soup was poisoned, and that this spiteful swap ended up saving Riishu's life.

• Riishu's outfit as deliberate embarrassment (Episode 7)

  Maomao conjectures that Riishu's attendants deliberately let her wear a bright pink outfit too similar to Gyokuyo's to embarrass her. A flashback of criticism over the clothing, which Maomao reads as Aaduo's attendants rebuking Riishu's attendants, supports the suspicion; it remains unconfirmed.

Deduction Board

Facts

• Soup carried by Gaoshun

  Gaoshun brought the soup meant for Gyokuyo on Jinshi's behalf and avoided touching its container.

• Wiped silver tableware

  The silver tableware was wiped before use, so the remaining fingerprint marks show how it was handled afterward.

• Four people touched the vessel

  Maomao estimated four people touched the vessel: the server, the deliverer, Riishu's food taster, and an unidentified person who touched the rim.

Evidence

• Worker's skin irritation

  The worker's hand was badly irritated after handling the burned items, and at the physician's request Maomao prepared an ointment for it.

• Powder-revealed finger traces

  Maomao used a method from her former apothecary, applying powder to reveal finger traces on the vessel.

• Clothing criticism flashback

  A flashback showed criticism of Riishu's clothing choice, which Maomao took as Aaduo's attendants rebuking Riishu's attendants.

Inferences

• Meals possibly exchanged

  Maomao concluded that Gyokuyo's and Riishu's meals had somehow been exchanged.

• Dangerous reaction risk

  Maomao warned that the reaction could obstruct breathing, so knowingly serving the offending food would be equivalent to poisoning.

• Poisoner is an insider

  Jinshi concluded from Gaoshun's report that the poisoner was likely an insider.

Suspicions

• Food taster's spiteful dish switch

  Maomao suspects Riishu's food taster switched the dishes on purpose to bully Riishu, not knowing one was poisoned.

• Deliberate clothing embarrassment

  Maomao conjectures that Riishu's attendants deliberately let her wear an outfit too similar to Gyokuyo's, presented explicitly as conjecture.

• Prejudice behind mistreatment

  Maomao suggests prejudice against Riishu's marriage to her deceased husband's son explains the mistreatment, and the malicious dish exchange inadvertently saved her life.

Season Summary

Season 1 — Season 1

Episodes 1–7

Maomao, an apothecary raised in the pleasure district, is kidnapped and sold into the rear palace as a servant. After she traces the illness of the emperor's infants to poisonous face powder, Jinshi tracks her down and she becomes Gyokuyo's lady-in-waiting and food taster; she goes on to unravel Fuyo's ghost dance, nurse Rifa back to health, and detect the poisoned soup at the garden party.

After the party, Maomao finds that four people touched the poisoned bowl: Riishu's food taster swapped the dishes to bully Riishu, unaware of the poison, while an unidentified insider added it. She then uses a hairpin from Lihaku to arrange a three-day trip home, paying him with an evening at the Rokushoukan, and returns to her father Ruomen.

Music Releases

• Hana ni Natte (OP)
• Aikotoba (ED)