The show continues to tease us with the mysterious lady. This time, she isn’t just passing out her “immortality” foodstuff to the poor and destitute. She’s now captivating rooms full of officials. She’s working way up, then. Maybe winning over the poor got her the notoriety she needed, and now she can work her “magic” on men of power — men who can actually get things done. Men who might perhaps aid in a coup if the locust plague gets out of hand? I’m just trying to speculate on the woman’s motive. What could she possibly want? Well, the only real major theme this season is how the locust plague can potentially destabilize the empire, thereby leading to the emperor being dethroned. To make sure the coup really goes through, it would help to have a room full of government officials under your thumb. I can’t imagine how else the mysterious woman would connect to the bigger picture, but I could be wrong.

Also for the first time, the mysterious lady has come to Maomao’s attention. Referred to as simply a sorceress, our apothecary hears of a lady with white skin, white hair, and red eyes. Maomao instantly thinks that our woman might be an albino. To add even more intrigue, sales are down at the Verdigris House, and it’s all thanks to the sorceress. Instead of banging hot ladies, everyone instead goes to the theater where the sorceress is plying her trade. Maomao wonders why people would want to watch a show more than once, so a guy replies that our mysterious lady can also read minds. Obviously, telepaths don’t exist. I’m sorry to disappoint anyone, but Professor Xavier isn’t real. So what’s the story? Well, that girl from last week — I believe she’s referred to as Zulin in this week’s episode — almost lost her limbs from eating the cracker laced with hallucinogenic shrooms, right? So these officials are high off their fuckin’ gourd. Add a pretty lady and alcohol, and it sounds like a banger experience for the good ol’ Tang Dynasty days. What else is there to do? Maomao laments, however, that Jinshi is working so hard to prevent the plague while everyone else is just partying their asses off.

In other matters, the final insect volume is a dead end. A brief talk with Suirei helps Maomao realize that the book was in Shisui’s possession, so it would’ve been found in the clinic. But like I suspected, Suirei’s master didn’t have any magical solution to the locust plague, because there are none. Those damn bugs are still a nuisance to us now! Looking over the various diagrams, Maomao and Jinshi sorta learn how locusts come about, but there’s no surefire preventative measure. Burn the larva? Sure, but you also burn what little crops you have during a drought. The book contains a recipe for the insecticide, but how effective can it truly be? This is pre-1000 AD, after all. Jinshi laments that deforestation has exacerbated the problem, since the local bird population really could’ve helped curtail the grasshopper/locust population. See, folks? Environmental devastation is a problem in every era.

I suppose I can’t really cover The Apothecary Diaries without also speaking about the Maomao-Jinshi moment. The girl tries to convince Jinshi to turn grasshoppers into a royal cuisine. The idea here is that the people would follow suit and start eating grasshoppers if it became popular within the palace. Jinshi, however, grimaces at the thought of eating grasshoppers, and who can blame him? Even fried, grasshoppers look nasty to eat. I wouldn’t chow down on them either. But Maomao presses on with the idea anyway, probably tickled at the thought that she could torture the prince with gross food. Everyone gets to watch as she does this, too. With a pained expression on his face, Jinshi actually takes the nasty, insect-shaped bait. After all, this is probably his only chance to be hand-fed by the girl he likes.

This leads to grams having Chou-u sketch Maomao’s ideal man. I think the girl tried to describe the exact opposite of Jinshi just to throw them off, so in the end, everyone walked off in frustration. What was grams trying to do? Maybe if Maomao admitted she liked Jinshi, she could exploit him for the sake of the Verdigris House. Well, I don’t think our apothecary is dumb enough to fall for such a cheap stunt. Joka chimes in, however, saying that she relates to Maomao. In fact, maybe she’s here to voice Maomao’s unspoken thoughts. Basically, Joka sees men as fickle creatures. They might like you today, but forget you completely tomorrow. Someone with Jinshi’s stature can have any woman. In fact, he probably can’t even marry a commoner. Maomao would have to be a concubine. She doesn’t want to hitch herself to that fate. Of the three subplots unfolding in this season, however, this is my least favorite, so I’ll just leave it at that.