The Apothecary Diaries

薬屋のひとりごと

Maomao, an apothecary raised in the pleasure district, is kidnapped and sold into the imperial rear palace as a lowly servant, where she keeps her head down and waits out her contract. When she hears that the infant children of the emperor's favored consorts Gyokuyou and Lihua keep falling ill and dying, she traces the cause to poisonous face powder and slips an anonymous warning to the Jade Pavilion. The clue draws the attention of Jinshi, a striking eunuch official, who installs her as a lady-in-waiting and sets her solving the court's medical mysteries.