01x09 - su1c1de or m*rder?

[bunniefuu]

THE APOTHECARY DIARIES

THIS STORY IS A WORK OF FICTION. THE NAMES OF ALLCHARACTERS, ORGANIZATIONS, ETC. ARE IMAGINARY.IT BEARS NO CONNECTION TO SPECIFIC REAL-LIFE EVENTS.

- That man can't be trusted!

- That man can't be trusted!EPISODE : su1c1de OR m*rder?

- That'd create other issues.EPISODE : su1c1de OR m*rder?

- That'd create other issues.

Drinks! Bring more booze...

Wow, he's changed a lot.

Seeing his face makes the drinks taste bad.

On that, I can agree.

Hey... Thanks.

How much longer are you going to sulk?

I'm not sulking.

Please don't forget thatyou're still on the job.

I understand.

He doesn't understand.

The one known as Jinshi does notrespond in such a childish way.

The one known as Jinshi does notattach himself so strongly to a toy.

Here is some more work.

It took considerable effort to get

Concubine Gyokuyou to stop laughinguncontrollably and explain.

Misunderstanding...?

The payment she gave in returnfor acting as her guarantor

was a meeting with a star courtesan.

Who knew that girl had such connections?

Who knows what imagethe master had in his mind?

Youth is a scary thing.

That said, to put so much effortinto finishing work quickly...

And going out to meet her...

Only to find out she had leftfor home with another man...

That must have been quite a shock, for sure.

They should put more thought into these...

Many bureaucrats try to pass billsthat benefit them personally.

I feel sorry for my master, who has to doextra work for those useless bills.

Master Jinshi!

It's already after hours. Can this wait?

It's not about work... Well...

Sir Kounen?!

Master Jinshi.

Let's go!

That's terrible news...

Someone high up bit the dust.

Maybe this is callous, but I can'tsympathize with someone

who I've never met or heard of.

A man past the age of fifty,who d*ed from drinking too much.

Clearly self-inflicted.

Since he went out of the way to makethe head lady-in-waiting leave...

Apothecary, do you thinkthe alcohol was really what k*lled him?

I knew he'd ask.

Anyone who likes alcohol should know thatoverindulgence in drink is poison in essence.

Drinking constantly can sicken the organs.

Drinking too much in onesitting can lead to death.

It was a party for a group of co-workers,and I heard he had a lot to drink.

That could k*ll him.

But Sir Kounen couldreally handle his drink.

I don't think overindulgence would k*ll him.

The man who d*ed was named Kounen.

He was a dynamic warriorwho drank entire jars of alcohol,

and had a well-liked personality, to boot.

Gaoshun.

Yes.

This is the drink from that party.

Ooh, booze!

The specific jar that Sir Kounen drank from

got dropped on the floorand the contents were lost.

So, if that jar had poison in it,we'd have no way of knowing.

Indeed...

How modest. He realizeshe's asking for the impossible.

He should just be excessivelyshiny like his usual self.

For a while now, Master Jinshi has seemedmuch more childish than before.

It's both sweet and salty.

Like someone took a sweetdrink and added salt to it...

What's wrong?

It's a distinct taste.

Yes. Sweet, isn't it?That's how Master Kounen liked it.

He had a serious sweet tooth.

He'd never lay a finger on eventhe finest smoked meats and rock salts.

Huh...

I heard he used to love spicy foods, butsuddenly developed a sweet tooth one day.

Even his meals became all sweets.

That'll cause diabetes.

Stop spoiling my nostalgia with reality.

You're having more?

From spicy to sweet, huh?

Were there salts available at the party?

Yes. Rock salts, moon cakes, and dried meat.

Do you want those, too?

No, I'll be done with the drink by then.

That's not what I meant...

Can you get the jar thatMaster Kounen was drinking from?

It's broken and in pieces.

That's fine.

Also, there's one thingI want you to look into.

Excuse me.

Here is the report.

Thank you.

I knew it.

Here's the bottle.

Is it safe to lick that?

There's no poison here.

Salt?

Yes. Master Jinshi, you mentioned how MasterKounen suddenly developed a sweet tooth, right?

And that he only ate sweet foods after that?

Yes.

Yet this jar contained so much saltthat it left crystals behind when it dried.

Salt is essential to the human body,but too much salt can also be poisonous.

So, the cause of his death is...

Given the amount he drank,and the salt included,

it's easy to conclude this was the cause.

Yes, but you should be able to tellif something tasted this salty—

But he didn't. Please take a look at this.

It's a report on Master Kounen's lifestyle.

Judging from what's written here,

it seems like Master Kounenlost his ability to taste salt.

Oh, no...

Kounen seemed like a seriousand skilled bureaucrat,

with a stoic personality.

Many years ago, he lost his wifeand child to an epidemic.

From that day on, he was all work, all day.

His only forms of entertainmentwere drinking and sweets.

There is an illness thateliminates the sense of taste.

It can be caused byan unbalanced diet or stress.

Serious people will sometimesrepress their feelings,

and that stress could lead to illness.

So, who put the salt in the bottle?

That's not for me to determine.

However, there was also saltin the drink I had yesterday.

It could have been put thereby someone at the party

who didn't like sweet drinks.

Alternatively, there are many whoresent overly serious coworkers.

Maybe they put some salt in the drink

because they didn't like him andwanted to pull a little prank.

But because he kept drinkingseemingly without issue,

perhaps they kept adding more,hoping he would notice.

Gaoshun.

Yes.

Understood.

I'm a coward.

I've practically named the culprit at thispoint, given the amount of hints I dropped.

But I don't want to be directlyresponsible for someone getting punished.

Sorry for your trouble. Thank you.

It's fine.

An obsidian tassel...

He's in mourning.

Was he such a person of high esteem?

Yes. He helped me a lot when I was younger.

He seems like a normal young man.

I guess he is human, after all.

Oh, right.

Huh?

Here's your reward.

A bottle?

Yes. It's not the sameas the one from yesterday.

Booze!

Don't drink it out in the open.

Yes! Thank you!

You don't seem all that grateful.

Is that so? Perhaps youshould return to your work.

That reaction... I bet he's slacking off.

Perhaps you should finish itbefore it starts piling up.

I am working seriously...

What kind of work?

For example, there's a certain bill.

The idea is to set an age limitfor alcohol consumption,

to prevent young ones fromlosing themselves in drink.

Huh?

The bill proposes a ban on drinkingalcohol until the age of twenty.

Master Jinshi...

Please, please don't pass that bill!

Hmm. Well, it's not somethingI can decide on my own.

M-Master Jinshi!

Doctor!

This way!

There it is!

We're lucky it's winter now.

She's still in good shape,despite being a drowned corpse.

How can you look directly at her?

Where was she found?

She was floating in the outside moat.

From her dress, we assumedshe was a servant at the rear palace.

I see. That's why they called our doc.

But a doctor in charge ofautopsies acting like this...

He truly is a quack.

Little lady, can I leave this to you?

Nope.

Huh?

I've been ordered to not touch corpses.

That's unexpected.

Master Jinshi!

Greetings, Master Jinshi.

You don't seem to beuncomfortable around corpses.

I've gotten used to them.

The pleasure district is justone street away from lawless chaos.

Why can't you touch corpses?

My teacher told me not to.

Is it an aversion to death?

No...

It's because humans can becomemedicinal ingredients, too.

Given your curiosity, once you give that a try,

it wouldn't be long beforeyou start digging up graves.

Do not cross that line, ever.

Y-Yes.

I see.

What a rude response.

Doctor, could you pleasedo a proper autopsy?

Understood...

Eek!

"Eek," indeed...

She's tall. Hard wooden shoes...Bandages on one foot...

Fingers are all red.

It must have been cold in that water.

The girl was a servant and wasworking normally yesterday.

The guard believes she climbed the walllast night and threw herself in.

A su1c1de.

su1c1de...

What do you think?

I can't tell if she committed su1c1de,

but I think it was impossiblefor her to do it alone.

What do you mean?

There were no ladders on the wall,and no other climbing tools.

The rear palace walls are at leastfour times my height.

So, you mean she couldn'thave climbed it without tools.

In most cases.

Strictly speaking, scaling the wallwithout tools is possible.

Do you remember the ghost issuefrom a while ago?

Concubine Fuyou?

Yes.

I was wondering how she climbed the wall,

so I did a thorough investigation of it.

That's where I found the protrusionsthat I believe the craftsmen used.

That said, it would be difficultfor most regular women,

especially those withbound feet, like that servant.

Foot binding is a custom wheresmall feet are considered beautiful.

It's not done on all women,

but I do occasionally see the distinctwalking style in the rear palace, too.

If it's not su1c1de,

are you saying it's m*rder?

I don't know that.

But I think it's fairly certain thatshe was alive when she fell in the moat.

She must have clawed atthe walls to try to climb out.

Her fingers were bloodied and red.

Yes...

su1c1de, or m*rder...

I would never think to take my own life.

I'd hate if someone k*lled me, too.

If I d*ed, I wouldn't be ableto test any more dr*gs or poisons.

But if I were to die...

What are you thinking about?

About what kind of poison I would use to die.

Are you trying to die?!

Not at all. But nobody knows when they'll die.

Even if it's not something theywished for, a malicious third party

can cause an undesired death.

Like with Master Kounen.

Nobody knows when it could happen.

There is no way to resist fate...

Master Jinshi.

What is it?

If you're ever tasked with executing me,can you make sure it's with poison?

Where'd that come from?!

If I made a mistake, you wouldprobably be the one to give the order.

Did I step in it just now?

I'm sorry, it's not my place to say.

I won't complain if it'sa hanging or a beheading.

No, really, why are you saying all this?!

Because I'm a commoner.

My life is easily taken awayover the slightest mistake.

I would never do such a thing.

It's not a "would-or-would-not"type of issue. It's "can-or-cannot."

Looks like I struck a nerve there.

If there's no furtherbusiness, I'll excuse myself.

Later, I heard through rumors

that the dead servant was at the gardenparty where the poisoning took place.

They found a will withsome relevant content in it,

so the case was closed as a su1c1de.

The report from the other day is finally ready.

It's been two months since I asked foryou to find someone with burns on their arms.

You took too long.

I'm very sorry.

So, who is it?

Yes. It's actually higher up than I thought.

Fengming, from the Garnet Pavilion.

Head lady-in-waiting under Concubine Ah-Duo.

I see.

You're excused.

Concubine Ah-Duo...

Not just some superficial sweetness

I want more warmth than I can even use, oh

Having these selfish idealistic thoughts

I swallowed them again todaybefore putting them into words

Still in my memories,the scent of fragrant olive

The color of twilight in the city

We were laughing...

Filled with sadness,the tears welled up in my eyes

I found a glow during those days

I guess I took everything for granted

The wind was so loud I covered my ears

I gotta stop being like that

Even if I stumble over the words of love

NEXT TIME

NEXT TIMEEPISODE : HONEY- Next time: "Honey."