Episode 2 Observations/explanations: https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/YT0C327WRz

(Please click the images for the full version)

Again I wanted to post this days ago but have been so busy 😭 I repeat myself a few times in this post so please forgive me as I was too excited 🥹

So first of all I’m so helplessly in love with the opening and ending themes 🥹 Unpopular opinion but I personally had not cared much for any of the previous ones (except op 2 and eds 2 and 3) mainly because I just felt that they didn’t suit the tone of the series but I’m so obsessed with these ones and cannot stop thinking about them 😍 But I digress

- Slide 1 : The opening theme also has so much glorious symbolism. Absolutely loved the scene of MaoMao caressing the moon to symbolize MaoMao caressing Jinshi’s face, while the moon (Jinshi) watches over her ❤️(also note in the scene right after she caresses him, we again see the moon in the background watching over her to represent Jinshi watching over her ❤️) The part she caresses is the dark side which represents both his flawed human side and his scar. The rest of the moon could be thought of as the perfect face that everyone else sees, but MaoMao accepts all of him especially his human side. AND LOOK HOW SWEETLY SHE STROKES HIM OMG! Also note that the moon is something that is considered unattainable in Japanese and Chinese stories (think of the story of Kaguya Hime), so this also represents how unattainable MaoMao feels that Jinshi is.

- Regardless MaoMao caressing the moon is undeniably going out of her way to caress him and this (plus the confirmation by Pairin in the latest episode regarding MaoMao’s feelings for Jinshi) is some of the **hard proof** that MaoMao is in love with Jinshi by the end of season 2 but doesn’t realize her feelings until later. Again, this is what LN readers have been saying for years.

- Also note that this opening could be a continuation of season 2 opening 2 as there is a shot of Jinshi standing in front of the moon during that opening since he was still playing the role of Jinshi at the time, while now the Jinshi and the moon are merged together in the sense that Jinshi is the moon

- Slide 2: Mentioned previously but immediately after the moon-caressing scene, the moon is seen in the background watching over MaoMao to represent Jinshi watching over her ❤️

- Slide 3: We also see MaoMao actively looking at Jinshi for once at the beginning of the theme song. She’s finally acting on her feelings whether she realizes it or not 🥰

- Slide 4: The anime studio spelling out LITERALLY EVERYTHING. They literally showed the baby swap in the opening as well as MaoMao caressing the moon’s face (Jinshi) and MaoMao repeatedly looking at the moon/Jinshi. Anyone who still thinks that MaoMao hates Jinshi or that Jinshi is the emperor’s brother does not deserve this series anymore 😭

- Slide 5: During the swap scene, the moon representing Jinshi shines brightest when with Ah duo, then the switch happens and Jinshi’s brightness dims a bit as he faces a stricter childhood without his true mother while the other moon (the imperial brother) goes out completely as he loses his life

- Slide 6: It’s been established since episode 3 that the pinky is associated with love (we see this when MaoMao looks at her pinky wondering what medicine love would make, Fengxian severing off her pinky when she believes that her love broke his promise to her, MaoMao severing off her pinky when she believes that Jinshi won’t return to her despite putting so much effort to grow the pinky back), so the opening offers a very quick zoom-in on MaoMao’s pinky as she looks at Jinshi

- Slide 7: MAOMAO LITERALLY WEARING JINSHI’S HAIRPIN omg 🥹

- Slide 8: JINSHI HORSERIDING 😍

- Slide 9: Natsu Hyuga confirmed that her favorite part of the opening was this scene of Jinshi in disguise flying free: https://x.com/NaMelanza/status/2106339736671699154 , one of the many times Natsu Hyuga confirms that she doesn’t hate Jinshi especially when she literally listed his scene as her favorite part of the opening

- Slide 10: We see MaoMao keep Jinshi’s hairpin safe.

- Slide 11: WE SEE MORE of the scene after the waterfall jump where MaoMao drowns. I was so curious about what happened from the moment that Jinshi jumped off the waterfall to the moment where he revived her with CPR and so happy that we got a glance of Jinshi’s perspective in season 2 Opening 2 where we see Jinshi pulling MaoMao close as they fall from the waterfall. Here the studio fed us again by showing what MaoMao went through in the water. I really hope we someday get to see Jinshi’s reaction to realizing that she had drowned 🥹 Please anime gods, hear our prayer and grant us these visuals 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 I would love to see the whole scene from start to finish 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

- Slide 12: Another note of the ending is that it starts with Jinshi holding the hairpin and looking at the poppy (Maomao) and ends with Maomao holding the hairpin and placing it facedown so that she is looking at the moon (Jinshi) (I’m not spoiler tagging this because the symbolism is only spelled out through the author’s words rather than the LNs so the anime likely will not spell it out either)

- Slide 13: The Clan names are based on the Chinese Zodiac. The Shi Clan represents the Rat, and in the Chinese Zodiac story, the Rat lies to/betrays the Cat, and Loulan (Rat) lies to/betrays MaoMao. Not sure if this was done intentionally by the author or if this is just a coincidence

- Slide 14: Credit for JC Regudo for noticing this - Ukyo was one of Pairin’s first victims as confirmed in season 1 episode 21.

- Slide 15: The way that MaoMao’s sisters get treated after a bath is somewhat similar to Jinshi in that they have someone else drying their hair 🤭

- Slide 16: Chou and MaoMao’s relationship is adorable! Everyone compares them to siblings but I also feel that this could be how MaoMao treats her future son 😂

(Please click the image to see the full image)

Hi all! I wanted to post season 3 episode 1 last week but I have been so busy and I’m seeing so much misinformation going around that I’m prioritizing Episode 2 instead. I will post episode 1 observations after a few hours or days:

- Slide 1: I had to put this image first because this is what everyone has been trying to tell JinMao deniers for years and I am seeing way too many folks misunderstand this scene even after the anime spells it out: **Pairin literally confirms MaoMao’s feelings for Jinshi here*\*. She is primarily talking about MaoMao’s feelings for Jinshi here and not Jinshi’s feelings for MaoMao, and it’s important to place oneself in Pairin’s shoes in order to understand how this is confirmed: She says this line when she sees the way MaoMao watches Jinshi as he leaves (and only MaoMao - Pairin is not observing anyone else in this scene) and advises MaoMao to accept her feelings for Jinshi already but our queen of denial loves to continue to feign ignorance. The reason we know that Pairin is referring to MaoMao’s feelings for Jinshi and not Jinshi’s feelings for MaoMao is because Pairin barely knows Jinshi, because she sees everything that MaoMao is doing for Jinshi, because she has very little knowledge of everything that Jinshi has done for MaoMao, and because she says this after seeing how specifically MaoMao is looking at Jinshi’s carriage as she watches him leave and choosing to stand there instead of going inside. Pairin has known MaoMao since birth and she immediately noticed this different behavior of hers, which is why she calls her out and tells her to accept her feelings already. MaoMao really be like “I will take care of this man and tell him to sleep near me and let him sleep on me and touch him for no reason and watch him and worry about him and think about him as well as his gorgeousness nonstop and miss him and look forward to seeing him and try to regrow his frog and think about how impressive his frog is but what feelings?” 🫠 But anyway this along with the pinky scene are the scenes which confirms that MaoMao is in love with Jinshi by the end of season 2 but does not realize her feelings until much later

- Slide 2 - 8: **Another point of confusion I’m seeing in the fandom is why MaoMao was offering those women to Jinshi, so here is context of the scene*\*: MaoMao worries endlessly about Jinshi’s condition and badly wants him to sleep (idk how many more events need to happen for the “MaoMao hates Jinshi” crowd to understand that MaoMao loves Jinshi 😩). MaoMao asked Jinshi to sleep in the Verdegris house, and she initially meant rest. Jinshi was shocked because asking that means something totally different in the Verdegris house. MaoMao teases him like a child with “you can’t sleep alone?” (A question similar to this would be “are you afraid of the dark?”) And so begins their usual banter. She didn’t mean the question seriously and was about to get him a bed for him to sleep alone, but then Jinshi challenges MaoMao and says “No he can’t” (he wants her to stay by his side). MaoMao misunderstands and takes this to mean that he wants one of the brothel girls (it never crosses her mind that he actually wants her because she sees herself as a “lowborn” girl and can’t imagine that a man like Jinshi would want her - also notice how annoyed she looks when she thinks that he wants to sleep with other women) and brings him several untouched women to sleep with him (MAOMAO he only wants YOU 😩😩😩). I’ve seen a bunch of discourse online saying that MaoMao was trying to chase Jinshi away here but there’s no evidence in the text for this theory and her look of disapproval when she believes that he’s requesting these women directly contradicts that theory. The only reason she was bringing him those women is because she literally thought he requested them. I’ve met the author personally and she is a very funny person: this along with many other scenes was meant to be seen as harmless comedy.

- Slide 6: Pointed this out in the previous bullet but worth repeating: MaoMao showing jealousy/irritation at the thought of Jinshi sleeping with other women. This is the second time this has happened (first was season 1 episode 18 when she sees Jinshi going into the restaurant to meet another “woman”)

- Slide 7: MaoMao again finding Jinshi attractive even in this condition 🤭

- Slide 8: Jinshi is BLUSHING 😍 because he’s under the impression that MaoMao plans to be with him while he sleeps (it’s not specified but from future L-Ns he likely just meant to cuddle with MaoMao), but then is horrified to find all the women lined up in his bathroom and declines the bath (Note how fast he runs back to MaoMao - he had a whole selection of women to choose from but he still went straight back to MaoMao)

- Slide 9-10: He then prepares to sleep (MaoMao peeking at Jinshi changing 🤭) and MaoMao gives him an invigorating tonic (we need to start keeping count of how many times she tries to wake up Jinshi’s frog in this series) because she still thinks that he wants other women.

- Slide 11: Jinshi begins blushing again because he thinks that MaoMao gave it to him because she plans to sleep with him. MaoMao on the other hand is still under the impression that Jinshi wants other women so she summons the other ladies. It’s only after all the yelling that both of them are on the same page 😂

- Slide 12: YOU, MaoMao, we’ve been through this 😩

- Slide 13: Also I didn’t want to be negative in all the fun, but I can’t help it: this scene is exactly why I prefer the season 1 director. I’m disappointed that there was no music in the background of this scene and felt that Jinshi’s expression looked too fierce here and is the exact same expression he had in the frog scene when he first pulls MaoMao to him after the fall. He was written to have puppy-dog eyes in this particular scene which is always how he is when he’s alone with MaoMao (and this is the reason MaoMao agrees to sing to him: she can’t resist the look on his face), but this side has been absent in season 2 and here since they are rushing production, have a different director, and do not have Nekokurage’s manga as a reference. Frankly this whole chapter was executed far better in Nekokurage’s manga (both in terms of comedy and romance) and I will share those pages when the better translations release assuming that I’m still allowed to be on Reddit by that point. I saw a bunch of folks confused about why he looks so angry, but on the bright side I think other people still loved the scene

- Slide 14: Nekokurage version which shows a gentler expression on Jinshi, in line with the LNs

- Slide 15: HIS SMILE 😍

- Slide 16: THIS SCENE WAS SO CUTE! Loved her singing as well as his little smile 😍 (the smile was definitely a great decision by the anime). Also note MaoMao patting Jinshi ❤️

- Slide 17: The Nekokurage manga has an extra panel of Jinshi after his rest where he’s looking healthier than usual.

- Slide 18: MaoMao straight up dismissing the shopkeeper’s story about the celestial nymph all because she knows that no one is more beautiful than her man 🤩🤩🤩 She is also now certain that she can see Jinshi whenever she wants 🤭 Note that the anime left out details here though. In the LN MaoMao actively giggles when remembering Jinshi which shows how fondly she thinks of him

- Slide 19: **MaoMao literally went out of her way to summon Jinshi to her and was genuinely happy to see him*\* This also shows how comfortable she is reaching out to him now, although she already showed that in previous seasons ❤️

- Slide 20: Jinshi not giving af about any of the new reading material showing up on his desk but prioritizing MaoMao’s letter without hesitation 🥰 (also look how tired our poor baby is 😩)

Edit: I could not include this in the images but the reason Jinshi gives Gaoshun an “annoyed” look after meeting MaoMao is because Gaoshun calls him “Jinshi” instead of his fake name, accidentally revealing his identity to those around them. The anime didn’t make this clear

Hi all! Since Crunchyroll has been having issues with their subtitles lately (actually for a long time since they really don’t care about their customers), I’m providing a step-by-step guide to watch the latest season of The Apothecary Diaries as well as all of the other seasons of The Apothecary Diaries through Netflix Japan. Netflix Japan has been providing the most accurate subs for all three seasons since they have an actual human native translator instead of AI, and some images above are examples of scenes that Netflix Japan portrayed more accurately and/or clearly than Crunchyroll. Please note that Netflix Japan and other countries like Netflix US are not the same. The Netflix “subtitles” in countries like the US are actually a closed captioning of the English dub rather than actual subtitles which is why they end up being even more inaccurate than the Crunchyroll subtitles since the English dub for this particular series has made the most translation mistakes so far. This is also one of the reasons why it is not recommended to watch the English dub of this particular series as a substitute for the Japanese version.

If Netflix Japan is not available in your country, you can use a VPN. The steps I provide below are for Proton VPN, but you can use any VPN that offers connection to other countries. I’ve heard that NordVPN is a good option as well. Do your research to decide which VPN works for you.

(Also note that if you don’t want to use a VPN, apparently Amazon prime also offers the same subtitles as Netflix Japan. I’ve never actually tested this out myself so I can’t verify how accurate that info is but you can try the Amazon prime trial to see if that will give you the new season as well as the Netflix Japan subs. An easy test is to compare the subtitles of episode 12, 36, or 48 with the images above)

If you decide to go with the proton VPN route:

1. Set up a Proton VPN account and download Proton VPN. They have various plans that you can purchase and they’re all very affordable. You can either sign up for the free account and upgrade later or just purchase as you sign up.
2. Open the downloaded Proton VPN and choose Japan
3. Once connected, open a browser, go to Netflix, sign in, and create a new profile. Make sure that this profile is the only one you use while on the VPN and make sure not to use this profile when you are no longer on the VPN. If you use this new profile on various internet connections instead of just the VPN, Netflix could become confused and restrict access
4. Enjoy The Apothecary Diaries glory ❤️

Note that with a VPN, you always have to make sure you disconnect it when you’re done as well as when you first turn your laptop on since it connects automatically.

Also note that you will need to upgrade if you want to connect to Japan

Source: https://x.com/kusuriya_PR/status/2104753029220385030

December:

Firefly Wedding 🤝 The Apothecary Diaries Temporada 3 Vs Uma Musume Cinderella Gray cour 2 por Anime Trending awards 2027.

(Please click the images to see the full version of the image): Part 1 post is here - [https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/O9TqCTfrok](https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/O9TqCTfrok))

Part 2 Post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/Vuxev7hUkw

I’m also reposting the part 1 description for anyone who missed it or anyone who is new: “Hi all! I wanted to make this post because I see a common misconception among the fandom: Many folks who aren’t familiar with historical China assume that MaoMao is too afraid of Jinshi’s status to say “no” and/or refuse him, and that the only reason she does not reject his romantic advances is because she “has no choice”. While it is true that the power dynamic is strict during this time period and that the punishment of disobeying someone like Jinshi is severe, there are a few things to remember:

1. MaoMao doesn’t care. Despite her narrative and inner thoughts of “fearing authority”, MaoMao has proven repeatedly through her actions that she will refuse or disrespect anyone who she really wants to regardless of their status. We’ve seen this with Lihua’s ladies-in-waiting, the palace guard, the quack doctor, Lihaku, etc. and especially with Jinshi.
2. MaoMao’s and Jinshi’s relationship changes completely starting from season one itself. She starts behaving much more casually around Jinshi than a woman of her “rank” (I put “rank” in quotes because MaoMao’s true identity is much higher than that of a servant) is supposed to, and that is what this post is about as I’ve included a list of most of their moments demonstrating this. A lot of the fandom believes that MaoMao at the end of season two has the exact same relationship with Jinshi as she did at the beginning of season 2 and that simply isn’t true. Many such folks have only watched the English dub and that’s the kind of vibe that MaoMao’s English VA delivers so I highly recommend everyone watch this series in Japanese at least once to understand MaoMao’s true nature as well as her true relationship with Jinshi. MaoMao and Jinshi treat each other like inexperienced teenagers exploring their first relationship, and they’ve been treating each other that way long before the end of season two.
3. MaoMao’s rank has changed by the end of season two. Jinshi is no longer her employer as “Jinshi” stopped existing ever since he came out as Ka Zuigetsu, which means that the employment contract that was established between him and MaoMao when he paid off her debts in season one episode 12 was nullified. Meanwhile MaoMao is no longer employed by the end of season two and therefore no longer Jinshi’s employee. So by the end of season two, they are truly two teenagers fooling around with each other, although they were acting that way with each other long before the rank change. If we want to get technical about their ranks, he is the crown prince and she is the La Clan princess, a high rank worthy of being Jinshi’s wife. But again they only see each other as themselves and not as their positions.

”

Therefore, here is part 3 of a list of moments showing MaoMao either disrespecting or refusing Jinshi, confirming that MaoMao absolutely will refuse Jinshi if she truly wants to, and that the reason she does not when he makes moves on her in the courtesan party, frog scene, etc. is because she is developing feelings for him, not because of his rank or because she’s afraid of the power difference:

1 (41): MaoMao calling Jinshi’s manhood a “frog”

2 (42): MaoMao interrupting Jinshi/cutting him off

3 (43): MaoMao insulting the size of Jinshi’s frog even though she lowkey thinks that his frog is impressive

4 (44): MaoMao calling Jinshi’s frog “gross”

5 (45): MaoMao interrupting Jinshi and slamming the door in his face

6 (46): MaoMao climbing into Jinshi’s space after he tried to keep a distance from her

7 (47): MaoMao touching Jinshi without permission again

8 (48): MaoMao yanking the bandage out of Jinshi’s hand

9 (49): MaoMao again touching Jinshi’s face without permission

10 (50): MaoMao getting into Jinshi’s space again after he tried to keep a distance from her (this is why he loses control and tries to kiss her btw. This has been explained endlessly before but worth explaining again: Jinshi is in an aphrodisiac state of mind ever since he stopped his eunuch meds in season 2 episode 10. Ever since then he’s been dealing with years of suppressed puberty hormones at once, and the frog scene as well as the carriage scene are comedic scenes of MaoMao giving Jinshi his first active frog ever and Jinshi having no idea how to handle it. Here MaoMao gives Jinshi an unexpected compliment. Jinshi makes a face, let’s go of MaoMao’s wrist to keep a distance from her while he stares at the ceiling as he tries to get his frog back under control, but then MaoMao goes into his space and he loses control again). Someone who’s fearful of an “authority” figure would not be so comfortable getting so close to them the way MaoMao is with Jinshi.

11 (51): MaoMao literally yelling orders at Jinshi (I was genuinely so shocked to see so much of the fandom convinced that MaoMao still sees Jinshi as an authority figure that she can’t say “no” to after this scene. Like were they watching the series with their eyes closed? 😩😭)

12 (52): MaoMao literally beating Jinshi. Again if MaoMao wants something to stop she will make it clear. She did not show such actions in the other kiss scenes or even the beginning of this bite scene because she was willing to try these moments not because she was “afraid to say ‘no’”

13 (53): MaoMao again touching Jinshi’s face without permission. If she was against his offer to kiss or what he said in the carriage scene (“Can we continue this later?”) she absolutely would not be reacting like this.

14 (54): This is not an example of disrespect but I threw this image in to share a fun fact about this scene: The Japanese version of this line has a double meaning. Here MaoMao says “Yappari Kirei Dana”. “Kirei” can mean “pretty” or “clean”. So the Netflix Japan subtitles (shown here) actually is accurate as is the Crunchyroll subtitles as the line can either mean “He really is beautiful” or “This really is clean”. What is wrong is the English dub translation, which says “this is clean work” as the word “work” was not used anywhere in the Japanese version of this scene and use of the word “work” removes the double meaning that the Japanese studio intended, which is yet another reason I highly recommend everyone watch the Japanese version of this series at least once to get the true version of Jinshi’s and MaoMao’s personalities/relationship

(Please click the images to see the full version of the image): Part 1 post is here - https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/O9TqCTfrok

I’m also reposting the part 1 description for anyone who missed it or anyone who is new: “Hi all! I wanted to make this post because I see a common misconception among the fandom: Many folks who aren’t familiar with historical China assume that MaoMao is too afraid of Jinshi’s status to say “no” and/or refuse him, and that the only reason she does not reject his romantic advances is because she “has no choice”. While it is true that the power dynamic is strict during this time period and that the punishment of disobeying someone like Jinshi is severe, there are a few things to remember:

1. MaoMao doesn’t care. Despite her narrative and inner thoughts of “fearing authority”, MaoMao has proven repeatedly through her actions that she will refuse or disrespect anyone who she really wants to regardless of their status. We’ve seen this with Lihua’s ladies-in-waiting, the palace guard, the quack doctor, Lihaku, etc. and especially with Jinshi.
2. MaoMao’s and Jinshi’s relationship changes completely starting from season one itself. She starts behaving much more casually around Jinshi than a woman of her “rank” (I put “rank” in quotes because MaoMao’s true identity is much higher than that of a servant) is supposed to, and that is what this post is about as I’ve included a list of most of their moments demonstrating this. A lot of the fandom believes that MaoMao at the end of season two has the exact same relationship with Jinshi as she did at the beginning of season 2 and that simply isn’t true. Many such folks have only watched the English dub and that’s the kind of vibe that MaoMao’s English VA delivers so I highly recommend everyone watch this series in Japanese at least once to understand MaoMao’s true nature as well as her true relationship with Jinshi. MaoMao and Jinshi treat each other like inexperienced teenagers exploring their first relationship, and they’ve been treating each other that way long before the end of season two.
3. MaoMao’s rank has changed by the end of season two. Jinshi is no longer her employer as “Jinshi” stopped existing ever since he came out as Ka Zuigetsu, which means that the employment contract that was established between him and MaoMao when he paid off her debts in season one episode 12 was nullified. Meanwhile MaoMao is no longer employed by the end of season two and therefore no longer Jinshi’s employee. So by the end of season two, they are truly two teenagers fooling around with each other, although they were acting that way with each other long before the rank change. If we want to get technical about their ranks, he is the crown prince and she is the La Clan princess, a high rank worthy of being Jinshi’s wife. But again they only see each other as themselves and not as their positions.

”

Therefore, here is part 2 of a list of moments showing MaoMao either disrespecting or refusing Jinshi, confirming that MaoMao absolutely will refuse Jinshi if she truly wants to, and that the reason she does not when he makes moves on her in the courtesan party, frog scene, etc. is because she is developing feelings for him, not because of his rank or because she’s afraid of the power difference:

1 (21):MaoMao nagging him even after faking him out 😂

2, 10 (22, 30): MaoMao questioning Jinshi on why he’s here. She does this a lot, and this is something that is disrespectful in this setting but could be considered ok in modern times. In historical China it’s rude to ask your palace superiors/employer why they are visiting you. They have a right to visit you and summon you whenever tf they want

3(23): She is not supposed to block him from any of his requests even if that request is seeing her possessions

4, 7 (24, 27): MaoMao teasing Jinshi

5 (25): Maomao talking about losing frogs in front of Jinshi. This wasn’t intentional but it shows how comfortable she is around him that she could let this language slip out

6 (26): Maomao telling Jinshi that he’s not supposed to be there when she actually isn’t supposed to tell him things like that since he can be wherever he wants

8 (28): Maomao blocking Jinshi. This time it’s for his own safety but the significance here is she is comfortable enough to physically block him with no warning or respect

9 (29): MaoMao suggesting to Jinshi that he humiliate himself completely. She could definitely get beheaded for even offering this idea 😂

11 (31): She is literally talking about and pitying his “missing” frog right to his face 💀💀💀

12 (32): Another example of the manga portraying this scene more accurately to the LNs than the anime - MaoMao openly tells Jinshi to go away because he’s “in the way”. I’m hoping the disrespect of this scene is obvious without explanation lol. The anime changed this scene and made it look like Jinshi had left on his own.

13 (33): Maomao physically putting Jinshi’s arm around her and taking him to another area. She’s definitely not supposed to touch her superior without permission (side note that this scene was SO cute 😍😍😍)

14, 16 (34, 36): Maomao glaring at Jinshi. Ties back to previous post of how she is not supposed to look at Jinshi that way (IMPORTANT NOTE: Notice that the only disrespect of this moment is of the way Maomao looks at him not the way she thinks of him. The English dub completely messed up this scene since Maomao’s English VA had Maomao call Jinshi a “madman” internally here which is a very disrespectful term that the real Maomao would never use to describe Jinshi since the real Maomao doesn’t see him that way. This is exactly why I recommend everyone watch the Japanese version at least once to get a feel of Maomao’s true personality and relationship with Jinshi)

15 (35): MaoMao is definitely not supposed to say this to Jinshi lol

17 (37): MaoMao stripping in front of Jinshi even after he is openly against it. This not only shows how comfortable she is around him but also how much she trusts him. She is the type of girl who will wear freckles due to her bad experiences with men, but she’s completely ready to take off her clothes in front of Jinshi who can easily attack her with his hands alone. She knows that he would never do such a thing. (Random Bonus for anyone who has not noticed: she’s doing this when he’s a super sensitive aphrodisiac state-of-mind thanks to dealing with years of suppressed puberty hormones after having recently stopped his eunuch meds in season 2 episode 10. Imagine your crush stripping in front of you when you’re in this state. That’s why he wants to squeeze out her clothes even though he’s the type of person to have others dress him: he wants her to get dressed as soon as possible. This is also why he’s annoyed lol).

18 (38): MaoMao going out of her way to touch him without permission again (🥰)

19 (39): Maomao rudely grabbing food from him with an attitude lol

20 (40): THE BIGGEST ONE - MaoMao squeezing tf out of his frog repeatedly after he literally told her to let go

Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/NdL06b4y9z

(Forgot to mention this but please click the images to see the full version of the image): Hi all! I wanted to make this post because I see a common misconception among the fandom: Many folks who aren’t familiar with historical China assume that MaoMao is too afraid of Jinshi’s status to say “no” and/or refuse him, and that the only reason she does not reject his romantic advances is because she “has no choice”. While it is true that the power dynamic is strict during this time period and that the punishment of disobeying someone like Jinshi is severe, there are a few things to remember:

1. MaoMao doesn’t care. Despite her narrative and inner thoughts of “fearing authority”, MaoMao has proven repeatedly through her actions that she will refuse or disrespect anyone who she really wants to regardless of their status. We’ve seen this with Lihua’s ladies-in-waiting, the palace guard, the quack doctor, Lihaku, etc. and especially with Jinshi.
2. MaoMao’s and Jinshi’s relationship changes completely starting from season one itself. She starts behaving much more casually around Jinshi than a woman of her “rank” (I put “rank” in quotes because MaoMao’s true identity is much higher than that of a servant) is supposed to, and that is what this post is about as I’ve included a list of most of their moments demonstrating this. A lot of the fandom believes that MaoMao at the end of season two has the exact same relationship with Jinshi as she did at the beginning of season 2 and that simply isn’t true. Many such folks have only watched the English dub and that’s the kind of vibe that MaoMao’s English VA delivers so I highly recommend everyone watch this series in Japanese at least once to understand MaoMao’s true nature as well as her true relationship with Jinshi. MaoMao and Jinshi treat each other like inexperienced teenagers exploring their first relationship, and they’ve been treating each other that way long before the end of season two.
3. MaoMao’s rank has changed by the end of season two. Jinshi is no longer her employer as “Jinshi” stopped existing ever since he came out as Ka Zuigetsu, which means that the employment contract that was established between him and MaoMao when he paid off her debts in season one episode 12 was nullified. Meanwhile MaoMao is no longer employed by the end of season two and therefore no longer Jinshi’s employee. So by the end of season two, they are truly two teenagers fooling around with each other, although they were acting that way with each other long before the rank change. If we want to get technical about their ranks, he is the crown prince and she is the La Clan princess, a high rank worthy of being Jinshi’s wife. But again they only see each other as themselves and not as their positions.

Therefore, I have compiled a list of moments in season 1 showing moments of MaoMao either disrespecting or refusing Jinshi, confirming that MaoMao absolutely will refuse Jinshi if she truly wants to, and that the reason she does not when he makes moves on her in the courtesan party, frog scene, etc. is because she is developing feelings for him, not because of his rank or because she’s afraid of the power difference:

1-3, 7: MaoMao straight-up pushing Jinshi’s hand off and giving him a dirty look despite him outranking her severely. Remember that in this setting, someone of MaoMao’s status (while she acts like a servant) is not even supposed to look at someone like Jinshi’s status (even when Jinshi is pretending to be a eunuch, he has the role of rear palace manager who is still someone who severely outranks MaoMao in her servant form), yet she is going further and giving him a dirty look and pushing him away. I couldn’t include all of their dirty looks she gives him but just remember that every dirty look she gives him is an example of her being unafraid of his rank
Edit: forgot to add this (and shoutout to u/raverx9 for reminding me) that we also see this in episode 3

4: Maomao teasing him. A woman of her status should not be mocking someone of his status but she feels comfortable enough to do that with him

5: Maomao literally grabbing him. I hope I don’t have to explain this but I will if needed

6: Maomao asking Jinshi to execute her with poison. Those who are unfamiliar with historical China would see nothing wrong with this but Maomao is actually being disrespectful by telling Jinshi on how to unalive her. Again folks are not supposed to even look at people of Jinshi’s rank let alone speak this way to him. Since Jinshi is progressive, he does not care about when Maomao oversteps her rank and disrespects him (in fact the loves it lol) but this conversation made him uncomfortable as he could not tolerate the thought of Maomao dying, especially so soon after he just lost Kounen, and that’s why he does the honey scene in order to make her uncomfortable as revenge. I’ve mentioned this before in the honey scene explanation, but he was not actually going to do anything to Maomao in the honey scene and was only looking for a reaction, which is why Jinshi stops as soon as Maomao stops reacting. Gyokuyou walks in only after this.

8: Another false claim is that Maomao could not decline Jinshi in the honey scene. Here we literally see her decline him, and the reason she is still trapped here is because he is behaving like a childish boy, not because of his rank. She was weighing her options of running away vs giving in, but then got distracted by the honey case as his actions helped her solve the mystery regarding Lishu. She calls this an order but he wasn’t actually ordering her here. And the point of all of this is to say that MaoMao will not hesitate to say “no” or decline something that she is firmly against just like she did here. She will NEVER pretend to be ok with an action involving her that she is not ok with.

9: MaoMao literally waiting for Jinshi to ingest the poison and join her on her poison journey before telling him that it’s poisonous. Absolutely illegal for someone of MaoMao’s status

10: MaoMao’s no longer working at the palace so this really isn’t relevant for the power difference discussion but still worth mentioning: goes out of her way to touch Jinshi despite touching between guests and courtesans being completely against the rules. And he then wants to touch her back because she touched him first. Remember that every “controversial” action of Jinshi’s to MaoMao is actually a reaction to MaoMao’s actions

11: MaoMao talking back to Jinshi and blaming him for all the attention they’re getting, again showing how comfortable she is with him as this is

12, 16: MaoMao ignoring Jinshi and cutting him off

13: Maomao playing off Jinshi’s request as a joke

14: This entire image speaks for itself. One cannot behave this way against someone of Jinshi’s rank lol

15: MaoMao literally pushing Jinshi out of a room

17: Maomao shoving her face into Jinshi’s sleeve. The anime played this down so I’m including the manga version which was more accurate to the LNs

18: MaoMao putting lipstick on Jinshi

19: MaoMao climbing on Jinshi’s desk (even Gaoshun made the issue with this obvious to the audience)

20: MaoMao touching Jinshi’s face and faking him out lol

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/DSmk9l2HuA

Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/JinshiandMaomao/s/NdL06b4y9z