Week 8: 薬屋のひとりごと

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薬屋のひとりごと Home Thread

Week 8

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Previous Part: Week 7
Next Part: Week 9

Reading:

Week Start Date Chapter Names Page Count
Week 8 Apr 16th 「指」「李白] 25

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :durtle:

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Proper Noun Readings

Name Reading Notes Proof
猫猫 まおまお Main character furigana
玉葉 ギョクヨウ One of the four (main) wives (title: 貴妃) furigana
梨花 リファ One of the four (main) wives (title: 賢妃) furigana
小蘭 シャオラン furigana
鈴麗 リンリ Daughter of 玉葉; nickname: 小鈴 (シャオリン) furigana
壬氏 ジンシ 天女を思わせる宦官 furigana
紅娘 ホンニャン head of the maids of 玉葉 furigana
芙蓉 フヨウ 中級妃 furigana
高順 ガオシュン aid of 壬氏 furigana
桜花 インファ maid of 玉葉 furigana
貴園 グイエン maid of 玉葉 furigana
愛藍 アイラン maid of 玉葉 furigana
里樹 リーシュl One of the four (main) wives (title: 徳妃) furigana
李白 リハク mid-ranking 武官 furigana
2

Gaaah I still need to add names from the last week, and then add 李白…

3
Chap 20 Qs

頼むほうも頼むほうだが、するほうもするほうである。
I take it to mean here that 高順 was picking weeds of good own free will? What does this repeating ほうも~ほう signify?

曇りがあっては意味がありませんので
So this is as 猫猫 is talking about how a previous person would’ve wiped down the silver bowl before using it. But here she mentions the bowl being cloudy doesn’t make sense?

透かし細工
Not a question, but I had to look up the English definition after checking the J->E translation. Never heard of “openwork” before.

Man, I can sympathize with piled-up work. I bet Jinshi’s getting slammed with this attempted poisoning; it’s a good thing Maomao’s around to pull off some investigative trickery, haha.

4

I think this means that if the bowl was dirtied by fingerstains (I guess the oil from skin would cause it to become cloudy/not clear?), It would serve no purpose as a tool to detect poisons. They’re using silver because some poisons will become visible by reacting with the silver somehow.

5

Thank you for the explanation, Belerith! Makes complete sense in hindsight, haha.

Just a single question for chapter 21:

Q

汗を抜きつつ、刃びきした剣を部下に渡す。
This is 季白 just before he goes to meet Maomao. Mostly just curious what びきした is here; I was reading it as separate from 刃, but is that a mistake?

And now I’m caught back up. :partying_face: I’m glad 季白 pops back up; I’m hoping he becomes a new person for Maomao to bully in the future~ I got a good LOL out of the end with 玉葉 hinting at who’s going to be most upset with Maomao leaving, haha.

6

The definition of 刃引き on goo:

は‐びき【刃引き】

の解説

  1. １ 鉄で短刀のように作って刃を引きつぶしたもの。

  2. ２ 刃を引きつぶして切れないようにした刃物。

So basically it’s a sword with a blunted blade. ^^

7

That the person doing is (also) at fault for doing it.
I tried to find references, and there was a stack exchange thread and a hinative thread, but no one is giving any more details than that :sweat_smile: