Jinshi

Name: Jinshi

Alias as prince: Hua Ruinyue

Apparent status: High-ranking eunuch of the inner palace

True status: Younger brother and secretly the son of the Emperor, true first in line to the throne

Gender: Male

Official age in the palace: 24 (claimed)

Actual age: 18 at the beginning of the story (counted age system, roughly 17–18)

Age in some sources: 23 (counted) as a court eunuch

First-person pronoun: Uses “I” in his eunuch persona, switches to “I” in a more rough, straightforward tone when his true self shows

Series: The Apothecary Diaries

Role: De facto manager of the inner palace, political fixer, and Maomao’s main patron and love interest

Jinshi is described as an overwhelmingly beautiful young man, with a face compared to a heavenly maiden and a smile likened to that of a celestial goddess.

His voice is described as sweet as honey, to the point that being addressed by him can make palace maids blush, feel faint, or literally pass out.

He is often called “a flower-like face” and “a smile of a heavenly maiden,” and it is said that if he had been born female, he would have become a beauty capable of bringing down a country.

Even a casual sidelong glance or a perfunctory smile from him sends female attendants into squeals, with some collapsing from the sheer overload of charm.

Palace staff of all genders are drawn to him, and he is frequently propositioned for nighttime meetings by lower-ranked consorts and even male military officers.

Maomao dryly calls him “needlessly handsome,” ignoring his allure to an almost rude degree.

Behind the flowing robes and shining smile, his body is well-trained and muscular, with balanced, functional strength.

He looks flawless and delicate, but his build reflects serious martial training and physical discipline.

On the surface, Jinshi is dazzling, flirtatious, and almost impossibly charming, constantly wearing a radiant smile.

He weaponizes this persona as part of his job, using beauty and politeness as tools to manage people and situations.

Underneath, his “real” self is sober, hardworking, and surprisingly plain in taste.

He is a serious workaholic who routinely pulls all-nighters, sees himself as merely “good” rather than exceptional, and has a complex about not having any standout talent besides his looks.

He is pragmatic and will use any tool available to achieve his goals, including tricks that are underhanded, sly, or emotionally manipulative.

At the same time, he belongs to the fundamentally “good” camp, becoming genuinely distressed when innocent people suffer absurd, unjust harm.

When his true personality surfaces, he switches to a more straightforward tone, often sounding like an earnest, slightly immature young man.

He can be stubborn and impulsive when emotionally provoked, leading to moments where he drops the polished mask and acts his age.

Despite appearing like a narcissist, he does not like his own face or voice.

He knows too well how beauty distorts people’s judgments and resents being evaluated primarily on appearance, remarking that no man could be pleased to be called “like a heavenly maiden.”

Jinshi is both administratively capable and physically competent, an almost textbook “perfect aristocrat” in public.

He manages enormous workloads in the outer court, and when Maomao witnesses him handling paperwork at high speed, she revises her earlier assumption that he is just a frivolous layabout.

He trains in martial arts and has been praised for his progress, confirming that his strength is not merely for show.

Despite this, he judges himself harshly, believing that no matter how hard he works, he only ever reaches “good” rather than “outstanding.”

He has deliberately learned to treat his beauty as a professional tool.

In diplomatic situations requiring a “moon-spirit” level of beauty, he plays the role without hesitation, even disappearing dramatically by diving into a pond in full extravagant costume and swimming to the other side to complete the illusion.

His methods can be devious and layered.

He uses his status, charm, and networks to draw out traitors, stabilize palace politics, and quietly shape successions and appointments.

Jinshi becomes interested in Maomao after noticing not only her remarkable knowledge and investigative ability, but also her choice to hide those talents while working as a lowly maid.

He is especially intrigued—and then gradually captivated—by how completely immune she is to his charm; she does not swoon, does not blush, and instead looks at him as though he were a slug or a caterpillar.

At first, he intends to “recruit” her as a pawn, pushing for her appointment as a lady-in-waiting to Gyokuyou so that he can employ her abilities in solving inner palace incidents.

Maomao, while not disliking him, treats him brusquely and with open exasperation, which only intensifies his interest.

He is so used to people instantly fawning over him with just a token smile that he has no idea how to attract the attention of someone indifferent.

As a result, he behaves childishly toward Maomao: he sulks if she relies on someone other than him and uses clumsy, almost schoolboy tactics to get her attention.

Over time, his fascination deepens into a strong emotional attachment and then into something more profound.

He begins to show an intense protectiveness, becoming willing to risk danger for her sake.

He gives Maomao a hairpin decorated with a mythical beast, a gesture that marks the beginning of his openly possessive streak.

People close to him, such as Gaoshun and Gyokuyou, notice how strongly he clings to Maomao, and when he is forced to dismiss her at one point, both warn him he will regret it.

The famous line “Shall I buy you?” that he says to Maomao is a metaphor, not a literal offer to buy her as a courtesan.

What he actually intends is to pay off her unexpected debts—along with giving gold and rare winter worm–summer grass—so he can recruit her into the outer court, ideally as a palace lady rather than a brothel worker.

Maomao calls him “clingy” and “smart but stupid,” yet gradually softens toward him as she witnesses his earnest, unpolished side.

She begins to find his unguarded expressions appealing, even if she still treats his flirtations with clinical disdain.

Jinshi’s true name is Hua Ruinyue, and he is officially known as the Emperor’s younger brother.

In reality, he is the biological son of the Emperor and the imperial consort Ah-Duo, making him the true crown prince and first in line to inherit the throne.

Because of complex political circumstances and the Emperor’s existing public family structure, his parentage is concealed.

On paper, he is the Former Emperor’s son and the younger brother of the current Emperor, but in truth the Emperor is his father and Ah-Duo is his mother.

He entered the inner palace at around 13 years old.

At that time he was already tall with androgynous features that suited the role of a eunuch, allowing him to pass as one despite being physically intact.

He is not a true eunuch; instead, he uses medicine to suppress his sexual urges while serving in the harem.

Rumors circulate that he hides a terrible burn scar on his face, and people who do not know the truth often look at him with contempt or pity because of those stories.

His covert purpose in infiltrating the palace as a eunuch is to expose those harboring treasonous intentions against the Emperor.

At the same time, he wants to stabilize the inner palace, ensure that legitimate heirs are raised safely, and then remove himself from the line of succession as quickly as possible.

He does not desire the throne, in part because his very birth has been questioned.

Some courtiers speculate that the Former Emperor, who favored very young girls, could not have fathered a second child with his adult Empress Anshi, and thus Jinshi’s paternity is suspected—something that deepens his reluctance to claim the imperial position.

In reality, Anshi remembers clearly that the Former Emperor is indeed Jinshi’s grandfather, and there is no doubt about his legitimate imperial blood.

Furthermore, the features that earn Jinshi his “heavenly maiden” comparisons are inherited directly from the Former Emperor’s youthful appearance; the anime underlines this by using the same voice actor.

Jinshi is visibly similar in appearance to a certain figure in the palace, prompting Maomao to quietly suspect a blood relationship.

Readers and viewers, however, are given a crucial clue before Maomao confirms it: Jinshi is shown wearing an ornament engraved with a kirin, an emblem that only those of very high imperial blood are permitted to possess.

Jinshi’s family relationships are deliberately tangled by political necessity, but can be summarized in two layers: public and true.

Officially, he is the younger brother of the Emperor and the son of the Former Emperor and Empress Anshi; in truth, he is the Emperor’s son and Ah-Duo’s child.

From the perspective of his true bloodline:

Emperor: public role as his elder brother, true role as his father

Ah-Duo: public role as the Emperor’s consort, true role as Jinshi’s mother

Former Emperor: public role as his father, true role as his paternal grandfather

Anshi: public role as his mother, true role as his paternal grandmother

Lady Suiren: his wet nurse, true role as his maternal grandmother

He is also related to several key children in the story:

The eldest son of Gyokuyou and the second son of Lihua are publicly his nephews, but in terms of blood they are his half-brothers.

Lingli, the Emperor’s daughter, is publicly his niece but is actually his half-sister.

Suirei, associated with his maternal side, is both referred to as a niece and has a relationship to him that makes her effectively his cousin.

His position ties him to multiple generations of imperial women, including a former Empress often referred to as the “female emperor” on his paternal side as a great-grandmother figure.

According to his wet nurse Suiren, Jinshi was a child who could happily play with one toy for a very long time.

Because of this, she frequently took away his “favorite” toys, hoping to broaden his horizons and prevent obsessive attachment.

Her intentions were educational, but to Jinshi this became a constant experience of having whatever he cherished taken away.

This early pattern seems to have left a mark on him, shaping a tendency toward intense fixation when he finally attaches to something—or someone.

This background helps explain his extreme, almost possessive focus on Maomao.

He is reluctant to “share” her with others, even to the point of getting into subtle, persistent tug-of-war with Gyokuyou over “borrowing” Maomao.

His wariness toward figures like Lakan, a powerful military official who dislikes him, adds another layer of tension, especially as Lakan shows an interest in Maomao.

The clash between Jinshi’s need to protect her and the political realities surrounding her birth and position fuels much of his inner conflict.

Jinshi wields significant power as a high-ranking eunuch managing the inner palace.

He is deeply connected to important political figures, with influence that extends from the harem to the outer court.

He uses his ambiguous position—both an intimate of the Emperor and a seemingly “disposable” eunuch—to operate in the shadows.

This allows him to investigate plots, control information, and quietly neutralize threats to the imperial family.

His goal is not to climb higher but to stabilize things enough that a clear, secure heir can be raised.

He intends, once that is achieved, to slip out of the line of succession and free himself from the crushing expectations that accompany his blood.

When Maomao reenters the palace through the Selection Hall and is challenged as unqualified due to being a lowly maid, the Emperor intervenes with teasing comments about elevating her as a consort.

Beneath the joke, however, lies a genuine acceptance: the Emperor recognizes Maomao as a possible future empress for Jinshi and values her intelligence as worthy of a crown prince’s partner.

Because Jinshi is not castrated, he relies on drugs to suppress his libido while serving in the harem.

This detail is the source of both strategic tension and comedic moments, especially given how often he is the object of desire in a space full of lonely consorts and attendants.

An offhand joke in the source material compares the size of the “frog” in his groin to a European common toad, roughly 15 centimeters in length.

The author has also hinted that, depending on reader popularity, there could have been a story route where Jinshi actually becomes a real eunuch.

Within The Apothecary Diaries, Maomao is often likened to a Sherlock Holmes–type character: eccentric, hyper-rational, and brilliant at deduction.

In this framing, Jinshi is sometimes seen as a counterpart to John H. Watson.

The analogy is not perfect, because unlike Watson—who is a friend and equal to Holmes—Jinshi holds much higher social and political status than Maomao.

He is a powerful “eunuch” while Maomao starts as a lowly maid and later becomes a lady-in-waiting to one of the four high-ranked consorts, Gyokuyou.

Still, Jinshi’s role as observer, emotional anchor, and sometimes confused partner to Maomao’s deductive leaps mirrors the Watson dynamic.

Even Maomao’s voice actress has commented that Jinshi can be read as a kind of Watson-inspired character.

As the story progresses, Jinshi’s possessive fascination with Maomao evolves into a deeper, more mature attachment.

He begins making decisions that place his safety and political standing at risk if doing so will protect her.

He becomes increasingly willing to interfere directly in dangerous incidents involving Maomao.

His fear is not only for her life, but also for the possibility that she will be taken away from his sphere of influence by death, politics, or other powerful people.

The wall of social rank stands between them: he is an imperial heir, while she is a low-born apothecary with complicated origins.

This gap fuels his insecurity and contributes to his “wordless” communication failures with her, often leading to misunderstandings such as her dismissal and reemployment.

Gyokuyou and others see right through him and occasionally mock or warn him about the consequences of his obsession.

Despite his intelligence, in matters of the heart he behaves like an awkward youth—brilliant and calculating in politics, but clumsy and almost foolish where Maomao is concerned.

Fans have joked that Jinshi is “clingy” and “smart but an idiot,” echoing Maomao’s own assessment.

His combination of flawless beauty, secret identity, political burden, and emotional ineptitude makes him one of the series’ most popular and discussed characters.

The opening theme “Become a Flower” from the first cour of the anime has been widely interpreted by fans as expressing Jinshi’s gaze toward Maomao.

In particular, the big chorus with the intense eyes and tongue-licking expression is often read as Jinshi’s predatory, enamored viewpoint on her.