Jinshi[2]

Gyokuyou: As the former overseer of the Inner Palace, Jinshi is on good terms with Gyokuyou; he was the one who chose her to become a High Consort due to her rather capable and kind personality. He helped her find and thank Maomao for saving the life of her daughter Lingli (who is also his "niece", in reality his younger half-sister). He supported Gyokuyou thereon due to their mutually close relationship with Maomao. Lishu: Although they were once engaged for a short period of time and he was obligated to care for her as manager of the Inner Palace, Jinshi did not reciprocate Lishu's initial feelings of infatuation towards him, but he does feel pity for her situation and the two have a mutually close relationship with Ah-Duo. When Jinshi found out that Lishu was being bullied by her ladies-in-waiting, he confronted them, noticed that one of them had stolen Lishu's hairpin that signified her status as a high consort and was openly wearing it with pride, took back the hairpin, and put the fear of death into all the ladies-in-waiting of the Diamond Pavilion.

Emperor: As a child, Jinshi once thought the Emperor was his father until the Former Emperor made his visit. Officially, he is the "Imperial Brother", but Jinshi is actually his eldest son. He has a tense relationship with the Emperor; although he largely supports his policies and works for the sake of their country, he has strongly opposed the Emperor's plans to make him the crown prince ever since he was a child. In order to avoid this fate, he made a bet with the Emperor in order to work as a eunuch, and after he returned to his role as Imperial Brother, he branded himself with Empress Gyokuyou's emblem in order to declare that he could never usurp her son, the current Crown Prince, and become the next emperor. Anshi: Officially, he is the "Imperial Brother", but Jinshi is actually his eldest son. He has a tense relationship with the Emperor; although he largely supports his policies and works for the sake of their country, he has strongly opposed the Emperor's plans to make him the crown prince ever since he was a child. In order to avoid this fate, he made a bet with the Emperor in order to work as a eunuch, and after he returned to his role as Imperial Brother, he branded himself with Empress Gyokuyou's emblem in order to declare that he could never usurp her son, the current Crown Prince, and become the next emperor. Suiren: As a noble of high birth, Jinshi is spoiled by his nursemaid, Suiren, to the point where she helps him dress and does all of his chores. It is later revealed that she is Ah-Duo's mother and Jinshi's biological grandmother. Ah-Duo: Jinshi developed a good relationship with Ah-Duo while she was in the Inner Palace. She is his biological mother, but he is unaware of this fact. She invited him over to the Garnet Pavilion to drink the day before she left. He continued to maintain a positive relationship with her, to the point that he entrusted her with Suirei and the children of the Shi Clan in her home inside the Southern Imperial Villa.

Charm: Possessing a beauty that attracts both male and female, Jinshi is able to sway most people with his looks alone, although it can be a problem sometimes when he attracts unwanted attention from eccentric people. Influence: As an imperial prince, Jinshi has great political power and influence inside and outside the Inner and Outer Courts, though, because he served as a eunuch rather than a royal for much of his life, it pales in comparison to the Emperor's influence. It is still enough to buy Maomao's freedom from Verdigris House, build a literary school for palace ladies, lead a battalion during the Shi Clan rebellion, work on a policy which would allow women to became medical court officials who would replace the eunuch physicians inside the Inner Court, and provide alimentary, medical and investigative aid to the Western capital during the locust plague.

Jinshi is the eldest child of the current Emperor, and his only child with Lady Ah-Duo. Jinshi's delivery was a difficult one, in part because it coincided with that of his uncle, the Imperial Brother. Deemed a lower priority, Ah-Duo was denied the proper medical care, robbing her of her womb and leaving her near-death. To give her son the best chance of survival, Ah-Duo organized a switch between Jinshi and the Imperial Brother. As such, Jinshi was raised as his biological father's younger brother, while the true Imperial Brother died in infancy.Though the Current Emperor wanted Jinshi to be the next Crown Prince, Jinshi despised the idea. To get out of this, he made a bet with the Emperor over a game of Go, with the condition being that if Jinshi lost, he would become Crown Prince; however, if he won, he would take the role of a eunuch. After winning, Jinshi took his introductory role in the series as 'Jinshi', the 24-year-old eunuch who oversaw of the Inner Palace. His actual age being 19.As overseer of the Inner Palace, Jinshi was the one who chose Gyokuyou and Lihua as consorts. He discovered and told Gyokuyou that Maomao was the one who warned Gyokuyou and Lihua about the toxic face powder in the Imperial Harem, leading to Gyokuyou hiring her as a poison tester.

While Jinshi appears to be serene and collected, he possesses a severe lack of self-confidence. Despite he is rather diligent and intelligent as noted by Maomao and he does have a head for untangling mysteries, he is neither a great scholar nor a brilliant general and thus believes that he pales in comparison to the large shadow that is his “older brother”, the Emperor. However, Jinshi is aware that his looks are extraordinary and thus uses his appearance and natural charm as weapons in order to make up for his perceived mediocrity in other areas. Maomao notes that he has a double-sided personality in this regard; while he puts on an angelic persona in public, he is way more childish than he lets on, a fact that only a select few know. A major example is his intense interest on Maomao, whose attitude he finds refreshing and amusing, but his childish curiosity evolves into genuine romantic affection.

Jinshi's most prominent feature is his outstandingly beautiful face. Frequently described as having "the looks of a celestial maiden", he has a feminine appearance, with long, silky, jet-black hair and obsidian eyes. In the light novel, he is stylized with dark purple hair and pink eyes. Despite his feminine face, Maomao comments that his body is "surprisingly well-built", and that his hands are smooth and masculine, though callused from wielding a blade. His appearance is said to be so captivating that a mere look at his face is enough to cause most girls and men to swoon; Maomao even fears that Jinshi could start a war with warlords vying for his affection. When she puts lipstick on him, she comments to herself that he has reached a level of beauty such that, if anyone besides her, Suiren and Gaoshun saw him, there would be a national crisis. Unlike most other court officials in the series, Jinshi usually wears his hair in a half-back style tied with a cloth or a precious hairpin. He is most often seen wearing court official robes. While he wears an angelic smile on his face in public, he removes this persona in privacy and reverts back to the childish expressions he normally wears.

Japanese: 壬氏ジンシ. Rōmaji: Jinshi. Pinyin: Rén Shì. Nickname: Zui (瑞, Rui)(by Ah-Duo), Yue (月, Yue) (by Ah-Duo), Epithet Moon Prince, (月の君, Tsuki no Kimi) Celestial Maiden. Alias: Jinka (壬華, Renhua) (disguise), Kousen (香泉コウセン) (disguise), Moon Fairy (disguise). Gender: Male. Age: 18 (real age), 23 (as eunuch Jinshi debut). Hair Color: Dark Purple. Eye Color: Pink. Height: 181 cm (5'11"). Status: Alive. Birth Place: Inner Palace. Title: Imperial Brother. Affiliation: Imperial Palace of Li, Inner Court, Outer Court. Occupation: Overseer of the Inner Court (Former), Civil official (Former), Imperial prince. Clan: Ka Clan. Family: Emperor (father / "older brother"), Ah-Duo (mother), Gyokuyou (stepmother / "sister-in-law"), Lingli (half-sister / "niece"), Three unnamed half siblings and "nephews and/or nieces"†, Crown Prince (younger half-brother / "nephew"), Second Prince (youngest half-brother / "nephew"), Empress Regnant† (great-grandmother / "grandmother")†, Former Emperor† (grandfather / "father")†, Anshi (paternal grandmother / "mother"), Suiren (maternal grandmother), Imperial Brother†, (uncle / "nephew")†, Banished Princess† (half-aunt / "half-sister)†, Suirei (half-cousin / "half-niece"). Servants: Suiren (former nursemaid & current head lady-in-waiting), Gaoshun (temporary attendant), Taomei (lady-in-waiting), Baryou (attendant), Maamei (court lady), Basen (attendant), Chue (lady-in-waiting), Maomao (lady-in-waiting). Jinshi (壬氏ジンシ, Jinshi) is the deuteragonist of The Apothecary Diaries series. He appears to be a beautiful eunuch who was placed in charge of the Inner Court. He often requests for Maomao to solve mysteries in the Imperial Palace in exchange for rare medicines.