And is he related to her biological father?
Summary:
- Luomen was Maomao’s adoptive father.
- He took her in while Lakan was absent.
- Luomen is Lakan’s uncle, which makes him Maomao’s biological great-uncle.
Maomao has quite an intricate family history in The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto). Her biological father and mother weren’t really good parents, since Lakan left pregnant Fengxian alone and didn’t even know about his daughter’s existence. And the woman was very abusive towards her own daughter.
Adoptive Father
But there was a man who had the best influence on Maomao and became the father figure for the girl, and that is Luomen. He is a physician and the adoptive father of Maomao.
Luomen is the man who is right there from the very beginning of the story. He was Maomao’s mentor and inspiration. He was the reason for her interest in herbs and medicine, so he became a great positive influence on the girl.
Maomao always loved and respected her adoptive father although she knew he wasn’t truly her parent. Luomen taught her a lot, and she tried to use his advice even while solving various mysteries on her own.
To sum it up, Luomen was the best possible father figure Maomao had, especially considering her history with her biological parents. He was kind and caring, he was smart and helpful, he did a lot for Maomao and her personality.
They’re Blood-Related
But what some people don’t know is that Luomen is actually related to Maomao’s biological father, Lakan. Luomen is Lakan’s uncle, which makes him Maomao’s biological granduncle. On top of that, Maomao was fully aware of that.
Fans have noticed that even the names of the two men hint at their family ties. Both Lakan and Luomen share the 羅 character, since they’re members of this clan.
This is not a big secret or a basis for a possible big reveal in the light novels, but this information is clearer in the original source. The anime didn’t spell it out for its viewers, so a lot of fans missed this information completely and didn’t even think about it.
The anime also omitted a scene of Lakan seeing Maomao and wishing to approach her. The girl runs to a man, whose face was that of a dragon king piece, and this is when Lakan understood that his uncle was the man who opened Fengxian’s letter and took Maomao in.
So basically, Maomao was always with her biological family, it just wasn’t her true parents who were raising her, but her great-uncle.