This one’s a little bit messed up.
Summary:
- In Episode 23, Lakan was sent two severed fingers.
- One of which is Fengxian’s, and another one is Maomao’s.
- Fengxian cut off both fingers. Maomao’s finger grew back.
Episode 23 of The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) tells viewers the story of Lakan and Fengxian, who are Maomao’s biological parents. A love story that ended tragically for the woman.
There’s also a scene where Lakan finds a bag with two fingers inside of it. A big one, which was Fengxian’s, and a small part of Maomao’s pinky. But what happened to the fingers and how come Maomao has all of her fingers if one of them was cut off?
A love story gone wrong
Lakan was one of Fengxian’s clients with whom she played games and was gradually building a connection. These two fell for each other, but it was challenging for them to meet.
Since Fengxian was becoming more and more popular, the cost of her services gradually increased. At some point, it became so expensive that Lakan couldn’t afford to visit her more than once in three months.
It was very difficult for Fengxian, since she was in love with the man. That’s why she deliberately got pregnant with his child, Maomao. She thought it would make her less desirable, her fee would decrease, and Lakan would be able to visit her more often.
It did work, as Fengxian was never as popular as before, but Lakan had to go away for some months, which turned into years, and Fengxian got depressed. Her career was ruined, the man she loved left her, she was sick and alone with her baby.
That’s how Fengxian started to lose her mind bit by bit. She abused Maomao and didn’t act rationally. That’s why she decided to cut her finger off and send it to Lakan. But hers is not the only finger she cut off, she also did the same to Maomao’s pinky.
Why does Maomao have her finger?
Fengxian didn’t cut off the entire finger, she only took part of Maomao’s pinky. The girl will later explain that amputated fingers sometimes grow back, so we can understand that it’s exactly what happened to her.
The grown-back finger might not look the same, though, which is why there are scenes in the anime where Maomao is examining her hand. For example, when Jinshi comments on her manicure, she looks at her finger, trying to understand if it’s possible to say that something is wrong with it.