The Apothecary Diaries

Maomao was raised in the pleasure district by her apothecary father and was very content there until she was kidnapped, sold, and dropped into the rear palace as a maidservant. Surrounded by intrigues she would prefer to ignore, she keeps her head down — until the emperor's two newborn heirs start dying of what their doctors are convinced is a curse. Maomao recognizes the symptoms and breaks character to leave a tip-off. The eunuch Jinshi promotes her into his orbit, where every successive case is also a political game, and the most dangerous interventions are the medical ones.