The Apothecary Diaries Season 2

Maomao has settled, more or less, into the rhythm of the rear palace and the part-time consultancies Jinshi keeps inventing for her. The second season pulls her further into the politics around the imperial consorts and into the merchant caravans that arrive at the palace gates with enough gifts and contraband to start their own dynasty. A poisoning case opens the season. A rumour about the consort Loulan's family runs through it. By midpoint the central question is no longer who poisoned whom but how many of the powers around Maomao have been quietly maneuvering each other for years.