Guen

Anime
Manga
Light Novel

Main
Notebook

Japanese

虞淵 (グエン)

Rōmaji

Guen

Pinyin

Yú Yuān

Nickname

Quack Doctor (やぶ医者 (いしゃ) , Yabu'Isha) (by Maomao)

Physical Characteristics

Gender

Male

Hair Color

Black

Eye Color

Black

Personal Information

Status

Alive (Eunuch)

Affiliation

Country of Li

Occupation

Inner Court - Court Physician

Debut

Web Novel

Chapter 2

Light Novel

Volume 1 - Chapter 2

Manga

Main：Chapter 1
Maomao's Notes：Chapter 1

Anime

Episode 1

Voice Artists

Japanese

Mitsuru Ogata (Audio Drama)
Mitsuaki Kanuka (Anime)

English

Jim Foronda

French

Eric Missoffe

Guen (虞淵 (グエン) , Guen^?), often referred to by Maomao as the Quack Doctor, is a recurring character in The Apothecary Diaries. As a eunuch court physician, he holds the responsibility of managing the health of the residents of the Inner Court.

Appearance[]

Guen Anime Design Season 2 — Guen's anime season 2 design.

Guen has the appearance of a chubby middle-aged man. He has black small eyes and black hair tied into a knot. He used to have a small mustache (which according to Maomao made him look like a catfish), but he later shaved it off.^[1] Due to being castrated, he has minimal body hair and has an effeminate voice that "makes him sound like the mistress of some well-to do merchant household".^[2]

Personality[]

Guen is a kind and friendly man, though meek and insecure. Guileless and often unaware of the events unfolding around him, he simply carries out his duties with minimal actual medical knowledge. He leads a simple, cheerful life, often oblivious to the political schemes he occasionally hears about but never pieces together. Loose-lipped by nature, he easily spills information without meaning to. He takes pleasure in small comforts, like good food and caring for Maomao (the cat). As a result of his castration, he behaves in a somewhat feminine manner and has replaced his lost libido with a love of eating. Throughout the series, he is very hospitable to his guests and thoughtfully provides snacks for Maomao and Jinshi based on their personal preferences.^[2]

Ability[]

Paper-making: Coming from a paper-making family, Guen is knowledgeable about producing high-quality paper.^[3]

Background[]

Before Guen became a court physician, he was a paper maker at his village alongside his entire family. When the Empress Regnant passed heavy limitations on logging, his family business began to decline due to the shortage of material and the high price and low usage of paper. As a result, Guen volunteered himself to be castrated and entered the Inner Court as a physician in order to save his younger sister from having to become a palace lady. Despite his poor medical skills, because no decent physicians besides Luomen were willing to become eunuchs, Guen remained in his position as the Rear Palace Court Physician even after the death of Lady Lihua's first son. Guen is aware of his shortcomings as a physician, which is why he is very willing to let Maomao use his medical office and shares his duties with her unofficially with Jinshi's permission.

The court physicians did make an initial attempt to train Guen, but gave up after seeing the degree of his ineptitude when he was incapable of outwitting a chicken, let alone strangle and dissect one.

Guen was initially hostile towards Maomao and feared that she would be a disruption to his comfortable environment, but quickly changed his tone once he found out that she was skilled at creating medicine.^[2] He becomes very fond of Maomao and is eager to share his snacks, tea, and medicinal ingredients with her.^[2] Although he has no knowledge of medicinal techniques, he makes medicine to pass the time.^[2]