Manga Chapter 25: A Dish of Raw Fish

A Dish of Raw Fish
Name
Japanese	膾
Romaji	Namasu
Information
Format	Manga
Volume	Volume 5
Chapter No.	25
Pages	41
Adaptation
Light Novel	Volume 2 Chapter 4
Anime	Raw Fish (season 1, episode 15)
Chronology
Previous	← Chapter 24
Next	Chapter 26 →

A Dish of Raw Fish (膾, Namasu^?) is the twenty-fifth chapter of Nekokurage's The Apothecary Diaries first manga adaptation.

Summary

Gaoshun approaches Maomao with a record of a severe food poisoning incident of a merchant from ten years ago, apparently from raw blowfish. He further explains that he was consulted when a similar incident happened to a minister a week ago. With Maomao’s interest piqued, Gaoshun offers more details: in both cases, the cooks denied using blowfish, as skin and organs were found in the disposal. The merchant and minister regularly consumed blowfish, and their symptoms also matched that of blowfish poisoning. Without a way to be sure, Maomao requests more information about the case.

The next day, Gaoshun gives Maomao the cook’s recipe book, but she finds it not specific enough. Jinshi then comments on Maomao’s confusion to her surprise and disgust. To clear up the confusion on the vegetables used, Gaoshun adds that it was seaweed. On hearing this, Maomao requests to examine the kitchen.

Maomao heads to the minister’s estate, accompanied by a military official whose face reminds her of someone. While a manservant leads them into the kitchen, another man immediately enters and yells at them to get out. The military official stops the man from impeding their investigation, who the manservant explains is the minister’s younger brother, now in charge of the estate. Maomao glances around the cleaned kitchen and finds a jar of seaweed. The manservant also notes that the minister often ate seaweed, so it would not likely be poisoned. The younger brother, still in the kitchen, orders them out, though Maomao takes a sample of the seaweed before leaving.

On the carriage ride back, Maomao holds out the seaweed she took and notes to the military official that the seaweed might not be local to the area, based on its harvest time and time of preservation. With the military official understanding, she adds that he could investigate where the seaweed came from.

Maomao presents her findings in a separate room, with Jinshi, Gaoshun, the military official, and a subordinate of the consulting military official in attendance. The military official confirms that the seaweed did come from the south, and that the minister had never eaten it in winter before. The subordinate adds that the seaweed is the same type that the minister usually eats. Displaying before them two plates of seaweed, with one rinsed in water, Maomao explains that many poisonous foods can be made edible by some method, which in the case of seaweed would be soaking it in limewater. Maomao then tastes a random dish, shocking all four men. Jinshi immediately takes an emetic from Maomao and forces her to throw it up, to her frustration.

After collecting herself, Maomao suggests looking into the person who decided to import the seaweed from the trader. If the person was the minister, then his poisoning would be self-inflicted. However, if it was another person, that would point to a crime. Gaoshun thanks Maomao for her deductions. She then tries to reach for a seaweed dish but is stopped by Jinshi.

The next day, Maomao learns that the younger brother was revealed to be the culprit, and that he learned of the seaweed through a patron at the bar. While giddily fantasizing what to do with her rare medicine from Jinshi, Maomao’s back bumps into him. Turning around with a big smile on her face, Jinshi starts trembling and bangs his head against the wall.

Once done, Jinshi explains his recent troubles: an eccentric high-ranking military official has been visiting him and getting in the way of his work. Though the military official sounds familiar to Maomao, she decides to forget about it.

That monocled military official, Lakan, soon arrives back at Jinshi’s office. With Lakan having spread rumors about Jinshi buying out a courtesan from the Verdigris House, he mentions a friend he once had there. The friend was better than him at Go and had a haughty personality, so as a result her contract price was too high for him to buy out. Unable to give up, Lakan was forced to use a dirty tactic to lower her value. In exchange for Lakan revealing his tactic, he requests to have Jinshi’s new maid look into the will of a recently deceased acquaintance.

Characters

• Gaoshun
• Maomao
• Jinshi
• Suiren
• Young military official
• Kitchen manservant
• Younger brother of the poisoning victim
• Investigating official
• Lakan
• Lakan's courtesan friend (mentioned by Lakan)

Notes

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