Okay, so spoilers for the apothecary diaries
Also, there are some heavy topics here, so be warned
Okay light context:
Old emperor :creep
Lady Anshi: dowager empress
Lady Ah Dou: concubine of current emperor
So I've been thinking about the implications of Lady Ah Dou and Anshi's babies being switched at birth.
Anshi understandably so could not love the baby she had later in life. The baby came as a result of her revenge on the old emperor. Honestly, I don't blame her for it. She took revenge on the man who sexually abused her since she was 9 or 10 years old, and while it is wrong, I completely understand where she came from. It was the culmination of years of abuse, then being ignored and forgotten entirely, while she had to live with the abuse that was done to her and live with the knowledge that countless other girls were actively suffering as a result of the emperor. And yes I do understand he suffered abuse at the hands of his mother, so it's likely a result of that. The show handles the cyclical nature of abuse very well, especially in the time period. Except we dont see Anshi going on to rape other men too. She rapes the man who raped her and as a result, becomes pregnant. The situation obviously traumatised the old emperor, too. He now had to live with seeing his rapist around and carry that trauma, the same way Anshi and the countless other little girls had to do for decades.
but back to my main point.
Ah Dou was concerned her son would not survive and she wanted him to. So they switched their babies it was a mutually beneficial thing to them. However the implications of it.
We know, mao mao is incredibly intelligent and has figured it out more or less. Could it be possible that another high-ranking government official has figured out that Jinshi is infact the heir to the throne. Considering that twice now he has had an attempt on his life. And a certain high ranking official who pushed for his daughter to become a concubine who also happens to look similar to Shisui, who happens to be the younger sister of Suirei, who orchestrated the first attempt on Jinshis life. Is it also not such a coincidence that there are foreign envoys present in the village that Suirei has taken MaoMao to. Western foreign envoys which coincidentally, the gun used in the second attempt on Jinshis life was western made. And another coincidence it happened at the father of Concubine Loulans retreat. Who looks suspiciously similar to Shisui, who's related to Suirei.
Lots of coincidences
And no, I haven't read the light novels or manga or seen spoilers, so this is purely speculative.
And another thing, she basically doomed him to live a fraction of the trauma she lived for years. He had to see her pretty often, so he'd be reliving the trauma just like she had to since she was a child. And honestly I'm glad she did because fuck the old emperor omfg.
If I ever see another person saying Anshi loved the late Emperor I'm gonna throw hands
Yes, she pitied him because of how controlling his mother was and yes, maybe she had a few happy memories with him
But she was 9/10 when he first raped her. She spent decades being abused by this man with no means to leave him besides killing herself.
She was groomed and abused for years.
When she was older and saw him expressing interest in yet another young girl, she acted out in anger and built up resentment. She raped and mocked him as she did so. That wasn't an act of jealously, that was her intentionally traumatizing him more.