Baryou

Baryou (馬良 (バリョウ) , Baryou^?) is the middle child and oldest son of Taomei and Gaoshun, and a civil official who serves in the Outer Court. He is a secondary character in The Apothecary Diaries.

Appearance

Baryou resembles his younger brother Basen, but is shorter. Jinshi describes him as "very slim, of average height", and "with skin so pale it bordered on sickly".^[1] He wears the clothing of a typical Linese civil official.

Personality

Baryou usually does paperwork from behind a screen partition or curtain due to his social anxiety. Unlike the rest of his family, he has a weak body and a nervous disposition. He tends to not show himself or speak to people he is not familiar with, due to the strong possibility of developing a stomachache. He also easily accepts decisions that his family makes for him, such as marrying Chue. Even with his talents, Baryou still considers himself ordinary, compared to members of the La Clan.^[2]

Abilities

Intelligence: Having a sharp mind, Baryou is outstanding at his job as a civil official. He also quickly realized Mi clan members could disguise themselves as members of another clan.^[3]

Background

Baryou was born as the middle child among his siblings, and a milk brother to Jinshi. At the age of 20, he took and passed the civil examination on first try. Though he excelled at work, Baryou's interpersonal issues with his coworkers and superiors resulted in a serious illness, leading to him quitting his first job.^[1]

Baryou's marriage to Chue, a member of the Mi Clan, was arranged by his mother and sister as they pushed him to conceive a child prior to his civil examination. As a result of this arrangement, they look after his child, and Baryou sees his wife once every two weeks.^[4]

When Jinshi was burdened with too much paperwork, Basen recommended his brother to help take on his workload. Baryou was soon able to effectively process and cut down on the amount of paperwork, through Maamei's handling. He later joined Jinshi's entourage to the Western Capital.

Baryou was taken along by Chue when Maomao went to visit a sick young girl at Hulan's request, and fainted when it was his turn to be body-searched. After returning, he omitted it in his report but revealed to Chue that the young girl was in fact a boy, whose appearance matched the identity of a prince from Hokuaren.^[5] Later, Baryou discussed with Jinshi why the Ri Kingdom would want to meet with him, bringing up Maomao's earlier medical exam.^[6]

After Chue returned to the western capital injured, Baryou convinced her that she still had value through her left hand, so to not divorce him.^[3]

Trivia

Baryou's child was born right after he took the civil examination. In his conversation with Jinshi prior to the trip to the Western Capital, he mentions that he had taken the civil examination two years ago, so his child is at least two years old.^[4]