Fengming

Fengming (風明 (フォンミン) , Fonmin^?) is a minor character in The Apothecary Diaries. She was the head lady-in-waiting of the Garnet Pavilion. As Consort Ah-Duo's servant, she was in charge of managing cleaning, cooking, and her junior ladies-in-waiting in the pavilion.

Appearance

According to Maomao, Fengming was a plump and attractive woman, well past the usual age of marriage.^[2] She wore bandages on her left arm to conceal burns.

Personality

Maomao thought of Fengming as an ideal wife and mother by societal standards. She was good and gentle at managing her fellow ladies-in-waiting. Above all, she was fanatically loyal to Ah-Duo, to the point of planning to poison Lishu to secure Ah-Duo's status as a high consort and being willing to die when her plan failed.

Abilities

Diligence: Fengming performed her duties fantastically. She went above and beyond her tasks, even performing menial tasks such as cleaning that would generally be left to maidservants.

Background

Fengming belonged to a prominent family of beekeepers who had many dealings with merchants, including Maomao's kidnappers. When Fengming became a lady-in-waiting to Ah-Duo, she decided to devote her life to her lady out of admiration for her untraditional spirit. She helped raise the Imperial Brother (whom she believed to be Ah-Duo's son), but accidentally poisoned and killed the baby, not knowing that honey was fatal for children. She felt deep regret over her mistake and did her best to ensure that her mistress would never find out. Because Consort Lishu knew that honey was highly dangerous to children (she almost died in a similar manner when she was an infant) and was very close with Ah-Duo, Fengming feared the young girl and tried to drive her away from the Garnet Pavilion so that her secret was never exposed.^[3]

Fengming may have assisted a fellow attendant of the Garnet Pavilion in her suicide by helping her climb the Inner Palace walls and drown in the moat water after falling in; hypothetically, this was done so that Lishu's attempted poisoning by said maid would clear Ah-Duo's name. Maomao convinced Fengming to turn herself as the scapegoat for the attempted poisoning; in exchange, Ah-Duo would not find out about Fengming's involvement in the death of her child and the responsibility for the poisoning would not fall on her head. Fengming was executed shortly after, and Ah-Duo grieved for both her and the maid.^[4]

Trivia

• Fengming's fate differs slightly in the various iterations of the story:
  • In the light novel, Fengming committed suicide after her conversation with Maomao.^[3]
  • In the manga and anime, Fengming turned herself in as the mastermind behind Lishu's attempted poisoning and was shortly executed.

References