For the last two seasons, the anime had a lot of hints to who Jinshi was or wasn't. Let's break down the clues surrounding his true lineage.
The secret is finally out in The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 anime, and it appears that in the coming days, we might finally see Jinshi step into his real role as Ka Zuigetsu, the current Crown Prince. As he begins to take up leadership of the Emperor’s Imperial Guard, let us take a closer look at Jinshi’s true lineage and all the clues that suggest his connection to the Ka clan and the Royal Family.
Warning: Minor spoilers from the light novel and anime ahead.
Jinshi's Hidden Lineage Explained
In Episode 32, ‘The Empress Dowager’, Jinshi’s connection to Lady Anshi is first revealed in a flashback, where a young Jinshi refers to her as his mother. Lady Anshi is shown protecting him from the late Emperor, who was notorious for his inappropriate behaviour towards children.
Despite this, Jinshi grew up believing he was an illegitimate child and refused to accept any position within the Royal Family. This belief is reiterated in Episode 42, where Jinshi sorts out his thoughts on why he rejects his supposed status as a legitimate heir.
However, in Episode 33, Lady Anshi remarks, “Whether they call it an illegitimate child, or a child switched at birth, it’s still a precious child,” while referring to Jinshi. She clearly did not think he was illegitimate and, in fact, noted how strongly he resembled the late Emperor.
That resemblance is reinforced again in Episode 42, during a conversation between Jinshi and Shenlu. Shenlu dismisses the illegitimacy rumours and recalls that the late Emperor had “a voice as sweet as honey, and a face like a heavenly maiden,” traits that also describe Jinshi. This can support the claim that Jinshi is the son of the late Emperor, which would make him the younger brother of the current Emperor, also known as Ka Zuigetsu.
The truth about Jinshi's real mother
One detail that casts doubt on this claim, however, is Jinshi’s hair and eye colour, which do not match those of the previous Emperor, Lady Anshi, or the current Emperor. This visual discrepancy raises further questions about Jinshi’s parentage, and probably why those who never knew the late emperor in his youth, doubted it.
Interestingly though, in Episode 41, Lady Ah-Duo appears in disguise as the Moon Prince, the Emperor’s brother, and she bears an uncanny resemblance to Jinshi. At this angle, the similarity is unmistakable, almost as if Jinshi were a direct copy of her.
This leads to a significant theory: that Jinshi might not be the son of Lady Anshi at all, but rather Lady Ah-Duo’s child. This idea ties back to Episode 11 in Season 1, when Ah-Duo told Maomao that her son had “left” her, not died. At the time, Maomao even wondered whether the babies had been switched, and whether Jinshi was that child.
This theory is later confirmed in Volume 5 of the light novel, where Ah-Duo acknowledges Jinshi as her son. However, Jinshi himself only comes to understand this much later, between Volumes 11 and 12. If true, Jinshi is not the Emperor’s younger brother, but his son, making Jinshi the rightful Crown Prince.
The Question of Wang Mu’s Bloodline
The Imperial lineage also raises questions about the ancestral bloodline of Wang Mu, a noblewoman from a faraway land who gave birth to the first Emperor.
In Episode 31, ‘The Shrine of Choosing’, it is said that a noblewoman once “carried the child of the heavens,” whose descendants would go on to rule the land. The shrine was used to select future emperors, with a secret test that relied on colour-blindness—a trait passed down from Wang Mu herself.
According to Maomao, only those who inherited this trait could truly pass the shrine’s test. However, both Jinshi and the current Emperor failed it, receiving the result: “Child of royalty, yet not child of Wang Mu.”
The eunuch assigned to the shrine explains that many of the previous Emperor’s brothers had died from illness, and that not all of them were full siblings, though their mothers were sisters. This means it’s possible that neither Jinshi nor the current Emperor are direct descendants of Wang Mu. However, if the bloodline had become diluted over generations, the colour-blind trait may have simply faded—though this remains unconfirmed in any official source.
Other Notable Relatives
Jinshi’s connections within the rear palace extend beyond his potential parents. Suiren, Lady Anshi’s most trusted lady-in-waiting and Jinshi’s personal attendant, is later revealed in the light novel to be Lady Ah-Duo’s mother, making her Jinshi’s grandmother.
Lady Lihua, the Wise Consort, and her cousin, Shin are the Emperor’s cousins from the Anshi clan. This makes her a distant aunt to Jinshi by extension.
Some also believe that Lady Loulan of the Shi Clan may be a very distant relative, as she inherited the colour-blindness trait thought to descend from Wang Mu. While not officially confirmed by the novels, manga, or anime, this theory adds to the network of possible ties. Then, Loulan’s half-sister, Suirei, is the daughter of Shishou and an illegitimate daughter of the former Emperor, conceived with Taihou. This makes Suirei a distant cousin to Jinshi as well.
Jinshi’s bloodline is tangled with secrets, shifting identities, and powerful figures whose connections were never meant to be revealed. But now, as the truth begins to surface, he will be stepping into his real role, not as Jinshi the eunuch but as Ka Zuigetsu, the Moon Prince and the current legitimate successor to the throne.
