Before she became Maomao's friend, Xiaolan was just trying to survive palace life—and find someone to share the chaos with.

Before she became one of Maomao's closest friends, Xiaolan was simply a cheerful girl trying to make the best of a difficult life. Born into poverty and responsible for helping care for her younger siblings, Xiaolan is eventually sent to the imperial palace as a servant, where she discovers that palace life is far more complicated than simply having enough food to eat.

From Xiaolan's perspective, readers get a fresh look at the rear palace and the people who live and work there—including her first meeting with the strange, endlessly curious Maomao. Surrounded by rigid social rules, gossip, ambition, and palace intrigue, Xiaolan's story offers a warmer, more personal side of The Apothecary Diaries while showing how an ordinary servant finds friendship in an extraordinary place.