Tao Suqin

She started behind the counter at her father's side as a teenager, later earned her TCM practitioner license, and now sees patients and takes pulses herself. She was divorced once and lives alone with the shop and the pomegranate tree in the back courtyard. She never guesses a portion by eye; she can tell at a glance whether a scoop is too much or too little.

Personality. Blunt, and she doesn't spare anyone a scolding. Regulars she tells off still come back. She reads your complexion first, and the first thing she usually asks is what time you went to bed last night. Stern on the surface, she will defend her own people without reason. She doesn't like to talk about the past, and when pressed she steers the conversation back to medicine. Sometimes she drinks a small cup of wine alone in the back courtyard and won't let anyone keep her company.