Does Lishu Die in The Apothecary Diaries?

No. Lishu does not die in The Apothecary Diaries. In light novel Volume 6, she falls from a decaying tower after the White Lady has been manipulating her. Basen catches her during the fall and takes the worst of the impact. Lishu survives and later builds a quieter life outside the rear palace.

Spoiler scope: Lishu's major dangers and later appearances from light novel Volume 1 through Volume 16.

Volume 1: the garden party exposes her to two dangers

At the garden party, Maomao discovers that Lishu cannot safely eat mackerel or abalone. Her food has been switched with Gyokuyou's as part of the bullying around Lishu's table, so she develops a rash after eating food meant for someone else. Maomao warns that another exposure could cause a much worse reaction.

The switch also keeps Lishu from consuming the dish that had actually been poisoned for her. One act of bullying accidentally helps her avoid a separate poisoning plot.

Later in Volume 1's "Honey" chapters, Maomao traces that plot back to Fengming. Lishu knew a dangerous secret connected to the death of Ah-Duo's infant, and Fengming wanted her removed before that secret could threaten Ah-Duo. Lishu had also nearly died from honey as a baby, which is how she knew enough about its danger to threaten Fengming's cover-up.

Her family treats her as political property

Volume 5 reveals more about Lishu's home life. Her father, Uryuu, has treated her as a tool for advancement. She was sent into the former Emperor's rear palace while still extremely young. After his death and her period in a nunnery, Uryuu planned another politically useful match: a southern governor old enough to be her grandfather who already kept numerous concubines.

Ah-Duo and the reigning Emperor intervene, preventing that marriage and returning Lishu to the rear palace instead. That still gives her little say in her future. Her lack of agency contrasts with Gyokuyou's rise to Empress.

Volume 5: Basen saves Lishu from the lion

The next major life-or-death event happens during the western-capital banquet in Volume 5, Chapter 16, "The Banquet (Part Two)." Someone spills an unusually pungent perfume over Lishu. A lion being kept as an exotic gift escapes from a compromised cage and homes in on her scent.

Basen intervenes with a broken iron bar and gets between Lishu and the animal. Maomao also helps get Lishu under cover.

Volume 5 makes the event look like a targeted attack because Lishu is deliberately covered in the lion-attracting scent. Volume 6 uncovers a wider scheme meant to disgrace the man who supplied the lion. Lishu was deliberately placed in mortal danger as part of the sabotage, but the plot is not a straightforward confirmed order to assassinate her.

The rescue also strengthens the connection between Lishu and Basen before the White Lady crisis.

Volume 6: the White Lady manipulates Lishu

Lishu's worst crisis begins with a scandal in Volume 6, Chapters 12-16.

Her ladies exploit her delayed period and copied lines from a romance story to create the appearance of sexual misconduct. For an imperial consort, that accusation can be fatal. Maomao examines Lishu and rejects the accusation, but the political damage and humiliation leave her isolated in a tower.

There she begins speaking through the ceiling to a woman calling herself Sotei, who is actually the White Lady. The woman seems sympathetic at first. She knows exactly which wounds to press: Lishu's dead mother, her neglectful father, her bullying attendants, and the feeling that everyone else controls her life.

She has also been exposing Lishu to a strange sweet-and-bitter incense hidden in a small sachet. The drugged atmosphere dulls Lishu's judgment while Sotei reframes her painful experiences as proof that she is unwanted and cannot protect herself.

Lishu reaches the tower's upper level in an extremely unstable state.

The White Lady does not physically push Lishu off the tower

When Maomao and Jinshi arrive, they try to talk Lishu away from the decaying balcony. Maomao finally gets a response by invoking Ah-Duo, one of the few people Lishu trusts deeply.

Then the White Lady appears and lets out a piercing laugh. Lishu recoils in terror, falls backward against the rotten railing, and the wood gives way.

The White Lady does not shove Lishu over the railing. Her manipulation and sudden appearance lead to the fall, but the railing breaks beneath Lishu as she recoils.

Basen catches Lishu and survives too

The rescue happens in Volume 6, Chapter 16, "Basen and Lishu." Basen realizes that mattresses on the ground will not be enough. As Lishu falls, he runs along the tiered roofs and jumps after her, catching her in midair.

Branches and the spread-out bedding help reduce the impact, but Basen takes the remaining force beneath her. He survives with severe injuries: both legs are broken, one hand loses its fingernails, and his shoulder is dislocated.

Lishu cries against Basen's chest afterward, alive and able to show her feelings without court etiquette getting in the way.

What happens to Lishu afterward?

The Emperor removes Lishu from the rear palace. She is ordered to spend a year in a nunnery and then return to her family without the title of imperial consort. Her family is not punished with her.

In Volume 10, Basen finds Lishu at Red Plum Village, living simply and helping raise ducks. The quieter environment gives her space to function on her own terms. Basen's feelings remain obvious, and he asks her about accompanying him west, but this is not confirmation that they marry.

Lishu appears alive again in Volume 16, Chapter 3, "Red Plum Village," still associated with the village and its ducks. Maomao notices that she looks healthy and has become better at standing up for herself.

Maomao's suggestion that Jinshi marry Lishu in Volume 5 also plays a part in Jinshi's confrontation with Maomao, but it does not decide Lishu's future. She loses her consort title and gains distance from the palace that repeatedly endangered her.