Lakan

Lakan is a brilliant military strategist in The Apothecary Diaries and the head of the powerful La clan. He holds a top military post at court, and his skill at planning battles makes him feared by nearly everyone, even the Emperor. He is sharp, watchful, and cunning, and he wears a monocle.

Lakan cannot recognize human faces. When he looks at people, he sees them as pieces from shogi, a Japanese board game similar to chess, and each piece shows how useful that person is. This odd way of seeing helps make him an excellent judge of people. It also makes him careless about manners, and he often ignores the rules of polite behavior at court. Only a few people look like real humans to him, most importantly the woman he loved and their daughter.

That daughter is Maomao, the clever young apothecary at the center of the series. Their relationship is complicated and becomes a major thread in the story. Lakan is also the nephew of Luomen, the gentle doctor who raised Maomao. To secure the clan's future, he adopted his own nephew, Lahan, as his official heir.