So, I feel like for these kinds of novels with political and noble families complexity from ancient china who are in different factions – stories like this needs a character list. Even if I am working on this project I will forget the character and pretty sure readers will too…haha. I finally took notes on the previous chapters and will update this page every time a new character is introduced in a new chapter release.
Characters
Xiao Yuan – 1st prince (title – King Qin)
- New fief – Shanxi
- His maternal family – Yan family who are militant and was banished to Liaodong
- Servant, Ge Jin – discipline of godly medicine doctor
- His 1st wife (deceased) – concubine born from 2nd branch of Empress Shen’s family
- His personal guard, Lu Jun
Emperor Xuande – father of 3 princes
Empress Shen – current empress & plotted with emperor against Yan family
- Her elder brother, Shen Jie (title – Marquis Ping Xi) – border general at Shanxi stationed in Xi’an
- His son – Shen Yingshi
- Her son, the 2nd prince is the crown prince
Guo Jiuye – Shanxi is initially his turf
Xie Lanyin – youngest sister, 5th miss (from Hangzhou)
- Xie family has 3 households and 6 girls
- Her mother, Madam Jiang
- Her servants, Sangzhi and Yingge
- Her 1st sister, martial arts/business
- Her 2nd sister, Xie Lanqiao (crossdresser, 2nd miss)
Xie Hui – FL’s father
- Stepmother Chen – his father’s concubine rose in power since the main wife past away
- His father, Xie Ding
- (1) blood-related older sister who is married in the capital
- (1) maternal cousin, Xie Yao who is married and resides in Shanxi
- Married to Fang Ze
- 7 year old daughter, Fang Ling
- Her wet nurse, elder lady Liu (Liu Fufeng)
- Leader of Xie guards, Lu Chi
- Protector of dowry, Lu Yao
Jiang Qin – FL’s maternal uncle (Jiang family – wealthy merchants)
- (1) younger sister, Madam Jiang who married Xie Hui
- His wife, Madam Li (Li Shi) who was well-liked by his family and was a servant
- His 1st son, Jiang Jizhou – specializes in silks/teas
- His wedding is in Xi’an
- His 2nd son, Jiang Hangzhou – specializes in antiques/porcelain
- His 3rd son, Jiang Huaizhou – specializes in makeup/cream
- Older than FL by 5 years and same birthday Oct. 10th
Fang Ze, Xi’an prefecture’s magistrate
- His wife, Xie Yao – maternal cousin of FL’s father
- Younger cousin – Du Yinger (resides in Wensheng Yuan)
- (1) younger sister married one of Shen Jie’s trusted officer as second wife
Places
Shanxi
- Xi’an
- Daci’en Buddhist temple
Honorifics/Chinese Family Words
- Biaoge – older male cousin via female line
- Biaosao – older brother’s wife; sister-in-law
- Biaogu – father’s female cousin via female line
- Meimei – younger sister
- Qie – concubine
- Jiu – maternal uncle
- taitai – wife
- Sao zi – another way to say older brother’s wife; sister-in-law
- Da ren – title of respect towards superiors
- Gu zi – husband’s sister
- Diedie – father
- Wai zu mu – mother’s mother; maternal grandmother
- Jiu mu – wife of mother’s brother; maternal uncle’s wife
- Gu mu – father’s sister; paternal aunt
- Jiejie – older sister
- Ge (sometimes gege) – older brother
- Gongzi – son of an official
- Shaoye – young master of house
- Jia gong – head of a family
- da xiaojie – eldest legitimate daughter of family
- Lao – it’s a prefix used before the surname of a person; in this cause to indicate familiarity and to refer to him as experienced/older.
- Dian xia – Your Majesty (honorifics); His or Her Highness