Liu Zheng

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Liu Zheng (柳铮)
Alias(es)	Young Marquis Liu; Zheng'er
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Eastern Palace; Great Xi Wisdom Gazette
Occupation/Role	Crown Prince Xiao Qianyu's former Reading Companion; manager and financier of the Great Xi Wisdom Gazette
Status	Alive 263
First Appearance	Chapter 178, “Going to Be Sold?” 178

Background

Liu Zheng is the only son of Princess Anqing and Marquis Yongkang. Raised amid wealth, royal connections, and extensive parental protection, he grew up as the Crown Prince's Reading Companion with little experience of danger or hardship. Repeated childhood accidents left Princess Anqing highly fearful for his safety, leading her to restrict his freedom whenever political turmoil threatened him. 178 181

When Xiao Qianyu fell from power, Liu Zheng neither pleaded for him nor visited him in the Imperial Prison, partly because his mother confined him and partly because the Crown Prince had ordered him not to intervene. After Xiao Qianyu's restoration, Liu Zheng became consumed by guilt and feared that his childhood companion despised him. 181 183

At a banquet, Qian Kun publicly mocked Liu Zheng as a coward who had lost the Crown Prince's favor. Humiliated, Liu Zheng started a brawl, fled alone, and was knocked unconscious by thugs in an alley. The attackers drugged him, disguised him as a drunkard, and intended to sell him to Southwind Pavilion. 178 179

Yuan Yuqi intervened and drove the kidnappers away. Believing Yuan to be his lifesaving benefactor, Liu Zheng treated him as a trusted brother, promised generous repayment, and introduced him into his household and later to the Crown Prince. 179 180 181

Personality

Liu Zheng is emotionally transparent, impulsive, and deeply affected by shame. He reacts violently when insulted, cries easily when overwhelmed, and tends to judge people through affection rather than suspicion. His faith in Xiao Qianyu's goodness remains firm even after the Crown Prince's personality becomes colder and more distant. 178 181 183

He is sincere in his loyalty. Although he feels ashamed that he did not aid Xiao Qianyu during the Crown Prince's imprisonment, he returns to the Eastern Palace seeking a chance to be useful rather than merely forgiven. He accepts the Gazette assignment with genuine determination, even offering to fund it himself if he cannot manage the work. 183 185

Liu Zheng's trust in Yuan Yuqi initially borders on naivety; he overlooks warning signs and readily allows Yuan to direct much of the Gazette project. Once he uncovers the conspiracy involving Yuan and Marquis Yongkang, however, he becomes far more resolute. His eventual handling of Yuan Yuqi reveals a capacity for ruthless revenge that his earlier sheltered life never suggested. 186 202 228

Abilities & Skills

Gazette Management

Liu Zheng oversees the Crown Prince's public-information project, the Great Xi Wisdom Gazette, which is intended to spread practical knowledge among commoners.

• Was entrusted with establishing the publication because his family background is politically clean and relatively unentangled with competing factions. 184
• Provides residences, funds, staff, and logistical support for the project. 186 188
• Plans for the Gazette's expansion and monetization when questioned by Xiao Qianyu. 193
• Continues investing in and operating the newspapers after Yuan Yuqi's downfall; the papers sell out quickly. 254
• Works with Yu Zhixue's advanced printing methods to enable large-scale production. 185

Investigation and Persistence

Though inexperienced in criminal investigation, Liu Zheng pursues the truth once Xiao Qianyu makes him responsible for uncovering Yuan Yuqi's alleged assassination attempt.

• Mobilizes Princess Anqing's personnel and investigates Yuan Yuqi's background, associates, and the disappearance of the kidnappers. 198
• Accepts Zhao Tianbao's assistance in tracing the Qian brothers who abducted him. 199 200
• Interrogates the steward of Listening Spring Villa and exposes Yuan Yuqi's protected connection to Marquis Yongkang. 201 202
• Persists in confronting his father despite being blocked by the Marquis's servants and waiting outside Bamboo Garden through the night. 205

Limitations

• Has little fighting ability; during his brawl with Qian Kun, clawing is described as his only effective move before he is pinned down and beaten. 178
• His tendency to trust people he considers friends leaves him vulnerable to manipulation, particularly by Yuan Yuqi. 186 188

Relationships

• Xiao Qianyu — His childhood Crown Prince and former companion. Liu Zheng feels guilty for failing to support him during his downfall, then becomes a subordinate trusted with the Gazette project. 183 184 193
• Princess Anqing — His mother. Fiercely protective after Liu Zheng's repeated childhood mishaps, she finances his Gazette work and gives him personnel to investigate Yuan Yuqi. 181 188 198
• Marquis Yongkang / Liu Chengzhi — His father. Liu Zheng once idolized him, but learns that he sheltered and supported his illegitimate son Yuan Yuqi while deceiving Princess Anqing and enabling plots against Liu Zheng. 194 201 202
• Yuan Yuqi — Initially Liu Zheng's apparent rescuer, closest friend, and Gazette collaborator. Later exposed as his paternal half-brother, Yuan engineered Liu Zheng's kidnapping to become his “benefactor” and used him as a path into the Eastern Palace. 180 186 202
• Zhao Tianbao — A guard sent to assist Liu Zheng's investigation. Zhao leads him to the kidnappers' hiding place at Listening Spring Villa. 199 200
• Yu Zhixue — Provides the advanced printing methods and workers needed for the Gazette's mass production. 185
• Qian Kun — A noble rival whose drunken insults provoke Liu Zheng into the brawl that precedes his kidnapping. 178

Story Role / Major Arcs

Reconciliation with the Crown Prince

Liu Zheng returns to the Eastern Palace believing Xiao Qianyu may hate him for failing to intervene during the Crown Prince's imprisonment. Xiao Qianyu tells him that he does not need a Reading Companion, but does need someone capable of completing tasks. Liu Zheng eagerly accepts the chance to prove his worth. 183

The *Great Xi Wisdom Gazette*

Xiao Qianyu assigns Liu Zheng to establish a periodical covering curious events, hygiene and medicine, legal statutes, and literacy. Liu Zheng sees the Gazette primarily as a way to enlighten ordinary people and accepts responsibility for its funding, organization, and distribution. 184 185 186

He recruits Yuan Yuqi as a collaborator, unaware that Yuan intends to seize control of the project and use Liu Zheng's position to gain the Crown Prince's favor. Yuan keeps the recruited writers from dealing directly with Liu Zheng, gradually placing himself at the center of the Gazette's work. 186 188

Yuan Yuqi Investigation

When Xiao Qianyu attacks and imprisons Yuan Yuqi for an alleged assassination attempt, Liu Zheng begs for Yuan's life despite his own doubts. Xiao Qianyu assigns him to investigate whether his supposed benefactor is innocent or dangerous, warning that failure may implicate the Yongkang Marquis Residence. 192

Liu Zheng eventually traces the kidnappers to Listening Spring Villa, where the estate steward reveals that Yuan Yuqi acted under Marquis Yongkang's authority. The Qian brothers confess that Yuan arranged Liu Zheng's abduction so he could stage a rescue and gain Liu Zheng's absolute trust. 201 202

Break with Marquis Yongkang

The investigation reveals that Yuan Yuqi is Marquis Yongkang's illegitimate son and that the Marquis secretly transferred Listening Spring Villa into Yuan's name. Liu Zheng realizes that his father knew of Yuan's schemes and allowed him and Princess Anqing to treat their enemy as a benefactor. The shock causes Liu Zheng to vomit blood. 202

Liu Zheng attempts to confront his father, only to discover that Marquis Yongkang has fled. The Marquis is later found attempting to travel to Jiujiang Prefecture, confirming Liu Zheng's fear that his father had deeper political ties. 206 211 213

Revenge on Yuan Yuqi

After Marquis Yongkang's death, Liu Zheng asks Xiao Qianyu to close the assassination case so that he can settle matters with Yuan personally. He confronts Yuan in prison, rejects his claims to the Yongkang Marquis title, and condemns both Yuan and their father for their lack of principle. 226 227 228

Liu Zheng orders Yuan Yuqi's tongue cut out, then has him buried alive in Marquis Yongkang's grave, declaring that he is reuniting father and son. 228

Original Storyline

In the original fate viewed by Xiao Qianyu, Liu Zheng was marked as “cannon fodder.” After the former Crown Prince's execution, Liu Zheng secretly collected and buried his body. He and Princess Anqing subsequently suffered repeated attacks, including poisoning, a broken leg, and near-drowning. 189

Marquis Yongkang returned with Yuan Yuqi as an adopted son, while Yuan eventually revealed himself as the Marquis's illegitimate child. Liu Zheng was imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately executed by dismemberment with five horses; Princess Anqing was likewise ruined and poisoned. 189 190

Notable Quotes

“If liking him meant becoming something like you, I would rather have no father.” 228