Old Madam

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Old Madam (老夫人); personal name not disclosed
Alias(es)	Old Madam Xie 5 8
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Xie family; Jing’an Marquis’s Residence 9 13
Occupation/Role	Senior family matriarch; mother of Marquis Jing’an and grandmother of Xie Jin’an 13 32
Residence	Charity Hall, within the Marquis’s Residence 5 13
Status	Alive; confined to Charity Hall for life and stripped of household authority. Later suffers a stroke and remains unable to get up after regaining consciousness 13 35
First Appearance	Visits Liu Wan with the newborn boy and proposes placing him under her name 1

Background / History

Shortly after Liu Wan married into the Xie family, the Old Madam fell into a river. Liu Wan rescued her but developed a lingering illness, contributing to her five-year struggle to conceive. The Old Madam later used that difficulty to argue that Liu Wan needed a boy to secure her position 2.

The household also owed its recovery to Liu Wan’s marriage. She brought a gold death-exemption token that helped the imprisoned marquis obtain a chance to prove his innocence through military service. The Old Madam understood that Liu Wan’s management and family connections were essential to the residence’s survival 9.

Personality

The Old Madam openly favors sons over daughters. She calls a girl useless for securing Liu Wan’s standing, dismisses special arrangements for Wanwan as unnecessary, and insists on naming the baby “Zhaodi”—a wish for a younger brother 2 4 5.

Her treatment of Liu Wan shifts according to the household’s needs. She disparages her fertility and challenges her independence, yet becomes affectionate and pleading when she needs Liu Wan to resolve the imperial-gift scandal. Even after her punishment, she urges Xie Jin’an to prevent Liu Wan from gaining complete control 10 16.

Her support for Xu Rourou is similarly conditional. She rewards Rourou for bearing a male descendant but condemns her unmarried motherhood, publicly treats her as a wet nurse, and slaps her when the household’s secrets risk exposure 4 5 9.

The Old Madam’s religious practices coexist with vindictiveness. She prays for protection from the Thunder God after the family’s misfortunes, but later uses her Buddhist shrine to wish illness, humiliation, abandonment, and bankruptcy upon Liu Wan 23 35.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Failed Infant Switch and Adoption Scheme

After Liu Wan prevents servants from exchanging her newborn daughter for a boy, the Old Madam takes charge of the boy and proposes that Liu Wan raise him as her own. She presents him as a pitiable child whose parents cannot be found, although he is Xie Jin’an and Xu Rourou’s son, Huai Shan 1 2 3.

Liu Wan refuses and suggests involving the authorities. The Old Madam inadvertently reveals her knowledge of the arrangement by confidently insisting that the child will not resent the Marquis’s Residence. When Liu Wan instead proposes that Xie Jin’an take concubines to raise the baby, the Old Madam reluctantly accepts 2.

She brings Xu Rourou into the household as a wet nurse. Although she tells Xie Jin’an to pay attention to Liu Wan, she also acknowledges that the residence cannot do without its mistress 3.

Favoritism and the Full-Month Banquet

The Old Madam rejects Liu Wan’s chosen name for her daughter and orders that she be called “Zhaodi.” She gives Xu Rourou her treasured jade bracelet, a symbol of the household’s future mistress, while sending Wanwan a silver longevity lock bearing the unwanted name 4.

She subsequently announces that she has adopted Huai Shan and invites relatives and clan elders to Charity Hall. Liu Wan redirects the gathering into a celebration of her brother Liu Ye’s promotion and impending marriage to the Fifth Princess, preventing the Old Madam from using it solely to establish the boy’s standing 5.

At Wanwan’s full-month banquet, Liu Wan asks the Fifth Princess to put the Old Madam’s silver lock on the baby. Its poor quality and “Bring a younger brother” inscription expose the Old Madam’s favoritism. She attempts to explain it away as a servant’s mistake 6.

Plot Against the Fifth Princess

The Old Madam arranges for a highborn woman to fall into the water so Xie Jin’an can rescue her and force a marriage. The intended target is the Fifth Princess, whose position would strengthen the Xie household while displacing Liu Wan 7 12.

The scheme fails. Liu Wan pulls the princess away from danger, and Xie Zi Mu secretly arranges for Xu Rourou to be pushed into the pond instead. Xie Jin’an rescues his mistress rather than the princess 7 12.

The Old Madam’s situation worsens when Huai Shan is brought before the guests wearing the Late Emperor’s Jade Bead Strand. The Fifth Princess questions why an allegedly adopted child possesses an imperial heirloom reserved for the proper heir or household mistress and orders the Old Madam to explain herself to the emperor 8.

Imperial Investigation and Lifelong Confinement

Seeking to avert punishment, the Old Madam again asks Liu Wan to adopt Huai Shan as a legitimate son. When pressed about his origins, she falsely claims that he is Xie Jinqiu’s child and that his birth mother is dead. Liu Wan refuses to endorse the deception and tells her to plead guilty at court 10.

At the palace, the Old Madam claims that the Jade Bead Strand was merely lent to a sickly family descendant. The emperor instead confronts her with accusations concerning the Fifth Princess, supported by two surviving maids whom she had believed Mama Qing had disposed of 12 13.

Liu Wan refuses to plead for her. The Old Madam then takes responsibility for the scheme and claims Xie Jin’an knew nothing about it. In recognition of the absent marquis and the late Old Marquis’s service, the emperor spares her life but confines her to Charity Hall until death; Xie Jin’an forfeits one year’s salary 13.

Attempts to Retain Influence

Despite losing formal authority, the Old Madam advises Xie Jin’an to bring Madam Li back from Golden Mountain Temple. She expects Liu Wan’s mother-in-law to restore control over her and protect the concealed relationship between Xie Jin’an, Xu Rourou, and Huai Shan 16.

The younger generation continues to obey her within the residence. When Xie Jinzhao threatens Qing Sheng and Qing Da, she rebukes him—notably warning that a scandal could destroy Xie Jinqiu’s engagement to the wealthy Zhong family. She also criticizes Madam Li for removing Liu Wan from household management, knowing that the residence survives on Liu Wan’s dowry 32.

Her proposed settlement of Qing Sheng’s case is coercive: Xie Jinzhao must apologize and offer money, while Qing Sheng must either accept compensation and remain silent or face drowning in a pig cage 33.

Reflected Curse and Stroke

When Liu Wan refuses to help salvage Xie Jinqiu’s marriage arrangement, the Old Madam summons her. Liu Wan rejects the summons, citing the emperor’s confinement order and her own Third-Rank Imperial Lady status 35.

The Old Madam retaliates by cursing Liu Wan in her shrine. Wanwan senses the resulting baleful energy and reflects it back through her thoughts. The Old Madam suffers a stroke, loses consciousness, and soils herself 35.

Her attendants leave after Xie Jinzhao threatens to dock their wages. Neither he nor Xie Jinqiu is willing to nurse her personally, and other servants refuse the task for fear of punishment. A physician treats her with precious medicines; she awakens that evening but cannot get up 35.

The false account of Huai Shan’s parentage also damages the Zhong engagement. Madam Zhong reports that the Old Madam has requested more time for Xie Jinqiu to investigate the rumors. Amid the continuing crisis, the Old Madam laments that the family has gone bankrupt 36.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Cane — Used while pacing and asserting her decisions; she drops it in alarm when she realizes the princess scheme may have been exposed 4 9.
• Jade bracelet — An imperial-bestowed heirloom symbolizing the household’s future mistress. She gives it to Xu Rourou to reassure her and recognize Huai Shan’s importance 4.
• Late Emperor’s Jade Bead Strand — Found on Huai Shan during the banquet, triggering imperial scrutiny. The Old Madam later claims she only lent it to improve his health 8 10.
• Silver longevity lock — Her gift to Wanwan, engraved “Zhaodi” or “Bring a younger brother”; becomes evidence of her son preference before the banquet guests 4 6.
• Gold-and-jade neck ring — Offered to Wanwan while seeking Liu Wan’s assistance. Wanwan rejects and breaks it 10.

Relationships

• Marquis Jing’an — Her son. His military service helps persuade the emperor to spare her life 13 32.
• Xie Jin’an — Her grandson and principal beneficiary of her schemes. She assumes responsibility at court to shield him, then advises him on restraining Liu Wan 13 16.
• Liu Wan — Her granddaughter-in-law and former rescuer. She exploits Liu Wan’s labor, dowry, and connections while trying to make her raise Huai Shan 2 9 10 32.
• Xia Wanwan — Treated as her great-granddaughter but slighted in favor of Huai Shan. Wanwan ultimately reflects her curse back onto her 6 35.
• Xie Huaishan / Huai Shan — Her favored great-grandson, publicly presented as an adopted child. She repeatedly seeks legitimate-son status for him 3 5 10.
• Xu Rourou — Xie Jin’an’s mistress and Huai Shan’s mother. The Old Madam sponsors her entry as a wet nurse but punishes her when exposure threatens the family 3 9.
• Madam Li — Her daughter-in-law. She brings Li back as a counterweight to Liu Wan, then criticizes her financial judgment 16 32.
• Xie Jinzhao and Xie Jinqiu — Her grandsons. They still defer to her after her confinement, but show little willingness to care for her following her stroke 32 35.
• Mama Qing — Her attendant, involved in handling witnesses connected to the failed princess scheme; later becomes a coerced informant 9 13 36.
• Fifth Princess Xia Zhao — Target of her staged-rescue marriage plot and the person who exposes the misuse of the imperial heirloom 8 12 13.