Xiao He

Biodata

Background / History

Life at Jade Green Pavilion

Xiao He grew up at the Jade Green Pavilion, where Madam Li arranged her training in music and singing. Madam Li had purchased her for ten taels and later demanded at least a thousand taels to release her indenture. Xiao He described herself as the establishment’s best singer 7 16.

She hoped to leave the pavilion by becoming Liu Wu’s concubine. Although he had spent hundreds of taels courting her, he complained that she would not let him become intimate with her unless he married her 1 2.

Plot Against Lin Lang

Before Liu Wu’s promotion duel with Lin Lang, Xiao He helped drug Lin Lang’s wine. She entered his room offering a muscle-loosening massage, intending to intensify the drug’s effects and injure his meridians. Her expected reward was a place in Liu Wu’s household after his victory 1 2.

The scheme backfired when Lin Lang’s system reversed the Golden Body Child Skill’s abstinence requirement. Their subsequent intimacy strengthened him instead of weakening him, bringing him to early first-rate and, after three days together, mid first-rate 2 3.

Lin Lang confronted Xiao He about the plot and threatened her into keeping their time together secret. She claimed Liu Wu had forced her to participate, acknowledged herself as Lin Lang’s woman, and begged him to take her away from the pavilion 3.

Freedom and Household Service

After winning the duel, Lin Lang accepted Xiao He’s offer to serve him—but appointed her his maid rather than his concubine. She accepted because it offered escape from the pavilion, hoping that bearing his child would eventually raise her status 6.

Xiao He had already handed Lin Lang her fifteen hundred taels of savings when he gave her a hundred-tael note to buy her freedom. Madam Li rejected her remaining money and jewelry as insufficient. Lin Lang intervened, claimed Xiao He worked for the Jinyiwei, and paid fifty taels for her release 6 7.

She left with her remaining jewelry, loose silver, and her indenture torn in half. At Lin Lang’s home, she was assigned tea-making, laundry, and cleaning. He displayed a thousand-tael note but reclaimed it when she tried to take it, telling her to request money after spending her loose silver 8.

Life in Pingyang Prefecture

During Lin Lang’s nearly two-month absence, Xiao He worried that her limited silver would run out. After his return, he entrusted her with exchanging gold, silver, and valuables for banknotes; the transaction reportedly exceeded ten thousand taels 16.

Lin Lang later arranged for Wang Wu and Jia Liu to bring her to Pingyang Prefecture. In their new residence, she remained his sole personal attendant, taking satisfaction in having no competition within the household 34 37.

That confidence was shaken when Lin Lang brought Ren Yingying home. Xiao He’s specially prepared meal and medicinal wine were served to the guest instead. Discovering another woman in his room, Xiao He withdrew without confronting him. Her renewed attempt to win his attention the following morning ended with orders to pack his travel clothes and empty his chamber pot 49 50.

Appearance

• Introduced wearing gauzy clothing and approaching Lin Lang with a swaying gait 1.
• Lin Lang later commissioned traditional Miao clothing, nuns’ robes, gauze tops, and gauze trousers for her 37.

Personality

Xiao He’s ambition centers on escaping the pavilion and securing a recognized place in an official’s household. Her desired position shifts from Liu Wu’s concubine to Lin Lang’s, while her long-term strategy remains bearing a child to improve her standing 1 3 6 37.

She is attentive but frequently resentful of being treated as an ordinary servant. She prepares meals, helps Lin Lang dress, and learns how to please him, yet privately objects to chores such as emptying his chamber pot 3 16 50.

She also shows jealousy without openly challenging him. His continued visits to the Jade Green Pavilion upset her, and discovering another woman in his bed makes her want to confront him. Awareness of her position and his temperament nevertheless persuades her to retreat 16 50.

Abilities & Skills

Music and Singing

• Received training in music and singing while growing up at Jade Green Pavilion 7.
• Described herself as its best singer; the narration also calls her its former finest singer 16 36.

Household Service

• Prepares meals, brews tea, washes clothes, cleans, and assists Lin Lang with dressing 8 16 37.
• Prepares nourishing dishes and medicinal wine in hopes of encouraging intimacy 49 50.
• Handles the exchange of valuables for banknotes at Lin Lang’s instruction 16.

Massage and Intimate Skills

• Offers muscle-loosening massage and later massages Lin Lang’s shoulders and legs 1 6 8.
• Learns additional intimate techniques from Lin Lang; he explicitly considers her a quick learner 3 7.
• Her intimacy helps advance his Reverse Golden Body Child Skill, but she has no martial arts training herself 2 3 34 37.

Relationships

• Lin Lang — Employer and intimate partner; frees her from the pavilion but keeps her as a maid. Despite her lack of martial abilities, he states privately that he will never abandon her 6 8 34.
• Liu Wu — Former romantic prospect and accomplice in the drugging scheme. She hoped to become his concubine; after the plot failed, she claimed he had forced her participation 1 2 3.
• Madam Li — Pavilion proprietor who controlled her indenture and demanded payment for her release. Lin Lang compelled her to surrender it for fifty taels 7 8.

Notable Quotes

“I only beg that, for the sake of how devotedly Xiao He has served you these past two days, you take Xiao He away from the Jade Green Pavilion.” 3

Trivia

• Hundred-household Li, Wang Wu, Jia Liu, and Liu Wu mistakenly interpret Xiao He as Lin Lang’s undercover agent when trying to explain why his Child Skill survived their intimacy 6 7.
• Lin Lang uses one of her gauze garments to conceal his face before his nighttime visit to Liu Wu 6.