Shen Yuxing

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood in Shiban Village

Shen Yuxing grew up in an impoverished household with an abusive, alcoholic father and a paralyzed grandfather. His mother hemorrhaged after giving birth to him and died before reaching adequate medical care. Shen Wangjing took responsibility for the household, working to support his younger brother’s education 46 114 147.

As a small child, Yuxing followed Wangjing everywhere and helped with household chores. He carried split firewood, peeled garlic, protected their grandfather during Shen Dayong’s violence, and divided scarce food while claiming not to be hungry. At seven, he wrote that he wanted to buy his brother new clothes so Wangjing would no longer have to hide the holes in his sleeves 147.

Beating and Memory Loss

When Yuxing had just turned ten, he caught Shen Dayong stealing Wangjing’s savings. He clung to his father and demanded the money back, enduring blows from a carrying pole and repeated kicks until he was barely breathing. Wangjing later returned home severely wounded after a confrontation in which Shen Dayong drowned, then arranged transport to take Yuxing to hospital 147 148.

Emergency treatment saved Yuxing, but a fever lasting three days and nights left him with retrograde amnesia. He forgot most of the assault while retaining a distorted fragment: Wangjing had hidden money and intended to abandon the family. In reality, the savings were meant to pay for Yuxing’s schooling outside Shiban Village 148.

Afterward, Yuxing became quieter, stopped clinging to his brother, and sometimes woke abruptly at night. His fear of being left behind developed into a determination to escape the village before anyone could abandon him 148.

Appearance

• Build and complexion: Dark-skinned, thin, and visibly undernourished when he arrives at the Jiang villa 10 11.
• Face: Striking features despite his young age; his appearance helps persuade the casting director to select him 11.
• Initial clothing: A faded blue shirt with a stretched neckline and clumsily repaired cuff, trousers exposing his thin ankles, and an old, repeatedly washed backpack 10.
• Habitual presentation: Lowered eyes, hunched shoulders, a soft voice, and tightly gripped backpack straps reinforce his timid public image 10 38.

Personality

Yuxing is ambitious, observant, and intensely concerned with securing his future. He rejects the idea that poverty must be endured as a duty and believes that studying alone cannot overcome the disadvantages of his background. Before entering the Jiang household, he memorizes the production team’s information about the family and evaluates its members as possible obstacles or sources of protection 11 16 38 54.

His apparent meekness is often deliberate. He presents himself as obedient, grateful, and easily frightened while privately calculating how to respond to mistreatment. Against Jiang Yu, this restraint conceals a willingness to retaliate dangerously rather than confront him openly 15 16 38 54.

His attachment to Wangjing remains strong beneath their strained communication. During his brother’s disappearance, he maintains his normal school routine but privately studies an old photograph at night. His eventual outburst at Duan Qizhao exposes the fear and resentment hidden beneath his agreeable manner 115 144.

Yuxing initially envies Jiang Xun for receiving affection despite behaving however he pleases. That envy fades as he recognizes Jiang Xun’s kindness and openness, though he still feels separated from the easy companionship surrounding him 144 145.

Abilities & Skills

Academic Ability

Yuxing treats education as a route out of poverty and can support his ambitions with strong results 11 70.

• Ranks first in his original school and brings his report card to the Metamorphosis casting director 11.
• Secures continued schooling in Capital City, later accepting Li Zhaoheng’s requirement to review his end-of-term report card 145.

Acting and Social Manipulation

Yuxing can convincingly perform vulnerability, adjusting his expression and voice to influence observers 16 54.

• Wins sympathy from Wang Ma and the crew by savoring milk, saving part of a cookie for his brother, and carefully cleaning up afterward 16.
• Uses tears, deference, and reminders that he called an ambulance to deflect Jiang Yu’s accusations 54.
• Drops his distressed expression immediately once Jiang Yu leaves the room 54.

Observation and Planning

Yuxing studies routines, relationships, and practical clues before acting 16 24 115 117.

• Revises his assessment of Jiang Yanchu after noticing disappointment that does not fit the family information he received 16.
• Identifies Jiang Huaixiao as the person capable of restraining Liu Wanying 54.
• Uses the timing of weekly remittances to investigate Wangjing’s whereabouts 115 117.
• His judgment is less reliable around the Li family: Li Zhaoheng recognizes his ambition but considers him too impatient and inexperienced 142.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Entering the Jiang Household

• Securing a place on the show: Yuxing runs dozens of li along mountain roads to reach the scouting crew. He takes the director’s suggestion that a city family might keep him seriously and pursues the exchange as a chance to leave Shiban Village 11.
• Arrival: He takes Jiang Xun’s place at the Jiang villa during Metamorphosis. Jiang Yanchu’s blunt greeting nearly makes him fall, while Liu Wanying welcomes him for the cameras 10.
• Recognizing the household’s hostility: Away from the cameras, Liu Wanying orders his old clothes discarded, and Jiang Yu insults and shoves him. Yuxing privately dismisses Jiang Yu as an idiot who may be useful 11 15.
• First retaliation: Once the cameras stop and Jiang Yu is out, Yuxing uses Jiang Yu’s electric toothbrush to scrub the toilet three times 16.

Jiang Yu’s Bullying and the Allergy Incident

• Liu Wanying arranges for Yuxing to attend Jinghua Middle School with Jiang Yu. Jiang Yu has his textbooks thrown into a yogurt-covered trash can, while his associates splash him with water during PE 38.
• After learning about Jiang Yu’s allergies, Yuxing secretly mixes pieces of flower pastry into his snack box. Jiang Yu suffers a severe allergic reaction, and Yuxing calls the ambulance that saves him 38 39.
• Liu Wanying suspects Yuxing, but the changing-room surveillance camera has been deliberately damaged, leaving her without footage identifying who altered the snacks 39.
• Jiang Yu later attacks Yuxing in the changing room. Duan Qizhao photographs the bullying, and Jiang Xun intervenes, restraining Jiang Yu and trapping his head in a locker 81.

Rejecting Liu Wanying’s Scheme

• Liu Wanying offers to fund Yuxing’s education in Capital City in exchange for helping her against Jiang Xun. Yuxing outwardly agrees while planning to seek Jiang Huaixiao’s protection instead 39 54.
• When Liu Wanying expects him to defend her, Yuxing instead brings up her conditional offer, exposing her attempt to manipulate him 61 62.
• Jiang Huaixiao subsequently agrees to adopt him, subject to asking Jiang Xun whether he objects. Jiang Xun gives a casual assent, allowing Yuxing to remain in Capital City 70 71.
• Yuxing understands the arrangement as practical and reputational rather than an act of parental affection 71.

Supporting Jiang Xun and Searching for Wangjing

• During a shared midnight meal, Yuxing discovers that Jiang Xun’s supposed hunger strike consists of secretly eating well at night. He later explains that Wangjing stayed in the village because of debt, their grandfather, farm work, and his reluctance to depend on others—not because he does not care about Jiang Xun 76 77.
• When Jiang Xun later genuinely stops eating, Yuxing waits through the night for him to visit the kitchen. He eventually leaves cheesecake and milk outside his door and tries to reassure him that Jiang Huaixiao will not abandon him 109 110.
• After Wangjing disappears, Yuxing learns that money still arrives weekly for their grandfather. He traces a transfer to a man at a post office and demands answers, but is shoved and twists his ankle. Jiang Xun catches him and continues following the man 115 117.

Contact with the Li Family

• Yuxing locates Li Zhaoheng’s hotel through his school, waits in the lobby, and introduces himself as his grandson. He immediately agrees when asked whether he wants to return to Hong Kong City, though Li Zhaoheng warns that joining the family will not be easy 142.
• After an argument with Duan Qizhao, Jiang Xun invites Yuxing to share soup rather than leaving him isolated. Jiang Xun and Wangjing advise him to finish school before entering the Li family’s competitive environment 144 145.
• Yuxing accepts this advice. Li Zhaoheng agrees to cover his tuition and living expenses in Capital City and gives both brothers unlimited supplementary cards; Yuxing receives his uneasily 145.
• Li Zhaoheng’s investigation uncovers Yuxing’s actions against Jiang Yu alongside evidence of his childhood devotion to Wangjing. His assessment becomes less purely critical as he learns what the brothers endured 147 148.
• Yuxing later helps embarrass Li Shaoqian by hitting him with a cake during a banquet confrontation. He also joins Jiang Xun, Wangjing, and Duan Qizhao for a Christmas Eve outing, and accompanies Wangjing and Li Zhaoheng toward Hong Kong City for the New Year 154 160 165.

Relationships

• Shen Wangjing — Older brother, provider, and childhood protector. Their closeness is damaged by Yuxing’s mistaken belief that Wangjing once planned to abandon him; Wangjing continues to support his education and advises him to gain independence before joining the Li family 145 147 148.
• Jiang Xun — His counterpart in Metamorphosis, later a classmate and friend. Yuxing’s initial contempt and envy give way to admiration; Jiang Xun protects him from bullying and includes him when he feels excluded 11 76 81 144 145.
• Jiang Huaixiao — Adopts Yuxing and arranges his continued schooling. Yuxing seeks his protection while remaining conscious that the arrangement is conditional and pragmatic 54 70 71 74.
• Jiang Yu — Bully and target of covert retaliation. Their conflict escalates from household intimidation to the allergy incident and further school violence 15 16 38 81.
• Liu Wanying — Host and would-be manipulator. She treats Yuxing as a useful contrast to Jiang Xun, but he turns her promised educational support into evidence against her 38 54 62.
• Duan Qizhao — Initially wary of Yuxing’s innocent presentation, but intervenes against Jiang Yu and later socializes with him. His teasing about the Li family provokes a rare, openly emotional response 74 81 144 160.
• Li Zhaoheng — Maternal grandfather and educational sponsor. He initially sees Yuxing as grasping and impatient, then gains a more sympathetic understanding through investigating his past 142 145 147.
• Shen Dayong — Abusive father. His near-fatal assault and claim that Wangjing intended to leave become central to Yuxing’s trauma and fear of abandonment 147 148.

Notable Quotes

“This is the first time I've met someone like you.”
— To Jiang Xun during their midnight meal 76

“What do I have? My mom died not long after I was born, my grandpa was paralyzed and couldn't move from his bed, and my dad got drunk and went at people with an axe. Do you know what that kind of life was like?”
— Confronting Duan Qizhao 144

Trivia

• His mother associated “Yu Xing” with stars—the only light she could see while trapped in the mountains 140.
• Yuxing recognizes the intensity of Wangjing’s attachment to Jiang Xun before Duan Qizhao does, responding to the latter’s realization with, “You only just noticed?” 171