Xun Yuan

Biodata

Background / History

Xun Yuan came from a privileged family and was her parents’ only daughter. During her teenage years, she met her father on the Yundian border while accompanying her mother. He entrusted her with something he called a “treasure” and told her to keep it safe 40 50.

After her parents died one after the other, she was forced to go abroad. Their deaths remained vivid in her memory, and she resolved to repay both kindness and harm. She returned to Harbor City eight years later, seeking peace of mind 1.

Her past continues to surface through nightmares. These include a hospital operation, people demanding a secret, and a rain-soaked pursuit by attackers convinced she possessed an unidentified “thing.” Xun Yuan herself does not know what the pursuers wanted and is certain she did not have the object they described 12 23.

During her years overseas, she established business interests and developed influence outside Harbor City. Two years before her return, she befriended Jiang Yulin on Wall Street after warning him in time to avoid a loss at the hands of a rival 4 17 20.

Appearance

• Build and complexion: Slender and graceful, with very fair skin and finely defined facial features 1 37.
• Hair: Long, black hair, worn either loose or pinned up with hairpins 2 7 40.
• Eyes: Elongated, slightly upturned eyes with long, curling lashes; her gaze can appear either cool and unreadable or warmly attentive 1 7.
• Clothing: Frequently wears fitted qipao with shawls and high heels. Early outfits include a dark-green qipao embroidered with silver begonia blossoms and a moon-white qipao 1 2 19.
• Family resemblance: Her grandfather thinks she strongly resembles her mother in youth, though her manner is gentler 2.

Personality

Xun Yuan is composed, proud, and independent. She values her freedom without defining independence as either avoiding relationships or pursuing them. Yun Tang particularly admires her confidence in facing the consequences of her choices 34 37.

She enjoys teasing others and is unusually direct about attraction. Her flirtation with Zuo Tingyue often becomes a contest over who controls the exchange, and she consciously uses softness and apparent vulnerability to counter his forcefulness. Nevertheless, his tenderness can unsettle her more deeply than she wants to admit 1 10 19 20 25.

Her outward calm does not mean indifference. She becomes jealous, holds grudges, and dislikes yielding after being hurt. She retaliates against Zuo Tingyue through mahjong, returns his lip-biting, and refuses to explain feelings she cannot comfortably name 19 20 38 48.

With trusted people, she is affectionate and protective. She patiently coaxes her grandparents, indulges Yun Tang, and welcomes Xu Sui into her home. She also maintains firm boundaries: when a young nightclub companion approaches too closely, she blocks him and explicitly rejects his advances 13 17 24 32.

Her preference for living in the moment coexists with a pragmatic understanding of elite-family interests. She recognizes that affection does not necessarily outweigh business, family obligations, or advantageous marriages 28.

Abilities & Skills

Cultural-Artifact Restoration

Xun Yuan restores artifacts independently, taking commissions according to her interests rather than maintaining a constant workload. She rents her own studio in an expensive part of Harbor City and performs the restoration work herself 3 17.

• Assesses damage, determines whether restoration is possible, and prepares detailed restoration plans 3.
• Restores President Zhang’s Kangxi-era enamel-painted porcelain vase, earning Mrs. Zhang’s praise upon delivery 3 15.
• Works on a colored Guanyin sculpture and a polychrome Guanyin relief, sometimes spending many hours on a single session 21 29.
• Discusses restoration at length with Mr. Dong, forming a rapport despite their age difference 40.

Business and Financial Judgment

She remotely oversees overseas operations while allowing subordinates substantial authority 17.

• Warns Jiang Yulin about a rival’s maneuver on Wall Street, enabling him to avoid a financial loss 4.
• Handles international correspondence and monitors business progress from Harbor City 17 19 42.
• Directs an overseas associate to monitor holdings and await further instructions 12.
• Organizes documents and takes meeting minutes during Zuo Tingyue’s Sydney business trip 45.
• Acknowledges that her influence is based overseas, making local matters less convenient for her to resolve than for Zuo Tingyue 20.

Mahjong and Card Play

Xun Yuan is an accomplished player whose skill is useful both competitively and socially 19 32.

• Wins at mahjong while repeatedly denying Zuo Tingyue opportunities to claim tiles 19.
• Recovers all of Yun Tang’s recent losses, with additional winnings 32.

Tea Preparation and Cooking

• Prepares tea with practiced, orderly movements while Mr. Dong examines a restored artifact 40.
• Cooks for her grandparents, though she considers her culinary knowledge limited and later assists her grandmother in the kitchen 2 24.

Equipment / Items

• Father’s “treasure” — Entrusted to her during her teenage years with instructions never to lose it; its nature is not identified in the supplied account 50.
• Jade hairpins — Receives several from Zuo Tingyue after her white-jade hairpin breaks. She recognizes that the replacements suit her taste 8.
• Red coral — A gift Zuo Tingyue takes from his grandmother’s treasured collection at the Zuo family residence 32.
• Restoration tools — Uses brushes and other tools for detailed work on porcelain and cultural artifacts 5 32.
• Project-proceeds agreement — Zuo Tingyue gives her a signed agreement transferring the proceeds of their Australia project. Acceptance remains her choice; she is told she may sign whenever she wishes 49 50.

Relationships

• Zuo Tingyue — Lover and romantic interest. Their relationship begins with deliberate provocation and develops into intimacy, mutual teasing, and an unresolved struggle over emotional commitment 1 15 24 46.
• Old Master Yuan — Maternal grandfather. Welcomes her return without blaming her for the long absence; later spends time playing chess with her 2 46.
• Old Madam Yuan — Maternal grandmother. Initially rebukes her for disappearing for eight years, then welcomes and fusses over her. Their courtyard becomes a place where Xun Yuan can relax 2 42 46.
• Jiang Yulin — Close friend first met overseas. Introduces her to his Harbor City circle, helps her contact Zuo Tingyue, and assists her when she becomes ill 1 2 4 18.
• Yun Tang — Close friend and frequent companion. Seeks her company and advice; Xun Yuan supports her wish to reject an unwanted marriage arrangement without misleading the prospective match 5 29 48.
• Xu Sui — Close friend and international supermodel. Stays at Xun Yuan’s home and keeps her company during her recovery from a fever 17 19.
• Lin Sheng / Special Assistant Lin — Zuo Tingyue’s assistant. Delivers gifts, arranges transportation, and accompanies her while she fishes during the Shen City trip 8 24 28.
• President Zhang and Mrs. Zhang — Restoration client and his wife. Their gratitude extends to invitations to a family banquet and dinner 3 5 15.
• Mr. Dong — An older restoration contact with whom she develops a friendly professional rapport 40.
• Special Assistant Cheng — An overseas assistant she contacts while continuing to handle affairs outside Harbor City 42.
• Unnamed young miss overseas — A girl Xun Yuan soothes over messages but prevents from returning to the country. Their precise relationship is not disclosed 12 13.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Return to Harbor City

• Reenters Harbor City society through Jiang Yulin and deliberately spills wine on Zuo Tingyue’s trousers to initiate contact 1.
• Reunites with her maternal grandparents after eight years without word, spending the day cooking and talking with them 2.
• Sends replacement trousers to ZK Group, then encounters Zuo Tingyue outside her studio after a late night of restoration work 3.
• Completes the Zhang family’s porcelain commission while becoming friends with Yun Tang 5 15.

Growing Intimacy and Emotional Uncertainty

• Receives jade hairpins from Zuo Tingyue and is moved when he shelters her from the rain at the cost of soaking his own shoulder 8.
• Begins an intimate relationship with him while maintaining a public pretense of distance at the Jiang family charity gala 13 15.
• Sees him dining with another woman, subsequently suffers insomnia and a fever, and later targets him during mahjong rather than openly explaining her hurt 18 19 20.
• Remains outwardly calm when the Zuo family intervenes to remove online material concerning their relationship 20.

Shen City and the Limits of Detachment

• Accompanies Zuo Tingyue on a business trip to Shen City, recognizing that his flirtation is stirring feelings she fears trusting 24.
• Experiences a trauma response during a thunderstorm, recalling blood and torrential rain from her past 27.
• Joins a business cruise, then returns to Harbor City and resumes restoration work 28 29.
• Travels with Yun Tang to Sanya and later shares Zuo Tingyue’s first-class cabin on the return flight, reflecting on the choice between reason and emotion 38 39.

Sydney, Estrangement, and the Gift Agreement

• Travels to Sydney for a diving trip, explores the city, and watches Guys and Dolls at the Sydney Opera House 43.
• Spends much of the week accompanying Zuo Tingyue on business, eventually helping with documents and meeting minutes 45.
• Withdraws after he rebuffs her attempt to clarify his feelings. She stays with her grandparents and later acknowledges that their disagreement goes deeper than his gifts 46.
• Resumes their flirtatious rivalry, but the question of commitment remains unresolved when he offers her the Australia project’s proceeds 48 49 50.