Liu An

Biodata

Background / History

Long service in the palace

Liu An has served Xiao Lin for most of the emperor’s life. He remembers Xiao Lin as a withdrawn young prince in the cold palace, going whole days without speaking and practicing characters with a twig on the ground. He also witnessed Xiao Lin’s accession to the throne 4 17.

Original timeline

When ten-year-old Xiao Huaijin prepared for the Double Ninth archery test, Liu An announced that Xiao Lin would attend. After the crown prince fell during the mounted round, Liu An delivered the emperor’s belated inquiry about his injuries. Huaijin’s delight at this small acknowledgment made Liu An reflect on how thoroughly Xiao Lin concealed his concern 3.

Liu An repeatedly carried messages between father and son. After Huaijin returned from Huainan, he accepted the prince’s memorial when Xiao Lin refused an audience and proposed sending warming medicine after the emperor noticed that Huaijin had grown thin. During Xiao Lin’s illness, he eventually revealed that the emperor was refusing visits because he feared infecting his son. He also brought Huaijin’s homemade ginger soup inside and later found its bowl washed clean 5.

During Huaijin’s subsequent fever, Liu An received Xiao Lin’s orders for senior physicians to remain on night duty at the Eastern Palace. He later delivered osmanthus cakes and heard Huaijin ask that his father not worry. Liu An recognized that both were concealing their anxiety from each other 6.

After Huaijin was deposed, Xiao Lin ordered Liu An to double the Eastern Palace’s charcoal without identifying him as the benefactor. Liu An withdrew in tears. He later received a similar instruction to send osmanthus cakes anonymously, reflecting that the palace’s greatest barriers were those in people’s hearts 8 9.

Following Huaijin’s death, Liu An brought Xiao Lin medicine and porridge every day, only to carry them out untouched. He tried to protect the grieving emperor from the cold during the funeral and physically clung to his legs to oppose his decision to lead a northern campaign. Before Xiao Lin’s death and rebirth, Liu An covered him with Huaijin’s faded dragon-embroidered cloak 11.

After Xiao Lin’s rebirth

Liu An delivered Xiao Lin’s unprecedented announcement that he would personally begin four-year-old Huaijin’s education. Soon afterward, Xiao Lin told Liu An that he was too old to continue attending him until midnight. No emperor had ever shown Liu An such consideration; nevertheless, he replied that he would not dare rest while Xiao Lin remained awake 12 13.

His everyday service helped the renewed father–son relationship develop. He picked a ripe loquat for Huaijin, who saved half for Xiao Lin. Watching the emperor linger over the fruit, Liu An contrasted the child’s gift with Shen Mingzhu’s more calculated offerings and quietly remarked, “It’s different” 16.

When Huaijin’s wet nurse became seriously ill, Liu An reported the child’s request to remain with her and later brought urgent news to Xiao Lin during court. After her death, he received orders to prepare a warm chamber for Huaijin beside the Hall of Mental Cultivation. His carefully worded explanation to questioning ministers made the crown prince’s move known throughout the court 29 30.

During the Shen Clan’s downfall, Liu An was ordered to take Xiao Yu to Consort Jing’s palace. When he found Shen Mingzhu dying and pushing her son toward the doorway, he carried the struggling child out 35.

Later, Liu An quietly closed the door after finding Xiao Lin and Huaijin asleep together following the emperor’s nightmare. The next morning, he chose not to wake Xiao Lin for court. When Huaijin subsequently developed a high fever, Liu An hurried to fetch the Imperial Medical Academy’s director and kept watch outside while Xiao Lin cared for him 44 45 48.

Appearance

• Graying hair: Visible when the night wind tousles his hair beneath the covered walkway 13.
• Habitual bearing: Frequently attends the emperor with his head lowered and back bowed, carrying a fly whisk across his arm 13 15.

Personality

Liu An is observant and discreet. He recognizes Xiao Lin’s unsettled moods from the pauses between turning memorial pages and understands that the emperor’s unease about Huaijin’s resemblance to himself is not praise. When faced with sensitive political questions, he weighs his words carefully rather than exposing the emperor’s intentions 4 8.

His formal restraint conceals considerable sympathy. He is moved by Huaijin’s eagerness for affection and distressed by Xiao Lin’s inability to express it. His loyalty does not prevent him from trying to intervene when the emperor endangers himself, as shown by his desperate opposition to the northern campaign 3 6 11.

He is also wary of appearances at court. While officials praise Shen Mingzhu’s restraint and reduced household expenditure, Liu An remains privately unconvinced by her public image 8.

Abilities & Skills

Reading the Emperor

Liu An’s long service allows him to interpret Xiao Lin’s silences, habits, and indirect instructions.

• Recognizes a lack of objection as permission to send Huaijin warming medicine 5.
• Understands Xiao Lin’s initial hesitation over the ginger soup as unfamiliarity with being cared for, rather than rejection of the gift 5.
• Notices the unusual emotional weight in Xiao Lin’s voice when he mentions Empress Xiaoyi and avoids intruding 20.

Imperial Messaging and Court Protocol

Liu An handles verbal decrees, formal announcements, and exchanges between the emperor, officials, and imperial household.

• Personal summons: His being sent to summon Zhou Rucheng is regarded as an honor second only to personal delivery of an imperial edict 14.
• Ritual instructions: Conveys Xiao Lin’s handwritten decision allowing four-year-old Huaijin to accompany him into the Hall of Ancestral Worship 15.
• Rewards and investitures: Announces the children’s autumn-hunt rewards and personally delivers the decrees promoting the imperial consorts 25 38.
• Official correspondence: Brings Xiao Lin Lu Ming’s secret memorial concerning discrepancies in Shuofang cavalry supplies 50.

Household and Childcare Arrangements

Liu An manages practical details of the emperor’s residence and the children’s care.

• Orders Huaijin’s festival realgar wine diluted because he is only five, and helps him unwrap a tightly tied rice dumpling 18.
• Receives instructions to replace the Eastern Palace’s bow rack with one Huaijin can reach 17.
• Maintains the Hall of Mental Cultivation’s braziers and finds, washes, and prepares an old dragon-embroidered blanket for Huaijin’s couch 33.
• Fetches physicians in emergencies and receives orders to have ginger soup prepared daily during Huaijin’s recovery 48.
• Waits outside the Imperial Study to collect Huaijin after his shortened return to lessons 50.

Equipment / Items

• Fly whisk — His regularly carried attendant’s implement; he rests it across his arm, switches it between hands, or tucks it away when hurrying to carry out an order 13 16 48.

Relationships

• Xiao Lin — His longtime master. Liu An serves him in intimate daily matters, understands many of his unspoken feelings, and occasionally attempts to restrain his self-destructive decisions 4 11 13.
• Xiao Huaijin — The crown prince whom he addresses respectfully and treats with quiet tenderness. Huaijin entrusts him with memorials, gifts, requests, and messages for his father 3 5 6 29.
• Xiao Yu — The second prince. Liu An conveys the decree permitting his unrestricted visits to the Eastern Palace and later escorts him away from his dying mother 22 35.
• Zhou Rucheng — The crown prince’s tutor. Liu An is entrusted with summoning him personally and helps keep Huaijin’s visits and lessons on schedule 14 22.
• Shen Mingzhu — The noble consort whose apparently modest conduct Liu An regards with suspicion. He distinguishes her purposeful offerings to Xiao Lin from Huaijin’s spontaneous affection 8 16.