Cui Wan

Biodata

Appearance

• Build: Small, slight, and physically weak; she cannot lift the injured Chu Moqi or support the weight of his silver spear 6 25.
• Features: Naturally pretty, with delicate brows, almond-shaped eyes, and fair skin 2 4 12.
• Hair: Long enough to fall loosely over her shoulders; arranged into a formal bun for her coming-of-age ceremony 12 22.
• Early clothing: Before marriage, she wears a pale blue-green jacket and skirt washed almost white 2.
• Ceremonial clothing: For her fifteenth birthday, she wears hibiscus-colored brocade embroidered with magnolia branches, a jade-white cloak trimmed with silver fox fur, and a green-jade hairpin 22.

Personality

Cui Wan is timid, easily frightened, and accustomed to yielding to relatives who control her circumstances. After her father’s imprisonment, she and her mother depend on the Cui Family’s dwindling charity. Even after becoming Second Madam, she struggles to exercise authority: when servants beg forgiveness for disrespecting her, she asks only that they help her find her way next time 2 3 14.

Her compassion repeatedly overcomes her fear. She tries to help an injured stranger on her wedding night, agrees to marriage to secure her mother’s treatment, and later cares for Chu Moqi through fever and incontinence. She also avoids telling Tang Xiang the full extent of his wedding-night mistreatment because she does not want to distress her sister-in-law or worsen his hostility 2 6 8 32.

Although sensitive to rejection, Cui Wan becomes increasingly perceptive about Chu Moqi’s awkward expressions of affection. She learns that his dismissive assessments can conceal approval and recognizes his disappointment at being left out when she distributes cakes 16 25. Her protectiveness also gives her an unusual firmness: she confronts men slandering him, volunteers to receive difficult relatives on his behalf, and eventually insists that he stop exhausting himself during standing practice 26 34 49.

Background / History

Childhood encounter with Chu Moqi

Cui Wan first meets Chu Moqi during the Chu Family Army’s victorious return to the capital. Separated from her father in the crowd, she is knocked down and trampled. Chu Moqi uses his silver spear to hold back the crowd, then offers its shaft so she can pull herself upright 1.

The encounter leaves her deeply attached to him. When her father promises to find her a dependable husband, she quietly says she does not want anyone else. Cui Minghai warns that the difference between their families’ standing makes such a match unlikely. Cui Wan later recognizes the same spear in Chu Moqi’s study, recalling the rescue five years earlier 1 25.

Marriage arranged through coercion

After Cui Minghai is imprisoned, Cui Wan and her bedridden mother, Yang Xiu, fall into poverty. At fourteen, Cui Wan begs her eldest uncle, Cui Minghe, for medicine money. He and Lady Li instead offer her the Chu Family marriage originally intended for their daughter, Cui Ya. Cui Wan agrees in exchange for treatment and continued care for her mother 2.

Her relatives conceal the Chu household’s recent losses and Chu Moqi’s disability. Cui Wan learns the truth from onlookers only as she is being sent to the wedding sedan. When she tries to refuse, Lady Li threatens to stop Yang Xiu’s medicine. Tang Xiang receives her at the Chu residence and guides her through the ceremony in the groom’s absence 4 5.

A hostile beginning in Orchid Courtyard

Left alone in the bridal chamber, Cui Wan slips outside and becomes lost. She attempts to help an injured man in the garden, but he shoves and threatens her. When Chu Moqi eventually enters the bridal chamber, she realizes that he was the man she encountered. He accuses her of seeking a higher social position and warns her not to expect kindness 5 6 7.

Tang Xiang comforts Cui Wan the following morning and introduces Qiaoju as her maid. Nevertheless, her early married life remains frightening. When she enters Chu Moqi’s room after hearing him struggle during a nightmare, he mistakes her for an enemy and nearly strangles her. Her calls of “A-Qi” help him recognize her, but he subsequently threatens her against entering without permission 8 11.

Growing closeness

Their relationship begins to soften through small domestic exchanges. Cui Wan makes osmanthus cakes for the household and, after discovering that Chu Moqi wanted some, prepares another batch for him. He reluctantly permits her to call him “A-Qi.” She later watches over him after finding him unconscious following a drunken fall 14 16 17.

For her fifteenth birthday, Chu Moqi arranges for Tang Xiang to preside over her coming-of-age ceremony and provides a green-jade hairpin. He also gives Cui Wan a jeweled dagger. During the subsequent celebration, she becomes drunk on sweet plum wine, declares that she wants to consummate their marriage, and falls asleep across his lap 22 23.

Her loyalty sometimes places her in danger. After confronting street idlers spreading rumors about Chu Moqi and Tang Xiang, she is harassed, shoved down, and injured. Chu Moqi treats her wounds and secretly punishes the attackers 26 27.

Caregiving and marital conflict

During a severe fever, Chu Moqi clings to Cui Wan and begs her not to leave. She stays and changes his soaked diaper despite her embarrassment. Yan Huai initially conceals her involvement from him; the truth emerges later 32 48.

Cui Wan also tries to draw him out of isolation, persuading him to attend the New Year’s Eve reunion dinner and watch fireworks. She volunteers to receive visiting relatives to prevent further gossip about him, but their intrusive questions and demands overwhelm her 33 34.

Their growing affection does not end his harmful behavior. Jealous of her time with Li Yuezhou—whose help she sought in saving her father—Chu Moqi destroys her rabbit lantern and forcibly kisses her. She bites his lip and leaves in tears. Three days later, she accepts his indirect apology by persuading him to share candied hawthorns with her 36.

False reunion and rescue

When a man believed to be Cui Minghai returns from prison, Cui Wan joyfully introduces Chu Moqi as her husband and agrees to visit her parents. At the Cui residence, however, she is locked in a woodshed and shown a supposed divorce document. Although she cannot read every character, she recognizes that its handwriting is not Chu Moqi’s 39 40.

After escaping, she disappears in East Street. Chu Moqi and his guards find her being sexually assaulted in a dilapidated house. He kills the gang leader, covers her with his cloak, and takes her home after she recognizes him and loses consciousness 42.

Cui Wan’s immediate concern on waking is the safety of two papers Yang Xiu entrusted to her. Qiaoju has recovered them from her inner garment. Chu Moqi’s examination reveals that the returned “Cui Minghai” is an impostor and that an official record implicates him in a deadly waterworks disaster 43.

Bereavement and support for Chu Moqi

Chu Moqi tells Cui Wan that her real father likely died soon after his imprisonment. She visits his unmarked burial place and watches Cui Minghe and Cui Mingjiang beheaded. Soon afterward, she learns that Yang Xiu has taken her own life after her husband’s wrong was avenged. Chu Moqi brings Cui Wan and her mother’s body back to the marquis’s residence, where the funeral is held 46.

Cui Wan subsequently becomes more directly involved in Chu Moqi’s attempts to stand. She removes the wooden supports strapped to his numb legs after a fall and offers to help him. She later makes him soft blue-gray cloth shoes, celebrates his small assisted step, and firmly stops him from overpracticing 48 49.

Abilities & Skills

Cooking

Cui Wan prepares food as a practical expression of care 14 25.

• Makes osmanthus cakes and shares them with servants as well as Chu Moqi 14 16.
• Prepares bird’s nest soup that Chu Moqi approves of in his characteristically restrained manner 25.

Sewing

• Makes soft blue-gray cloth shoes for Chu Moqi, which he wears during standing practice 49.

Caregiving

Cui Wan provides bedside assistance, though the medical treatment itself is handled by others 17 32.

• Tends Chu Moqi’s swollen forehead with warm eggs after his fall 17.
• Remains with him during fever and leg spasms and changes his diaper when he begs her to stay 32.
• Helps remove the ties and supports used during his attempts to stand 48 49.

Observation and Literacy

• Recognizes a forged document by differences in Chu Moqi’s handwriting, despite not knowing all its characters 40.
• Learns to distinguish his literal words from his intended meaning, particularly when he disguises praise as indifference 25.

Limits

• Has little physical strength and cannot safely handle Chu Moqi’s heavy spear 6 25.
• Does not know how to wield the dagger he gives her 23.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Green-jade hairpin — Carved with bamboo and magnolia; provided by Chu Moqi and used by Tang Xiang during Cui Wan’s coming-of-age ceremony 22.
• Jeweled dagger — A fifteenth-birthday gift from Chu Moqi, previously left to him by his elder brother. It has a silver-wire-wrapped hilt, a deep-red pommel gem, and an ebony sheath inlaid with rubies and turquoise 23.
• Silver bracelet — Given to her by Cui Ya after Cui Wan inadvertently witnesses her cousin meeting a man in secret 3.
• Rabbit lantern — Won by Li Yuezhou and brought home by Cui Wan; destroyed by the jealous Chu Moqi 36.

Relationships

• Chu Moqi — Husband and childhood rescuer, whom she calls “A-Qi.” Their marriage develops from fear and mistreatment into affection and mutual care, with continuing conflict over his jealousy, shame, and harsh behavior 1 7 16 32 36 49.
• Yang Xiu — Mother. Securing her medicine is Cui Wan’s condition for accepting the marriage. Yang Xiu later entrusts her with crucial papers and dies by suicide after her husband’s wrong is avenged 2 43 46.
• Cui Minghai — Father and a Ministry of Works principal secretary. His imprisonment leaves Cui Wan vulnerable to her relatives; the man who later returns under his identity is an impostor 1 2 43 46.
• Tang Xiang — Sister-in-law and an early source of protection. She guides Cui Wan through the wedding, comforts her afterward, and presides over her coming-of-age ceremony 4 5 8 22.
• Qiaoju — Personal maid who manages her daily needs, accompanies her outside the residence, and tries to protect her during the street confrontation 8 10 26.
• Yan Qin and Yan Huai — Chu Moqi’s twin guards. They assist during his medical crises; Yan Huai conceals Cui Wan’s intimate caregiving to spare both spouses embarrassment 10 17 32 48.
• Yue Niang / Aunt Yue — Her mother’s attendant and another longstanding source of care. Cui Wan refuses to take her away as a marriage attendant because Yang Xiu still needs her 4 8.
• Cui Minghe and Lady Li — Uncle and aunt who exploit her mother’s illness to arrange the substitute marriage. Lady Li threatens to withdraw medicine when Cui Wan resists 2 4.
• Cui Ya — Cousin whose place Cui Wan takes in the Chu marriage agreement. She threatens Cui Wan into silence about her secret meeting 2 3.
• Li Yuezhou — Cui Wan seeks his help to save her father; his gift of a rabbit lantern provokes Chu Moqi’s jealousy 36.

Notable Quotes

“I don't want anyone else.” 1

“I... I don't want... to let them say things about you, A-Qi...” 34

“No more practice! Do you hear me?” 49