Ye Qingyun

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Family and Early Hardship

Ye Qingyun’s father saved Old Master Su’s life. The families were old friends, and Old Master Su promised his granddaughter, Su Yao, to Ye Qingyun in marriage. His father repeatedly told him that marrying the Su Clan’s daughter would accompany his rise in the capital 35 39.

After his father died, the family had to borrow money for the coffin. Ye Qingyun lived in a leaking house, copied legal petitions for money, and failed the imperial examinations five times in Jizhou. He attributed those failures to family background, examiners, and the disadvantages of poverty 39 50.

Original Novel’s Fate

In the original storyline shown to Gu Moran, Gu Moran coveted Su Yao and forced the chancellor to break her engagement. Humiliated at the engagement-breaking banquet, Ye Qingyun abandoned scholarship for martial arts, trained in anger, and returned three months later to crush Gu Moran’s schemes 2.

Su Yao was his destined romantic partner. In that storyline, his sincerity and strength gradually won her love over eighty chapters; the system identifies her as his SSS-grade core fortune anchor 2 3.

Appearance

• Build: A young man of average height, with long, clean fingers and well-defined knuckles 35.
• Travel clothing: A neatly starched gray-blue robe washed pale from use, paired with cloth boots whose soles were worn thin 35.
• Poetry-gathering attire: A new, fitted blue-gray cloth robe, deliberately modest rather than luxurious 39.
• Distinguishing belongings: A bamboo tube at his waist and an old book bag 35 41.

Personality

Ye Qingyun is ambitious, proud of his talent, and acutely sensitive to contempt toward his humble origins. He deliberately presents himself in plain clothing so that an impressive performance will overturn the audience’s first judgment. His confidence is calculated as well as boastful: he plans the sequence of his poems, their emotional effect, and even the appearance of his departure after breaking the engagement 3 36 39.

His pride includes a genuine refusal to cheat. When offered the poetry gathering’s secret prompt, he rejects it, although he accepts the proceedings and silver for new clothes. Gu Moran acknowledges that he has both backbone and intelligence 39.

His sense of entitlement is particularly evident toward Su Yao. Before meeting her, he assumes she should wait for him because of their families’ agreement and his father’s wishes; her own preference does not enter his calculations. Defeat also makes him suspicious and combative, but he eventually admits Xie Wanqing’s superiority and accepts the judges’ criticism 39 46 50.

Abilities & Skills

Poetry and Literary Composition

Ye Qingyun is a recognized Jizhou poet whose Three Jizhou Quatrains circulate in the capital before his arrival. His work excels in intricate construction, rigorous structure, and carefully chosen allusions 34 35.

• Rapid composition: Completes the gathering’s spring-themed poem in less than a third of an incense stick 45.
• Paired verse: Answers challenges under a five-breath limit, drawing on poverty, ambition, injustice, and the old engagement 48.
• Audience appeal: His accounts of hardship strongly resonate with humble-born scholars 43 44.
• Limitation: Gu Moran identifies his narrow scope as a weakness. The judges later criticize his fixation on personal grievances rather than denying his talent 34 50.

Ancient Scroll Cultivation

A wandering Daoist gives Ye Qingyun an ancient scroll containing a lost cultivation technique. Gu Moran recognizes it as Ye Qingyun’s first fortune treasure from the original storyline 19.

• Reaches the technique’s second level before entering the capital 31.
• Can defeat an entry-level martial artist in direct combat 31.
• Draws reassurance from the scroll’s warmth when his confidence is shaken 36 39.

Destiny and Fortune

Ye Qingyun benefits from supernatural fortune tied to his destined heroine and major opportunities for recognition 2 39 44.

Equipment / Items

• Ancient cultivation scroll — Gift from a wandering Daoist; records a lost technique and gives off a faint warmth 19 36.
• Wax-sealed bamboo tube — Worn at his waist to carry the scroll; he also draws the old betrothal document from it during the gathering 36 44.
• Ye–Su betrothal document — Yellowed paper left by his father, publicly presented to renounce the engagement 44.
• Patronage funds — Receives a fast horse and one hundred taels through the Jizhou Chamber of Commerce, whose largest shareholder is Zhou Wenyuan’s cousin. Later accepts clothing money from Zhou’s aide 34 39.

Relationships

• Su Yao — Former childhood betrothed and destined fortune anchor. They had never met before his arrival in the capital. He uses their old agreement to challenge the Su Clan publicly, then promises to stop using it to gain fame 2 39 44 50.
• Gu Moran — Principal rival in the capital and Su Yao’s husband. Ye Qingyun resents his marriage to her and suspects him of engineering the poetry-gathering defeat 36 50.
• Xie Wanqing — Literary opponent who defeats him in both the spring-themed round and the final paired-verse contest. He questions her authorship before ultimately acknowledging her exceptional talent 46 48 50.
• Shuhe — Bookboy and attendant who accompanies him, buys clothing, carries his belongings, and urges him to rest or leave when the contest turns against him 38 39 48 50.
• Zhou Wenyuan — Patron who supplies assistance through intermediaries, publicly encourages him, and supports his challenges during the gathering 34 39 41 48.
• Su Wenyuan — Chancellor and father of his former betrothed. Refuses to receive him after Su Yao’s marriage but sends an invitation to the poetry gathering through Li Yuan 36.
• Qian Muzhi and Han Heting — Judges who recognize his literary ability while warning him against allowing pride and grievances to define his work 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Journey to the Capital

Ye Qingyun’s approaching arrival is initially presented as the trigger for Gu Moran’s first public humiliation. Gu Moran instead marries Su Yao before the expected engagement-breaking banquet and has agents investigate Ye Qingyun’s route, poetry, cultivation, and supporters 1 7 19 23 31.

Ye Qingyun arrives ahead of the revised schedule and lodges at the Azure Cloud Inn. He intends to break the engagement himself, impress the capital with poetry, and leave the Su family regretting its treatment of him. Learning that Su Yao has already married Gu Moran destroys that planned entrance 35 36.

Confrontation with the Su Clan

Ye Qingyun immediately visits the Chancellor’s Residence to demand an explanation. Li Yuan tells him that the marriage was ordered by the emperor and that Su Yao’s wishes cannot be reduced to a simple question of consent. Denied an audience with the chancellor, Ye Qingyun accepts an invitation to the poetry gathering as his next opportunity for public recognition 36.

He prepares six poems, refuses an advance copy of the secret prompt, and chooses modest clothing to emphasize the contrast between his background and his talent 38 39.

Hanlin Academy Poetry Gathering

Ye Qingyun initially commands the audience with “Entering the Capital,” “Unbending,” and “Azure Clouds.” Between poems, he displays the old betrothal document and publicly renounces the agreement, casting the Su Clan’s conduct as a rejection of an impoverished scholar 43 44.

Xie Wanqing overturns his momentum with poetry prepared with Gu Moran’s help. Ye Qingyun challenges her authorship and demands further competition, but her additional poems win the crowd’s admiration. He concedes the second round while insisting on the final paired-verse contest 35 46 47 48.

In the final round, Xie Wanqing repeatedly answers his personal grievances with broader concerns. He fails to respond within five breaths to “May prose open an age of peace” and loses. His poetry is nevertheless entered into the Hanlin Academy’s records. He formally admits defeat, returns Su Yao’s marriage contract, and states that he will no longer use the engagement to build his reputation 48 50.

Notable Quotes

“I, Ye Qingyun, have no need to cheat.” 39

“Tomorrow, the first thing they need to see is a man of humble birth. Only then should they hear the poetry. The greater the contrast, the louder the slap to their faces.” 39

“Lady Xie, your talent is exceptional. I have lost today.” 50