Wei Mingxiu

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood in the palace

Wei Mingxiu’s mother was a courtesan singer who entered the palace after bearing Wei Zhao a son. She never rose above Noble Lady. Wei Zhao kept mother and son in the palace to antagonize the empress dowager, then effectively abandoned Mingxiu after both women died. Mingxiu nevertheless continued making excuses for his father’s neglect until the confrontation at the Imperial Academy 1 2.

Despite being the grand tutor’s most diligent and talented pupil, Mingxiu endured repeated humiliation from his siblings and palace servants. His food and living conditions were inadequate, and Xiao Wu was his only attendant. His mother’s silver hairpin remained one of his most treasured possessions 1 3 9 47.

Meeting Zhou Ye

When Wei Chengye insulted Mingxiu’s mother and seized her hairpin, Mingxiu tackled him to retrieve it. Chengye’s attendants beat Mingxiu and injured Xiao Wu; Chengye then tried to drive the hairpin into Mingxiu’s eye. Zhou Ye intervened and stopped him 1.

Wei Zhao accepted Chengye’s version of events and ordered Xiao Wu executed for protesting. Mingxiu shielded his servant and accused the emperor of trapping his mother in the palace until she died. When Wei Zhao attacked him with a sword, Zhou Ye caught the blade in his bare hand. This incident destroyed Mingxiu’s remaining hope of receiving paternal affection or justice 2.

Zhou Ye subsequently offered to support Mingxiu’s bid for the throne, claiming that he wanted to protect his household and eventually become prince regent. Mingxiu questioned why such a powerful general would support an unfavored prince before accepting the alliance. He entrusted Zhou Ye with his mother’s hairpin as a pledge, permitting Zhou Ye to kill him with it if he ever broke his word 4 5.

Seeking the empress’s protection

Under Zhou Ye’s guidance, Mingxiu learned to answer provocation without losing control. Their next political objective was to place him under Empress Feng’s care, securing protection and a counterweight to Wei Chengye. The plan depended on convincing the empress that Chengye’s succession would endanger both her and her son, Wei Zeyu 8 9 13.

Working with Consort Xian, Mingxiu rescued Zeyu’s cat, Xuexue, and drew his second brother into life at the Imperial Academy. Zeyu became openly attached to him, while Chengye’s hostility helped expose the threat he posed. Mingxiu also contributed to the trap surrounding the Zhao Family’s attempt to smuggle Zhao Hai out during the Qingming procession, correctly identifying Kou Yuan as their likely intermediary 17 18 19 26.

The royal hunting-ground scheme

Mingxiu arranged a supposedly private fight to the death with Chengye at the May royal hunt. Beforehand, he deliberately lost their academy sparring matches to conceal his strength and encourage Chengye’s confidence 39.

Chengye brought five hired deathsworn and attacked Mingxiu’s horse. Mingxiu fled along a route he had secretly marked, using Chengye’s pursuit to bring the confrontation within reach of witnesses. He also arranged for Zeyu to direct the emperor north and bring Empress Feng along, ensuring that Wei Zhao could not quietly shield his favored son 40 42.

Mingxiu allowed Chengye to stab him in the chest just before the Imperial Guards arrived. His subsequent appeals, reinforced by Zhou Ye and Empress Feng, forced Wei Zhao to sentence Chengye to thirty lashes and five years of confinement at Cypress Mountain Temple. Mingxiu’s wound missed his internal organs, but he still suffered serious blood loss and required emergency treatment 41 42 43 44.

The incident also secured an imperial decree placing Mingxiu under Empress Feng’s care. He later explained that he had studied the intended wound, consulted Yun Shen about its survivability, and retained the means to defend himself if the scheme failed. Zhou Ye acknowledged his success while condemning the danger he had accepted without consultation 45 46 47.

Five years of consolidation

Mingxiu moved into Wei Zeyu’s residence, where his provisions finally matched his status and his personal attendants increased from one to six. Wei Zhao repeatedly infiltrated the household with servants tasked with poisoning, assassinating, or engineering accidents for him. None succeeded. The emperor eventually suspected that Mingxiu himself—not Empress Feng—had devised the hunting-ground trap 47.

Five years later, Mingxiu held the title Prince You. Assigned a difficult corruption investigation in the south, he gathered the evidence within half a month, executed officials responsible for commoners’ deaths, confiscated embezzled property, and arranged to escort prisoners back to the capital. Residents came to see him off; he accepted a little girl’s flower as his gift of thanks 48.

At the same time, Wei Zhao considered marrying him to Chu’s third princess, a match that would remove him from the succession. Zhou Ye instructed Mingxiu to protect the princess and try to win her favor. Although troubled by the apparent contradiction, Mingxiu followed the order, rescued the Chu delegation with A-Nan, and refused to abandon the princess’s protection to pursue fleeing assassins. Zhou Ye then appeared with the fugitives captured, concealing his identity behind a mask 47 48 49 50.

Fate in the original novel

In the original storyline known to Zhou Ye and the system, Mingxiu became the tyrannical emperor of Wei. The original Zhou Ye’s death on the battlefield, engineered by Emperor Chaoyang, precipitated his descent into brutality. Mingxiu killed his father and brothers and purged court officials to seize imperial power, although he consistently treated the Marquis of Zhenbei’s Household well 1 5.

The system later explains that Mingxiu ultimately lost the will to live because Zhou Ye had died and allowed the original male lead to take his throne. His connection with Empress Feng and Wei Zeyu belongs to the altered storyline; those bonds did not exist in the original plot 25 47.

Appearance

• Facial features: Inherits his mother’s delicate, gentle appearance, with red lips, white teeth, and distinctive peach-blossom eyes. He stands out even among the handsome imperial children 5 7.
• Early physique: Initially frail and poorly nourished, with accumulated injuries that make physical examination painful 2 9 12.
• Later physique: Diligent training and medicinal support strengthen his body; by his later archery practice, he is explicitly no longer frail 34 38.
• Expression: Rarely smiles after his mother’s death, but news of Zhou Ye’s appointment to the Imperial Academy produces an unusually radiant smile 7.

Personality

Mingxiu is proud, studious, and protective of people with little power. He risks his life to shield Xiao Wu and regards repayment of kindness as a serious obligation, following his mother’s teaching that a small kindness deserves a much greater return. His initial response to injustice can be dangerously impulsive: after losing faith in Wei Zhao, he briefly welcomes death as a way to condemn his father publicly 2 3 4 5.

Zhou Ye’s instruction turns that defiance into calculated restraint. Mingxiu learns to provoke opponents while appearing innocent, hide his capabilities, and make use of witnesses and political expectations. Nevertheless, he chooses to injure himself rather than expose Wei Zeyu to harm in the hunting-ground scheme—a distinction Empress Feng recognizes 9 18 39 44.

His composure is least reliable where Zhou Ye is concerned. He envies Yun Shen’s closeness to the general, resents being dismissed as too young, and longs to become capable enough to share Zhou Ye’s burdens. After growing up, he recognizes that Zhou Ye is the only person whose romantic favor he wants. Around outsiders he remains refined and courteous; with A-Nan, he is much sharper and readily makes threats when teased about his teacher 26 37 46 48 49 50.

Abilities & Skills

Martial training and development

Strategy and deception

• Provocation: Turns Chengye’s insults against him without attacking first, making any retaliation politically costly 8 9.
• Concealment: Deliberately loses sparring matches and performs fear, exhaustion, and submission to manipulate Chengye’s decisions 39 40 41.
• Prepared terrain: Marks trees before the hunt and tracks his pursuer’s position to anticipate incoming arrows 40.
• Political coordination: Arranges witnesses and relies on the Feng Family and Zhou Ye to turn a personal attack into enforceable imperial action 42 45 47.
• Risk: His plans can require genuine injury. The hunting-ground victory leaves him severely wounded despite his precautions 43 44 47.

Medicine and poisons

• Studies medical and poison manuals supplied through Zhou Ye, then sends questions to Yun Shen that earn praise for their insight 24 27.
• Learns bodily anatomy and consults Yun Shen before choosing the location of his planned sword wound 39 47.
• Secretly appears to slow his bleeding during the confrontation, though the exact treatment is not explained 42.
• Recognizes poison concealed in a dead assassin’s mouth and identifies the attackers as death soldiers 49.
• Survives repeated poisoning attempts; the account does not establish literal immunity to every poison 47.

Governance and investigation

• Receives the grand tutor’s praise for understanding government and keeping the realm’s welfare in mind 1.
• Resolves an entrenched regional corruption case within half a month through evidence collection, punishment, confiscation, and prisoner transport 48.
• Earns public gratitude from people harmed by abusive officials 48.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Silver peach-blossom hairpin: His mother’s keepsake, decorated with two flowers. He gives it to Zhou Ye as a pledge of loyalty 1 5.
• Medical and poison-study supplies: Manuals, testing tools, and medicines obtained from Yun Shen through Zhou Ye 24 26.
• Self-defense dagger: Given by Zhou Ye as protection against danger within the imperial harem 24.
• Black iron bow: A black-and-gold bow specially commissioned by Zhou Ye as a birthday gift. With inner force, Mingxiu can hit a willow leaf from a hundred paces; assassins recognize the weapon as Prince You’s 49.
• Long sword: Carried at his waist during his southern assignment and the rescue of the Chu delegation 48 49.

Relationships

• Zhou Ye — Savior, teacher, political supporter, and object of romantic attachment. Mingxiu trusts him absolutely but struggles with his warnings about leaving and his insistence on treating him as a child 4 19 47 49.
• Wei Zhao / Emperor Chaoyang — Father and political enemy. His neglect and favoritism destroy Mingxiu’s filial hopes; he later repeatedly attempts to have Mingxiu killed 2 47.
• Mother — Deceased singer and Noble Lady. Mingxiu fiercely defends her memory, treasures her hairpin, and retains her teaching about repaying kindness 1 4 5.
• Xiao Wu — Loyal personal eunuch. Mingxiu protects him from execution and worries that serving an unfavored prince will cost him his life. In the original storyline, Xiao Wu remains with him even when the imperial city falls 2 3 5.
• Wei Chengye — Third brother, childhood persecutor, and succession rival. Mingxiu turns Chengye’s attempted murder into a public defeat and five-year confinement 1 40 43.
• Empress Feng — Protector and political ally. She recognizes both his imperial potential and his restraint toward Zeyu, then takes responsibility for his care 42 44 45 47.
• Wei Zeyu — Second brother and eventual housemate. What begins as a route to the empress’s protection becomes an affectionate bond; Zeyu wants to protect his Sixth Brother and repeatedly seeks his reassurance 17 25 31 46 47.
• Yun Shen — Source of medical knowledge and an early focus of jealousy. Mingxiu respectfully asks to call him teacher and later consults him about the hunting-ground wound 26 27 47.
• A-Nan — Traveling companion and combat partner. His teasing draws threats from Mingxiu, but he respects the prince’s judgment during the delegation rescue 48 49.

Notable Quotes

“This hairpin was left to me by my mother. Please keep it for me from now on, General. If a day comes when I dare break my word, you may use it to kill me. I will never fight back.” 5

“Junior Preceptor, I won.” 46

“I won't blame you, Junior Preceptor. Or rather, I actually like it a little when you get angry with me, because it shows how much you care about me.” 47