Pei Qing

Biodata

Background / History

At eight years old, Pei Qing was entrusted to the former imperial preceptor during turmoil within the Beast Taming Pavilion. His mother and the former preceptor were close friends, and she prioritized her son’s survival over the position he would hold. Finding no more suitable successor, the former preceptor raised him to inherit the office 7.

Instability early in Lou Qing’s reign prevented the customary journey undertaken by master and disciple. His master also deliberately limited his worldly connections, leaving Pei Qing isolated in a lofty palace pavilion without companions his own age. His mother eventually sent teachers to instruct him, including A Zi and Ying Yi. They loved him but had little experience raising children; A Zi later worked to teach him to express his own wishes 7.

Pei Qing already held the title of Imperial Preceptor at thirteen, when he taught the nine-year-old Lou Ze’an. The crown prince became his first friend. An outing to recover Pei Qing’s missing cat, Tuantuan, also led to his first meeting with Lou Yun 7 14 15.

As an adolescent, Pei Qing developed feelings for Lou Yun but concealed them. Xuanjizi had taught him that an imperial preceptor should avoid excessive worldly attachments because they harmed his cultivation. His responsibilities as teacher, subject, and an elder-brother-like figure further convinced him that he should not pursue her 1 19.

Appearance

• Features: Exceptionally beautiful, with pale skin, long black hair, and clear, pale eyes. His distant bearing repeatedly prompts comparisons to cranes and immortals 3 6 10 20.
• Usual clothing: Commonly wears white robes, though he also appears in green and pale purple. He wears earrings and often uses a veil 3 4 16.
• Personal motifs: Carries a cloth bag embroidered with a tiger; the same small creature appears on his veil 3 4.
• Footwear: Often wears wooden clogs. In winter, he replaces his lighter clothing with a cloak and fur coat; unlike the other officials, he is not required to wear an official uniform 3 36.
• Scent: Has a recognizable medicinal fragrance, which allows Lou Yun to identify him during the nighttime assassination attempt 2.
• Ceremonial dress: For the sacrifice to Heaven, wears dark embroidered robes, an antlered bronze mask, agate and jade ornaments, and unusually tall wooden clogs 36.

Personality

Pei Qing is compassionate, conscientious, and deeply committed to public service. He considers the realm his first responsibility, painstakingly reviews students’ work, offers free medical consultations, and helps trafficking survivors establish stable lives. His concern for others can become paternal: despite being only twenty-two, he treats the distressed Rouniang like a younger child in need of protection 9 20 34 36 37.

His public dignity contrasts with considerable social and emotional inexperience. Childhood isolation, mistreatment by servants, and repeated abandonment taught him to please people he regarded as his own and to repay kindness disproportionately. He struggles to state his needs directly and is especially vulnerable to perceived rejection; after Lou Yun leaves him standing in the snow, he becomes overwhelmed and faints 7 12 33 40 41.

His gentleness does not make him passive. He argues against the crown prince when duty requires it, enjoys facing a worthy martial opponent, and becomes increasingly playful and assertive with Lou Yun. When her life is at stake, he can also be ruthless, threatening Bu’er with his whip to compel his cooperation 14 19 29 44.

Abilities & Skills

Martial Arts

Pei Qing is an accomplished martial artist whose preferred weapon is a whip, despite his reputation as the creator of a celebrated sword technique 2.

• Whip combat: Guards Lou Yun’s rear during the assassination attempt and catches an assassin around the waist to set up her finishing strike 2.
• Rippling Waves Sword Technique: Created the technique sought after by martial artists throughout the world 2.
• Lightness skill: Pursues Lou Yun when she flees the capital during an episode of madness 19.
• Combat limits: Fights Lou Yun for half a day using all his skills, but loses and is left exhausted and bleeding. He also struggles to keep pace with her movement technique 19.

Medicine and Poisons

Pei Qing practices medicine both in investigations and through free consultations at clinics in the capital 4 36.

• Identifies poison and an external injury on Li An’s burned body 4.
• Recognizes Hundred Flowers Dew through scent and pulse examination, treats Cui Rou, and helps her escape Li An’s residence 14.
• Carries medicine for snake venom because Little Green repeatedly bit him while he protected Little White 16.
• Previously supplies Jin Yu with body-weakening powder; an arrow coated with that same powder later incapacitates him 39.

Animal Handling and Gu Control

Raised among members of the Beast Taming Pavilion, Pei Qing keeps animals that would ordinarily prey on one another in the same courtyard 16 27.

• Courtyard animals: Includes Little Green, Little White, a big cat, and Youyou. Keeping them together required repeated intervention rather than effortless obedience 16.
• Xiao Jin: His golden eagle, which he affectionately calls over when it returns 31.
• Gu knowledge: Studies ancient texts on medicine, poison, divination, and witchcraft to learn how to control gu creatures 42.
• Demonstrated control: Makes Bu’er’s rattlesnake coil tamely around his arm and prevents it from biting even when Bu’er commands it with a flute 42.

Investigation and Infiltration

Pei Qing combines medical examination, close observation, and undercover work 4 9 23 38.

• Sensitive hearing: Detects a hidden follower before Lou Yun does; he explicitly attributes this to naturally acute hearing 4.
• Evidence assessment: Notices that Rouniang’s account of stabbing Li An does not match the direction of his wound 9.
• Material examination: Collects fragments from a concealed passage’s wall for later study 17.
• Undercover performance: Poses as Ye Yun, a traveler from Chuanshu compiling a travelogue, and sustains the identity under Lin Bian’s questioning 23 24.
• Stealth: Enters the guarded Ministry of Rites by exploiting patrol changes and masking his footsteps, though Jin Yu eventually traps him 38 39.

Scholarship, Teaching, and Ritual

Pei Qing’s office encompasses education, court service, and religious ceremony 2 34 36.

• Teaching: Instructs princes and Imperial Academy students, reviews policy essays, and mentors Fan Buluo 2 34 49.
• Educational reform: Supports students of humble birth and seeks capable officials outside the aristocratic families dominating the examinations 34 36 44.
• Examination administration: Serves as chief examiner for a resit after irregularities are found in the candidates’ papers 41.
• Ritual duties: Leads the imperial sacrifice to Heaven, reciting scriptures and presenting incense 36.
• Divination: Recalls having performed a divination concerning Lou Yun as a child 18.
• Practical limits: Knows military texts but has never commanded troops. On his first journey with the army, Lou Yun must teach him how to prepare a wilderness camp 32 33.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Bone/silver whip: His principal combat weapon, carried at his waist 2 19 44.
• Longsword: Brings a sword for the person he believes to be the crown prince during the assassination attempt; Lou Yun retains it afterward 2 3.
• Tiger-embroidered cloth bag: Carried on Mo Chi’s advice to hold potentially useful supplies 3.
• Dagger and handkerchief: Uses them to collect and wrap material samples during the Li residence investigation 17.
• White porcelain mask: Chosen for him by Lou Yun; decorated with wings, dark red patterns, hollow gold rings, and green agate 16.
• Ceremonial staff: An ancient staff wrapped in blue and red cloth, with beads and a multicolored feather suspended from its top 36.

Relationships

• Lou Yun — His beloved and investigative partner. Their relationship develops from concealed attraction into an explicit commitment, although he initially asks to place Great Yan’s stability first. She teaches him practical skills and reassures him about his fear of abandonment; he later helps her confront her curse 19 20 33 41 46 47 48.
• Lou Ze’an — His student and first friend. Lou Yun initially mistakes their closeness for romance, but Pei Qing explicitly describes them as imperial preceptor and crown prince, and perhaps friends 7 14 35.
• Xuanjizi — His master and predecessor as imperial preceptor. Raises him as a successor and teaches him to avoid worldly entanglements 7 19.
• His mother — Master of the Beast Taming Pavilion. Entrusts him to the former imperial preceptor for safety and later sends teachers to educate him 7 27.
• A Zi — His last teacher and the one who teaches him longest. Remains beside him after he establishes his own residence and tries to correct his habit of suppressing his wishes 7 14.
• Ying Yi — One of the teachers sent by his mother. Helps reveal his inability to tolerate spicy food; Pei Qing affectionately addresses him as “Grandpa Ying” 6 7.
• Mo Chi — His attendant. Explains Pei Qing’s history of abandonment to Lou Yun and finds him before his collapse in the snow 3 40 41.
• Fan Buluo — A student Pei Qing strongly supports. Becomes top scholar, then accepts the Jiangling prefecture despite Pei Qing’s objections to his removal from the capital 44 49.
• Cui Rou / Rouniang — A woman he previously rescued from Hundred Flowers Dew and later questions during Li An’s murder investigation 9 14.
• Xie Wan — A trafficking survivor who seeks justice with his help and later joins the Beast Taming Pavilion, expressing a wish to work for him 28 37.
• Bu’er — A gu practitioner whose provocations Pei Qing initially tolerates. Their encounters expose Pei Qing’s gu expertise and his willingness to use force to obtain help for Lou Yun 42 43 44.
• Xu Lin — A political opponent whose control over examinations obstructs Pei Qing’s search for capable officials. Later maneuvers Fan Buluo into leaving the capital 34 49.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Return to the Capital and Li An’s Murder

• Rescues Lou Yun from assassins while she is impersonating the missing crown prince, fighting beside her with remarkable coordination 2.
• Investigates Li An’s burned residence with her, uncovering poison, injuries, suspicious testimony, and evidence pointing toward human trafficking 4 9 12.
• Conceals his wider investigation to protect her from distress. Their confrontation escalates when he suspects her hidden capabilities may indicate an intention to contend for the throne 18.
• Pursues her during an episode of madness, loses their ensuing duel, and subsequently agrees to a future together once Great Yan is stable 19 20.

Jiangling Trafficking Investigation

• Infiltrates the Lin household as Ye Yun while Lou Yun enters the trafficking operation under a separate disguise 22 23 24.
• Works with A Zi and Xie Wan to gather evidence against Lin Bian and his associates. After the arrests, assigns local officials to oversee Jiangling 28 32.
• Presents the case at court, leading to punishment of the minister of rites and more than twenty accomplices. Later places homeless women rescued from Pleasant Breeze Courtyard in A Zi’s shops 34 37.

Imperial Examination Dispute

• Supports poorer candidates by planning accommodation and challenging aristocratic dominance of official recruitment 34 36.
• Secretly examines disputed papers at the Ministry of Rites, but is trapped by Jin Yu and shot in the shoulder. Lou Yun rescues him 38 39.
• Oversees the resit after suspicious problems are confirmed. Fan Buluo’s eventual first-place result gives him hope of weakening the great clans’ control of court 41 44.

Lou Yun’s Curse

• Intervenes when Lou Yun’s curse-driven madness threatens Ying Yi, then helps her identify suppressed desire as its trigger 46.
• Insists on participating despite her fear of harming him. Their first intimate encounter accompanies the return of her reason 47 48.

Jiangnan Investigation

• Opposes Xu Lin’s attempt to send Fan Buluo away, then blames himself when his student accepts the Jiangling appointment 49.
• Helps establish that the reported Jiangnan drought never occurred and departs secretly to investigate the scheme behind the relief arrangements 49.

Opening Flash-Forward

• Chapter 1 previews a later point when the country is secure but Pei Qing has lost his position as imperial preceptor. Facing officials who want him driven out, he worries that he will damage Lou Yun’s reputation before choosing to approach her rather than leave 1.

Notable Quotes

“As Great Yan’s imperial preceptor, I am valued by the sovereign, respected by the officials, and supported by the people. From the moment I took this position, my life was destined to place the realm first.” 20

“I don’t know everything. Right now, for instance, I don’t know what I should prepare to get through tonight better.” 33

“Your Majesty, do you need a male empress?” 1