Tang Zhuyun

Biodata

Background / History

Previous Life and Transmigration

Tang Zhuyun was a renowned doctor from the twenty-second century. After working overnight and completing two operations, she fell down the steps while going to the cafeteria and transmigrated into the body of a twenty-year-old woman bearing the same name. She immediately inherited the original owner’s memories 1.

Her previous-life father was a Muay Thai coach, and she had trained from early childhood for more than thirty years. Her mother died of illness while she was a teenager; without that loss, she believed she might have pursued professional fighting. She continued practicing even after her father’s death 5.

The Original Tang Zhuyun

The original owner’s mother died giving birth to her. Tang Mingfan returned to his official post in the capital with Tang Baixin, leaving his daughter with her paternal grandmother, Madam Song. Although he sent money home, he failed to recognize how badly his daughter was being raised. Under Madam Song’s care, she became vain, spiteful, extravagant, and obsessed with marrying an exceptional man 2.

When her unmarried pregnancy was discovered, Tang Baixin brought her to the capital. She gave birth to Tang Duo, nicknamed Linlin, five years before the transmigration. To conceal his sister’s scandal, Baixin publicly claimed Linlin as his own illegitimate son, sacrificing his reputation and an opportunity to enter the Hanlin Academy 2.

The original owner nevertheless neglected Linlin and squandered the household’s money. Her behavior left her father, brother, and son living in poverty while making her a notorious laughingstock in the capital 2.

Escaping the Courtyard Scheme

The transmigrated Zhuyun awakened near an apparently unconscious Prince of Jin and fled with Xiu’er. Trapped inside a locked courtyard, she attempted to escape before the Grand Princess Royal arrived with Ruan Anruo. Drawing on her inherited memories, Zhuyun recognized Anruo’s friendship as malicious and resisted her attempts to expose a supposed tryst 1.

When Anruo demanded that her pouch be searched for a drug, Zhuyun tasted its contents publicly and identified them as powdered sugar. The confrontation ended with both women barred from the Grand Princess’s residence. At home, Zhuyun promised her family that she would change 2 3.

Restoring the Household

Zhuyun’s first priorities were repaying the original owner’s loan-shark debt and earning her family’s trust without revealing her transmigration. She sold jewelry and winter furs, negotiated payment for treating a pawnbroker’s chronic illness, and borrowed money from her father to settle the debt early 4 6 7.

She took responsibility for household management, improved the family’s meals, and began earning money through her cooking and medical knowledge. Her efforts eventually secured an exclusive seasoning-supply agreement with the Four Seas Tower. She also helped obtain the horse Gale and arranged a carriage and driver to ease Tang Mingfan’s journeys to court 6 15 16 18.

Rebuilding her relationship with Linlin required more than material support. She demonstrated martial arts, offered to teach him, and promised not to hand him over to his unknown biological father. Linlin began trusting her but warned that he would never forgive another abandonment 10.

Tang Baixin’s Case and Yanran’s Care

After helping revive a drowned fugitive, Zhuyun learned that her medical intervention had aided her father’s investigation. Soon afterward, the Prince of Jin warned her that Baixin faced embezzlement accusations. The family discovered that someone had used Baixin’s official seal to withdraw several thousand taels 19 22 24.

Zhuyun refused to let Baixin sacrifice himself by leaving the family and approached the prince. He offered to protect Baixin and repay the disputed silver if she cured his daughter, Yanran, within a month 24 25.

Zhuyun’s gentle questioning helped uncover Yanran’s mistreatment by Hongxiu. After the abuse was exposed, Yanran refused to leave her, and the prince allowed Zhuyun to take the girl home. He subsequently moved next door and became a frequent visitor, while the emperor endorsed Zhuyun’s care of his granddaughter 27 28 29.

The Unwanted Marriage Arrangement

During the Dragon Boat Festival, the emperor announced plans for Meng Yulan to become the Prince of Jin’s principal consort and Zhuyun his secondary consort. Zhuyun repeatedly insisted that she did not want the marriage and prepared medicine intended to simulate a serious illness as a possible escape 37 38 41.

When Meng Yulan attempted suicide, Zhuyun accompanied the prince to examine her. Learning that Meng loved the exiled Jiang Beihan, she offered help rather than treating her as a romantic rival. The prince gave both women until the following May to change the emperor’s mind and obtained permission to observe a year of mourning for his maternal grandmother 39 41 42 43.

The emperor’s choice was influenced by Master Hong’en’s prophecy that Tang Mingfan’s daughter would experience a very different fortune after turning twenty. Seeing Zhuyun’s transformation and her help to Yanran, he hoped her good fortune would benefit his son and granddaughter 43 44.

Madam Song’s Arrival

When Madam Song arrived in the capital with Song Cui’er, Zhuyun resisted her demands for obedience and her attempt to arrange Cui’er’s marriage to Baixin. Her position as the prince’s intended secondary consort gave her leverage, while a warning about implicating the entire family in deceiving the emperor silenced Madam Song’s threat to expose her past 46 47.

Zhuyun then restricted Madam Song’s access to her resources and staged an unusually affectionate welcome for the Prince of Jin to make her grandmother more cautious. By this point, her seasoning and medicine ventures were bringing in nearly two hundred taels for the month, but she still wanted enough money to repay the prince, move to a larger home, and improve Linlin’s educational opportunities 48 49.

Appearance

• Her face closely resembles her late mother’s, a resemblance that deeply affects Tang Mingfan 3.
• She considers the original owner a “budding beauty,” though not uniquely beautiful among the capital’s women 24.
• Her current body is initially weak and poorly conditioned: carrying groceries exhausts her, and her martial-arts performance falls short of her previous-life standard 5 10.

Personality

Zhuyun is practical and persistent. Rather than expecting immediate forgiveness, she accepts that years of misconduct cannot be erased overnight. She repeatedly tries new ways to earn money after restaurants reject her dishes, treating setbacks as part of improving the household’s circumstances 7 10.

Her gratitude toward Tang Mingfan and Tang Baixin develops into fierce family loyalty. Although she did not commit the original owner’s wrongs, she resolves to repay the debts she inherited. She rejects Baixin’s attempt at self-sacrifice and insists that his troubles concern the whole family 6 23 24.

She is particularly tender toward children. She worries about Linlin’s insecurity and excessive academic pressure, comforts Yanran after Hongxiu’s abuse, and readily treats both children as her own responsibility. That gentleness can turn into immediate aggression when she finds Linlin being beaten 10 11 28 34.

Her sharp tongue and willingness to use deception distinguish her from her upright father and brother. She humiliates hostile nobles, manipulates Ruan Anruo into an expensive purchase, and teaches Linlin that retreat and unconventional tactics can be wiser than rigid confrontation 14 15 33.

Despite appreciating handsome men, Zhuyun does not share her predecessor’s determination to marry. She repeatedly resists becoming the Prince of Jin’s consort, worries about the political danger of their association, and places raising the children above finding a husband 29 37.

Abilities & Skills

Medicine and Emergency Care

Zhuyun retains the expertise of her previous life as a renowned doctor 1.

• Diagnosis and prescriptions: Recognizes the pawnbroker’s chronic joint condition from his deformed fingers and pulse; her prescription substantially improves his symptoms 4 13.
• Resuscitation: Directs and participates in CPR that revives a drowned fugitive, working with Chang Zhi and the Prince of Jin 19.
• Injury assessment: Identifies the fugitive’s broken ribs and warns that moving him without treatment could lead to a fatal lung injury 19.
• Patient care: Tends Yanran through a fever overnight and examines Meng Yulan after her suicide attempt 32 39.
• Medicine preparation: Produces medicines sold through Qingfeng and prepares a separate medicine intended to mimic serious illness 32 38 41.

Muay Thai

Her martial knowledge comes from decades of training under her previous-life father, not from the countryside training she claims as a cover story 5 10.

• Demonstrates punches and kicks through a wrist-thick tree branch to impress Linlin 10.
• Attacks the larger boy beating Linlin before learning that he is Prince Rong’s young commandery prince 11.
• Teaches or practices boxing with Linlin, Yanran, and Xiu’er 11 46.
• Must rebuild her current body’s strength and endurance; both she and Linlin initially require better nutrition and gradual conditioning 10 11.

Cooking and Seasoning Production

Zhuyun uses inexpensive ingredients to make meals her family comes to depend on 5 38.

• Prepares dishes including mao xue wang, bone broth, wontons, potato pancakes, roujiamo, and red-braised pork 5 7 16 45.
• Inherits a cold-dish seasoning recipe from her previous-life mother’s family, requiring more than twenty ingredients 7.
• Negotiates an exclusive supply contract with the Four Seas Tower rather than selling the secret recipe outright 18.
• Adapts meals to individual needs, including preparing a vegetarian breakfast for the mourning Prince of Jin 43.

Negotiation and Counter-Scheming

Zhuyun combines observation, inherited memories, and calculated provocation to defend herself and earn money.

• Secures a twenty-tael treatment fee from the initially dismissive pawnbroker 4.
• Provokes Ruan Anruo into paying six hundred taels for a horse originally offered at three hundred 14.
• Notices a palace maid’s ill-fitting clothing and exposes a planted-pendant theft accusation 35.
• Uses her intended consort status and the prince’s apparent favor to check Madam Song’s authority 47 49.

Literacy Limitations

• Initially cannot comfortably read the local, seal-script-like characters and dictates her prescription instead of writing it herself 4.
• Keeps financial calculations using a charcoal pencil and a private “little black ledger” 49.

Relationships

• Tang Mingfan — Father of her current body and minister of the Court of Judicial Review. His continued trust moves her to take responsibility for the household and improve his daily life 1 6 16.
• Tang Baixin — Her only full brother. Initially distrustful of her reform, he gradually becomes reassured; she later fights to protect him from the embezzlement case 2 8 22 24.
• Tang Duo / Linlin — Her biological son, publicly presented as Baixin’s son and her nephew. She works to repair the original owner’s neglect through affection, protection, and teaching 2 10 11 19.
• Yanran — The Prince of Jin’s daughter and Zhuyun’s patient and ward. Yanran clings to her after Hongxiu’s abuse and wants her to marry the prince so they will not be separated 27 28 34 36.
• Prince of Jin — An initially distrusted acquaintance who becomes her brother’s protector, Yanran’s visiting father, and her intended husband. Their frequent arguments coexist with growing familiarity, though Zhuyun consistently denies wanting the marriage 25 28 37 43 45.
• Xiu’er — Loyal maid who helps with Zhuyun’s escape, cooking, errands, and childcare; later joins her boxing practice 1 5 29 46.
• Meng Yulan — Friend and fellow unwilling bride. Zhuyun supports her wish to reunite with Jiang Beihan and pays to send him her package 41 42 45.
• Ruan Anruo — Former supposed friend turned open enemy. Zhuyun counters her manipulation, public insults, and attempted theft framing 1 14 33 35.
• Madam Song — Abusive paternal grandmother. Zhuyun resists her control, financial demands, and plans for Baixin’s marriage 46 47 48 49.
• Qingfeng — A male courtesan pursued by the original owner who becomes a business associate distributing Zhuyun’s medicine 29 32 49.
• Chang Zhi — Friendly constable, regular diner, Tang Mingfan’s volunteer driver, and Linlin’s riding instructor. He declines the prince’s attempt to match him with Zhuyun 16 19 32.
• Song Jingyang — The prince’s attendant and a frequent target of her sarcasm. His suspicion of her repeatedly fuels misunderstandings and arguments 7 18 19 32.

Notable Quotes

“Father, I’ll manage the household from now on. I promise everyone in the family will have enough to eat and warm clothes to wear. I won’t squander money again.” 6

“This is how you deal with an enemy: if you can beat them, fight; if you can’t, find a way to beat them; if you still can’t beat them, run; if you can’t run, kneel.” 15

“Who needs men? Raising children is enough!” 37