Qiao Shuyi

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood and Transmigration

Qiao Shuyi is born into Great Zhang with memories of her previous life. Already able to read far beyond her age, she conceals her unusual maturity. Her boredom with lessons and habit of moving between different subjects eventually earn her an undeserved reputation for being ignorant and unlearned 11.

As Qiao Nanyu's legitimate daughter, she grows up surrounded by wealth, servants, and extraordinary indulgence. Her mother, Liu Jinyu, cherishes her, while Qiao Nanyu's apparent favoritism serves his interest in obtaining the Liu family's money. Liu Jinyu also provides shadow guards who protect Shuyi from childhood 1 7 25.

At sixteen, Shuyi recovers her memories of the novel she inhabits. She recognizes her male favorite, Zhigui, as the disguised emperor Zongzheng Heng and remembers that her father's rebellion will be exposed within a month. In the original novel, she is an early casualty of the Qiao household's destruction 1.

The Month with Zhigui

Believing neither flattery nor rebellion can save her, Shuyi decides to make herself unforgettable to Zongzheng Heng. Her longer-term ambition is to enter the palace, become empress, secure the succession for her child, and eventually become empress dowager—not merely escape execution 1 7.

She subjects the disguised emperor to humiliation and punishment, including enforced kneeling and confinement in a water dungeon. She then tends his injuries, shares her favorite food with him, and demands affection and obedience. Zongzheng Heng endures her treatment to investigate Qiao Nanyu, repeatedly resolving to kill her once his work is finished 2 4 7 9.

Shuyi also publicly protects him. At the spring banquet, she interrupts Lu Wenzhou's assault, orders the death of the page who restrained Zhigui, and stabs both of Lu Wenzhou's thighs 18.

Saving Liu Jinyu

An examination of the manor's accounts reveals that Qiao Nanyu has diverted Liu Jinyu's dowry money through vaguely recorded expenses to support his private soldiers. Shuyi fears that even proof of his betrayal will not persuade her mother to abandon him 11.

She therefore engineers an opportunity for Qiao Shuqin and Song Chengyin to frame Liu Jinyu for infidelity. Shuyi forges a letter in her mother's handwriting to Lord Zhou, Liu Jinyu's childhood sweetheart, intending to provoke a divorce that will remove her mother from the condemned household 12 16.

When Qiao Nanyu instead threatens to drown Liu Jinyu, Shuyi intervenes and secures her removal to an estate outside the city. She gives her mother an embroidered pouch to open only if something unbearable happens and places her under the protection of her own people and the Liu family 20 25.

Although she enabled the scandal, Shuyi retaliates against those who carried it out. After Song Chengyin dies, she privately tells Qiao Shuqin that she killed her mother; the method is not disclosed 24 25.

Deepening Entanglement

Shuyi deliberately encourages Zongzheng Heng to abandon his restraint. Their growing attachment includes a promise beneath a flowering fringe tree to share the springs and autumns of their lives, though both conceal their intentions 23 26.

She also exploits Qiao Shuqin's hatred as part of her plans. After Qiao Shuqin drugs Zongzheng Heng and attempts to force herself on him, Shuyi intervenes. She subsequently restrains him and tattoos “Shushu” beneath his collarbone despite his resistance, intending the mark to provide future leverage. Their first sexual encounter follows while he remains overcome by the drug 25 28 30.

Zongzheng Heng tries to strangle her after waking and seeing the tattoo, but releases her. Shuyi later frees Fuzhi and Qingyan from their service contracts as a demonstration that she cares only for him 31 32.

Condemnation and Escape

At Qiao Nanyu's birthday banquet, Gu Huai'an delivers an imperial edict stripping him of his title, confiscating his property, and condemning all 137 members of the Qiao household to execution. The manor becomes their prison while they await death 35 36.

Zongzheng Heng recognizes that Shuyi's guards could help her escape. After he again fails to kill her, she considers the central gamble of her month with him successful and asks him to leave 37.

Shuyi escapes after learning she is pregnant. With An Yi and A Qi, she arranges a false death at a cliff, using a concealed cave as her escape route. Black Armor Guards intercept them, and an arrow strikes her right shoulder before she falls over the edge just as Zongzheng Heng arrives 38 39.

A Qi catches her with a whip and draws her into the cave. Soft golden-silk armor and thick padding have prevented the arrow from injuring her; when she removes it, its head bears no blood 40.

Liu Susu in Wu Commandery

While traveling with Yan Po's caravan, Shuyi shelters Song Jue from a pursuer. Recognizing him as a future influential supporter of Su Yunyan in the original novel, she pretends to have lost her memory and introduces herself as Susu. She gives him a jade pendant and asks him to help find her family if he rises to prominence 42 43.

She buys a house in Wu Commandery, registers as Liu Susu, and directs Yan Po to establish a discreet local branch of the Yishun Escort Agency. She also plans affordable pharmacies supplied directly by medicinal-herb producers and seeks a physician knowledgeable about both medicine and poisons 45.

Her pharmacy, the Hall of Saving the World, sells medicine at very low prices and supplies it free to patients who cannot pay, drawing opposition from competing pharmacies. However, her relocation also serves a political purpose: she intends to approach Su Jingyun and use that connection to return to Zongzheng Heng under a new identity without arousing suspicion 46.

Two years after leaving Jinzhou, Shuyi is raising Xuanxuan. Her experience of ordinary people's hardships strengthens her conviction that power matters more than money 46.

Appearance

• Hair and complexion: Dark hair and snow-white skin 1 3.
• Eyes: Almond-shaped, frequently described as clear, bright, or seemingly innocent 10 15 43.
• Hands: Slender, pale fingers; her fingertips are stained blood-red with balsam dye when she first recognizes her situation 1.
• Dress and bearing: Favors luxurious clothing, including a pomegranate-red, high-waisted ruqun. Even while traveling under another identity, her pampered refinement makes her appear to be a wealthy family's daughter 24 43.
• Beauty: Song Jue believes he would not have forgotten meeting someone with her looks; Su Jingyun is likewise struck by her appearance 43 45.

Personality

Shuyi is pleasure-loving, domineering, and unapologetically ambitious. Accustomed to fine clothing, rich food, and getting her way, she initially finds an ordinary life intolerable. Her pursuit of imperial status is rooted in the belief that greater power provides greater freedom and security 1 7.

Her spoiled exterior conceals a calculating mind. She allows others to underestimate her education, uses apparently sincere affection to unsettle Zongzheng Heng, and turns other people's resentment into opportunities. Nevertheless, she recognizes that even her ability to influence him cannot make an emperor's decisions certain 11 12 23 35.

Her strongest loyalty is to Liu Jinyu. She accepts the risk of disgracing her mother to keep her alive, then exacts revenge for the suffering the scheme causes. She explicitly refuses the role of savior to the rest of the Qiao household, including innocent people implicated by collective punishment 12 20 25.

Shuyi displays remarkable composure toward death, treating the pursuit to the cliff as thrilling rather than terrifying. This does not make her indifferent to comfort: she prepares armor because she dislikes pain and scars. Her stated fear is not death itself, but failing to live freely enough 39 40.

She condemns using men to violate women's bodies, yet makes a sharp, self-serving distinction between her own open abduction of Zhigui and Qiao Shuqin's covert use of drugs. Her conduct toward Zongzheng Heng remains coercive despite her professions of devotion 28 29 30.

Abilities & Skills

Knowledge of the Original Novel

Shuyi remembers major characters, political developments, and the original course of the story 1 42.

• Identifies Zhigui as Zongzheng Heng and anticipates the exposure of Qiao Nanyu's rebellion 1.
• Recognizes Song Jue's future importance to Su Yunyan and seeks his assistance in advance 42.
• Uses the original characterization of Su Jingyun to plan her approach to him 46.

Learning and Financial Analysis

Her reputation for ignorance masks extensive private study and a particularly strong memory for arithmetic 11.

• Reads account books rapidly and identifies suspicious transfers from Liu Jinyu's dowry 11.
• Has studied music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, without a stated mastery level 11.
• Reproduces Liu Jinyu's handwriting convincingly enough for the forged letter to support an infidelity accusation 16.
• Lacks the swordsmanship and military training necessary to lead a rebellion herself 1 11.

Manipulation and Household Management

Shuyi combines rewards, intimidation, emotional displays, and careful preparation to influence others 7 15 25.

• Maintains servants' loyalty through generous rewards, a good memory, and occasional personal concern 15.
• Exploits Qiao Shuqin and Song Chengyin's resentment to separate Liu Jinyu from Qiao Nanyu 12 16.
• Coordinates guards, armor, and a concealed refuge for her staged death 39 40.
• Performs an amnesiac identity for Song Jue while privately planning a future alliance 42 43.

Medicine and Pharmacy Planning

Shuyi studies medical texts and develops a practical supply plan for low-cost medicine 42 45.

• Identifies medicinal-herb sources and proposes teaching producers how to handle the ingredients before purchasing them directly 45.
• Establishes the Hall of Saving the World, including free medicine for patients unable to pay 46.
• Seeks instruction in poison-making as protection against palace intrigue; no completed mastery is established 45.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Soft golden-silk armor — Prepared before her false death; together with thick cotton padding, prevents the cliffside arrow from wounding her 40.
• Dagger — Supplied by An Yi and used to stab Lu Wenzhou through both thighs 18.
• Jade pendant — Given to Song Jue as a token through which he can find her later 43.
• Embroidered pouch — Entrusted to Liu Jinyu with instructions to open it only if something unbearable occurs; its contents are not revealed in the supplied account 20.
• Medical books — Read during her travels and preparations for her pharmacy venture 42 45.

Relationships

• Zongzheng Heng / Zhigui — Emperor, male favorite during his infiltration, and father of her child. She knowingly manipulates his hatred and attraction to secure a place in his memory; he ultimately attempts to stop her execution and orders her found alive 1 30 38 39.
• Liu Jinyu — Mother and Shuyi's foremost emotional attachment. Shuyi engineers her divorce to remove her from the Qiao household before its destruction 10 12 20.
• Qiao Nanyu — Father and Prince of Jin'an. Shuyi sees through his indulgence and discovers that he has used Liu Jinyu's wealth to finance private troops 1 11.
• Qiao Shuqin — Older half-sister and bitter rival. Shuyi exploits her resentment, kills her mother, and later interrupts her assault on Zhigui 12 24 25 28.
• Song Chengyin / Concubine Song — Qiao Shuqin's mother and Liu Jinyu's enemy. Shuyi enables her infidelity scheme, then admits responsibility for her death 16 24.
• An Yi — Shadow guard who has served Shuyi since childhood. Enforces her orders, protects her during the escape, and participates in her false-death plan 2 18 39.
• A Qi — Guard stationed by the hidden cave; catches Shuyi as she falls from the cliff 39 40.
• Fuzhi and Qingyan — Personal attendants whom Shuyi releases from their contracts during her relationship with Zhigui 32.
• Song Jue — A future influential figure whom she rescues and cultivates as a prospective ally under her Susu identity 42 43.
• Yan Po — Caravan escort and trusted agent tasked with establishing an escort-agency branch, finding a physician, and monitoring Su Jingyun 42 45.
• Su Jingyun — Intended intermediary for her eventual return to Zongzheng Heng under a different identity 45 46.
• Xuanxuan — Her child with Zongzheng Heng, whom she raises during her two years in Wu Commandery 38 46.

Notable Quotes

“I do have a weakness, but I'll keep my weakness well protected.” 25

“I, Qiao Shuyi, am not afraid of death. What I fear is not living freely enough.” 39

“So Mother understands better than anyone that the best thing in this world isn't silver. It's power.” 46