Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

Coming from the Ula-Nara clan of the Plain Yellow Banner with the birth name Qingying (青櫻), she is the niece of the Ula-Nara Yixiu, Yongzheng's Empress. She is the childhood friend of Hongli and later becomes one of his secondary consorts. When her aunt is locked up for her crimes, Qingying's standing in the palace is affected, so she has to make amends with Empress Dowager Chongqing. Wanting to distance herself from the past, Qingying asks the Empress Dowager to give her a new name in order to start anew. The Empress Dowager then gives her the name Ruyi (如懿), meaning 'beautiful and quiet' (美好安靜), reminding her that she must be calm if she wants to have a peaceful life in the palace. After Hongli ascends to the throne, becoming the Qianlong Emperor, Ruyi is granted the position of a consort. Due to events of the past, Ruyi is hated by other wives like Gao Xiyue, Fuca Langhua and Jin Yuyan. Often targeted by their machinations, Ruyi survives with her strength, intelligence and determination, as well as with the help of her close friends. She eventually gets promoted up the ranks until she becomes the Step Empress. Later on, due to many misunderstandings between her and the Emperor, mainly plotted by Wei Yanwan and Princess Hejing, their relationship has becomes strained and she falls out of love.

The last blow to their relationship occurs on one of Qianlong's tours of Southern China, when he tries to take a courtesan named Shui Linglong as a concubine. After a massive fight, a disillusioned Ruyi cuts her hair, wanting to end their relationship and declaring that she no longer wants to be Empress. This angers Qianlong, who punishes Ruyi by putting her under house arrest in Yikun Palace and removing her authority as empress. Near the end, she plots a scheme which reveals all of Wei Yanwan's wrongdoings to the Emperor, but refuses to reconcile with him. Ruyi dies not long after from tuberculosis something she found out months before but ordered Jiang Yubin, the Imperial doctor and Rongpei, Yikun Palace's head servant, from disclosing to anyone. Her death causes great pain and guilt to Qianlong up to the day he dies.

The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor whose biological mother was a maid named Li Jingui (李金桂), and Niohuru Zhenhuan's adoptive son. While a talented and politically-capable individual, deep down he is an insecure and selfish person who is skeptical of those around him. As he grows older, he falls victim to under Wei Yanwan's influence and indulges in his own ego, becoming a shadow of the man he was before and breaking Ruyi's heart. In the end, a disillusioned Ruyi cuts her hair, ending their relationship.

After Wei Yanwan's downfall, Qianlong finally realizes the error of his ways and attempts to reconcile with Ruyi, but it is already too late as Ruyi refuses to be his wife anymore. In his remaining years, he's tortured with his pain, tormented with reliving his memories of Qingying. Out of guilt and love for her, he sets her free by removing all traces of her (paintings, records etc.) from the palace.

Initially an embroidery maid in Hongli's residence. Hailan was taken advantage of by Hongli on a drunken occasion, but Ruyi helped her become a Mistress to preserve her dignity, which she is grateful for. Gentle yet determined, she is a loyal friend and confidante of Ruyi. As the mother of Qianlong's favorite son Yongqi, Hailan is an exceptionally influential concubine in the harem and makes use of her influence to deal with the concubines who stand in Ruyi's way.

Qianlong's adoptive mother. Although she appears to share a civil relationship with her son, they are wary and suspicious of each other. In order to ensure that she continues to thrive in the inner court, she places concubines that are subservient to her by the Emperor's side. She initially dislikes Ruyi because of her familial relationship with the former Empress, but later grows to respect her for her intelligence and her pure love for Qianlong.

Imperial guard of the Cold Palace → Imperial guard of Kunning Palace → Lanling Imperial guard → Imperial guard of the 3rd rank → Slave → Imperial guard of the 2nd rank → Imperial guard of the 1st rank → Eunuch of Yikun Palace

He is Wei Yanwan's first love and Miaoqian's husband. A loyal and empathetic man who helps Ruyi when she is banished to the Cold Palace. He is gradually attracted to Ruyi and helps her through her most difficult times in the palace. He is later accused of having an affair with Ruyi, then castrated and subsequently ordered to serve in Ruyi's palace as a form of humiliation. He is killed by Hailan when the latter realizes he would pose a threat to Ruyi's position as Empress.

Misstress Gao (Shu fujin) → Secondary Consort (Ce Fujin) → Noble Consort Hui(慧貴妃) → Imperial Noble Consort Hui(慧皇貴妃) → Imperial Noble Consort Huixian (posthumous)
With the high skill of Pipa at the peak, she won the largest favor of the Emperor Qianlong in the first half of the story.
Due to her father's position as a highly ranked officer, Xiyue was arrogant and defiant. She hated Ruyi and chosed to unite with the first Empress Fuca Langhua to plot against Ruyi. She treats Langhua as her best friend and gave her the greatest trust.
She also had a great deal of beauty and was proficient in Chinese four arts. Behind the cheerful surface image, she behaved at will, often hit and rebuking other concubines. The shy Hailan was also considered an enemy to her for a period of time. Although she was a villain, she would reflect that she was not like this before. Not only that, she had a very good relationship with her servants.
When she believed that she was haunted by A'ruo's ghost, she lost the Emperor Qianlong's favor before being discarded by Fuca Langhua. After Ruyi told her that Fuca Langhua was the one who caused her to be infertile, she realized she had been cheated. Although she hated Ruyi, she realised that it was Langhua, who she had trusted the most and looked up to as a leader, was the one who caused her infertility.
On her death bed, she exposed to the Emperor Qianlong what Langhua had done, and gave him scabies as a parting gift.

Di fujin → The First Empress(元后)
The first Empress of the Emperor Qianlong. Fuca Langhua was elegant and dignified, a respected and virtuous Empress who served her role well.
She showed her gentle eyes to the people around her, however, her true face was arrogant, and she was also very insecure even though she was the Empress. She envied Ruyi and her intimate relationship with the Emperor, so she threw Ruyi into the trap of false accusations for many times. Together with Gao Xiyue, she often gave Ruyi no respect. She appointed eunuchs and palace maids to follow the Emperor Qianlong's preferences, then matched it, so she could keep the highest status in Emperor's heart. She also had a lot of misguided actions, such as having overly high expectiations for her child. She had told her son to study even though he was sick. Langhua also preferred her sons to her daughter Princess Hejing.
Her mother, Madam Fuca, authorized her personal attendant Sulian to protect her. Sulian took the advice from Jin Yuyan, asked Gao Xiyue to do all the plots. Under the manipulation of Jin Yuyan and Sulian, she became embroiled in conspiracy of the Harem. Fuca Langhua only attacked Ruyi from beginning to end, so she insisted she was innocent and died as a woman with full of grievances. Furthermore, before she died, she still told the Emperor to overthrow Ruyi, showing her extraordinary obsession.
Her daughter, the Grand Princess, teams up with the last boss, Wei Yanwan. The position of First Princess is higher than the Second Empress Ruyi, so she harmed Ruyi again and again to fufill her mother's death wish.

Lady Jin (Shu fujin) → Noble Lady Jia (嘉貴人) → Concubine Jia (嘉嬪) → Consort Jia (嘉妃) → Noble Consort Jia (嘉貴妃) → Concubine Jia (嘉嬪) → Noble Lady Jia (嘉貴人) → Noble Consort Jia (嘉貴妃) → Second Class Female Attendant (金答應) Jin → Noble Consort Jia (嘉貴妃) → Commoner (庶人)→ Imperial Noble Consort Shujia (posthumous)
A Korean tribute girl from Joseon who was the true mastermind in the first half of the story.
She and her personal attendant Zhenshu made Gao Xiyue and Fuca Langhua their puppets. After entering the palace, her appearance starts to be full of sex hint and misleading Qianlong Emperor in a very straight way. Hidding under the shadow of Gao Xiyue and Fuca Langhua, Yuyan has no loyalty to anyone of Qing dynasty. Her life goal is to earn the Emperor's favor and made her son to be the next Emperor, so she could assist her real love, the "young master" who was the King of Joseon.
On the surface, she behaved as an open-minded foreigner who could be attentive to everyone, but she was actually manipulative and shrewd, always thinking about how to murder others. She had a master level of instigating conflicts between the concubines, and was the main culprit behind many concubines' and imperial offsprings' deaths.
In the latter half of the story, her evil deeds were revealed and Zhenshu was reported back to Korea. After losing her own strategist, she tried to kill the Emperor Qianlong, so her Korean son could be the next Emperor and rule the Qing China. But she suffered a huge failure, then she could only relied on her excellent sons to save her face. Not only that, she continued to be attacked by both Wei Yanwan and Hailan who had strong desire for revenges, then became a target of bullying . Because of the endless attack, she finally developed mental problems. Even after spending all her life pleasing her young master, but after hearing the news "King of Joseon abandoned you" by Ruyi, her spirit collapsed and she committed suicide without hesitation.
Then Emperor granted her the posthumous title of Imperial Noble Consort "Shujia", a homophone for "The Loser".

Palace maid → Palace maid of Consort Chun → Palace Maid of the Royal Garden → Palace Maid of Consort Jia →Palace Maid of the Yangxin Palace→ Second Class Female Attendant Wei (衛答應) → First Class Female Attendant Wei (衛常在) → Noble Lady Ling (炩貴人) → Concubine Ling (炩嬪) → Consort Ling (炩妃) → Second Class Female Attendant Wei (衛答應) → Concubine Ling (炩嬪) → Consort Ling (炩妃) → Noble Consort Ling (炩貴妃) → Imperial Noble Consort Ling (炩皇貴妃) → Imperial Noble Consort Lingyi (炩懿皇貴妃, posthumous) → The Third Empress (孝儀純皇后, posthumous)
An ambitious person who had risen from a palace maid to an Imperial Noble Consort, placed in charge of the Harem after Ruyi lost favour with the Emperor.
Very enthusiastic about studying, she memorized all the excellent points, art techniques, persuasion abilities and criminal skills of other concubines. Wei Yanwan transformed what she learnt into a better way and use these methods to arm herself. She didn’t care about love, she preferred to focus on herself and being a Girlboss. Because of this hard-working personality, she received enormous love from Emperor Qianlong.
In the first half of the story, she was born within a poor family, and became a palace maid when her father was tried. Since then, her family often forced her to support them financially. Her mother was biased against her and loved her younger brother more. She was also the first love of Ling Yunche, but after the bullying of Jin Yuyan, Ling Yunche and her family could not help her at all. So she cut off ties with Ling Yunche, began to use the Emperor for escaping, and got rid of the unsolicited family.
In the latter half, she learnt Chinese dance, Kunqu, jewelry appraisal, Mongolian archery and cavalry, then made the whole harem bully Jin Yuyan. Jin Yuyan had fours sons, she caused one of them to die and two of them to be disabled. She changed herself into a cruel, cunning but domineering, dignified woman successfully. She was also a genius in manipulating the hearts of others and gathers many influential people (Emperor’s Grand Princess, performers of Kunqu, midwives, concubine of the 5th prince (daughter of midwife tian), imperial astronomer, court officials, and most of the concubines). Her mental strength of revenge was brilliant, tremendous and crazy.
After she was being looked down by the Mongolian concubines such as Consort Ying, who were on Ruyi´s side, and found out that Lin Yunche cared about Ruyi very much, she killed or hurt most of Ruyi's party members in a very short time. In the 'Final Confrontation', she abused the Emperor towards the end of her life and had a majestic death.

She became a concubine when Qianlong was still a prince. Su Lüyun is a naive woman who treats everyone with kindness and is manipulated often. She loves her sons dearly and would do anything for them. She has a good relationship with Ruyi and Hailan since their days in Prince Bao's Manor. Lüyun loses Qianlong's favor when he finds out she wanted to take the position of Empress for herself, a notion encouraged by Jin Yuyan. She later dies of illness.

She became a concubine when Qianlong was still a prince. A timid lady who never forms cliques, and always keeps to herself. She is not favored by the Emperor and chooses to express her love for the Emperor through drawings. She has a good relationship with Ruyi. She unknowingly played a part in Qianlong and Ruyi's separation due to Wei Yanwan's manipulations.

A maid under Fuca Langhua who became one of Qianlong's concubines when he was still a prince. Empress Fuca and Gao Xiyue despise Qiying for stealing the Emperor's affections and cause her to miscarry. She is manipulated into believing that Ruyi is the culprit, and attempts to assassinate the latter when they are living in the same quarters.

She was originally a maid under Ruyi, but secretly sided with Fuca Langhua and Gao Xiyue when she entered Hongli's residence as part of Ruyi's dowry, in an effort to climb up the ranks. Arrogant, superficial, and sharp-tongued, she appeared to be favored by Qianlong but is actually used by him as a charade partner, which incites hatred from other concubines. She is eventually sent to the Cold Palace and commits suicide there.

A yueqin player hailing from Suzhou, Ruiji is the first spy sent by the Empress Dowager as well as the first woman to be taken into the harem after Qianlong's ascension to the throne. After she loses her child, her health gradually weakens and she eventually loses the Emperor's favor. She is manipulated into thinking her child was killed by Empress Fuca, and is used as a chesspiece by Jin Yuyan to cause the Empress' death. When her identity is revealed, Ruiji is used as a scapegoat by Qianlong to weaken the Empress Dowager's control of the imperial harem. She dies a grievanced woman after realizing she took revenge on the wrong person.

A talented lady of noble birth, Yihuan falls in love with Qianlong at first sight during one of his outings. Straightforward and good-natured, Yihuan keeps herself out of the palace conflicts and is good friends with Ruyi. Unbeknownst to her, Qianlong personally gave her medicine that would prevent her from bearing healthy children due to her status as the Empress Dowager's spy. She becomes mentally unstable after her son dies in infancy, and commits suicide soon after Yanwan reveals Qianlong's true feelings.

The daughter of the Deputy Minister from the Court of Sacrificial Worship. She is set-up by the Emperor for being another one of the Empress Dowager's spies, causing her to lose the ability to bear a child. After falling out of favor with Qianlong, she chooses to ally with Wei Yanwan. Although she belongs to Wei Yanwan's faction, Muping survives to the end as she did not do anything that caused serious harm to others. Apart from getting a high rank, she also gets to raise Yanwan's son after the latter's death.

She is the first Mongolian woman to join the harem and a descendant of Mongolian royalty. She is very close to Baarin Meiruo and dislikes both Wei Yanwan and Jin Yuyan, and stays loyal to Ruyi.

She is the second Mongolian princess to join the harem. A spirited and eloquent Mongolian princess, she is described as the "Southern beauty" due to being raised in Jiangnan and becomes a favorite of Qianlong. She adopts Wei Yanwan's daughter after the latter is demoted for her mother's alleged "curse magic" within the haren which is punishable by death. She despises Wei Yanwan and Jin Yuyan, and is good friends with Ruyi.

A descendant of Mongolian royalty, Eyinzhu enters the palace at 30 years-old and becomes an early favorite of Qianlong. However, she leaks secret political messages to her tribe and intends to use a banned aphrodisiac on Qianlong to increase his interest in bedroom affairs. She ends up under house arrest and is cold-shouldered by the Emperor. Later, under Wei Yanwan's manipulations, she frames Ruyi for having an affair with Ling Yunche. She is sent to the torture chambers after she is found to have lied about Ruyi and Ling Yunche's affair.

An East Turkestan princess and the most beautiful woman of the Tianshan Han tribe, Xiangjian was brought to the palace by General Zhaohui after her tribe was defeated by the Qing army, forcing her to separate with her lover (who later dies in an avalanche) and leaving her heartbroken. Her beauty captivates Qianlong who goes out of his way to make her fall in love with him, inciting fear and jealousy among the harem. She rejects Qianlong's courtship and attempts suicide numerous times, but in the end gives in after Qianlong threatened the safety of her tribe. She is on good terms with Ruyi, to whom she is grateful.

A lady who enters the harem along with Concubine Ke. Originally sides with Jin Yuyan. She is close to Baarin Meiruo, hates Wei Yanwan, and stays loyal to Ruyi.

A lady who enters the harem along with Concubine Ke. Originally sides with Jin Yuyan. She is close to Baarin Meiruo, hates Wei Yanwan, and stays loyal to Ruyi.

Enters the palace at the same time as Eyinzhu. She sides with Wei Yanwan.

Enters the palace when Ruyi is promoted to Imperial Noble Consort. She sides with Wei Yanwan.

Enters the palace when Ruyi is promoted to Imperial Noble Consort.

Enters the palace at the same time as Eyinzhu.

Enters the palace at the same times as Eyinzhu.

She sides with Wei Yanwan.

She sides with Wei Yanwan.

Father of Hongli and the previous Emperor.

Wife of the Yongzheng Emperor and Ruyi's aunt. Hongli's legal mother.

A concubine of the Yongzheng Emperor who was banished to the Cold Palace, where she meets Ruyi and attempts to assassinate the Dowager Empress.

Fifth son of the Yongzheng Emperor. Hongli's younger half-brother.

Yongzheng Emperor and Consort Xi's elder daughter. Hongli's sister. She was married to a Mongol prince when she was young.

Yongzheng Emperor and Consort Xi's younger daughter. Hongli's sister.

Third princess, Fuca Langhua's daughter.
Proud and eloquent, she looks down on all the imperial concubines due to her noble birth, but is later selected to marry a Mongol prince. She especially dislikes Ruyi due to her rivalry with Langhua. She also feels that Ruyi had convinced her father to choose her over Princess Roushu to marry the Mongol prince, which led to Langhua's illness worsening. She later chooses to side with Wei Yanwan. However, she later betrays her after Baarin Meiruo convinces her of Yanwan's hypocritical deeds.

Eldest prince. Ruyi's adoptive son (later Su Lüyun's).
Initially innocent and simple-minded, he later grows to become ambitious and wishes the throne. He is instigated by Jin Yuyan into thinking the Empress killed his biological mother, the Imperial Noble Consort Zhemin, causing him to lose favor with the Emperor.

Second prince, Fuca Langhua's eldest son. He dies young due to his weak health and Langhua's bad parenting.

Third prince, Su Lüyun's eldest son.
An ambitious and calculative person, he is goaded by Su Lüyun to compete for the position of the Crown Prince. He loses favor with Qianlong after the death of Empress Fuca.

Fourth prince, Jin Yuyan's eldest son. Being the first prince born after Qianlong's ascension the throne, he is initially favored which makes him become more ambitious, cunning, and calculating. He later loses the Emperor's trust after the truth about the Mulan Hunting incident was brought to light. He is exposed for plotting to get the position of Crown Prince by conspiring with his mother and is soon expelled from the palace. He becomes the adoptive grandson of Yuntao, the Prince Lü of the First Rank, who is Qianlong's uncle.

Fifth prince, Hailan's son. Sensitive and intelligent, he is Qianlong's favorite son. He distances himself from Ruyi under the manipulations of Hu Yunjiao. He later dies due to recurring bone cellulitis caused by Yanwan's machinations.

Sixth prince, Su Lüyun's youngest son.

Fourth princess, Su Lüyun's daughter.

Eighth prince, Jin Yuyan's second son. He is set up by Wei Yanwan, which causes him to become crippled.

Eleventh prince, Jin Yuyan's youngest son.

Fifth princess, Ruyi's daughter. Born with a weak heart, she is startled by Jin Yuyan's dog, in a setup by Wei Yanwan, causing her to become comatose and later pass away.

Seventh princess, Wei Yanwan's eldest daughter. She is raised by Baarin Meiruo since birth and initially believes Meiruo is her birth mother. She dislikes her birth mother Wei Yanwan because she thinks that she harmed Ruyi.

Ninth princess, Wei Yanwan's younger daughter. She is separated from Wei Yanwan since birth and has a weak relationship with her birth mother. She is later raised by Concubine Ke.

Fifteenth prince, Wei Yanwan's son. He is appointed as Crown Prince near the end of Qianlong's reign.