Madam Yang (simplified: 杨夫人, traditional: 楊夫人, pinyin: Yáng Fūrén, jyutping: joeng4 fu1 jan4) is the widow of Yang Bochong, the Great Xia of Three Xiang, and the mother of Xiao Zhonghui. For sixteen years she has lived in Xiao Banhe’s house in Jinyang, posing as his second wife.
Biography
Madam Yang is Xiao Zhonghui’s birth mother, and the softer of the girl’s two mothers: Xiao Zhonghui can wheedle her, but not Madam Yuan.1 On Xiao Banhe’s birthday, she notices her daughter’s golden hairpin is missing and asks who has it, then goes with Madam Yuan to peek at the giver from behind a screen.2 When imperial guards storm the mansion, two of them force the madams back until Yuan Guannan and Xiao Zhonghui rescue them.3
At the Zhongtiao Mountains, Xiao Banhe reveals her story. The Emperor seized the families of the heroes Yuan and Yang to make them surrender the Mandarin Duck Blades; both men chose death, and their wives were thrown into the imperial prison until Xiao Banhe rescued them. Hearing it told, the two widows weep in each other’s arms.4
See also
- Mandarin Duck Blades characters
- Xiao Zhonghui — her daughter
- Yang Bochong — her husband
- Xiao Banhe — who rescued her and poses as her husband
- Madam Yuan — the other widow in his household
- The Mandarin Duck Blades — The novel in which Madam Yang appears