Madam Yuan (simplified: 袁夫人, traditional: 袁夫人, pinyin: Yuán Fūrén, jyutping: jyun4 fu1 jan4) is the widow of the hero Yuan and the mother of Yuan Guannan. For sixteen years she has lived in Xiao Banhe’s house in Jinyang, posing as his first wife, and Xiao Zhonghui calls her First Mother.
Biography
In the Xiao household
Madam Yuan dotes on Xiao Zhonghui as though she were her own daughter, but carries an authority the girl has never dared oppose. When Xiao Banhe sends his daughter to ask her mothers’ leave to join the hunt for the Mandarin Duck Blades, Madam Yuan’s refusal settles it, and the girl runs away instead.1
The birthday
On Xiao Banhe’s fiftieth birthday, Madam Yuan and Madam Yang sort the gifts, guess from the girl’s moods that she has met a young man, and peek from behind a screen to see who has brought her golden hairpin. Madam Yuan agrees to the betrothal of Xiao Zhonghui to Yuan Guannan. When she hands him a jade finger guard, he sees a branched finger on each of her little fingers and shows her a jade lion on a gold chain. She calls him Shiguan, the son she lost eighteen years earlier, and the two embrace in tears.2 When imperial guards storm the mansion, two of them force the madams back until Yuan and Xiao Zhonghui rescue them.3
The truth
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. Xiao Banhe rescued them, but her son was lost in the escape. She and Madam Yang have posed as his wives ever since. When the Four Xias bring back the true Yang blade, Madam Yuan holds the pair and reads the secret engraved on them: “The benevolent is invincible.”4
See also
- Mandarin Duck Blades characters
- Yuan Guannan — her son
- Xiao Banhe — who rescued her and poses as her husband
- Madam Yang — the other widow in his household
- The Mandarin Duck Blades — The novel in which Madam Yuan appears