Shu Rong
The maidservant at Ruixing's side, who calls Ruixing "Princess". She has no martial arts.
She was originally Shangguan Ying's personal maid and closest friend. In her maiden years, when the Shangguan Family ran into a difficult matter, she was given to Ruixing. As an adult she is still on friendly terms with Shangguan Ying, but she feels a competitive streak toward Wei Ju.
She has Indian blood, and so her complexion is darker. From childhood she suffered discrimination and bullying for her foreign lineage; she is someone who has known hardship. Without the protection of Shangguan Ying and then Ruixing, she might not have lived to such an age.
Her original surname was Su. To cleanse her family background and let her marry well in the future, the Emperor issued an edict granting her the surname Shu, an allusion to the saying that within books lies a face like jade. Immersed in such surroundings, her bearing, learning, speech, and Cultivation are all excellent. Backed by Ruixing's authority, even the old powerful ministers of the court call her "elder sister", and she has taken no small number of bribes; her standing in the Rui family is higher than Rui Sheng's.
The ledger she carries is kept solely for holding grudges. At first Ruixing told her to keep the records, but then Shu Rong discovered that with this book in hand, the world was hers, and so she came to know the happiness that power brings.
Notes
- Introduction by Bird Bear on Facebook, link
- The maiden years were originally written as "the years of the dancing spoon"; Bird Bear later said they had accidentally spoiled something and changed it. Could Shu Rong's gender be...!?
- She was originally a romanceable character, but was cut due to development pressure.
- In the earliest setting, Shu Rong was a spy that Lady Wen planted at Ruixing's side; see Bird Bear Interview Q8-9.