Vice Minister and Xiao Changning's childhood sweetheart. He became the top scholar at eighteen and was called a child prodigy. He and Xiao Changning shared a deep bond since childhood, including an incident at age ten when he scraped his palm picking green plums for her and she tended his wound with osmanthus candy. Despite his love for her, he was prevented from eloping with her by his mother, who cited the safety of the several hundred members of the Yuan clan. He ultimately watched from the shadows as Xiao Changning waited for him, unable to appear.
