Hongniang

Hongniang (紅娘 (ホンニャン) , Hon'nyan^?) is the head lady-in-waiting of the Jade Pavilion and a recurring character in The Apothecary Diaries. As Gyokuyou's servant, she is in charge of managing cleaning, cooking, and her junior ladies-in-waiting in the pavilion.

Appearance

Hongniang has brown eyes and brown hair which she ties behind her head. Although she is almost of middle age, she appears quite young and is slim. As a lady-in-waiting, she wears clothes with accessories given to her by her lady.

Personality

Hongniang is a friendly person who is very good at managing people. She can be quite harsh to those who skip out on work, but is kind and caring to her fellow ladies-in-waiting, and very loyal to her lady. She is jaded on the topic of romance, being past the normal age of marriage, and is frequently resigned when others talk about love.

Abilities

Cunning: Hongniang is very good at dealing with people. She purposely made it look like Maomao broke an expensive pot and took the expenses out of Maomao's kidnappers' salary, before giving Maomao payment which could not be transferred to said kidnappers.^[2]

Diligence: Hongniang is a very hard worker who does most of the serving duties under Gyokuyou, incluiding cooking, cleaning, taking care of her lady's children, handling her personal finances, and giving basic medical aid during childbirth. It is because of Hongniang that Gyokuyou only needs four attendants to maintain the Jade Pavilion. Hongniang is noted to be highly capable by Suiren,^[3] and is described by Maomao to be competent to a fault.

Background

Hongniang is the daughter of a court official^[4] and became the head lady-in-waiting to Gyokuyou when she entered the Inner Court, and she has been very loyal to her since. She managed the Jade Pavilion with Ailan, Guiyuan, and Yinghua before Maomao's arrival. Later, Haku-u, Koku-u, and Seki-u joined under her when Gyokuyou became pregnant for a second time.

Trivia

• Her name 紅娘 (hóng niáng) literally means "red woman", and is a reference to a character in "Yingying's Biography", a Tang dynasty story by Yuan Zhen, and Romance of the Western Chamber, a famous play by Wang Shifu.
  • In the play, Hongniang is an "intelligent, sympathetic, loyal, and highly enthusiastic" maidservant of the main female lead. She is the one who causes the two main characters to fall in love and ultimately marry. As a result, her name has become a metaphor for a female matchmaker.^[5][6]
• She may have assisted with the birth of Princess Lingli.^[7]

References