Tan Yunxian is the protagonist and first-person narrator throughout the book. She is the only daughter of Master Tan, an official in the emperor’s service, and his wife, called Respectful Lady. Yunxian’s elder brothers died of smallpox. Before her mother dies, when Yunxian is eight, Yunxian helps oversee the education of Yifeng, her half-brother by her father’s concubine, Miss Zhao. Yunxian is devastated by her mother’s death, which results from a preventable infection, and this early incident perhaps inspires her later interest in medicine.

Yunxian is intelligent, diligent, clever, and obedient. She follows the rules at all times, but she is also intelligent and highly observant, perceiving when the rules and traditions she follows inflict harm. She cares for the health and happiness of those around her. She does what she can to keep the peace among her household, and she finds satisfaction in using her medical knowledge to treat women. Though she is raised with an understanding of distinctions between social class, Yunxian is comfortable with crossing these boundaries, as shown by her early friendship with Meiling and her willingness to treat women of the working class as much as the empress.

Yunxian’s character arc traces how she manages to successfully navigate

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