Qin Su (秦愫, Qín Sù) is the wife and half-sister of Jin Guangyao, the leader of the Lanling Jin Clan, and the mother of Jin Rusong. She is the paternal half-sister of Jin Zixuan and Mo Xuanyu, Madam Jin's stepdaughter, and the paternal aunt of Jin Ling.
Appearance[]
Qin Su possesses a graceful yet childlike face. At the banquet before the Discussion Conference, she dresses in lavish robes.[1]
Personality[]
Qin Su is well-mannered and dignified yet innocent, to the extent of seeming a bit dense.[1]
Unlike many in the cultivation world, Qin Su does not seem to hold status and origin against people, as she never once looked down on Jin Guangyao for his mother's status as a prostitute.[1]
Qin Su is loyal and protective, as she refuses to give Jin Guangyao Bicao's name out of implied fear that he would harm her mother's handmaid.[1]
History[]
Youth[]
Qin Su was born to Madam Qin, the wife of Qin Cangye, the leader of the Laoling Qin Clan, a subsidiary of the Lanling Jin Clan.[1]
At some point during the Sunshot Campaign, Jin Guangyao saves her life. Qin Su then falls in love with him and pursues him,[1] despite her father's hesitance.[2]
As Jin Guangyao fears further delays in their marriage, they consummate their relationship prior to their wedding,[2] which occurs roughly a year after the death of Wei Wuxian.[3] Qin Su is, therefore, already pregnant by the time her mother approaches Jin Guangyao to confess that Qin Su had been conceived when Jin Guangshan raped her, and thus, they are actually half-siblings. Though disturbed by the revelation, Jin Guangyao continues with the wedding, afraid to cause a political falling-out between Jin Guangshan and Qin Cangye. Additionally, by the time he knew of their relationship, Qin Su is already pregnant – and, due to his childhood, Jin Guangyao is extremely familiar with the way the cultivation world scorns women and children for the sins of their fathers.[2]
Marriage[]
Jin Guangyao marries Qin Su, and she eventually becomes the madam of Golden Carp Tower. Although he never touches her again, he respects her very much and does not have any affairs or concubines. By all accounts including their own, they have a happy relationship until Qin Su learns the truth.[1][2]
Unfortunately, their son Jin Rusong is murdered at only a few years of age, to the great grief of Qin Su. At the time, the murder is attributed to a political opponent of Jin Guangyao's, and Jin Guangyao tears down the culprit's clan in revenge.[1]
Death[]
Shortly before Madam Qin died, she had confessed the truth about her daughter's paternity to her maid Bicao. Nie Huaisang[4] eventually bribes Bicao to approach Qin Su on the eve of a Discussion Conference to give her a letter detailing the truth about her origins and marriage.[3][1]
Upon reading the letter, Qin Su collapses in her bedroom. When Jin Guangyao enters, she demands the truth from him and refuses to believe his initial denial. She tells him that he scares her, because if he was capable of this, he is capable of anything. Unbeknownst to them, Wei Wuxian is also watching in his paperman form.[1]
Qin Su refuses to allow Jin Guangyao to touch her, even to help her up. He pleads that he has sincerely loved her, and even says that if she thinks he is disgusting now, they should act normal lest society judge them. He promises to send her away to travel with Qin Cangye so that she can be away from him as soon as the conference is over.[1]
Qin Su, however, demands to know if he had killed Jin Rusong. Jin Guangyao denies it, but when he adds that Jin Rusong would have had to die even if he had not been murdered, Qin Su slaps him.[1]
As her hysteria grows, Jin Guangyao seals most of her meridians and takes her to rest inside their treasure room. He begs her once again to tell him who wrote the letter, but Qin Su does not respond.[1]
After the paperman is discovered, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji lead many cultivators into the treasure room, as Wei Wuxian has also discovered that Jin Guangyao keeps the severed head of Nie Mingjue inside. Qin Su says nothing as the cultivators enter, but when Jin Guangyao pulls out an Assassin's Dagger of unusually strong resentful energy, she suddenly snatches it from his hands and plunges the blade into her stomach.[5]
The dagger's energy is so strong that Qin Su dies almost immediately. Jin Guangyao then draws his sword Hensheng on the person he believes to be Mo Xuanyu. When Wei Wuxian unsheathes Suibian to defend himself, Jin Guangyao exposes him as the Yiling Patriarch.[5]
Aftermath[]
Bicao later approaches many prominent members of the cultivation world at Lotus Pier to share her story. She admits to giving Qin Su the letter at Golden Carp Tower and claims Jin Guangyao must have killed Qin Su to silence her.[3]
Although he had initially thought the same,[5] Wei Wuxian counters that Qin Su had killed herself because she could not bear what Bicao told her and silently reckoned that she had decided death was preferable to the cruel gossip of the cultivation world.[3]
When Jin Guangyao is mortally wounded, he lists Qin Su among the people he had killed, indicating that he views himself responsible for her suicide.[6]
Relationships[]
Family[]
Qin Cangye[]
Qin Su and her stepfather appear to be quite close, as once she married Jin Guangyao, his position and influence in the Lanling Jin Clan grows with Qin Cangye's support, further underscoring how important Qin Su is to her stepfather.[3] Jin Guangyao attempt to calm her down by suggesting she go away to travel with him.[1]
Madam Qin[]
Madam Qin is close enough to her daughter that her distress at Qin Su's upcoming wedding was attributed to difficulty letting go of her daughter.[3]
Jin Guangyao[]
Qin Su initially pursued Jin Guangyao. After their marriage, both treated each other with love and respect, and he remains grateful that she never spoke ill of his mother.[1] They share all of their possessions,[5] and though they do not have a sexual relationship after their wedding,[2] Jin Guangyao refused to have affairs or take concubines.[1]
When Qin Su discovered the truth about their relationship, she ceases trusting Jin Guangyao, wondering if "everything I knew was a lie."[1] Although she committed suicide, Jin Guangyao still holds himself responsible for her death, and maintains that he had truly loved her.[2]
Jin Rusong[]
Qin Su loved her son Jin Rusong. She appears to have been devastated by her son's death, as rumors spread that she was too grief-stricken to bear another child. Even after finding out that he was born of incest, she demands to know the truth about his death and slaps Jin Guangyao when he suggests that Jin Rusong would have had to die if he had not been murdered.[1]
Animation Divergence[]
In the animation, Qin Su takes her life not of her own volition but because she is controlled by Skull-Piercing Nails.[7]
Web Series Divergence[]
In the web series, Jin Guangyao consummates his relationship with Qin Su after their marriage. He is fully aware she is his sister, yet feels he has no choice. Cancelling the wedding would lead to enmity between Jin Guangshan and Qin Cangye, and he would have been blamed.[8] This is also the initial reason he gives in the novel, but he confesses the truth when Lan Xichen presses further.[2]
Additionally, the web series portrays Mo Xuanyu as harassing Qin Su, not Jin Guangyao. Qin Su therefore refuses to look upon him when Wei Wuxian, resurrected in Mo Xuanyu's body, toasts to her.[9] However, the truth is that Mo Xuanyu had merely the truth about his sister and brother's relationship,[10] and was framed for harassment, while the novel implies it really occurred.[1]
References[]
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