Why Did Gyokuyou's Brother Send a Red-Haired Girl to the Rear Palace in The Apothecary Diaries?

Scene Locator

The first appearance is in Volume 10, Prologue, when Yaqin arrives and Gyokuyou meets the red-haired girl presented as her niece. The political explanation is completed in Volume 10, Final Chapter, during Gyokuyou's tea gathering and the later private discussion about Yaqin's background.

The prologue establishes the visual resemblance and the uncertainty around Yaqin's purpose. The final chapter supplies the stronger boundary: Yaqin is an adopted daughter, she has not formally entered the rear palace, and her arrival is connected to the hope that her appearance will attract elite attention.

The Short Answer

Yuying sent Yaqin toward the rear palace because her rare red hair, green eyes, and foreign-looking appearance made her resemble Gyokuyou, a woman whose unusual appearance had already become politically valuable at court. The novel does not state the plan in the blunt words “use a replacement Gyokuyou,” but it gives enough context to show that appearance was part of the calculation.

There was also a family and humanitarian layer. Yaqin had been forced into selling herself after a crop failure. Yuying adopted her and arranged for her education. That rescue was real, but it did not make the political purpose disappear. Yaqin could be protected, educated, and turned into a possible court asset at the same time.

The important qualification is that Yaqin had not yet become an official rear-palace woman. The novel presents her as a girl being prepared and positioned, not as someone whose future favor from the Emperor is guaranteed.

What Volume 10 Actually Confirms

Volume 10 begins with a deliberately striking image: a girl steps down from a carriage with the same bright red hair as Gyokuyou. She also has green eyes, pale skin, and features that suggest strong foreign ancestry. The visual resemblance is not a vague fan theory. It is the first thing the scene wants the reader to notice.

Yaqin Is Presented as Gyokuyou's Niece

Yuying calls the girl his niece, and Gyokuyou accepts the label even though she did not know she had such a young niece. The wording is socially useful. It gives Yaqin a respectable connection to the Empress without forcing the court to explain a distant western family history in public.

Later, Gyokuyou makes the relationship clearer: Yaqin is Yuying's adopted daughter rather than his biological child. That distinction matters because the resemblance is not being explained as a direct inheritance from Yuying. The girl has been selected, raised, and moved through the family network.

She Is Prepared, Not Yet Confirmed as a Consort

The final chapter is careful about status. Yaqin has not formally entered the rear palace. Gyokuyou and Yuyuan have both given instructions to delay that step, even though their intentions do not perfectly match. In the meantime, Yaqin learns etiquette and appears in Gyokuyou's household.

This is why “sent to the rear palace” should be read as shorthand for being directed toward a palace role. She is close to the court and being trained for court visibility, but the text does not say that she has already secured a place as the Emperor's new favorite.

The Political Use of a Familiar Appearance

Gyokuyou's appearance has never been merely decorative. Her red hair and green eyes mark her as visibly different from most people in Li, but that difference also helped make her memorable and valuable when the court was choosing how to build a future household. Yaqin's resemblance therefore carries political meaning before she says a word.

Yuying Could See What Gyokuyou's Appearance Had Already Achieved

Yuying and Gyokuyou disagree about foreignness, family authority, and the direction of the western region. Yet Yuying could still observe the result of Gyokuyou's path. She became Empress, gained influence, and turned an unusual appearance into part of a successful court identity.

Sending Yaqin toward the same environment looks like an attempt to make that visual resource useful again. The point is not that Yaqin is literally Gyokuyou. The point is that people in the capital may react quickly to a face and coloring that already carry status, curiosity, and imperial association.

Appearance Opens the Door; Training Keeps It Open

The novel also shows why appearance alone is insufficient. Yaqin has a western accent and little experience with the long, indirect conversations expected at a tea gathering. Gyokuyou has to teach her etiquette, conversation, and the habits needed to survive among powerful women.

That process reveals the plan's practical shape. Yuying did not merely send a beautiful girl and expect magic. Yaqin was given education, clothing, court manners, and access to Gyokuyou's protection. Her appearance was the opening signal; training was the attempt to turn that signal into durable influence.

Why Yaqin's Adoption Matters

Yaqin's history prevents the plot from becoming a simple story about a powerful man manufacturing a pretty successor. She began as the daughter of a pastoral family that had settled after her father became ill. When poor harvests made survival impossible, she was sold into prostitution.

Yuying adopted her and arranged for her education. From Yaqin's point of view, that makes Yuying a benefactor worthy of respect. She worries about the western crops and remembers the help given to her family. Her loyalty is therefore not simply the loyalty of a political pawn; it is also the gratitude of someone whose life was changed by adoption.

Rescue and Political Calculation Can Coexist

The story does not ask readers to choose between “Yuying saved her” and “Yuying used her.” Both can be true. Court families often turn protection, education, marriage, and service into one connected system. A person may be given a real second chance while also being placed where that second chance benefits the household that provided it.

This layered motive is useful when reading Yuying's wider role. His decisions around the western region are not separate from his family strategy. The same man who thinks in terms of trade, land, and political leverage can also recognize a vulnerable child and give her a life she would not otherwise have had.

Yaqin Is Not a Copy of Gyokuyou

Gyokuyou's response makes the difference clear. She sees Yaqin's good nature, intelligence, and anxiety. She also notices that Yaqin is not yet skilled at reading people. Gyokuyou does not need a second version of herself; she needs to teach a young woman how to avoid being consumed by the same court that might reward her.

That is one reason the relationship becomes more humane than a straightforward replacement plot. Yaqin's appearance may have brought her to the capital, but Gyokuyou's care begins to give her a more stable identity than “the red-haired girl who resembles the Empress.”

Why Gyokuyou Helps Her Instead of Rejecting Her

Gyokuyou could have treated Yaqin as a threat. A young woman with nearly the same coloring might appear to challenge the uniqueness of the Empress's image. Instead, Gyokuyou meets her with a smile, offers skin cream, asks about her food, and begins wrapping her in the warmth of the Jade Pavilion.

Gyokuyou Understands the Court Better Than Yaqin Does

Gyokuyou knows that suspicion is necessary in the rear palace, but she also knows how to turn a frightened newcomer into an ally. Her kindness is not naive. She tests Yaqin's reactions, notices her guarded hands, and demonstrates that the cream is safe before applying it.

In that moment, Gyokuyou acts as both hostess and political educator. She is showing Yaqin how to survive while also deciding how much trust is possible. This is consistent with the broader road that takes Gyokuyou from favored consort to empress: warmth and judgment operate together.

She Turns a Family Problem Into a Managed Household Relationship

Yuying's decision could have left Gyokuyou with an awkward rival and a public embarrassment. Gyokuyou instead gives Yaqin a place under her supervision. She lets the capital see a niece learning etiquette rather than a suspicious stranger suddenly competing for the Emperor's attention.

This does not erase the political danger. It gives Gyokuyou more control over the danger. Her handling also connects to the way she treats family letters and western pressure in the analysis of her brother's letter: she can acknowledge family ties without surrendering the right to decide what those ties mean inside the palace.

Why Yaqin Had Not Formally Entered the Palace

The delay is narratively important. If Yaqin had immediately become a consort, the question would be only whether the Emperor preferred a new beauty. Instead, Volume 10 keeps her in an uncertain space: she is close enough to be observed, trained, and discussed, but not yet protected by a formal palace title.

Yuyuan and Gyokuyou Do Not Have Identical Priorities

Both Gyokuyou and her father Yuyuan give instructions to wait, but the text emphasizes that the father and daughter do not share exactly the same intention. That difference matters. Yaqin's future is not controlled by one simple family plan. It sits between western family interests, Gyokuyou's household judgment, and the court's reaction to her appearance.

The situation belongs beside the broader political foundation of Gyokuyou's imperial position. The Empress is not only receiving a relative. She is managing how a western family presents itself to the central court.

The Emperor's Reaction Is Not Guaranteed

Yaqin's appearance may attract notice, but the novel explicitly undercuts the idea that the Emperor chooses women by beauty alone. Gyokuyou understands that his favor is not the same as helpless infatuation. Yuying's plan may create an opportunity, but it cannot force the Emperor to turn that opportunity into a relationship.

That limit keeps the article's answer precise. Yuying sent Yaqin toward the palace because resemblance could create access and political value. He did not possess a guarantee that she would become the next Gyokuyou.

What the Novel Does Not Confirm

Several tempting conclusions go beyond the text. The novel does not confirm that Yuying expected Yaqin to replace Gyokuyou. It does not confirm that the Emperor accepted her as a consort. It does not say that Yaqin's adoption was created only for palace politics.

What it does show is more interesting: Yuying rescued and educated a girl whose appearance resembled Gyokuyou, then sent her into an environment where that resemblance could matter. The political purpose is strongly implied by the way the narration describes her preparation, but the girl's personal history and Yuying's protection remain real parts of the situation.

This is also why later material about Yuying, Rikuson, and Gyokuyou's political correspondence should be read alongside this scene rather than used to flatten it. Yuying is capable of calculation, but he is not written as a character with only one motive in every family decision.

Conclusion

Gyokuyou's brother sent Yaqin toward the rear palace because her red hair, green eyes, and foreign appearance resembled the Empress's most recognizable political asset. Yaqin was an adopted daughter who had been saved from poverty, educated, and then placed where her appearance could attract elite attention.

The plan was neither a confirmed replacement scheme nor a guaranteed path to imperial favor. It was a calculated opportunity built on a real rescue. Gyokuyou's decision to train and protect Yaqin then transformed that opportunity into a more complicated relationship: one involving family duty, western politics, female survival, and the danger of turning a person's body into a public strategy.

FAQ

Who is the red-haired girl sent toward the rear palace?

She is Yaqin, an adopted daughter of Gyokuyou's brother Yuying. Volume 10 presents her as a girl whose appearance strongly resembles Gyokuyou's.

Is Yaqin Gyokuyou's biological niece?

No. Gyokuyou publicly calls her a niece, but the Volume 10 final chapter clarifies that Yaqin was adopted by Yuying rather than born as his daughter.

Had Yaqin already become a rear-palace consort?

No. She had not formally entered the rear palace. She was learning etiquette and living under Gyokuyou's protection while her future remained undecided.

Did Yuying send her only because she looked like Gyokuyou?

The resemblance is clearly part of the political logic, but the novel also shows that Yuying rescued her after crop failure forced her into selling herself and then arranged her education.

Did the Emperor definitely want Yaqin?

No. The novel suggests that her appearance could attract attention, not that the Emperor had already accepted her or would certainly make her a consort.

What should I read next?

For the family pressure behind Gyokuyou's court position, read the Anshi and Gyokuyou faction analysis. For the western crisis around Yuying, read why Rikuson killed Yuying. For Gyokuyou's broader rise, return to her road to empress.