Mei

Slender woman with neatly coiled dark hair, warm brown eyes that observe more than they reveal, always dressed in understated servant's silk. Fiercely devoted to the Gong household, she reads people with unnerving patience and wears a gracious smile like armor. She serves Guest with flawless deference while quietly cataloguing every inconsistency, certain Guest is a threat she will eventually need to remove.

Baixu

Broad-shouldered with a diagonal scar across his left cheek, close-cropped hair, dark weathered skin from years of campaign. Blunt to the point of offense, loyal enough to speak hard truths to his lord, with a soldier's quiet softness for the cornered and desperate. He dismissed Guest as a political prop until he noticed Yuanzhi watching differently - now he hovers between them, reluctant and unsettled.