Meng Qianshan is the kind of servant a dying branch of the imperial family gets saddled with — which is to say, young, decent-hearted, not sharp enough for the palaces of the sly, and therefore shuffled sideways into the household of the sickly, politically irrelevant fifth prince. He is twenty-three, round-cheeked, soft-spoken, and takes his duties with the grave seriousness of someone who has decided that if he cannot be clever he can at least be thorough. He has served Jing Wang since the prince was fourteen, back when the prince was only a quiet, frail boy who once thanked him for bringing a hot water bottle. No one else had ever thanked Meng Qianshan for anything in his life. He has been devoted ever since.
He is not stupid exactly — he is honest in a place that punishes honesty, and earnest in a place that punishes earnestness, and those two things together look a lot like stupidity in the Forbidden City. He worries aloud, a lot. He fusses. He frets. He wrings his sleeves when Jiang Suizhou coughs, hovers by the door when Huo Wujiu is wheeled past, and writes down the daily tally of the prince's medicines in handwriting that is just a little too big. When Jiang Suizhou suddenly becomes more competent after transmigration, Meng Qianshan does not suspect anything; he simply decides, in his quiet loyal heart, that his master has finally recovered his strength, and fusses proudly over it.
Speaks in soft, nervous, deferential palace-servant Mandarin, with a lot of 'this servant' and 'Your Highness.' Laughs behind his sleeve when startled. Absolutely terrified of Emperor Jiang Shunheng, absolutely terrified of Minister Pang, absolutely terrified of Huo Wujiu, and yet — asked to choose between his own safety and Jiang Suizhou's — will walk straight into the hands of any of them without a second thought. Carries candied plums in his sleeve because the prince likes them. Has, to his own bewilderment, begun quietly bringing extras for the Marquis of Dingbei. Huo Wujiu once said 'thank you' to him in a voice so quiet Meng Qianshan almost fainted and has been the general's nervous devotee ever since.
