Yang Yuelan is Zhao Jingyu's mother. She is not a first-time mother-in-law as Zhao Jingyu has two older brothers who are already married with children. She is practical and thrifty, calculating how much meat and vegetables are needed for the banquet and suggesting exchanging the surplus for meat coupons at the canteen. She brought vegetables in a fertilizer bag from home to save money. She is tactful and considerate, not wanting to wake the sleeping Xu Qingning when she arrives. She feels that the family owes Zhao Jingyu for sending him away during the famine when he was only five years old. She is emotionally attached to her son despite their distant relationship.
