Supporting cast
Li Keyun (李可雲/李可云), played by Xu Lu
The daughter of Li Zhengde and Li Yuzhen, Keyun had a childhood romance with Erhao which resulted in a pregnancy. She did not inform Erhao about this. After their baby's death, Keyun developed a mental illness. Throughout Romance in the Rain, Yiping, Shuhuan, Erhao, Ruping, Du Fei, and Fang Yu attempt to help Keyun recover her memory. In the end, Keyun gets better when she saw a motherless baby during the war. She decides to raise him as her own.
Lu Zhenhua (陸振華/陆振华), played by Kou Zhenhai (Episode 01–45) Deceased
The father of Yiping, Lu Zhenhua is a retired, respected general. He was married to nine women, all of whom he eventually lost interest in. As a result of his tragic romance with Pingping, Lu Zhenhua is inclined to marry any woman who bears a resemblance to Pingping. It is revealed later after he died that the person who bore the closest resemblance towards his long-lost love Pingping was not his wives but his daughter, the deceased Xinping, the sister of Yiping and daughter of Wenpei who became his favorite daughter. Although his relationship with Yiping is tumultuous at the beginning, especially after he whips her, the two eventually build a strong bond through their similarities and as the series goes on Yiping grows to love him. He dies after getting shot while fighting off Japanese soldiers trying to protect Yiping and Shuhuan.
Fu Wenpei (傅文佩), played by Xu Xing
The eighth wife of Lu Zhenhua, Fu Wenpei is gentle and moral compared to Zhenhua's ninth wife, Xueqin. After Zhenhua married Xueqin, he lost interest in Wenpei and eventually she was expelled from the Lu household. She and Zhenhua had two daughters: the deceased Xinping and Yiping. The death of Xinping brought great disturbance and grieve to her. She cannot forget about Xinping and always thinks of her much to Yiping's dismay who thought that she could never replace Xinping in Wenpei's heart. Wenpei is of noble character especially when she speaks for Wang Xueqin to Zhenhua even after she is always treated unfairly and badly by Wang Xueqin. She later becomes the mother figure to the children of Lu Zhenhua with Wang Xueqin, especially towards Mengping. At the beginning, Wenpei lives a modest life with Yiping.
Wang Xueqin (王雪琴), played by Wang Lin (Episode 01–47) Arrested (Main Antagonist)
The ninth wife of Lu Zhenhua, Xueqin is devious and power-hungry. She also has an affair outside her marriage for more than ten years with a man named Wei Guangxiong which started in Harbin and continues when she moves to Shanghai unbeknownst to Zhenhua. Although Zhenhua has a strong interest in her at the beginning, eventually her negative actions cause him to change his feelings. After Zhenhua finds out of her affairs, she is locked up together with her youngest son Erjie. He also tries to shoot her, but is stopped by, surprisingly, Yiping and Shuhuan, who hate her the most. Xueqin tells Ruping to call Wei Guangxiong to rescue her. She is rescued, but is neglected later as Wei Guangxiong also loses interest in her. She and Zhenhua have three children: Lu Erhao, Lu Ruping, and Lu Mengping. Her youngest son, Erjie, is the result of her affair with Wei Guangxiong. She is eventually arrested after the arrest of Wei.
Lu Mengping (陸夢萍/陆梦萍), played by Yue Tingting
The youngest daughter of Zhenhua and Xueqin. Mengping is the sister of Erhao and Ruping and half-sister of Yiping from her father and Erjie from her mother. Mengping is at first prejudiced towards Yiping like her mother, but later learns to love Yiping. She enjoys partying and having fun, but she is raped after a night of partying and loses fertility after abortion, and this causes her personality to change drastically. She turns more forgiving and eventually learns to accept Yiping as part of her family, later after the death of her father she lives with Yiping, Wenpei, Li Fuguan, Li sao, Keyun in the Lu mansion. She helps take care of the orphaned children whose parents were killed or separated during the war. Mengping later takes Wenpei as a mother figure.
She has a boyfriend, Ji Yao, who is off-screen and only mentioned in conversations; his whereabouts are not mentioned after her rape.
Li Zhengde / Lieutenant Li (李正德 / 李副官), played by Cao Qiugen
One of Zhenhua's officers and most trusted person, Li Zhengde is also a retired soldier and living a quiet life in Shanghai. Originally he is an assistant to the Lu family; Li Zhengde and his family leave after discovering Keyun's pregnancy. For several years, Li Zhengde and his family are financially assisted by Yiping's mother, Wenpei, despite her own financial difficulty. Later Yiping takes a job as a singer in "Grand Shanghai" nightclub to support the family of Li Zhengde as well as herself and her mother.
Qin Wuye (秦五爺/秦五爷), played by Huang Daliang
A wealthy businessman in Shanghai, Qin Wuye is the owner of a nightclub called "Grand Shanghai". When Yiping comes in search for work, Qin Wuye offers her a job to sing at his nightclub after being stunned by Yiping's attitude. Eventually, Yiping's relationship with Qin Wuye grows stronger and Yiping relies on him several times for assistance. Qin Wuye gave the job as a singer in the "Big Shanghai" during the war and during the financial crisis of the Lu family.
Pingping (萍萍), played by Wang Yan (Episode 01 and 45) Deceased
Pingping was the daughter of a statesman whom the young Lu Zhenhua fell in love with. She returned his love and they promised to marry each other someday. However, furious about this, her father tried to kill Zhenhua but was stopped by his daughter. Lu Zhenhua later pursued his hopes to become a victorious general in order to marry Pingping. However, before he achieved this, Pingping committed suicide in order to avoid an arranged marriage, which had a powerful effect on Zhenhua. Witnessing the corruption of Qing Dynasty and the death of Pingping, Zhenhua decided to call up an uprising against the Qing Dynasty, which eventually made him become the general of North-eastern China. Because of his love for Pingping, Lu Zhenhua gives all of his twelve daughters a name that includes the character Ping (萍): Xinping (心萍), Yiping (依萍), Ruping (如萍), and Mengping (夢萍/梦萍).
Wei Guangxiong (魏光雄) (Episode 01–47) Arrested (Primary Antagonist)
The adulterer of Wang Xueqin and biological father of Erjie, a small leader in a gang, who is revealed later never in love with Wang Xueqin but using her to steal the Lu family's wealth to fund his criminal activities. He is arrested with Xueqin due to arms dealing in the end of this show.
