Violet
This girl believes she is secretly an American, though she is really a Chinese girl. She prizes her American culture, even though she lives in China with her mother. One day, her father arrives, whom she has never met, and he says Violet has a sibling that they will visit in San Francisco. Her parents are tied up in criminal endeavors, and when she is led to believe that Loyalty Fang is going to marry her, but instead, he passes her along to Edward who impregnates her and steals the baby as a gift for his wife.
Loyalty Fang
This john visits the courtesan house where Violet's mother works. That means Violet and her family are concubines, essentially, but Violet doesn't quite understand that about her situation. When Loyalty buys the rights to her virginity (unfortunately this is historically accurate), she thinks Loyalty loves her and will marry her. But really, Loyalty is brokering a human trafficking deal: he thinks Violet's womb is his property, and so he sells her to Edward.
Edward
Edward is an evil person. He uses Violet for sex, impregnating her, but when it comes time to register the child's birth, he writes his wife's name on the child's birth certificate. This means that Edward has the legal right to wrongfully separate Violet from her child, but he doesn't even tell her that he is married. He simply tricks her into thinking that he is single and loves her, and when she has her child, he steals it for his wife and leaves.
