Before her parents met with calamity, Yueyao lived a life of utmost cherished bliss. Her parents lavished her, their only daughter, with boundless love and affection, as if she were a delicate treasure to hold in their hearts, afraid she might break in their care.
Yueyao was bright and clever from a young age, and her father began her enlightenment when she was just two years old. He soon discovered her talent for painting and began to teach her the art. Noting her exceptional gift in painting, he specially hired a great painter from Jiangnan, Wen Chengxiang, to be her teacher when she was three. She studied under him for four years. Teacher Wen devotedly instructed her, telling her that if she persisted, she was bound to achieve greatness. She took her studies very seriously. But everything changed in the year she turned seven.
That year, her mother became pregnant. What should have been a joyous occasion turned into a nightmare. Her mother died in a difficult childbirth, and the baby brother was lost as well.
Her mother's death dealt a heavy blow to her father. He fell gravely ill and just as he seemed to recover, a bout of typhoid fever took him away.
With the successive death of her parents, her world collapsed. She was taken in by her paternal uncle and brought back to the Capital City, where she was placed to live in Lanxi Courtyard, her father's previous residence.
Within less than a year of her return to the Lian family, her grandmother passed away from the shock of her father's death. There were even rumors within the estate that she was a jinx, which left her restless. Yet, Auntie Mo disciplined those who spread the rumors and treated her as tenderly as her own daughter, no, even better than her own daughter Yuebing.
Though she had lost her parents, she was not left to wallow in despair. With the care and love of her Auntie and an accomplished, handsome fiancé, her life was not shrouded in darkness. But an inexplicable disaster shattered everything.
The daughter born of a concubine from the main branch, Yuehuan, betrayed her, alleging that she had engaged in secret dealings with a man. Yueyao denied it vehemently. However, she could never have anticipated that Nanny Gu would come forward, personally attesting to her secret interactions and even presenting evidence.
At that moment, Yueyao's shock surpassed her anger. She couldn't understand why Nanny Gu, her wet nurse whom she'd always trusted and treated well, would frame her and stain her reputation with such filth.
The scandal of secret interactions was not something that could be allowed to spread. If word got out, it would disgrace the entire Lian family. So, the Eldest Lady Lian, also known as Lady Mo, declared to the outside world that Yueyao had fallen seriously ill. Indeed, she had suffered a severe illness. Not long afterward, she was sent away by Lady Mo to a secluded manor.
It was not long before Maternal Auntie Su came to inform her that the Shen family had called off the engagement due to her tainted reputation. Now, the Lian family had lost face because of her. She had wanted to return to the Capital City to uncover the truth, but she was closely watched and could not leave. After recovering from her illness, Maternal Auntie Su told her that her paternal uncle, in consideration of her late father, had chosen a scholar candidate heading to the Capital for the imperial examinations to be her betrothed.
A few days later, she was taken in a bridal sedan chair and married under bizarre circumstances. At that time, she had her doubts, but she had become a puppet manipulated by others, with no control over her destiny.
On her wedding night, she saw her groom, a man in his mid-twenties, tall and strong. It was only then that she learned his name was Zhou Shu, a man from Sea City.
She was unwilling to marry, especially under such strange circumstances without understanding why. But after the marriage ceremony and the bridal chamber, she resigned herself to her fate. She was married now, the wife of Zhou Shu. Even if she returned to proclaim her innocence, what could it change? Nothing.
She adjusted her mindset, thinking that when she had children, she would raise them well, and thus spend her life. She would treat her past and aspirations as nothing more than a dream.
However, just as she was coming to terms with her life, she discovered a truth that she could hardly believe. The man she married, Zhou Shu, was not a scholar at all, but a merchant.
From a household of scholarly repute spanning a hundred years, she, the legitimate eldest daughter of a Tanhua, was married to a lowly tradesman—what profound irony. She wanted to return to the Capital City, to demand an explanation. Alas, she could not break free. Zhou Shu quickly took her away from the Capital City, claiming to take her back to his hometown. Throughout the journey, her thoughts lingered incessantly on returning to the Capital City to seek the truth. Yet she was strictly guarded and could not escape, living in a dazed stupor. It was only after reaching their destination and settling down that she realized they were thousands of miles away from the Capital City, in Sea City.