Liu Yueli belonged to a famous business family in Luo City, far away from the Capital of Shan'an. Being born as the twelfth child, and just for the sake of being the daughter of an unfavored concubine, Yueli wasn't much favored.
And when the old Master Liu died of a sudden illness, his younger brother married the young and the arrogant mistress of Liu manor and took the power of the family.
Yueli was even unfavored by this new step father. When Yueli was ten, her mother got infected by a dangerous disease and passed away reasoning lack of medications and care.
Yueli was completely left alone after this. With no one to look after her, she was often mistreated and abused. For years she spent her life worse than a maid.
When Yueli turned seventeen, she grew to be the most beautiful child of the family. The mistress of Liu manor was displeased by this when her own sons and daughters ended up to be a group of trolls.
So after discussing the matter with her new husband, who was also eagerly waiting to get rid of Yueli, the young daughter of seventeen was sold off to a brothel.
At first, her job was to clean the rooms of the brothel girls and serve customers with necessities. She wasn't paid but he was given food if she did the work properly.
But wasn't it already great even to have some thing to eat and live under a roof where she won't get beaten black and blue and wasn't left starved for days?
She didn't care. To be honest, she was happy. So she painfully decided to ignore when her own siblings started mocking her whenever they met at the roads.
There was nothing she could do any way, was there? Three months passed this way. It wasn't that she was completely doing fine. She was born beautiful. Though her shabby maid dress was stained with soot, it still couldn't hide her allure.
Those cheeks dimpled whenever she smiled. Her body was slender and fragile. When she raised her face, it had that innocent look, making others wanting to bully her more. It was normal she would attract unwanted attention. Soon trouble followed.
She found herself caught under the watchful gaze of horrible men who visited the brothel.
It really felt so uncomfortable for her to find herslef being watched while she cleaned the tables and served dishes. These men also visited often, sat by a desk in the corner and silently kept watching her. One or two even tried forcing her but luckily she was able to barely slip away. She was terrified.
Time passed not until one evening, something unexpected happened. Six men were ruthlessly murdered at the brothel. Their bodies were shredded beyond recognition. The murderer has escaped unscathed and had not left even a single clue.
Yueli was somehow baffled. No matter how hard, still she recognized all of them clearly. They were the men who had been keeping a watch on her... She was too frightened to speak at that time. So she kept silent.
The young son of the town mayor of Luo City came to seal the brothel that evening. That person, Qian Zhifeng was twenty five years old. He was extremely handsome and talented.
To be honest, Yueli had admired this person for years. She had met him once or twice when they were just small, during those days when she was still a beloved daughter of the old businessman Liu. But that was long time ago.
When Qian Zhifeng sealed the brothel, Yueli was left alone again with no where to go. Qian Zhifeng took pity on her, brought her to his manor and appointed her as a concubine.
What more Yueli could wish for? The moment she entered into the mayor's manor, she thought her life of misery would be over.
And still all didn't go too well. Though Qian Zhifeng wasn't legally married, Yueli wasn't the only concubine he had. There were many devastating beauties and gers who looked submissive as her. They were literally a pack of wolves in sheep clothing.
Qian Zhifeng wasn't at home all the times. He often had to run around here and there attending to this and that.
Even at the times he spent at the mayor's manor, he still had to get busy with reports. He obviously didn't have much time to spend with his concubines.
But no matter how busy Qian Zhifeng was, he wasn't unfair. He treated all his concubines equally. Though he didn't have time to personally visit Yueli, at least he made sure she wasn't ignored.
He gifted her with servants and maids and gave everything a wife needed. A whole year passed this way. She slowly came to realize that the mayor's manor was a living hell. Her servants often quarreled with each other. Maids were just spies of other concubines.
With time, he was stepped on and framed by others. He was laughed and mocked at. This really wasn't a place for someone innocent and harmless like him.
But Yueli still endured until that day she was framed by Qian Zhifeng's favourite concubine Minghua into a serious crime. Yueli was framed into poisoning Minghua and killing her unborn child.
That child was Qian Zhifeng's first child but died even before he was born. Yueli repeatedly failed to prove her innocence. Qian Zhifeng was maddened.
The next day, as a punishment, Qian Zhifeng gave Yueli to a poor peasant who came to the manor begging for food. Yueli was heart broken. But there was nothing she could do. So he came to live with the peasant.
Now what of her new husband Jiang Qingqian? Jiang Luo lived in a little village by Luo City, in a half wrecked house with cracked walls and a broken roof. He didn't even own a field. He spent his poor life hunting or either doing hard work at the shops.
As for his character, he was extremely tall than any ordinary man, and equally ugly with a horribly burnt and a scarred face with stubble and matted hair. His stained garments was torn and mud smeared. A single look of him was frightening. This made Yueli loath Jiang Luo even more.
Though Jiang Luo was scary, he was always a gentle person. Bedsides, it wasn't easy for some one ugly like him to get a beautiful wife like this. So he worked hard to make her happy. That person washed her clothes, hunted in the morning, cooked the lunch and dinner and fed his weak wife.
But she just didn't cooperate. She often ignored meals and sat by the window gazing dazed at the sky. With time her health gradually deteriorated. Her body grew pale, weak and thin. Jiang Luo did everything he could to make sure his wife was safe. From what little he earned by doing hard work and hunting, he starved and brought her medicines. But she ignored him.
And one early morning when Jiang Luo had gone in search of something for his wife to eat, she died.