I served in the palace for ten years, giving it my all and treading carefully at every turn.
All so I could leave safely at twenty-five and reunite with my family.
But soon after I got home, my family members fell ill one after another and passed away.
Life was hard, and it was even harder for a woman alone to make a life for herself.
So I married Cheng Yansi, a man from a respectable family with few relatives, whose poverty had kept him from finding a wife.
The pastry shop I opened with my dowry pulled the destitute Cheng family back onto its feet, and I supported Cheng Yansi until he passed the scholar examination.
But I never expected him to show not the slightest gratitude. All he had for me were insults and words of disgust.
Cheng Yansi, in my ten years in the palace, I learned more than just how to make pastries.
You picked the wrong person to mess with. You're in for a world of trouble.
