Chronicles of a Noble Family

Though the Xi family is small, it is a family of scholars. Xi Shuyun knows her parents will find her a suitable husband, and she will lead a quiet, ordinary life. Who could have imagined that a minor accident would make her the wife of Song Yu, the handsome and refined legitimate son of Wanzhou’s foremost clan? Their marriage is harmonious, her mother-in-law is kind, and Xi Shuyun is respectful and dutiful, never neglecting her responsibilities. One day, she burns incense at a temple. When she returns, she has a dream. She dreams that her father is implicated in a case, her family is sent into exile, her mother dies of illness on the way, and her only younger brother’s fate is unknown. She dreams that her mother-in-law’s affection is only an act, and that she demands Xi Shuyun divorce her husband on her own, claiming it is the only way to save her father. Later, Xi Shuyun remarries. Her second husband is “cruel,” “bullies” and “humiliates” her, locks her in a dark little room, and gives her only vegetables and radishes to eat. She is also subjected to needle torture every day, until she finally “dies with hatred in her heart.” One day, in the Song family’s back garden, she sees the “cruel” husband being beaten by men with a sack over his head. She strides over and raises her foot to kick him. Si Cheng is the son of an old family friend of the Songs. His elders, fed up with his unruly ways, have sent him to stay with the Song family, hoping he will absorb some of their scholarly refinement and become a gentleman like Song Yu. That day, he struggles desperately to wriggle out of the sack. He sees a woman who looks vaguely familiar raising her foot and shouts, “You rotten woman, what are you doing?” “I, I was lifting my shoe to wipe my foot. No, no, I was lifting my foot to wipe my shoe.” Si Cheng: “...” She was obviously about to kick him.