Please note!!! The female lead is a person of that era!!!
In the twelfth year of the Republic of China, the late-spring breeze carried the sweet scent of crabapple blossoms through the grand, elaborately decorated Shen family mansion.
In this secluded residence stood a small courtyard called Dream Pavilion, home to Auntie Liu, the Shen patriarch’s most cherished concubine, and her daughter, Shen Yao.
Five-year-old Shen Yao crouched on the bluestone path, poking at ants in the dirt with a twig.
“Miss, stop playing. Your mother wants you back,” Xiaotao, the maid, hurried over, her twelve-year-old face full of anxiety.
Shen Yao raised her head. Sunlight filtering through the crabapple branches cast dappled shadows across her face. She looked very much like her mother, Auntie Liu, with almond-shaped eyes, cherry-red lips, and skin as white as fine Xuan paper. Only her stubborn chin strongly resembled Master Shen’s.
“What does Mother want me for?” Shen Yao dropped the twig and brushed the hem of her cotton jacket, embroidered with curling lotus vines.
Xiaotao bit her lip and whispered, “It’s... it’s about binding your feet.”
