In the Great An Kingdom, marrying off a daughter from an ordinary, well-off family costs two hundred taels in dowry.
The Ye family has three daughters, which makes for a very expensive affair.
Miserly Master Ye insists on raising his newborn third daughter as a boy...
That year, Ye Xianjin was nine, Ye Qingyin was seven,
and five-year-old Ye Mingzhu suddenly discovered that she was missing a rather ugly little thing.
From then on, the three sisters learned of their parents' absurdity, and their dispositions changed dramatically.
Ye Xianjin, gentle and composed on the outside, sees the injustice women face in this world and resolves never to marry...
Ye Qingyin, sharp-tongued and bold beneath the surface, schemes hard to arrange her own marriage, hoping to leave the Ye family and start over in a prestigious household...
Ye Mingzhu has never been one to make up her own mind, but is somehow forced to attend the imperial academy, where she runs into the childhood rival who used to compete with her at peeing...
