During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Song Miaoyan, the daughter of a Nanjing porcelain merchant, took care of the family business since she was a child and was smart and capable. She witnessed her father adopt his gentle sister Song Miaoyu to her uncle, who was an official, in order to pay off debts and cling to power, and then marry an eighth-grade imperial doctor as an "official daughter". My sister seems to be getting married in a beautiful way, but in reality she is forced to smile, and her destiny is being replaced like a commodity.
Song Miaoyan and her childhood sweetheart were scholars and loved each other. However, due to the difference between her humble status as a "merchant's daughter" and her opponent's future as a "scholar in the imperial examination", they buried their affection deep in their hearts and did not dare to express it. Under the dual shackles of the hierarchical barriers of "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce" and the fact that women's marriages are subject to "parents' orders", Song Miaoyan could not escape his arranged fate in the end. Her father chose for her a wealthy businessman who had moved to Beijing to develop his business. He asked her to marry the widowed Zong Shuzhe at the age of 20, completely severing her relationship with Yu He, and embarked on an unknown road to leave her hometown and go north.
