On my first day as a concubine-born daughter, my legal mother tried to marry me off to a fifty-year-old man.
I brought out the Great Zhou Code, refused the marriage on the spot, split from the family, and used my silver to open the capital's first matchmaking agency: The Good Match Pavilion.
My first client was a minister's legitimate daughter whose engagement had been broken off. I put together a “client profile” for her, and three days later she married a successful concubine-born scholar. Her prenuptial contract stated: the dowry belongs to the bride, and no concubines may be taken without her consent.
When word got out, the noblewomen went wild, and the whole city lined up to sign up for memberships.
Seven matchmakers came to wreck the place. I put them through a round of KPI assessments, and five joined me on the spot.
When a merchant's wife had her dowry seized by her husband, I helped her win the lawsuit. Women from all over the city came to me in tears.
A year later, The Good Match Pavilion had opened three branches and earned five thousand taels.
A palace maid from the Empress Dowager's service knocked at my door. “Her Majesty the Empress Dowager requests your presence at the palace.”
I smiled. The royal VIP had arrived.
