Lin Zhaoniang’s Diary of Life Among the Imperial Clan

When the Jurchen armies marched south, large numbers of Song imperial relatives and nobles fled south to escape the turmoil, making Fujian Circuit especially prosperous. To better fit into local life, the imperial relatives married into local gentry families. The two groups mingled and formed new powers. Lin Zhaoniang was born into a family that was a distant branch of a distant branch of the prominent Lin clan of Jianning Prefecture, Fujian Circuit. Her family had only a little over twenty mu of poor farmland on the outskirts of Pingqing County. They relied on the protection of their clan to scrape by, barely managing to keep food on the table. Her father and elder brother had repeatedly failed the imperial examinations, and her younger brother was now old enough to start school. To pay his tuition, she had no choice but to stay up late by lamplight weaving cloth with her mother to earn money. Then one day, her clan uncle, an official in Fujian Circuit, sent a letter saying he had found Lin Zhaoniang a match. The man was a member of the imperial family, refined and handsome, with an upright and noble character. Her family was overjoyed. Her parents hastily scraped together a few mu of land and sent her to Fujian Circuit to prepare for the wedding. Everyone in the county said she was lucky, and Lin Zhaoniang was happy too, until the night before the groom was due to fetch her. Only then did she learn there was a catch: the man was a sickly fellow who might not live long. Their marriage agreement had already been finalized, and there was no backing out now. Her parents regretted it too late and came to her in tears. But Lin Zhaoniang comforted them. “Whatever he’s like, I’ll live my own life well.” She had already resigned herself to becoming a widow, married to a man who was gaunt and on the verge of death. But married life turned out nothing like she had imagined. Her clan uncle had not lied. Though frail, her husband was indeed handsome and virtuous, and he treated her with great respect. But he had been born to a life of privilege, and was exacting in every way. He wore nothing but fine silks and was never satisfied with anything but the finest food. His sharp temper showed at every turn, and he could leave the whole household reeling with a few cutting words. Lin Zhaoniang, on the other hand, was used to keeping her head down and treading carefully. The two of them could never seem to get along. A reserved, resilient daughter from a fallen branch of a prominent clan × a frail, fastidious, idle member of the imperial family Reading notes: 1. A mostly fictionalized setting, somewhere between the early and middle Southern Song. There is no specific date, and events from different periods are blended together. 2. The characters’ views and values do not represent the author’s. The author aims to recreate the social atmosphere of the time, so many characters’ thoughts and actions will differ greatly from modern sensibilities. 3. The author is a doting mom. The heroine will definitely live well and be very lucky by the standards of her time. 4. The story focuses on everyday life, with a small ensemble cast, so it may take a while to warm up. 5. HE. 6. I’ll add more if I think of anything~ Theme: Strive to make progress