Shan'er is a concubine-born daughter.
Her birth mother's orders have always been for her to keep a low profile and play dumb, leaving her timid and cowardly by nature.
One day, in the back courtyard of the Great State Temple, she comes across a handsome man covered in wounds.
She gives him some water and wipes the blood from his forehead.
It's the boldest thing she has ever done in her life.
Later, Shan'er's scheming father sends her to Prince Yong's residence.
She hears that her father owes Prince Yong two lives and ten thousand taels of silver.
Sending a concubine-born daughter is simply a way to test Prince Yong's attitude.
If Prince Yong kills her, her father wouldn't dare say a word.
On her first night at the residence,
Shan'er is terrified.
She clutches the brocade quilt and recites the Diamond Sutra.
Then a low, clear voice, like a mountain spring, interrupts her:
"Do you take me for some kind of monster?"
Later, Shan'er becomes one of the concubines in Prince Yong's household.
To her surprise, all the servants and maids in the residence treat her with great courtesy.
They provide her with delicious food and drink every day, and bow and scrape whenever they see her, showering her with flattery.
Even when she goes out to a banquet, people treat her like the Princess of Yong.
Shan'er begins to think that life at Prince Yong's residence may not be so frightening after all.
Except for Prince Yong, whose moods are impossible to read.
Whenever she shares a bed with him, she cries until she looks like a little kitten,
afraid that he'll kill her if anything displeases him.
Seeing Shan'er sobbing in his arms, the man
angrily bites her shoulder and grits out, "Do you need me to cut out my heart and show it to you?"
Theme: Never give up in the face of adversity
