She learned the wind's gentle ways, and her natural intelligence blossomed. A graceful young maiden, untouched by sorrow as the years passed. The Guo family of Willow Lane in Fuyuan County was comfortably well-off. Its children studied, farmed, or ran small businesses. The parents of the family's third branch were kind and gentle, and the siblings shared a bond deeper than blood. The third branch's cherished daughter was named Yue'er. Her elders protected her, and her brothers supported her. In times of peace and prosperity or amid the upheaval of war, a young woman like her could neither save the world and bring peace to its people nor drive the Tartars beyond the border fortresses. All she could do was go with the flow and seek a life of peace and happiness, with calm and steady years.
