Chapter 1
My sister was renowned as the greatest beauty in the capital, but our father was only the owner of a modest restaurant there.
Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants—the merchant class ranked lowest of all. The capital teemed with officials and nobles. Throw a stone at random and it might strike someone our family could never afford to offend.
Father had always been cautious. Once my sister’s beauty began to blossom, he stopped allowing either of us to show our faces outside.
But as she grew older, word still spread that she possessed beauty to rival Xi Shi.
Father loved his daughters more than life. All he wanted was for us to marry into ordinary families and live peaceful, happy lives.
As his worry deepened, more silver appeared at his temples.
My sister was consumed with guilt.
Father comforted her. Beauty was no sin, he said. He only feared he lacked the power to protect us.
He donated half the restaurant’s profits each year to support promising young scholars.
His thinking was simple: if the Shen family could not protect its daughters because we were merchants, then he would personally raise up a scholar who could.
My sister was approaching her coming-of-age ceremony. To avoid trouble, Father kept the celebration as modest as possible.
Yet even with such restraint, her reputation as the capital’s greatest beauty spread.
The day after her ceremony, the marquis’s household sent over a bride-price.
Their messenger spoke lazily, contempt dripping from every word. The young marquis had taken a fancy to my sister, he told Father, and they had come to carry her back as a concubine.
The young marquis was the Empress Dowager’s own nephew and heir to the Marquis of Cheng’en. Since the marquis had only one son, everyone called him the young marquis. He was notorious for his extravagance and depravity. Every woman carried into his estate was left covered in wounds and ultimately dumped as a corpse in an unmarked graveyard.
How could Father let my sister enter such a den of beasts? Bowing and smiling apologetically, he claimed she was already betrothed and unworthy of so exalted a lord.
But what chance did a mere merchant have against an imperial relative of immense power, the Empress Dowager’s cherished nephew?
They dragged my sister away. The marquis’s guards beat Father gravely, while Mother held me and wept.
Father struggled to his feet and staggered toward the marquis’s residence, but before he could get close, the gate guards drove him off with their clubs.
They pointed at my parents and gossiped, openly wagering on how many days my sister would survive inside.
Father spat blood from rage, but no matter what he tried, he could find no way to rescue her.
Three days later, the marquis’s men brought my sister back.
The radiant young woman they had taken returned as a lifeless body, bruised purple and covered in wounds.
“And here we thought she was some paragon of chastity. In the end, she still crawled beneath the young marquis!”
The messenger tossed out the taunt and left with a sneer.
Mother dropped to her knees and clutched my sister’s body, unable to believe what she saw. A terrible wail tore from her throat.
Blood covered Father’s forehead and trickled from the corner of his mouth. He stared toward the residence of the Empress Dowager’s kin, stricken beyond words.
Unable to let the matter rest, he lifted my sister’s body and stumbled toward the Capital Prefecture Court.
He beat the grievance drum and accused the young marquis of abducting an innocent woman, kneeling to beg the governor of the capital to grant my sister justice.
But the governor said that since my sister had become a concubine of that noble household, they were naturally entitled to beat her to death as they pleased.
The marquis’s elderly steward stood across from Father and snorted. “She was nothing but a lowly concubine, yet you dare trouble His Excellency the governor over her? Do you take the household of the Marquis of Cheng’en for a mere ornament?”
Father’s accusation had already drawn notice from some of the capital’s citizens. Had the governor not suppressed the case for the Empress Dowager’s sake, the marquis’s household would surely have faced another impeachment from those meddlesome censors.
The steward sneered. “A wretched merchant dares defy the marquis?”
Father was carried home with his flesh torn open. In the middle of the night, blades flashed, and blood drenched the entire Shen estate.
Mother moved faster than she ever had in her life, hiding me in the estate’s escape tunnel.
The corners of her eyes split, and drops of blood-red tears rolled down her face. “Zhuozhuo, you must escape. You must live and avenge your father and your sister!”
A long blade swept across Mother’s slender throat. Her eyes remained wide as her breathing faded, and she collapsed beside Father and my sister.
Oil had been poured throughout the estate. A single spark was cast, and flames surged skyward, swallowing half the compound in moments.
I stood at the mouth of an alley, staring hollowly at the thick smoke above the Shen estate. My nails dug deep into my palms, but I felt no pain.
The fire burned into the following day.
The Capital Prefecture finally arrived. By then the flames had erased every trace, and the Shen family had vanished from the capital.
I clenched my palm and kowtowed three times toward our ruined home. Father, I fear Zhuozhuo must disobey your wishes.
In life, you never wanted either of your daughters to become a concubine. But only by becoming the concubine of the most exalted man under heaven could I avenge you, Mother, and my murdered sister.
Only then could I make the Marquis of Cheng’en and his entire household pay the price they deserved.