But who can clearly articulate matters of the heart? The most excruciating wounds are often not inflicted by strangers, but by those who have always been kind to you, only to suddenly turn against you. That betrayal comes too swiftly and fiercely, becoming almost too much to bear.
When Xu Shuhui was young, and her mother was the mistress of the house, the Xu family lived in harmony.
The gentle and virtuous mistress cared greatly for Xu Feng's concubines, and those concubines, in turn, adored their kind mistress. The women of the Xu household led a joyful life as if they were sisters, with Xu Feng's concubines treating little Xu Shuhui as if she were their own. At that time, the young girl felt she was the happiest person in the world because she had many 'little mothers' besides her own.
Back then, each lady of the inner courtyard seemed like a celestial nymph—graceful, virtuous, erudite, and infinitely compassionate. But all that changed with her mother's passing.
