Depois de poucos dias de tranquilidade, Xie Guan Niang teve grande azar por causa de uma fortuna inesperada. Foi vítima de uma armadilha, ficou desamparada e tornou-se uma jovem senhora em apuros, sem nada além do nome. Os moradores da vila cochichavam e zombavam de Jiang Yuan, que a salvara, dizendo que ele estava completamente iludido por tratar como tesouro uma inútil que não servia para nada além de gastar dinheiro. Jiang “completamente iludido” Yuan: ...Ser cego dos olhos é doença, mas ser cego do coração é fatal. Xie “inutensílio” Guan Niang (com orgulho e mãos na cintura): O que eu consigo fazer, vocês nunca conseguiram; e o que vocês fazem, logo eu também farei. Quem é o verdadeiro “inutensílio” fica bem claro! Mas, “A Yuan, você não é mesmo um faz-tudo?” Jiang Yuan: “O que seria um ‘faz-tudo’?” Xie Guan Niang: “...Não, deixa pra lá, não é nada. Você já está ótimo assim.” Jiang Yuan: “...Ah.”
Year Two of the Hongde Era, ninth day of the fifth month, Xie Village.
The sun had just risen, and the ancestral residence of the Xie family, usually quiet and serene, was suddenly disturbed by a burst of fierce yet brief quarrelling. Sixteen-year-old Lady Xie, the sixth daughter, Xie Guan’nian, glared intently at the woman seated across from her—a graceful figure sipping tea, dressed in a Daoist robe, her beauty preserved so well she appeared barely over twenty.
Her voice, clear and melodious with the timbre of youth, trembled with suppressed collapse and fury. “I’ve said it countless times—I refuse to acknowledge my ancestors! I won’t return to the family line!”
“I too have said it many times: you must acknowledge your ancestors.” The woman’s voice, steady yet tinged with coldness, spoke unhurriedly, revealing the unyielding resolve of its owner—Xie Guan’nian’s mother, Xie Jingchu.
“So you’re determined to send me to my death, is that it?” Tears streamed uncontrollably down Xie Guan’nian’s face, her voice breaking into sobs. “You can’t stand to see me living peacefully, can you?”
“Impudent!” With a sharp crack, the teacup was slammed to the ground, its shattered porcelain echoing outside the courtyard. The woman’s voice, laden with anger, followed, “Is this how you speak to your elders? Have all the manners you learned gone to waste?”
“Heh... hehehe... hehehe...” Xie Guan’nian’s laughter, half crying, half mocking, spilled into the courtyard, tinged with despair and madness.
Outside the Wind Lotus Pavilion, the round-faced maid