She had known her fate for a long time, and as for how early it was, it probably went back to the first time when her father complimented her on her beauty.

In the past, every time my father came to the courtyard where my mother lived, he only thought she was an air-like existence, and he didn't bother to look at her. And that time was the first time my father looked at her with a straight eye. She had been expecting her father to see her, but when he finally set his eyes on her, she felt cold all around, and there was no joy at all.

For it was not the loving gaze of her father she expected, and the look he looked at her was as if a stone gambler had found a rare jade from an inconspicuous stone, full of disgusting greed.

Since then, she has known that she will be like her mother, becoming his tool in exchange for high-ranking officials.

She was forced to leave her mother, left her original free and happy life, and began to learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, poetry and songs, and all kinds of etiquette rules day and night. Her father hired all kinds of famous teachers for her to tutor her, and even in order to make her more versatile, he also specially invited the famous Kabuki from the painting boat to teach her how to dance.

She understood that her father wanted her to learn these things, just to give her more opportunities to be favored by more important ministers in the court and selected as a daughter-in-law, not really as he said, but hoping that one day she could become his pride. She wanted to expose his despicable lie, but when she thought of her mother's lonely back in the deep courtyard, she could only swallow her anger and cooperate with him, as if she didn't know it.

Because as long as she is obedient, her father will be able to give her mother a life that seems to be happy enough.

Despite this happiness, it is only to create the illusion of family harmony.

The father succeeded in creating a good father figure who doted on her in front of everyone, and these people also knew that his daughter was a beautiful and talented woman in his boudoir, either consciously or unconsciously.

Through her father's continuous efforts, the people who came to propose her relatives almost broke the threshold of her family. But none of those people can be in the eyes of their fathers. He has been waiting, waiting for someone who can make his career rise step by step, so that he can willingly give this daughter who has been cultivated for many years as a gift.

Finally, he waited for the prime minister's family to propose marriage.

If she hadn't escaped from the house that night over the high walls of the house, perhaps she would have willingly accepted her father's arrangement. Because she has been living for this thing all her life, this is her fate. But she did it, she took a great risk to attend the lantern festival she had been looking forward to for a long time, and then unsuspectingly, the sudden man destroyed the wall she had built, and broke into her lonely and desperate heart.

She never thought that after that day's farewell, her father would invite him to be her brother's husband, just like she didn't expect that the person she was thinking about would paint the scene of that day's parting and miss her.

She bought the painting with a lot of money and put it in her study for a good collection. She thought that God had finally given her the opportunity to change her life, and she happily planned how to escape from the home that had imprisoned her for more than ten years. It's just that before she could complete the plan, the dream of his existence was shattered by reality.

She's going to marry the prime minister's son.

The marriage with the Prime Minister's family was a great joy for her family, because in this way, their family's status in the court would be greatly improved, and as long as she did well enough, her father's position would naturally be promoted. The whole family was happily preparing for this incident, and even her mother was smiling, glad that she had such a powerful in-law. But she was the only one, locked herself in her room, unwilling to accept anyone's blessings.

He tried to comfort her, but every time he reached the door of her room, he didn't know what he could say when he saw her.

He felt sorry for the tears in her eyes and the endless despair, and he also wanted to take her hand and take her away from such a life. He loves her so much, loves her so much, loves him so much that he can't extricate himself, but what else can he do for her besides love?

He has no power, no wealth, no property, except for being able to write and paint, he is almost useless. He couldn't give her a life of fine clothes and food, he couldn't give her the freedom she had been looking forward to, and he couldn't even say I love you.

He is also not qualified to speak.

They didn't say goodbye.

The day before her wedding, he said goodbye to Shangshu, removed his title as a teacher, and decided to travel far away. Before leaving, he refused Shangshu's money, and only folded a white lotus leaf in the place where he often played the piano, and then carried his bags and left Shangshu's mansion. Since then he has disappeared from the sight of all who knew him, no one knows where he has gone, and he has never been heard from again. It was as if he had never appeared, and in this huge city, there was no trace of his existence except for the calligraphy and paintings that hung on the walls of many houses.

And she locked herself in her room until the wedding day, when she appeared in front of the family in a red wedding dress and a hijab.

Everyone in Shangshu Mansion was boasting that she had married a good husband, but no one saw that her tears had already wet her red clothes. How she wished he could show up and take her out of here, if he said take her away, she would be willing. But what awaits her is always a cheerful crowd, and there are hopeless and lonely years in the deep courtyard in the future.

Many years later, Shang Shu was promoted to an official position due to the promotion of the prime minister, and his family moved. The subordinates were in full swing to clean up, but inadvertently found a picture scroll called "How to Fight Her" in the house of the eldest lady who had already been married.

Although it has long been dusty, the person in the painting, under the reflection of thousands of lights, can make people look at it with just one back.

The subordinate thought that it was hidden by the young lady and that it must have meaning, so he presented the painting to Master Shangshu. And Lord Shangshu, who was busy with political affairs, had no intention of doing this, and when he saw that there was no payment in the painting, he casually abandoned it in the corner next to the lotus pond where he had folded a lotus leaf.

A few days later, Shangshu's family moved out of here, leaving only a scene of people going to the empty building.

A few more days, thunderstorms. When the rain passed, the fallen leaves were spread all over the ground, and a pool of white lotus had been ruined, and next to the lotus pond, the figure of the person in the painting was finally blurred and ceased to exist.

It's like the candle flame at the Lantern Festival when we first saw it, and it was never lit again after it was extinguished.