Anyang City, Ling Manor.
As night fell, the festively decorated manor was already bustling with excitement. The large "Double Happiness" character hung high on the gates and the bright red lanterns all made it clear what was happening.
Carriages stretched for miles along the street, while guests carrying congratulatory gifts crossed the threshold with beaming smiles.
Congratulations rang out without end!
Today was the wedding day of Ling Hongfeng, the current head of the Ling Family of Anyang City, and Tong Baodai, the legitimate daughter of the Tong Family. Every prominent figure in the county city had sent representatives with gifts, giving the Ling Family, which had lately shown signs of decline, a faint air of renewed prosperity.
The Ling Family elders presiding over the wedding beamed at the sight, even growing smug with pride.
Yet Ling Hongfeng, the star of tonight's occasion, sat blankly in his study, his expression numb and his heart as dead as ashes!
Because Tong Baodai, the woman about to become his wife, was no ordinary person!
This eldest miss of the Tong Family was not unattractive; she could even be called a beauty.
But among the younger generation of Anyang City's great clans and aristocratic families, her reputation was exceedingly, exceedingly bad.
Tong Baodai had a violent temper—one could even call it savage. At the slightest displeasure, she would fly into a rage. Rumor had it that she had beaten more than a dozen maidservants to death, while the number of servants punished because of her was beyond counting.
That alone would have been tolerable. After all, in the eyes of aristocratic heirs, servants were not even people.
But Tong Baodai also had an unspeakable hobby: visiting pleasure houses to listen to music, and keeping two fair-faced opera boys!
Not only that, she maintained