Changping Commandery.
There were only three first-rate powers.
The Zhou Family, the Zhang Family, and the Wang Family.
Zhou Lingxia was much like Zhang Ruolan.
She belonged to a collateral branch of her clan.
A year ago, Zhang Ruolan's elder brother, Zhang Heilu, had submitted a marriage proposal, intending to take Zhou Lingxia as a concubine.
As a newly risen first-rate power, the Zhang Family's momentum had been fierce in recent years. Though Zhou Lingxia was a young lady of an Ancient Clan, she came from a collateral branch and was not favored by her parents.
To curry favor with the Zhang Family and forge a union between powerful families, Zhou Lingxia's parents disregarded Zhang Heilu's ugly appearance, cruel nature, and the fact that he already had three wives and concubines. They forcibly pressured her, intending to marry Zhou Lingxia into the Zhang Family.
Of course, this was a marriage between collateral branches of the two clans.
To a great extent, it could not represent the will of the clans themselves.
Zhou Lingxia's parents had done this merely to establish private ties.
Upon learning of the marriage, Zhou Lingxia neither cried nor made a fuss. She obediently agreed, though she remained fond of tears.
She understood that her status was lowly. Once her parents made a decision, even if she opposed it, she had no power to change it.
Only by enduring could she fare slightly better.
Yet, for a woman—
How important was a lifelong marriage?
To be handed over by her own parents, without rhyme or reason, to a vicious man—
How could Zhou Lingxia harbor no resentment?
Thus, today, when she heard that Zhang Ruolan had secretly gone to Gray Three's residence to buy a ferry pig—
She followed close behind.
She intended to snatch away the