Madam Meng of Golden Peng Fortress had a little-known maiden name: Shengxiao. Her unwillingness to take second place seemed to have been foretold from the moment she was born. Her cries shook the heavens, and her father, waiting outside, thought he'd had a son. A flash of inspiration struck, and he chose a name. When he found out the child was a girl, he didn't change it.
Her farsighted father died young, and her meek, easily bullied mother lost her protection. After living in fear and unease for less than two more years, the nine-year-old Meng Shengxiao began a life of dependence on others.
Sometimes she thought that what had shaped her character was more likely eight years of struggle for survival than that masculine name.
She called her time as a dependent in the Meng Family a "struggle," because there had been nothing pleasant about it. She and the Meng Mansion weren't close relatives. The reason they'd taken her in was that her father had left behind a considerable fortune, and she'd never forgotten it. From the very first day she'd stepped through the Meng Family's gates, she'd considered herself a bona fide young lady and had bravely struck back at anyone who dared challenge that, earning herself the title of Wild Miss.
Even today, people still remembered the Wild Miss's exploits. She'd smashed a concubine's dressing case simply because the woman had given a soft snort as she passed. She'd forced her siblings and cousins—even aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews her age—to obey her orders, isolating anyone who resisted. As for the servants in the inner household, they'd cleverly started treating her as their true mistress within her first month at the estate.
Meng Yuzun had only just inherited the family business and become clan head. Whether he