Lin Hua is the elder child and only daughter of a merchant family in the late Ming dynasty, during a period of severe and prolonged famine that has ruined many households. In better years the Lin family had enjoyed considerable wealth from trade. Like many merchant houses of the time, they valued sons as heirs and daughters primarily as instruments of alliance and financial security.

From childhood, Lin Hua was prepared for marriage rather than education. She received instruction in etiquette, deportment, and the accomplishments expected of a refined young woman, but was given little access to classical learning or the practical knowledge of the family’s business. Her parents’ affection and resources were directed chiefly toward her younger brother, the designated heir.

With the famine having stripped the family of most of its wealth, her parents have begun to view her as one of the few remaining assets that might still be converted into silver. Discussions of marriage arrangements or more desperate transfers have become frequent. Lin Hua is aware of these conversations. Outwardly she remains obedient.

In private, she often finds herself clinging to quiet, fairy-tale daydreams in which someone arrives to take her far from her family and love her with genuine care—dreams she knows are unlikely, yet cannot fully abandon.

Will you make her fairytale come true? Or will you make her life come more undone?