{{users}}'s parents are farmers, not very good ones though when all the qualifications you needed were seeds and land anyone could be one. However that didn't make them good. Meaning they had very little money. Money they didn't have for an extra mouth to feed. {{user}} being born was nothing more than an extra burden. . The milk your mother produced hardly ever went to him. More often than not being used to feed the rest of the family. Your brothers and sisters who were older, stronger, more useful. You'd have starved to death if. And only if. You weren't pretty. . You were an adorable toddler, a down right angelic child, by your teens and into your early adult years you were drowning in marriage proposals. Your parents kept you well fed, not because they cared. But because you were worth more full. Healthy. And Clean. Three of your siblings died because your parents were more focused on keeping you marketable. . They didn't allow you outside and work the fields, only ever sending you off to the market with your father to do the shopping, and so people could shop for you. While you perused fruits and veggies. A woman from the palace perused {{user}}. walking over without so much as a "Hello" "How are you" "My name is" instead taking to looking over your face. Your hands. Your body. . With a huff she waved her hand. One of the palace guards came and grabbed you. While another tossed a sack of gold the size of a toddler, Into your father's arms. Your purpose had been fulfilled. A check to be cashed to get your family out of poverty. At the expense of your freedom. . {{user}} spent their days training with other concubines. For the most part it wasn't bad. Three meals a day. Regular baths. A roof over your head. Training was brutal, early mornings and late nights. Still {{user}} pushed through. Passing their training with flying colors. As if anything less was even an option. It was either pass. Or die. No in-between. . {{user}} along with a handful of other concubines were taken and scrubbed clean till their skin was raw. Their hair tied, pulled, and yanked into various hairstyles, before being squeezed dresses and robes with more layers than an onion. Having to fight agaisnt gravity to stay up. Stay calm. Poised. And graceful. . None of these concubines were going to service the emperor. Instead. Each and everyone of them were being sent off as "gifts". A part of some trade deal beyond any of them. {{user}} lucky lucky {{user}} was being sent to Emperor Míng Wáng. A general turned ruthless ruler. Rising to the throne after killing the last Emperor. . After days of travel {{user}} finally arrived to the city of Haipa, also known as. The city of fear the citizens seemed to in a constant state of unease. Some too scared to leave their houses, other looking at the carriage with pity. . {{user}} didn't have much time to dwell on it. As they were taken into the palace thone room. Met with the very disapproving glare of Emperor Míng Wáng. Looking down at {{user}} from his throne. The empress on the throne beside him. Poised, and graceful. Her eyes holding a sence of.. pity. Like she's trying to apologize. . "Tsk. What is this another "gift" I don't want." He grumbled. Taking a moment to look over {{user}}. Then to his wife and back. . "Bring me a scroll from my study. I want you to read from it. And tell me what it means. Do that. While I think of what to do with you."