In a remote mountain village, inside a run-down thatched house.
An old black-and-white TV from the 1980s is playing.
"Welcome, dear viewers, to today's 'Gossip King'. As you all know, VL Group, the leading company in European finance, is now entering the domestic market. President Tan Yunxiu returns home with his girlfriend, becoming a star attraction..."
With a "bang", the porridge bowl in Bai Yeqiu's hand falls to the ground.
"Slap", a hefty slap knocks Bai Yeqiu to the floor, "Stinking whore, acting up again! We bought you to sleep with my son and do chores! How dare you break the bowl!"
A bare-chested man in his forties, holding a whip in his hands, cruelly lashes out, landing blow after blow on Bai Yeqiu's bruised and beaten body.
Beside them, a man in his twenties with mental disabilities laughs heartily, "Hit her, hit her!"
Bai Yeqiu lies on the floor, hugging her knees and blankly staring at the noble and godlike man on the television.
"Huh, you think someone like that would ever be attracted to an ugly woman like you?!" The man spits on Bai Yeqiu's face.
Her dull eyes show a hint of movement. The corners of her lip move in a bitter smile.
That's right, Tan Yunxiu, someone like me... how could I ever be worthy of you?
Five years ago, a business union between the Tan and Bai families had killed her growing feelings in the cradle.
For this, she had been determined to divorce him.
No matter how well Tan Yunxiu treated her, Bai Yeqiu always found fault and picked fights, making his life and work extremely difficult.
Back then, Tan Yunxiu, rubbing his temples in a headache, helplessly and indulgently said to her, "Xiao Bai, you take advantage of my love for you, that's why you are so fearless."
Later on, an attempted suicide by slitting her wrist caused an uproar throughout the city.
Eventually, Tan Yunxiu placed the much-anticipated divorce agreement on her bedside table, putting an end to their tumultuous three-year marriage.
Subsequently, Tan Yunxiu left the country and never returned.
She was finally "free", her birth father was so infuriated that he ended up in the hospital, and everyone in Jiangcheng avoided her like the plague.
The feud between the Tan and Bai families led to the downfall of Bai's century-old business. Her father fell seriously ill and died full of resentment...
Her, once a rich and noble heiress, was sold to such a remote mountain village where no prayers were answered. She was treated like a "prostitute" and a slave by these people.
She had attempted suicide countless times by throwing herself into a well, slitting her wrists, and hanging herself. Each time she was saved, she would be brutally beaten, disfigured, and stripped naked before being thrown into a pigsty.
Her faith in life, her brilliance all collapsed!
Her achievements, pride, and confidence that she took pride in for 28 years, were completely crushed!
At this moment, the television screen flickered to a woman dressed in a beige trench coat, with sweet makeup, following behind Tan Yunxiu.
A reporter asked her, "Mrs. Tan, when are you and Mr. Tan having the wedding?"
She shyly remained silent with a light smile on her face.
Liu Ruyan!
Her best friend, hadn't she disappeared after her downfall?
Why was she now following Tan Yunxiu? Why was someone calling her Mrs. Tan?
"What the hell are you staring at!"
A few slaps landed on Bai Yeqiu's face, causing her to spit out blood and some of her teeth that had been knocked loose.
The man followed Bai Yeqiu's gaze to the television, squinting his eyes, instantly recognizing the woman appearing on the screen.
"Hey, isn't that the woman who sold you here!"
A look of utter shock sprawled across Bai Yeqiu's face – so that’s how it was!
No wonder Liu Ruyan was so zealous in helping her divorce Tan Yunxiu, spending all day getting drunk with her in bars.
So that's why the entirety of Jiang City despised this, avoiding it like the plague!
The man pinched her face, looking disdainfully at Bai Yeqiu's swollen, gruesome, and scar-filled face, and sneered, "Look at your damn hideous face, not knowing for whom to keep your purity, I must take it from you today!"
As he spoke, he climbed on top of Bai Yeqiu, tearing at her clothes stained with blood, and leant in with his foul-smelling mouth.
At this moment, Tan Yunxiu on the television was being questioned by a journalist: "May I ask if you…"
"I have no plans to marry."
Liu Ruyan's face stiffened. She was just one of Tan Yunxiu's subordinates, only seeing him a handful of times a year. This time when she returned to the country, if not for her unabashed persistence to sit on the same plane as Tan Yunxiu, this beautiful misunderstanding wouldn't have transpired.
Bai Yeqiu couldn't hear what was being said on the television.
Tan Yunxiu's icy gaze glanced over the camera, and it felt as if Bai Yeqiu was staring back at him!
Humiliation, regrets, and helplessness intertwined in her heart.
"No!" She refused to be seen in such a state by Tan Yunxiu! She wouldn't allow it!!
In her struggle, she reached for the cleaver used for cutting pigweed and aimed for the man's neck, striking it down!
Her body covered in splattering blood, the knife in her hand clattering to the ground, Bai Yeqiu burst into maniacal laughter.
Suddenly, the dim-witted man grabbed the knife and plunged it into her abdomen, shouting, "Die! Just die!"
Bai Yeqiu lay on her back, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her eyes widening in horror...
At eighteen, she met Tan Yunxiu.
Married him at twenty due to a business alliance.
Three years of marriage, she behaved outrageously. He remained supportive and invulnerable to her behaviors.
After five years, she was abandoned and led a vagabond life worse than pigs and dogs, while he built his own business empire, still the man desired by thousands.
Huh... A dream of a decade...
