At that time, the Republic of China was in a state of social customs that were all kinds of strange and wonderful. The fact that a widow was publicly professed to love by a married man did not affect Mu Jinzhi's reputation. On the contrary, it made her highly sought after by literary circles.

The two were a talented man and a talented woman, and the original owner, a woman confined to her home with bound feet, became the target of criticism in the writings of scholars. She used her gratitude to ruin the romantic love between the two lovers.

At that time, the original owner was just an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl. She married into Xicheng alone and listened to the criticism of her in the media every day, fearing that her husband would really divorce her.

Just then, a rebellion broke out, and the rebels wanted to kidnap Zhong's father's family. Fortunately, Mu Jinzhi and Zhong Yunsheng received the news in advance and moved everyone away.

The original owner had bound feet and was eight months pregnant, so she couldn't run fast. She was the last one to get on the bus when she was escaping and was abandoned on the road by Zhong Yunsheng.

She was shot to death by a hail of bullets.

However, in order not to lose face, the Zhong family sent a telegram saying that the original mother had miscarried. She was a woman with bound feet and her body was weaker than that of ordinary women. She died in childbirth.

A month after her death, Zhong Yunsheng married Mu Jinzhi.

Mu Jinzhi used the original owner's pitiful experiences to write a book that satirized the cannibalistic old era, becoming a highly sought-after female writer in the Republic of China. Coupled with her romantic love with Zhong Yunsheng, she was unparalleled in popularity for a time.

After sorting through the original owner's memories, Bai Yan couldn't help but sneer: Love that feeds on the original owner's blood is truly romantic to the extreme.

A cold glint flashed in her eyes, and she was quite clear about the timeline she had traveled to.

The original owner went to Xicheng at the age of sixteen to marry Mu Yunsheng. Now, she is in the winter when she went to Xicheng. Not long ago, her birth mother, Yuan Shi, and her sister-in-law, Chen Xiuer, forced her to bind her feet.

The original owner's father had attended a Western-style school, so the original owner did not have her feet bound when she was young.

However, unlike Xicheng, a city influenced by foreign ideas, the original owner and her mother lived in their hometown, where everything was very different from the advanced Xicheng.

At least for now, there are still many wealthy families here where women have bound feet, and widows are considered unlucky.

The original owner's birth mother, Yuan, was a woman with little opinion of her own. After her husband died and she became a widow, she never left the inner quarters.

The stepson, Bai Jiye, believed that the Zhong family in Xicheng was a powerful warlord family in the northwest, and that the original wife had to bind her feet if she wanted to marry into that family.

Yuan Shi did not have her feet bound when she was young because her parents felt sorry for her. Although she had a good relationship with her husband after she got married, she was ridiculed by others in her early years.

Besides, since both Chen Xiuer and Bai Jiye agreed, she couldn't object.

He could only tell himself that it was for his daughter's own good.

Wrapping the feet involves breaking and twisting a person's toes. Even a seven or eight-year-old girl with soft feet would cry at night from the pain, let alone a girl who is already half grown up.

Bai Yan didn't want to bind her feet. If her feet were bound, she would be practically crippled. Did she want to be abandoned on the street like she was in her previous life when she tried to escape?

Bai Yan's gaze fell on her wrapped feet. She struggled to sit up, and there was a pair of scissors next to the bed.

The original owner's feet weren't bound under duress. She took Chen Xiuer's words to heart and endured the pain because she was afraid of being looked down upon if she went to Xicheng alone.

Therefore, Chen Xiuer was not on guard against the original owner and casually left the scissors she used to cut the cloth strips here.

Bai Yan endured the pain and used scissors to cut open the foot bindings. Layer upon layer of cloth were wrapped around her feet, and by the time she had completely unwrapped them, she was covered in sweat.

Although the binding was only for a short time, Chen Xiuer used all her strength, and her feet were bound to three inches long. Now, they are naturally deformed and broken. She was also vomiting from the foot binding while injured, and some of the wounds have turned purplish-blue.

Despite the intense pain, Bai Yan still managed to straighten her bones.

If her foot isn't treated properly now, the only way to recover will be through surgery. Even with cell-restoring fluid, she'll still have to suffer a lot.

After finishing everything, Bai Yan was covered in a cold sweat, but the pain in her feet was no longer as excruciating as before. Exhausted, she lay down on the bed and quickly closed her eyes.

...

The next morning, the maid who served the original owner discovered that the original owner had removed her foot bindings and immediately went out to tell Chen Xiuer. However, Chen Xiuer had a habit of going to the teahouse for morning tea and was afraid that she would not be able to return for a while.

Upon receiving the news, Madam Yuan came to her daughter's room first. Seeing her daughter's pale face, she forgot her anger and just burst into tears: "You were wrapped up so well, why did you take it off yourself? Now you're going to suffer for nothing!"

She further advised, "My son, you must not refuse to bind your feet just because you are afraid of the pain, otherwise you will be looked down upon when you go to your husband's family."

Bai Yan simply shook her head: "Mom, it hurts too much, it hurts so much I want to die. I don't want to bind my feet. Do I have to die from the pain so that people won't look down on me?"

Looking at her daughter's rugged and deformed feet, and then at her pale and aggrieved face, Yuan could no longer hold back. "It really breaks my heart!" she cried, looking at her daughter with teary eyes. "Seeing you cry like that, I regretted it several times."

Yes, she had been said a few words about it.

But if her husband hadn't died, wouldn't she have lived a good life even without foot binding?

“But now you know that the people who speak in this family are your brother and sister-in-law. You are going to marry into a prominent family in the Northwest. Your brother and sister-in-law value this highly, and the family has this custom. If your sister-in-law wants to complain, I'm afraid I can't stop her.”

“You know, your sister-in-law is a difficult person…” Yuan said, shaking her head and sobbing softly, “She’s not easy to talk to either.”

Bai Yan lowered her eyes.

The Bai family is a large clan here. They may not be wealthy, but they have a large population.

Bai's father was the only male in his lineage, and he only had one daughter. Therefore, after his death in battle, Yuan followed the clan's rules and listened to the elders, choosing an adopted son to be adopted into the clan.

That is Bai Jiye, Chen Xiuer's husband.

Bai Jiye's apparent filial piety in adopting his mother was actually a result of bribing the elders of the clan, who coveted the vast wealth of the Bai family's orphaned mother and son.

As soon as news of the original owner's death reached him, Bai Jiye brought his biological parents to live with him.

This was certainly against the rules, but Yuan was just a woman confined to her home; her husband had died and her daughter was gone, so no one was there to stand up for her.

Bai Jiye was also afraid that she would go out and spread rumors about his filial impiety, which would give him a bad reputation in the clan.

They secretly contacted a slave trader and sold Yuan Shi to a ship. However, Yuan Shi was so heartbroken by the death of her daughter that she fell ill and died as soon as she arrived on the ship. The slave trader cursed his bad luck and casually threw her into the sea.

That at least saved them from a lot of humiliation and torture.

Bai Yan's gaze turned slightly cold, but she raised her eyes and said, "Mom, don't worry, I have a plan. Go and have a servant buy a newspaper, and be quick, before Chen Xiuer comes back."

Why?

"Go ahead!"

Yuan was puzzled, but she did as her daughter said.

An hour later, Chen Xiuer stormed home and pushed open Bai Yan's door.

After discovering that she had indeed removed the foot bindings, he exclaimed, "What a terrible thing! I was trying to be kind by binding your feet, and you think I was trying to harm you?"

She was furious and reached out, saying, "Go get the foot binding cloth! You had to suffer again, and you brought this on yourself!"