It turns out that although Li Zhaodi is Zhou's daughter-in-law, her family is from the same place as Zhao Da Niang, both living in the countryside.
You can tell what kind of family she comes from just by looking at her name.
Yes, the Li family was extremely patriarchal, but fate had other plans. Li Zhaodi's mother gave birth to six daughters in a row but still couldn't have a son.
One can imagine how these daughters were treated.
Li Zhaodi was the eldest in the family. She was sensible and capable from a young age. She knew that her family looked down on her and her sisters, but she worked hard to raise her younger sisters, hoping that they could all grow up to be adults.
In the end, her strength was still too weak. First, her fourth sister was kidnapped when she wasn't paying attention, her fifth sister was given away shortly after birth, and her sixth sister was drowned by her grandmother right after birth.
Daughters were nothing to the Li family, especially since the Li family, which already had three daughters, desperately wanted a son. So when they had several more daughters born, they had nothing to be nostalgic about.
Therefore, even though Li Zhaodi wanted to save her younger sisters, she was unable to succeed.
From then on, the three sisters were left to depend on each other for survival.
After giving birth to her sixth daughter, Li's mother did not get pregnant again for several years. After seeing a doctor, she was told that the frequent births had damaged her health and she needed to take good care of herself.
But the Li family had no money, so they set their sights on Li Zhaodi's third sister.
At that time, Li Zhaodi's third sister, Li Laidi, was only eight years old, and someone offered money to buy her as a child bride.
The Li family was tempted, and so another sister left.
Despite using the money from selling her younger sister, Li's mother, who had been trying to regain her health for several years, was still unable to conceive.
So they set their sights on Li Zhaodi. At this time, Li Zhaodi was already 16 years old. Although she was always working and not getting enough to eat, and looked very thin, she was still quite pretty. If she were to "marry" out, she should be able to fetch a lot of money.
So the Li family started spreading the word that their condition for marrying off their daughter was not how good the man was, but only whoever offered the highest dowry.
While many people despised the Li family's ways after hearing this, quite a few were also tempted, since Li Zhaodi was indeed a good girl—beautiful and capable.
As a result, quite a few people came to inquire about it.
In the end, the Li family chose the one who paid the most money. He was a widower in the village, over forty years old, older than her father, and also mentally challenged. The family bought her to continue their family line. They heard that mentally challenged people could even hit others.
Li Zhaodi's resistance was futile, and in despair, she attempted suicide by jumping into the river, but was ultimately saved by Aunt Zhao, who had returned to her parents' home.
Aunt Zhao felt sorry for her after hearing about her situation, so she tried to find a way to help.
Finally, she was introduced to her neighbors, the Zhou family.
The Zhou family consists of an elderly couple with a sickly grandson. Their son and daughter-in-law have both passed away, and the family is unemployed and in poor health, so they cannot find wives in the city.
After seeing the Li Zhaodi introduced by Aunt Zhao, she was very satisfied and sympathetic to her plight. So when she heard about the Li family's high dowry, although she was frightened, Old Mrs. Zhou still gritted her teeth and sold her family heirloom, giving more dowry than the fool's family.
And so, Li Zhaodi married into the city and entered the Zhou family.
The years since Li Zhaodi married into the Zhou family were the best years of her life. Although the Zhou family members were mostly old and frail, they treated Li Zhaodi very well and regarded her as family.
But fate had other plans. The elderly Zhou couple probably felt their wish had been fulfilled after seeing their grandson get married, and they passed away a few years later.
Her husband, Zhou Ping'an, was already in poor health, and after the death of an elder, he fell ill not long after. He never recovered from his illness and passed away as well...
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