During her three years with the Leclair Family, she never once shared a meal with them at the table. Her mother would always send her off early with breakfast, avoiding the young masters and misses of the Leclair Family. Even during the New Year, when the Leclair patriarch returned from the South Seas and the three branches of the family gathered together in joy, her mother would bring her a separate plate of food to her room and caution her not to make a sound.
She came from a poor background, and when she first arrived at the Leclair residence, she was even more destitute than the servants. Her mother had just given birth to Little Zhen and her position in the family was unstable, treading carefully in every aspect. At fifteen, she deeply understood the rigid and oppressive class hierarchy—she lived at the bottom, devoid of dignity, and her mother was no exception.
