The Chu family possessed a priceless ancestral jade pendant. The Yu family, powerful grain merchants, conspired with the newly arrived Commander Shen Shixiu to seize it. At the instigation of Yu Lan, the Commander's first wife, Chu's mother was publicly shamed and falsely accused of adultery. In a blind rage, Commander Shen strangled her to death. Hiding in a wardrobe, the young Chu Qian witnessed it all, planting the seeds for a deep-seated revenge.
