Summary
My wife is elegant and detached; money, in her eyes, is a vulgar thing. When the Lin family committed a crime and was demoted to commoners, she offered all the money with both hands, taking only a cluster of orchids, which inspired the Lin family descendants to follow suit. To support our large family, I ran around, trading goods to maintain the household, not daring to rest day or night. Yet, she said I dealt with peddlers and thus 평백 (plainly/simply) disgraced her Lin family status. Later, I fell gravely ill, and she then used my money to cozy up to her paramour, who was also as proud and resilient as a plum blossom in winter, and became his eighth concubine. My resentment grew, and I was reborn. This time, I picked up my brush and ink, focusing on accompanying her in maintaining her noble and beautiful qualities.
“Shen Si,