The Lady in Butcher’s House
The story starts in Yunlai Town, a prosperous water town in the south of the Yangtze River, has been weathered for a long time, and it is prosperous and not declining. A man by the name of Xu Qingjia is wondering around asking for the directions to the Hu's family butcher shop.
While Xu Qingjia is searching for the butcher shop, a bunch of bullies are at the shop scaring away the customers. The bullies want protection money and are scaring away all the customers. Unable to tolerate them for scaring her customers away, Hu Jiao nonchalantly shaves off the heads of the bullies when she is mincing the pork in front of her. Her antics successfully scare the bullies away and business resumes... until Xu Qingjia arrives.
Upon arriving at the butcher shop, Xu Qingjia bows to Hu Jiao, states his name and announces he is there to fulfil the marriage contract by their parents. Hu Jiao does not like Xu Qingjia and intends to chase him away, but her brother, Hu Houfu, recognized Xu Qingjia and welcomed him instead.
As his name suggests, Xu Qingjia is gentle and elegant. He was born in a scholar family, and his father was an official. Both Xu Qingjia and Hu Jiao's fathers were classmates and close friends, and decided to get their children engaged to each other. Xu Qingjia has come to fulfil his father's promise as he just passed the examinations and was declared an official.
Unlike Xu Qingjia's father who become an offical, Hu Jiao's father repeatedly failed the exams and felt that he was not official material, so he left and married his wife. Together they set up a chain of successful butcher shops.
The real reason why Hu Jiao does not like Xu Qingjia is due to her father: scholars are weak and incompetent. Hu Jiao's father could not sustain the business but it was her mother who managed to make it a success it is today with many branches. However, her mother died as she was overworked.
And so the story begins of the two persons who would be husband and wife in the upcoming episodes.
Xu Qingjia had actually left for 7 years and finally came back after making it as the top scholar. During his absence, the Hu family was ridiculed and made a laughing stock of the town. Now that Xu Qingjia has achieved fame and has come back, it leaves a bad impression on Hu Jiao. She intends to break of the marriage agreement.
Upon his return, Xu Qingjia took the initiative to apologize to Hu Jiao’s father, and at the same time stated that when he left to take the exam, he had a hard life. He mentioned that he had written a letter and sent it to Hu’s family, but for some reason it was not delivered and they lost contact.
Hu Jiao's brother and sister-in-law were moved by Xu Qingjia persistence and story, but Hu Jiao has made up her mind to end the marriage contract between the two families. Originally, Hu Jiao's father felt that his daughter was not worthy of Xu Qingjia, but Xu Qingjia leaned over and whispered something in his ear which caused him to change his attitude immediately.
In a fit of anger, Hu Jiao runs away from home as her plan was foiled. She went to her best friend, Lin Cui, to complain and said that the man she wanted to marry was her best friend's brother, Brother A-Niu - a man who is as strong as a bull with lots of muscles.
Upon hearing that Hu Jiao likes her brother, Lin Cui is shocked by her sense of aesthetics. She tries to change Hui Jiao's mind and convince her that Xu Qingjia was a hundred thousand times better than her brother.
In her attempt to break off the marriage, Hu Jiao kidnapped Xu Qingjia to the forest the next day and threatened him to break off the marriage. During the process, she accidentally lost Xu Qingjia’s silver hairpin.
During the reception banquet, the Hu family entertained the neighbors and tried their best to show their hospitality, but Xu Qingjia had a poor appetite due to the loss of the hairpin. Hu Jiao suddenly appeared next to him, and before she sat, she asked the guests to be her witnesses to see if Xu Qingjia was fit to be the part of the Hu family.
