Sheng Minglan is the sixth child of the Sheng family, a big wealthy family in ancient China. Among all the girls in the family, she is the youngest. Unlike her other sisters, her mother was not the main wife, so Minglan had a low status from birth. Her mother was gentle and kind, but she was not favored by Minglan's father. They lived a quiet and careful life in the big family, and few people paid attention to this little girl.

Even when she was very young, Minglan was already bright and quick to learn things. But she never showed off her cleverness. She knew that she had no strong support behind her. If she fought for nice things or drew too much attention, she would only get into trouble. She learned to keep quiet and stay low-key, just to live a safe life.

Minglan's childhood was not as happy as other girls of her age. But those hard early days taught her to observe people and be patient. These early lessons became the most important skills for her later life, and helped her get through all kinds of difficulties in the future.