As far as Mei Deng could remember, Sun Rong was the fourth daughter of an unlucky merchant whose businesses continued to fail, as though someone had placed a curse on the family.
All three of her elder sisters had unsuccessful marriages, and one was almost returned to the family. Her brothers were all worthless men and squandered what little their father earned, sparing almost nothing for their sickly mother. If not that Sun Rong was sent to live with her mother's sister, whose husband owned a martial arts training house, she might have become a courtesan, because of her elegance and frail appearance.
The story of the Sun family became a popular reference story told to young children, centered around having good relationships with people, so as not to get cursed by others.
