Zhao Medicinals was a successful shop of travelling apothecaries and  Lily came as the surprise fourth child. A decade younger than her third  brother, there was little time for individual attention and her care was  shuffled to whoever was free at the moment. Nonetheless, her family  loved her and life was comfortable, if a bit lonely, for the young girl.

The  family business continued to expand, and over the years began to catch  the wrong kind of attention. Lily's father was the sole owner and was  soon fielding offers (at best) and threats (more common) to sell and  merge with older, more established competitors who weren't happy about  being shown up by a first-generation upstart. Zhao Baishao refused every  one, taking pride in what he had built. He made his intentions loud and  clear: he would never sell the store, not to anyone, not for any price.

Repercussions  were swift. The older medicine shops had powerful allies, and what  started as employees quitting without warning culminated in raids and  accusations of intentional poison until they had lost everything. Out of  options, Lily's father and brothers went on the road as travelling  salesmen while her mother found employment with a noble family, taking  Lily with her. It was a cold, cruel household, and by the time Lily was  eight the long hours and frequent beatings proved too much for her  mother. With only the same horrible death awaiting her Lily fled,  stowing away onto passing carriages and running when discovered, over  and over until one day she woke from a feverish sleep to find herself in  a dry, comfortable bed. Her benevolent saviours were members of the  Eight Flowers, a Song-Luan gang known for highborn clients and victims  alike. Among its ranks were actors, singers, and high-class escorts, all  carefully trained from childhood to blend into high society on the  gang's orders. Lily was likewise molded into one of them and debuted as a  charming, refined theatre actress at 16. As with many Eight Flowers she  soon found herself a wealthy sponsor who funnelled coin to the gang in  exchange for her ridding him of business competitors; the very thing  that destroyed her family was now her lifeblood.

When Lily was  19, her sponsor died in a carriage crash with her on board. When she  didn't return, the gang assumed that she had perished with him only to  discover the truth weeks later. In actuality, Lily had been in the  pocket of a prominent city official since her debut. She learned long  ago that life belonged to the strong, and survival meant aligning  herself with the most powerful. For three years she secretly carried out  the official's orders, laying the foundations for the gang's downfall  in in a single, firey night; the Eight Flowers had saved her from  certain death and she handed them over without a hint of remorse.

With  that Lily entered the official's formal employ, engaging in blackmail,  espionage, interrogations-- whatever they called for. The more she rose  their status the better her life became, and all was well for a while  until the official set their sights too high. When Lily was 22, she was  told to assassinate a powerful diplomat-- an order that she knew would  not end well. With the intention to decide between talking her employer  out of their foolish decision or switching sides altogether, Lily  slipped into the diplomat's household and got far more than she could've  ever bargained for: Field Marshal Tao Yin,  in the flesh. Seeing the opportunity of a lifetime Lily allowed herself  to be discovered and, after some careful persuasion and the theatrical  murder of her former employer, entered into the field marshal's service.  It took a few years of closely-monitored small jobs, but Lily has since  managed to win the field marshal's favour and is currently her go-to  for particularly vengeful tasks.