In the final years of the Ming dynasty, the Tartars invaded, and Prince Duo Duo of the Qing trampled the gentle beauty of Gusu beneath his iron hooves. The entire Nangong family, who refused to submit to the Qing court, was slaughtered.
The peerlessly beautiful Nangong Lainiang, who loved painting above all else, and her parents narrowly escaped. A few old paintings she carried with her became the source of half a lifetime of suffering.
Her greedy, heartless paternal aunt secretly conspired with her lover to arrange Lainiang's marriage, pushing her into the hands of a lecherous husband.
After he had used and discarded her, she was cruelly sold to a brothel, where she suffered day after day. Her aunt's husband's family framed her parents to seize the genuine old paintings, and her parents were exiled to Ningguta.
Trapped in a living mire, she concealed her hatred and carefully plotted each step. She was rescued by Chen Yунqiao, an official of the former dynasty, who took her as his mistress. But her heart belonged only to Young Master Zhang, her savior, who sought to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming.
To rescue her exiled father, she traveled north with Lord Chen. By a twist of fate, she mistook the wrong person for the enemy who had destroyed her family. Yet she struck a deal with the true mastermind behind the massacre, helping him claim the position of heir apparent.
When the brutal truth finally came to light, fate forced her to choose:
Return home and spend the rest of her life in peace with her father, or sacrifice herself to poison Duo Duo, the butcher of Jiangnan, and avenge her beloved, who had died a horrific death? And what should she do about the true mastermind behind her family's destruction?
Lainiang went to her death without hesitation. The flames consumed her body, but they could not burn away her proud spirit, which would take her enemy down with her.
Duo Duo died of smallpox, her faithless husband was drowned in a pond, the true mastermind did not live to see thirty, and the in-laws who framed her father were exiled. Only her aunt, who had ruined her life, was spared: Lainiang let go of her grudge and showed her mercy.
A beauty's hatred in a time of chaos; her remaining years laid to rest in paint and ink.
The plot is tense and the sense of substitution is strong. The heroine becomes more and more determined in the hardships, inspiring and healing.
The structure is interesting. The characters are interesting.