In the splendid city of Suzhou and Hangzhou, the renowned beauty Lin Qingguo is both talented and lovely. But because of a fortune-teller’s verdict that her birth charts are “incompatible,” she loses the chance to be with the gifted scholar she loves and is forced to marry Zhang Fuyun, a composed and influential official. After the wedding, she curbs her temper and works hard at the marriage. She even takes in the orphan Zhang Yiye as her adopted daughter, treating her as her own. Yet as times change, irreconcilable disagreements over child-rearing and family boundaries divide the couple. Her husband’s unconditional indulgence of their adopted daughter gradually crosses the line, turning into a twisted codependent relationship. In the end, he even distorts the truth to protect the girl, blaming Lin Qingguo for her adopted daughter’s pregnancy before marriage.
Unable to stomach such betrayal and false accusations, the proud Lin Qingguo finally refuses to endure it any longer. As the War of Resistance draws to a close, she resolutely ends their marriage, now dead in all but name, and leaves alone for Hong Kong. By the waters of the Pearl River, she finds true peace beneath the lamplight of the ancient Buddha, takes refuge in Buddhism, and receives the religious name Yikong. With compassion and wisdom, she comforts those whose lives have been shattered by war, and lives with a sense of fulfillment and ease all her own. Decades pass, and when news arrives of the people she once knew, she can meet it with calm detachment. From the woman whose beauty could captivate a kingdom to the Buddhist devotee Yikong, she relies on her own strength to make it through those years of misplaced devotion, witnessing both the passage of time and the true strength she has found within herself.
