During the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, Shen Yuniang, daughter of a textile manufacturer in Wujiang County, Suzhou, met the impoverished scholar Lu Wenzhao at a temple fair. She pledged herself to him with a pair of embroidered shoes, stitching the words “Wenzhao’s Heart” inside as their promise. Her uncle, Shen Gui, coveted the family fortune and conspired with the powerful local gentryman Qian Lu and county magistrate Wang Dechang. They forged letters to accuse Yuniang of adultery and had her thrown in prison. She would rather die than submit, but was secretly sold to a brothel in Yangzhou. She disfigured herself to avoid being forced to entertain clients, surviving on her exceptional Suzhou embroidery skills. Ten years later, she opened a shop called Splendid Embroidery and lived under an assumed name.
Lu Wenzhao returned after failing the imperial examinations. When he heard that Yuniang had “died,” he dug up her grave and found it empty, then began searching for his wife. After a venerable monk’s guidance, he devoted himself to his studies, passed the exams, and was appointed deputy county magistrate in Zhejiang. Hearing that a woman called “Embroiderer Shen” in Yangzhou veiled her face with a hat, he tracked her down to her shop. There, he saw her embroidery of Night Mooring at Hanshan Temple and a poem stitched with strands of hair: “Since we parted, another year has passed.” At last, he recognized her by the shoes they had pledged to each other. Wenzhao gathered the old evidence and joined forces with the Yangzhou prefect to hold a public trial, bringing Shen Gui, Qian Lu, and Wang Dechang to justice. In the end, the injustice was overturned, Yuniang reunited with her father, and the two married. They opened a shop called Wenzhao’s Heart, displaying the embroidered shoes in their hall as a testament to how good and evil meet their due, and hardship gives way to happiness. A pair of embroidered shoes, ten years apart, an undying love, and at last a perfect ending.
