He was born into a declining noble family in the south of the Yangtze River, and his ancestors had also been high-ranking officials, but by his father's generation, they had exhausted their efforts and could only live on some ancestral property. He also found a job as a secretary in the county government. Fortunately, he married a beautiful and virtuous wife, who lived in harmony with her every day, and who was also the daughter-in-law of their youngest son. The couple really had nothing else to ask for. However, the world was unfair and traitors were rampant. When Qi Guang was eleven years and one month old, a large local family coveted his mother's beauty and bribed the county magistrate with money. They found a mistake and gave his father a hundred sticks. It was pitiful that his father was a frail scholar. When Qi Guang was struck with a solid hundred sticks, his blood splattered on the spot and he died. When the body was carried home, his mother saw it and cried almost to death.