Du Guan lost his parents when he was young and lived with his aunt, Shuangqiao.
His aunt, Shuangqiao, was very young, around his age, with an ethereal beauty. He often wondered what his late uncle had looked like. What kind of man could possibly have deserved her?
Shuangqiao had an odd, inscrutable temperament and rarely smiled. Even when she did, her smile was cold. She was sometimes kind to him and sometimes cruel. When he made a mistake, she beat him without mercy, then quietly applied medicine to his wounds while he slept.
Du Guan was a little afraid of her at first, but later...
Even when she beat him with a cane, he couldn't stop his heart from itching with desire.
One day, a beautiful female guest visited their home. Du Guan exchanged a few flirtatious words with her, then regretted it terribly. Before Shuangqiao could reprimand him, he tried to appease her, kneeling outside the door to apologize. "Guan'er behaved improperly. Please punish me, Auntie."
She opened the door. The wind stirred the hem of her skirt like rippling waves, and she gave him a rare, gentle smile. "Guan'er has grown up. Liking pretty women is only natural. It's not a mistake."
Du Guan thought to himself that the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen was his aunt.
*
When Shuangqiao was young, a man surnamed Mei betrayed her. He stole her family's wealth and caused the deaths of her family.
She wanted revenge!
One day, she found an unconscious boy. By chance, he was the young master of the Mei family. It was fate's gift: when he woke up, he remembered nothing and tapped his forehead as he asked, "Who am I... and who are you?"
Shuangqiao smiled. "Your name is Du Guan. I'm your aunt."
The boy pushed himself upright on the bed. "What about my other family members?"
Shuangqiao used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow. "They're all dead. The Mei family killed them. You must avenge them."
From then on, Shuangqiao fashioned a warm home for the Du Guan she had created, while also weaving a dream of revenge for him.
She trained him to become an unruly, frivolous man, because women liked that sort of man.
Then she took him to live with the Mei family, setting husband and wife against each other and turning close relatives against one another.
*
At last, the Mei family fell, and Shuangqiao got her wish. She planned to pack her things under cover of night and flee, but for some reason, neither of the two doors would budge.
In her panic, someone inside the room called softly, "Auntie."
Du Guan came forward from the darkness, raised a hand to caress her face, and smiled strangely. "I finally understand why you called yourself my aunt. That man surnamed Mei was my biological uncle, wasn't he?"
Note:
Theme: Truth and lies, like flowers seen through mist.
