The story takes place during the Dezong period of the Tang Dynasty. Wang Yun, a scholar from Suzhou, was very talented and eager to learn. One day, he rescued the beggar Yunlong Zhenren who was being chased by a restaurant and gave him silver as a gift. Since then, he has received help from the real person many times. During the Lantern Festival, Wang Yun let the thieves Teng Wu go and gave him money to persuade him to change his ways. Teng Wu was extremely grateful to him.
In the spring, Wang Yun visited Huqiu with his friends and fell in love with Wu Mengyun at first sight. After reading his poems, he admired his talent even more. The following year, Wang Yun went to Tianzhu Temple in Hangzhou to offer incense, met Wu Mengyun again, and found her silk handkerchief with a poem and her name on it. Wang Yun tried his best to learn that Meng Yun was the daughter of Wu Bin, the minister of the Ministry of War, so he tried to serve as the secretary of Wu Mansion and asked his maid Xiu Cui to pass on the news. Unexpectedly, Xiu Cui fell in love with Wang Yun and had an affair with him. After the incident was revealed, Xiucui was sold and Wang Yun was expelled.
Wang Yun went to Beijing to take the exam. On the way, he was robbed by bandits and taken to a village. The leader of the village was Teng Wu. Teng Wu wanted to marry his adopted daughter Yingniang to Wang Yun, but Wang Yun refused at first because of her status as Yingniang. Later, he fell in love with her when he saw her poems. The two of them passed the poems and slips through the maid Xiangzhu, and they made a private decision for life. Ying Niang helped Wang Yun leave the village.
Zang Xin, the son of Zang Ying, the Minister of War, stole the silk handkerchief and sent a matchmaker to the Wu Mansion to seek marriage but was rejected. Then he sent someone to threaten the handkerchief with the silk handkerchief. As a result, the gangster lost the silk handkerchief on the road and was ridiculed by Meng Yun's brother Wu Bi. Coincidentally, Lingpa was found by Wang Yun's uncle Zheng Qian. Wang Yun went to Hangzhou to find Mengyun, met Wu Bi, and was hired as a teacher to enter the Wu Mansion again. Wang Yun asked someone to arrange a marriage with Meng Yun, and Meng Yun agreed to get married if he returned the silk handkerchief. Wang Yun was upset because of the loss of the silk handkerchief. He was ecstatic when he learned that his uncle had picked up the handkerchief. However, in a panic, he mistakenly took the handkerchief given by Yingniang and gave it to Mengyun. After some explanation, he was forgiven and the two made a lifelong commitment.
Mengyun's father, Wu Bin, was ordered to go on a mission abroad. His uncle took Mengyun's family to Beijing. On the way, Zang Xin pretended to be a robber and kidnapped Mengyun. Fortunately, Yunlong rescued her and placed her in Huikong Temple in Gusu. Yang Ling and his wife, who were employed by the military department, met Meng Yun when they were going to incense. They accepted her as their adopted daughter and took her to Beijing to find her father. At this time, Wu Bin had returned to Hangzhou for vacation. During this period, Mengyun and Yingniang became close friends and learned about each other's past with Wang Yun.
Two years later, Wang Yunzhong became a prolific scholar and joined Ci Lin as an editor. Zang Ying and his son were jealous of Wang Yun, and when Teng Wu came down from the mountain, they asked the emperor to send Wang Yun to attack him in an attempt to harm him. Wang Yun selected soldiers and horses and fought bravely. Teng Wu recognized his benefactor and dismounted and returned to his cause. Wang Yun was rewarded by the Holy Emperor. Yang Ling tested Wang Yun and pretended to marry his second daughter to him, but Wang Yun firmly refused. Yang Ling designed to hide Yingniang and Mengyun in Juchun Garden, recorded their poems on the wall, and invited Wang Yun to visit the garden. Eventually Wang Yun reunited with the two girls.
In the end, Wang Yun, Wu Mengyun and Xu Yingniang were lovers and got married. Meng Yun was granted the title of first-class wife, and Yingniang was granted the title of first-class lady. Wu Bin brought his whole family to Beijing for a family reunion. However, Zang Ying sold his official position and became a noble, indulged his son and committed evil. He also pretended to be a thief in the river and robbed Wang Yun's married woman. He was demoted to the people and sent to the army. Wang Yun and his two wives were very loving. They each gave birth to two sons. The sons were all smart. They passed the examination and passed the high school, and the whole family enjoyed prosperity and wealth. Finally, Master Yunlong gave some advice to Wang Yun and his wife, telling them that they were originally in heaven and should return to their respective places. The three of them sat upright in front of the sun and died without any illness.
Concept: As a typical novel about talented men and beautiful women, "Three Lives of Marriage" has the common characteristics of such works of that era, and it also has its own unique features:
- Traditional concepts of love and marriage and beautiful expectations: Taking the love and marriage of Wang Yun, Wu Mengyun and Xu Yingniang as the main line, it depicts the story of the meeting, acquaintance, hardships and final reunion of a talented man and a beautiful woman, embodying the ancients' yearning for ideal love and a happy marriage, and affirming the values of free love and loyalty to love. For example, Wang Yun always cared about the two beauties in the face of various temptations.
- Promotion of moral character: Through the plots of Wang Yun rescuing the beggar Yunlong, being tolerant and helping Teng Wu, the book promotes that moral qualities such as kindness, integrity, and generosity will be rewarded, and advocates people to practice these virtues in life. Wang Yun's various kind deeds brought a lot of help to him later in life, such as Teng Wu helping him when he was in trouble.
-Reflect social reality and criticism: With the help of the evil deeds of Zang Ying and his son, such as selling his official position, letting his son do evil, and designing to frame others, it reflects the darkness and corruption of the society at that time, expresses criticism of the ugly phenomena of officialdom and bad social atmosphere, and reflects the ordinary people's desire for a clear society from the side.
- Integration of religious thoughts: At the end, the real person Yunlong points out that Wang Yun and others are originally in heaven, and they should return to their proper places. This reflects the influence of religious thoughts on the work, conveys a fatalistic view of "everything has a certain fate", and guides readers to view the ups and downs and destiny of life with an open-minded attitude.