Beauty is destined for tragedy. Kang Meiyun, the heroine of this novel, is as beautiful as a flower, yet fate has dealt her a cruel hand. Her life is truly horrific. At seventeen, she was kidnapped and sold to a short, ugly man in his forties, deep in the mountains. She endured inhuman torment and indescribable suffering, so appalling and agonizing that she tried to kill herself several times. While escaping, she drank urine and ate dead rats, venomous snakes, flies, maggots, and other such things. Later, two hunters forced her into submission. After the ugly man took her back, she gave birth to a son. When she escaped again, she stole food and money, slept beneath bridges, and became a beggar. On foot, she was on the verge of dying from illness on her way home when someone saved her. She married a farmer, but became a widow at nineteen, and her husband's family threw her out, calling her a bringer of bad luck.
While working as a waitress at a restaurant, she was raped by the manager. Her boyfriend stabbed the manager to death, and the two of them went on the run. Later, she was sent to prison, while her boyfriend was executed by firing squad and she was released. She found another boyfriend, who died in a fight. All four men who had been involved with her met violent deaths, and she came to believe she was cursed to bring misfortune to her husbands.
