Tears of Ashes

Madame Weng lives in Zhang Daolin’s home with two daughters. The younger daughter Xiangqing suffers from serious illness and her sister Yinmei admires Daolin’s son, Huiyan. However, both Daolin and the groom Xiuhu love the orphan, Wu Pingxiang. As Yinmei’s father is promoted to the Inspector General, Daolin, for the sake of clinging to the powerful Weng’s, compels Huiyan to marry Yinmei.

Taking the chance that his son is away from home, he expels Pingxiang in disregard of the pair’s love affair. He further fabricates Pingxiang’s death by making use of Xiangqing’s tomb. For filial piety, Huiyan marries Yinmei unwillingly. Under fake marriage, Pingxiang lives with Xiuhu and becomes his burden. As Xiuhu is debt-ridden, Pingxiang has to borrow money from Zhang’s. Though Huiyan, having upturned Xiangqing’s tomb, knows that Pingxiang is still alive, he misunderstands that Pingxiang really marries Xiuhu. Therefore, Huiyan forces Pingxiang, who and Yinmei are in labour at the same time, to sell her son as mortgage for the loan.

Six years later, Xiuhu returns home with the title of a noble after pacifying the southern region and is in charge of the investigation into the malfeasance concerning Yinmei’s father. Finally, Huiyan realizes his misunderstanding of Pingxiang. Home again, Pinxiang, however, is heart-broken and drowns herself into the water after she sees that Huiyan allows Madame Weng to maltreat their son Maigui.