Tianbao and Jingniang

Having suffered a decline in his family fortunes, Hung Tin-bo decides to sell an heirloom sword to raise the money for going to the capital to take the imperial examination. He encounters Lai Tak-yu, who generously gives him the money. Unfortunately, the money is snatched by a bandit. In their pursuit, Tin-bo and Tak-yu meet Kot Ching-neung, daughter of senior minister Kot Tai-hung. She falls in love with Tin-bo at first sight. Her father also takes a liking to him and agrees that they can get married. Tin-bo defeats a warrior subordinate to Tai-hung and is appointed vanguard leader; Tak-yu offers his service to Tin-bo.

Having spent two years in the army away from home since he got married, Tin-bo decides to return to his wife. Tak-yu overhears Tai-hung’s plot to assassinate the emperor and informs Ching-neung. To protect Tin-bo from this traitorous association, Ching-neung pretends to have an affair with Tak-yu. Infuriated, Tin-bo writes a letter of divorce, and Ching-neung is expelled by her father.

Tai-hung sets up an ambush on the emperor and the empress. Tin-bo, who happens to pass by, successfully rescues the emperor. He is awarded a high post and goes to the capital to assume office. Ching-neung and Tak-yu, on the other hand, are leading a miserable life in their hometown. When picking firewood in the mountain with woodcutters, Ching-neung is punished for accidentally blocking the way of Tin-bo, who is now a lord. Seeing that the woodcutter is Ching-neung, he is so angry that he intends to severely punish her and Tak-yu. Later, Tai-hung is arrested and Ching-neung’s name is cleared. Full of regrets, Hung apologizes to her. She pleads with the emperor on behalf of her father, who is eventually exempted from the death penalty.