Ji Liao is the lawful wife of Yu Nanzhi, a powerful and cold businessman, yet their marriage has been a source of profound suffering for her. For ten years, Ji Liao has loved Yu Nanzhi, enduring his neglect and emotional abuse while he remains fixated on Cheng Shuangshuang, a woman he considers his true love. Cheng Shuangshuang, who was pregnant and married to another man when she died in a fire, becomes the catalyst for Ji Liao’s destruction. Yu Nanzhi is convinced that Ji Liao deliberately set the fire to kill Cheng Shuangshuang out of jealousy, despite Ji Liao’s persistent denials of any involvement in the tragedy.
Five days after Cheng Shuangshuang’s death, Yu Nanzhi forces Ji Liao to sift through the rubble in search of ashes, only to bury a symbolic grave with soil and clothes. He then subjects her to public humiliation at the cemetery, demanding she confess to a crime she did not commit. When she refuses, he escalates his cruelty by forcing her to consider desecrating her deceased parents’ graves as proof of her remorse. In a devastating act of revenge, Yu Nanzhi destroys the urn containing Ji Liao’s parents’ ashes, scattering them in the rain, and later has her companion, a stray dog named Cha Cha, killed and served to her as soup. This sequence of events shatters Ji Liao’s spirit, leading her to sign divorce papers and leave the Yu family with nothing.
Ji Liao’s life spirals into despair as she is ostracized by society, branded a murderer, and left homeless. She is eventually arrested and sentenced to five years in prison, where she faces brutal abuse from fellow inmates who are instructed by Yu Nanzhi to make her suffering unbearable. During her imprisonment, Ji Liao loses her sight due to the violence inflicted upon her. Despite the torment, she maintains her innocence, though she is forced to confess to the crime in a desperate attempt to end the physical abuse, only to find that her confession brings no relief.
Upon her release, Ji Liao is blind, emaciated, and completely alone. She is taken in by Lu Chengqing and his sister Qing’er, who run a blind massage parlor and offer her a semblance of family and peace. For the first time in years, Ji Liao experiences kindness and begins to heal. However, her fragile new life is threatened when Yu Nanzhi, driven by a mix of hatred and inexplicable obsession, tracks her down. He confronts her at her home, revealing that he knows she is blind and expressing a disturbing mix of anger and pain at her condition.
The confrontation turns violent when Qing’er intervenes to protect Ji Liao, resulting in her being severely injured by Yu Nanzhi. Ji Liao, desperate to save her new friend, begs Yu Nanzhi to spare Qing’er, offering her own life in exchange. The story reaches a critical turning point as Yu Nanzhi’s relentless pursuit of revenge begins to intersect with the possibility that Ji Liao may indeed be innocent. The narrative sets the stage for a dramatic shift, as Yu Nanzhi’s unwavering belief in Ji Liao’s guilt is challenged by the escalating consequences of his actions and the growing evidence that the truth is far more complex than he initially believed.
