Duke Ling was the ruler of the Jin state. In his court,
Minister Zhao Dun and General Tu'an Gu were two of his most influential
subordinates. However, Tu'an Gu had a deep hatred for Zhao Dun. He wanted to
destroy his rival, Zhao Dun, and exterminate the Zhao family. General Tu'an Gu
succeeded in framing Zhao Dun, and slaughtered 300 members of the Zhao family.
Soon thereafter, a decree was forged in the duke's name to order the death of
General Zhao Shuo, the son of Zhao Dun. Zhao Shuo had namely been spared during
the massacre as he was married to the daughter of Duke Ling, Lady Zhuang. When
General Zhao Shuo received the forged decree, he commits suicide.
Zhao Shuo and his wife were expecting a child, but the
infant was born after the tragic circumstances involving his father's death.
Tu'an Gu, intending to get rid of the newborn infant, orders General Han Jue to
surround the palace. Lady Zhuang entrusts her newborn child to the physician
Cheng Ying, a retainer to the Zhao family. However, she knew—as Cheng Ying had
indicated—that she would be pressured to reveal where her child is, thus she
took her own life. As the physician Cheng Ying was entrusted to keep the child
safe, he attempts to escape with the child hidden in his medicine chest. While
Cheng is departing through the palace gates, he is stopped and questioned by
Han Jue.
Eventually, Han Jue discovers the child, whom Cheng Ying had tried to
hide and keep safe. However, troubled by his sense of compassion, he allows
Cheng Ying and the infant to escape. Thereafter he commits suicide by taking
his sword to his throat, realizing that he will be tortured into exposing what
happened to the orphan.
After these events, Tu'an Gu threatens to kill every infant
in Jin if the Zhao orphan is not produced. Cheng Ying, who was fearful,
consults the retired Minister Gongsun Chujiu. To prevent this massacre, Cheng
Ying decides to sacrifice his own child in desperation so that the safety of
the Zhao orphan and every infant in the state was ensured.
Gongsun Chujiu departs with Cheng's child, whom he presented
as the Zhao orphan. In the self-sacrifice, both Gongsun and the child were
found and murdered. Cheng Ying silently suffers and weeps for his own child
before he parts with him.
Twenty years has passed since the third act. Cheng Ying has
taken care of the orphan during his early life. The Zhao orphan, now known as
Cheng Bo, has reached maturity. General Tu'an Gu has no child of his own, thus
he had adopted the Zhao orphan, unknowingly of his true identity, and named him
Tu Cheng. On a fateful day, the orphan is in Cheng Ying's study, where he
discovers a scroll depicting all the people involved in the tragic events relating
to his early life. Cheng Ying decides the time has come to show the tragedy of
the Zhao family and reveal to the orphan the truth of his origins. Various
tragic events featuring many loyal friends and retainers, who gave their lives,
were depicted on the scroll.
After discovering the truth, the Zhao orphan kills Tu'an Gu
in the streets and avenges his family. The orphan, now known as Zhao Wu, is
reinstated with his family titles and properties.
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