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The Concubine's Vengeance
This opera is based on Zhou Chaojun’s play, The Story of Red Plum, of the
Ming Dynasty. It takes place in the Southern Song Dynasty.
One day, Pei Yu, a young
scholar, encounters a beauty, Li Huiniang, by the edge of West Lake. Out of
poverty, Huiniang has recently been forced to be a concubine of a powerful,
corrupt court official, Jia Sidao. Pei Yu and Huiniang are attracted to each
other. However, fate plays havoc on them and their encounter ends tragically.
When Jia Sidao hears of Huiniang’s encounter with a handsome, young scholar,
he questions her jealously. She courageously defends her innocence for there
is no licentiousness between them, only mutual admiration. Furiously he has
Huiniang beaten to death.
After Huiniang’s death, Pei Yu
feels love-sick. He meets a young maiden, Zhaorong, who is a look-alike of
Huiniang. Pei Yu feels Zhaorong could replace Huiniang to save him from love
sickness, so he decides to marry her. Fate is not kind, however, to the young
couple for Jia Sidao has just heard of Zhaorong’s beauty and forced her to be
his concubine. Pei Yu goes to Jia Sidao and pretends to help him in order to
save Zharong. Pei Yu’s scheme works and she manages to flee.
However, his ruse is then
discovered and Jia Sidao sends an assassin to finish Pei Yu off. Huiniang,
though a spirit now, is just as courageous as she was when she was alive.
With her supernatural power, she comes to rescue her beloved from the evil
Jia Sidao. Pei Yu escapes to Yangzhou with Huiniang’s spirit and finds
Zhaorong at her death bed. Huiniang’s courage in standing up against bullies
is rewarded. Her spirit is allowed to return to the mortal world to dwell in
Zhaorong’s corpse, so she can have a chance to live again.
All this time, Zhaorong’s
father, an ex-general, has set up an ambush to get rid of the traitor, Jia
Sidao, who has the emperor under his thumb. Not knowing that it is a trap,
Jia Sidao pursues Zhaorong in great earnest. When he arrives at Zhaorong’s
home, he is immediately arrested for treason and the country is once more
saved from unnecessary bloodshed. It is a relief that all her obstacles have
been overcome, and Huiniang is given a second chance to live happily with her
beloved, Pei Yu.
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