Married for twenty years, Lin Jingqiu sacrificed herself to fulfill her husband Zhou Peiyuan's professorial career, while the household enforced a rule of silence and separation after eight o'clock. Favoring his female student Su Man, Zhou Peiyuan lavished money on her while treating his wife harshly. When Lin Jingqiu's mother suffered a myocardial infarction and begged for help, Zhou Peiyuan wore noise-canceling headphones and ignored her, causing the elderly woman to pass away. Heartbroken, Lin Jingqiu asked for a divorce, had her assets frozen, and had to work in a noodle shop to survive. She kept the evidence and refused her husband's false reconciliation. Zhou Peiyuan was reported by Su Man, lost his job, and fell into destitution, while Lin Jingqiu divided the property and headed to the seaside to start a completely new life.