Scholar Zhang Zhen was engaged to Prime Minister Jin’s daughter, Miss peony, when she was young. Because her parents died, Zhang Zhen only got to join the Jin family. However, when the Jin family saw that he was poor, they treated him coldly, and ordered Zhang Zhen to live alone in the cottage beside the bibotan in the back garden to study, waiting for the opportunity to withdraw. Zhang Zhen lives alone in a guest village. She is left out in the cold. She is very sad. She often goes to bibotan to sigh her heart in the dead of night.
Seeing that Zhang Zhen was simple, affectionate and talented, the carp spirit in the blue wave pool changed into a miss peony. They went to the study to date Zhang Zhen. They fell in love with each other and were inseparable from each other. So they agreed to meet each other in the back garden at the second watch every day. During the Spring Festival, sister peony was visiting the garden to admire the plum blossom when she met Zhang Zhen. Peony exclaimed. Prime Minister Jin arrived at the news and was very angry. He expelled Zhang Zhen from the house on the grounds of immorality.
Seeing that Zhang Zhen had been wronged, the carp Jing hurried out of the house to find Zhang Zhen. He cleverly explained Zhang Zhen’s doubts and expressed his wish to live with Zhang Zhen back home. The two were enjoying the lanterns in the street. Prime Minister Jin saw them. Jin thought his daughter had eloped with Zhang Zhen, so he caught them both back.
The true and false peonies met and caused disputes. The people in the prime minister’s house could not identify them. Prime Minister Jin decided to ask judge Bao. Seeing that things were bad, carp Jing hurried back to Shuifu and invited the aquarium brothers and sisters to help. True and false Duke Bao, together with true and false Zhang long and Zhao Hu, came to judge the true and false peonies. The false Duke Bao implied that the true Duke Bao and the false peony were deeply in love. The true peony hated the poor and loved the rich. The true Duke Bao refused to ask because he was unwilling to break up the marriage.
Prime Minister Jin invited Tianshi Zhang to mobilize the heavenly army and generals to catch Zhang Zhen and carp spirit. Zhang Zhen and carp Jing flee to the outskirts, and the heavenly soldiers chase them. Seeing that the situation is urgent, carp Jing tells Zhang Zhen her true identity. Zhang cherishes it more deeply. The heavenly soldiers and generals pursued and killed fiercely. Although the carp spirit launched a flood to block it, it could not stand out from the encirclement.
At a time of crisis, Guanyin Bodhisattva came to the rescue to spend the Millennium carp essence to the South China Sea to cultivate into an immortal. The carp was loyal to his love and reluctantly let Guanyin Bodhisattva pull out the three golden scales on his body and become a mortal. From then on, she and Zhang Zhen shared weal and woe and lived a happy life.