Shadow of Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 322 "A Beautiful Woman Amidst Turmoil"

After the New Year, the two immediately began filming another new movie, "Qiong Fang in Troubled Times".

This film is based on the true story of Hu Xiaobei's deceased grandmother, and An Xiaoxi plays both Yingzi and Feifei.

The story begins in Nanjing in 1937, with Feifei, a seven-year-old girl who had already started school. (PS: Feifei is her grandmother's nickname.)
Feifei was born into a Kuomintang military officer family in Nanjing. She has loving parents, a younger sister who is five years younger than her, and grandparents who live far away in her hometown.

However, with the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai on August 13, the Chinese army and the Japanese army engaged in fierce fighting in Shanghai and the surrounding areas.

In light of this, Feifei's father decided to send his wife and daughter back to their hometown in Zhejiang ahead of schedule.

Due to the turmoil and the scarcity of train tickets, Fei Fei's father worried that his wife Ying Zi would be alone with their two daughters on the journey home, which would be too dangerous and difficult to take good care of.

After careful consideration, he arranged for Yingzi to take her youngest daughter, Niu Niu, on a journey back to their hometown in Zhejiang to seek refuge.

As for Feifei, who is still studying, he will stay by her side until the situation eases and the time is right, and then he will personally escort Feifei back to her hometown.

However, in just three months, Shanghai fell.

Another month later, Nanjing fell.

Although Feifei's father had asked an old friend to send Feifei out of Jinling City in advance, he himself decided to defend Jinling to the death and serve his country.

On the way back to her hometown with her old friend, Feifei unfortunately encountered a small, scattered squad of Japanese soldiers.

In the critical moment, her old friend hid young Feifei in a secluded place to protect her, which saved Feifei from danger.

However, her old friend was killed by the Japanese invaders, and seven-year-old Feifei was left to wander the streets.

Fortunately, Fifi was lucky and was taken in by someone while she was homeless on the streets.

However, the person who adopted her was actually a brothel madam. She only liked her cute appearance and planned to train Feifei to be a top courtesan, not out of genuine kindness.

In these war-torn years, plans often cannot keep up with changes.

When Feifei was ten years old, the brothel was destroyed by an air-dropped bomb, and the madam was killed on the spot.

Feifei narrowly escaped disaster. She hurriedly packed some valuables, smeared her face with soot, and headed towards her hometown in Zhejiang.

But she was only seven years old when she met with this misfortune, and three whole years had passed. How could she possibly remember much about her hometown?

She only remembers that her hometown is called Zhejiang, her father calls her mother Yingzi, her younger sister is called Niuniu, her grandparents are called grandpa and grandma, and her father is called dad.

The image of my father in my mind has become blurred, leaving only the image of his back as he resolutely left after telling me to listen to my mother.

Feifei decided to listen to her father and search for her family in this vast sea of ​​people, and then listen to her mother.

In these three years, she witnessed many dirty tricks and intrigues in brothels. Although her mind and body remained pure, she gained more resourcefulness to survive in the chaotic world.

Although she was young, she still smeared her face with black paint to conceal her appearance as she traveled around the Jiangnan region.

She endured wind and rain, sleeping outdoors and making her way forward with great difficulty.

However, how far can a ten-year-old child go in this chaotic world?

Soon, because she was buying food alone, she was targeted by a scoundrel.

The scoundrels also discovered Fei Fei's deliberate disguise, and not only robbed her, but also developed lustful thoughts towards the ten-year-old Fei Fei.

At that critical moment, a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy picked up a stone and attacked from behind, smashing it hard on the hooligan's head.

The scoundrel groaned and collapsed to the ground, bleeding profusely.

It turned out that Feifei felt sorry for the homeless boy during the day, so she bought an extra portion of food and gave it to him.

The boy, grateful for the kindness shown to him, learned that the hoodlum had his eye on Feifei. He hid nearby and, taking advantage of the hoodlum's momentary lapse in attention, rescued Feifei at a crucial moment. Neither of them knew if the hoodlum was dead, and dared not linger.

The boy was worried about retaliation from the hooligans' accomplices and also about Fei Fei's safety, so he decided to take advantage of the night to escape with her.

Some time ago, the homeless boy Xiaofeng and his family were unfortunately attacked by Japanese soldiers.

Both of Xiao Feng's parents were murdered in an inhumane atrocity. Although he managed to escape, he ended up on the streets, wandering the world and having no fixed abode.

Upon learning of Feifei's plight, he wanted to repay past kindness but was also deeply worried about this orphan girl. So he resolutely decided to travel with her on a long journey to find her family in this turbulent world.

Although Zhejiang is not a vast province, how easy would it be for two underage children to travel across the entire province in those turbulent years, based only on the scattered and vague memories in Fei Fei's mind?

Along the way, they looked after each other, eating dry rations when hungry and sleeping in dilapidated temples when tired. Braving wind and rain, enduring hunger and cold, they traveled from bustling cities to desolate mountains and fields, from famous mountains and rivers to remote villages, leaving their footprints in almost every corner of Zhejiang.

Finally, when Feifei was twelve and Xiaofeng was fourteen, they found the old home that Feifei remembered.

However, they were met with bursts of gunfire.

They cautiously followed the sound of gunfire and saw a woman lying in a pool of blood, shot in the head.

When the two arrived nearby, both sides in the gunfight had already retreated, leaving only the shot-hit woman lying on the ground.

Feifei stepped forward and took a closer look. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably—the woman lying in a pool of blood was none other than her mother, whom she hadn't seen for five years.

In fact, after five years of wandering and drifting, Feifei's memory of her mother's face was no longer so clear.

The reason why Feifei could recognize her mother at a glance was because Feifei's appearance was very similar to her mother Yingzi.

Yingzi was hit in the chest by a Japanese bullet. Although the bullet narrowly avoided her heart due to the obstruction of her clothing and the deviation of the shooting angle, it was still hit.

However, because it was abandoned by the roadside, the opportunity to rescue it was missed.

Amidst Fei Fei's sobs, Yingzi seemed to regain consciousness in a final burst of energy.

At a glance, she recognized the child in front of her as her eldest daughter, Feifei, whom she had been separated from for five years.

Yingzi was content to see Feifei on her deathbed, but then she thought of her youngest daughter, Niu Niu.

With her last breath, she told Feifei that Niu Niu had gone to Chongqing. Only tears silently streamed down her face as she passed away.

On the one hand, she was very worried about her youngest daughter and hoped that Feifei could find Niu Niu.

On the other hand, she was also worried that Feifei would suffer a lot on her journey.

Gunshots rang out intermittently in the distance. Fei Fei choked back sobs, tears streaming down her face.

But she couldn't dwell on her grief right now. With Xiao Feng's help, Fei Fei struggled to carry her mother to the back of the mountain to dig a pit and bury her.

The next day at noon, the two arrived at their hometown village, but the scene before them sent chills down their spines.

The village I remember is now a scene of devastation, with the smoke of war still lingering among the broken walls and ruins.

Just yesterday, this place was brutally swept away by the Japanese army, and all the villagers were killed by the invaders.

The charred remains were curled into bizarre shapes, unrecognizable. Feifei could not find her grandparents' bodies.

Overwhelmed with sorrow.

Xiao Feng comforted Fei Fei, who was on the verge of collapse, and then rummaged through several collapsed houses to find some supplies and silver coins that had not been looted.

As dusk settled, the two men, carrying simple packs and stepping on the broken tiles scattered on the ground, left the village and embarked on their arduous journey to Chongqing.

(PS: The movie will not specifically depict the plot of "The Flowers of War", but only some fragments. Yingzi does not have any abrupt or unreasonable romantic storylines.)
(End of this chapter)