Night and Fog in Tianshuiwei
The Nights and Fogs of Tsimshatsui is adapted from the sensational case of a family annihilation that shocked Hong Kong. Li Sen, played by Simon Yam, married a young and beautiful woman named Xiaoling, portrayed by Jingchu Zhang, from mainland China. The family of four lived in Tianshuiwei. Xiaoling worked as a waitress at a restaurant, which planted the seeds of jealousy within the household. This jealousy soon turned into abuse, leading the family to an inevitable fate.
Three days after the annihilation case, the victim's relative, Ms. Xiao Xu, went to the hospital to identify the body but was surrounded by reporters. Two days after the case, the neighbor Mrs. Huang was terrified and disguised herself to avoid journalists, just to go home and pack some clothes before moving out immediately. Six hours after the case, the victim's friend, Ms. Li, along with other abused women at the shelter, saw the murder report on TV and uncontrollably burst into tears, causing chaos in the center.
In the police station's interview room, Mrs. Huang was giving her video testimony. She recalled seeing the deceased, Wang Xiaoling, for the first time with her two daughters, Li Mei Yi and Mei Xiang, eating hamburgers while watching others dance healthy dances by the riverside. Mrs. Huang initiated a conversation with them and even paid the first month’s fee for Wang Xiaoling's healthy dance class.
Actually, Wang Xiaoling and her husband Li Sen were no different from other families in Tianshuiwei who had married mainland wives. The husband, being older, stayed at home taking care of the children while constantly suspecting his young wife of infidelity. Every day after sending his two daughters to kindergarten on his bicycle, he would pretend to be a customer and go to the teahouse where Wang Xiaoling worked as a waitress to monitor her. Indeed, Wang Xiaoling stood out in the teahouse due to her youth, beauty, and good figure. That day, she wore a dark bra under her white uniform, and two men were secretly talking about her chest. In front of others, Li Sen always appeared self-controlled and indifferent. He was tall with regular features, and if he had a career, he would definitely be a stylish middle-aged man. However, in reality, he was unemployed and spent his days fishing by the river, appearing calm on the surface but harboring deep resentment inside. Whenever a fish got hooked, he violently pulled it out, tearing its mouth apart.
At night, Li Sen's darker side became even less restrained. In the morning, when he saw other men being disrespectful to his wife at the teahouse, he was actually jealous and angry. In bed, he vented these emotions through sexual abuse towards Wang Xiaoling, keeping her up until midnight. Unable to bear it, Wang Xiaoling fled to a dark corner of the park downstairs, crying silently as blood flowed from her thigh to her calf. She deeply inhaled the smell of the mainland wafting from not far away.
In Mrs. Huang's video testimony, she mentioned that Li Sen had long been announcing his murder plan, saying with the most casual tone that he must do something that would shock the entire city, stating that once death occurred, no one would escape. Wang Xiaoling had also hidden Li Sen's knife with Mrs. Huang to try to avoid disaster. One day, Li Sen kicked Wang Xiaoling and their two daughters out of the house. Perhaps Li Sen was only threatening them and did not genuinely want to drive away his wife and daughters. At the time, Wang Xiaoling was also at a loss. Coincidentally, Mrs. Huang came out upon seeing the situation and kindly took Wang Xiaoling to seek help from councilor Hung Yen Lung. The young councilor wanted to help Wang Xiaoling, but all he could do was include the incident in the domestic violence case mechanism and refer it to social workers for admission to the shelter. The matter escalated; what started as a family issue now involved the whole society.
At the shelter, Wang Xiaoling met her fellow townsman, Ms. Li, who also gave a video testimony at the police station, discussing many issues related to the shelter. Wang Xiaoling was assigned the last room after walking down a long corridor. Everything around her seemed like a concentration camp, filled with women and their children who had been physically battered and mentally tormented by men. Some mischievous children bullied her two little daughters as they walked past. A woman from Indonesia in the same room tried to occupy her bed, but Ms. Li stood up for her. In the evening, Ms. Li drew a divination card for Wang Xiaoling, predicting that unless she left Li Sen, she would face certain death. Initially, Wang Xiaoling entertained thoughts of leaving. Since the matter had already become public, Li Sen, being intelligent, sought the help of a district councillor from an opposing party. Wang Xiaoling wanted a divorce and applied for deferred settlement but lacked the seven-year residency requirement. Recalling Mrs. Huang's hint that Li Sen had molested her daughter, she planned to use this as a special reason for divorce. However, without strong evidence from her two daughters, the social worker did not follow up and merely treated their case as a general family dispute. In the end, they only advised Li Sen to let his wife temporarily stay in Shenzhen with her family. Regardless of staying or leaving, they had to confront each other and talk things through clearly. Once again, Wang Xiaoling returned to Tianshuiwei with her two daughters.
However, on the night of their return, Li Sen once again abused his wife and even cut her leg, alarming the police who sent Wang Xiaoling alone to the hospital for treatment and then to the shelter. Because Ms. Li and others had held a press conference demanding improvements to the shelter conditions, Wang Xiaoling felt much better during her stay this time and was preparing for the Easter celebration. Amidst the joyful atmosphere, Ms. Li suggested that Wang Xiaoling join her in a legal interpretation march in Central and introduced her to a women's rights activist to assist with her divorce. However, Wang Xiaoling's mobile phone rang. It was Li Sen, threatening her to return home immediately or he would kill their two daughters. Concerned for her daughters' safety, Wang Xiaoling deliberately returned home first to pick up her daughters and then planned to meet them for the march.
By the riverside, Wang Xiaoling saw Li Sen fishing with their two daughters nearby. Initially, she only intended to take her daughters and leave quickly. Suddenly, Li Sen grabbed Wang Xiaoling's hand tenderly, promising not to sexually abuse her anymore and asking her to return home for one last time. At 2 PM, Li Sen and Wang Xiaoling's family of four were captured on the closed-circuit television in the elevator for the last time. They returned to their apartment, the iron gate closed, the wooden door shut. For a long time, the sound of a knife could be heard from inside.
