Adrift in a time of chaos
This is a legendary story of two women and three men, a story brimming with justice and humor, exuding wisdom. It is a love story that explores the value of love and life, as well as a tragic tale of punishing evil, promoting good, and worrying about the country and its people. Set in Beijing at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, this story revolves around Phoenix Girl, a courtesan skilled in divine whip techniques. Despite her humble origins, she was fiery-tempered and beautiful. Her condition for marriage was not wealth but martial arts skills, attracting countless suitors who failed to defeat her.
One day, Tuo Fang, the last disciple of Li Hongzhang, who had returned from studying in England and was already married, saw this scene and fell in love instantly. Ignoring his teacher Li Hongzhang's and his family's opposition, Tuo Fang dressed in Western attire and challenged Phoenix Girl but was defeated, leaving him almost naked. However, he did not give up. He went to Phoenix Girl's house and sang Schubert's serenade in a foreign language, hoping to win her approval. Although Phoenix Girl did not appear, she harbored goodwill towards him. Tuo Fang was determined to win Phoenix Girl. In their next duel, Phoenix Girl intentionally revealed a flaw, allowing Tuo Fang to win. They got married soon after.
Not long after their wedding, Tuo Fang was dispatched by Li Hongzhang to Britain without his family. The seemingly amiable Tuo Fang's wife had her own plans. After Phoenix Girl gave birth to a daughter, she poisoned Phoenix Girl and claimed the girl as her own. Hearing of Phoenix Girl's death, Tuo Fang was heartbroken. A year later, when he returned to China for duty, he took the daughter, named Ruge'er, to England.
Years later, eighteen-year-old beauty Ruge'er, dressed in Western attire, returned to China with her father. Deeply influenced by British education, she knew little about the many rules of the Qing Dynasty. Her behavior became a bright landscape:掏 bird nests, visiting tea houses, listening to operas, learning operas, swinging fists, wielding sticks, and more. This caused headaches for Tuo Fang and his wife, yet they had no way to stop her.
Rongqing, son of court minister Rongfu, sought Ruge'er's hand in marriage through intermediaries, but she opposed it. At this time, Ruge'er met Tanshitong, a friend of her father. Impressed by his integrity and reformist ideas, she fell in love with him. The emperor secretly ordered Tuo Fang and Tanshitong to save him. Tuo Fang wrote a secret letter to Yuan Shikai, asking him to lead troops to rescue the emperor, but Yuan Shikai betrayed them, and the secret letter fell into Rongfu's hands. Rongqing used the letter to threaten and force Tuo Fang to comply. To save her family from trouble, Tuo Fang's wife planned to drug Ruge'er and send her to the Rong family. The plot was exposed when Tuo Fang returned, making him furious.
After the failure of the reform, Tanshitong and five other gentlemen were beheaded at Caisikou. Seeing no hope for reform, Tuo Fang jumped into the moat and committed suicide. Heartbroken, Ruge'er left home. Desperate, Tuo Fang's wife set fire to the Tuo family residence.
Ten years later, in Hubei Wuchang, Ruge'er, now a famous actress under the stage name Run Tianhong, saved Yang Hailong, a revolutionary disguised as a thousand-troop leader. On the anniversary of Tanshitong's death, Run Tianhong and Yang Hailong unexpectedly met by the river. Run Tianhong realized that Yang Hailong was the boy who once deeply moved Tanshitong and later became his student. She was shaken. The two fell in love.
When the revolutionaries' smuggling of firearms was betrayed, Yang Hailong was also revealed as a revolutionary. The authorities sent troops to arrest Yang Hailong. With the help of his comrades, Yang Hailong successfully rescued Run Tianhong. Three years later, they both participated in the shocking Wuchang Uprising.
