Iron Tongue, Bronze Claws 008

After Ma Changjiang falls in love with birdfighting, his life goes completely off the rails. His obsession leaves his wife disappointed in him. Later, when she discovers he is involved in birdfighting gambling, she tries in tears to talk him out of it. When that fails, she reports him and divorces him. He is charged with gambling on a massive scale and sentenced under the law. Before the trial, someone approaches him and offers to help him change his testimony. But his despairing wife insists on testifying in court, and he is sentenced to three years in prison. After his release, Ma Changjiang returns to his hobby of raising birds and falls into another gambling scam, beginning his descent into a life of evil. A television report reveals that, to win competitions, he paid for powerful stimulants to feed his birds, cheated, bribed judges, gambled, and even took part in international fraud. His former wife believes she was right to divorce him, testify against him, and send him to prison. She regrets remarrying him. Ma Changjiang does not know that his wife was already three months pregnant when they divorced. Twenty years later, their grown daughter, Ma Yanyan, has become a police officer and works in the archives. While sorting through old records, she unexpectedly discovers a dusty file box. The seal bears the code name Iron Beak, Bronze Claw 008. Curious, she opens the box and uncovers the truth about Ma Changjiang’s apparent fall from grace. It turns out Ma Changjiang was a police officer. He had used birdfighting as a cover to infiltrate a criminal gang, plunging into darkness to expose it. Once she learns the truth, she hurries to tell her mother. But her mother is in the hospital after an accident, lying in a vegetative state. That night, the hospital admits a critically injured patient to the same room as her mother. As the patient’s life ebbs away, a photograph slips from his hand. Ma Yanyan picks it up and sees a picture of herself as a little girl with her mother.