The Republican-Era Lady Who Ran Away from Her Wedding

Hu Yingying, a young woman in Republican-era China, was the daughter of Hu Mingyuan, owner of a silk shop in Hangzhou. Beautiful as a flower, she lost her father after he married a second wife, Wang Manli, for the sake of his business. Wang later had an affair with the tailor Chen Zhaohua, and together they plotted Hu Mingyuan’s murder. Hu Yingying’s mother, Shen Meijun, chose to die with her husband.

Overnight, Hu Yingying lost both her parents. She grew up alone over the next ten years at a girls’ school. As an adult, she reunited with her second elder brother, Hu Jingcheng, but had little time to enjoy their reunion before Du Sanshun, commander of Hangzhou’s garrison, set his sights on her as his fourth concubine. To protect her brother, Hu Yingying tried to placate Du without offending him, but with her brother’s help, she eventually escaped to Shanghai.

In Shanghai, she changed her name to Hu Yingying and found work at a newspaper, where she met Jiang Wei, the love-hate rival who would become the love of her life. Jiang Wei was a member of the Communist underground, responsible for coordinating contacts at the newspaper. He deliberately acted as if he wanted nothing to do with her because he did not want to put her in danger. After enduring many hardships, the star-crossed lovers finally came together and found happiness.