Warlord Lu Zhenhua mistreats Fu Wenpei and her daughter. At last unable to take it anymore, Fu Wenpei defiantly walks out, taking her daughter Lu Yiping to live in a poor neighborhood. To make ends meet, the stubborn Yiping adopts the stage name “White Rose” and becomes a singer in a Shanghai dance hall. There she unexpectedly meets their neighbor, Du Fei, a passionate trainee reporter. His clumsy but sincere protection, even wielding a fountain pen as a “weapon,” slowly melts Yiping’s frozen heart. When Lu Zhenhua brings his troops to “clean house,” Fu Wenpei forces her violent former husband to back down with hard evidence of his corruption and treason, showing extraordinary courage. By the old piano in their cramped lane-side home, the melody of “Moonlight” flows from Yiping and Du Fei’s fingertips, becoming a warm spark in the turbulent times.
When the War of Resistance breaks out, Shanghai falls. On the surface, Yiping remains the glamorous “White Rose,” but in truth she has become an underground party member, using her dance hall position to pass intelligence and rescue comrades. Du Fei heads to the front, becoming a fearless war correspondent who records the truth with his pen and camera. Through eight years of war, their messages come and go, and the fate of each remains uncertain. Yiping treads the dangerous line behind enemy lines, while Du Fei faces death on the battlefield. Each holds fast to their convictions on their own front, and their longing and love are tempered by the smoke of war into something ever more steadfast and pure.
The war ends, and the dawn of peace returns. After enduring life-and-death ordeals, Du Fei returns to Shanghai and finds Yiping waiting for him in their familiar lane-side home, where she has waited for eight years. The trials are past, but their love has not changed, and the lovers are finally united. Their love began as a glimmer in a rainstorm, was tempered in the flames of war, and at last finds its happy ending beneath the moonlight of peace.
Yes, Spreading Flowers allows us to see their different stories about this city from another angle. There is not much love between children, but there is the delicate waiting for family and country, the tacit understanding, the waiting, the joy of reunion after the war, and the warmth of returning to peace. PS: I really like the pairing of Yiping x Du Fei. It fulfills my wish to watch the drama. I hope they can be together.