Orphaned Brothers, Bound by Loyalty to the Bitter End

Shanghai, 1937. In the narrow spaces between the foreign concessions and the Chinese-administered districts, countless people at the bottom of society struggled simply to survive. Orphaned brothers Chen Xiaoyong and Chen Xiaoming made a living in the alleys with a battered tricycle. They had no one to rely on but each other, and the copper lock their mother left behind was their only keepsake and comfort through years of drifting.

One autumn night in Old Pagoda Tree Lane, a sudden act of violence shattered the brothers' fragile peace. Wang Chengyu, only son of business tycoon Wang Xiaolin, was arrogant and overbearing on account of his family background. When he harassed a woman in a qipao in broad daylight, Chen Xiaoyong happened by and stood up for her, only to be brutally beaten. In the chaos, level-headed Chen Xiaoming grabbed half a blue-gray brick from a corner and hurled it at Wang Chengyu. He only meant to drive the man back, but his blow accidentally proved fatal.

Police sirens pierced the night, and Wang Xiaolin's fury was more terrifying than the approaching footsteps of the detectives. He gave Shen Yuefeng, a detective chief at the police station, a firm order to solve the case within three days, vowing to make the killer pay in blood. The brothers had no time to panic. Clutching the copper lock and a bloodstained fragment of brick, they fled to a ruined temple on the outskirts. Thus began a desperate flight across mountains and seas.

There were no miraculous strokes of luck on the run, only one nerve-racking struggle to survive after another. A terrifying night in the ruined temple, the gruff but softhearted vegetable seller who sheltered them, and their close brush with the water police in the reeds along the canal all became turning points that helped the brothers escape death. Then, at a wonton stall, they saw on a utility pole