Wet Marks

Introduction to the work The county seat of the Republic of China, flower garden. The top star, Xie Nanhe, is the spy buried in a pile of makeup and powder by the owner of the hotel. He was sold into the fireworks industry at the age of thirteen and spent eleven years spying on men. She is charming when she smiles, but as cold as a knife dipped in well water when she doesn't smile. Shen Zhuangshu, a courtesan of the Qing Dynasty, was a wealthy lady whose family was wiped out. She walked into a brothel with a too clean face, hid a knife in her sleeve, and waited for three years to kill someone. Xie Nanhe recognized her at first glance - "The eyes are too clean, too clean." Shen Zhuangshu also recognized her - "Your smile is too full, as if you are covering something up." The two masked women tested each other in the dark flower shop, and they grew sincerity that they shouldn't have in the calculation, and recognized each other's background in the deception. Their enemy is the same person - Police Chief Ma Desheng. One killed Xie Nanhe's sister, and the other slaughtered Shen Zhuangshu's entire family. They form alliances, hold back, and make plans. Xie Nanhe taught Shen Zhuangshu how to survive in a brothel, and Shen Zhuangshu reminded Xie Nanhe of the soft-hearted Su Ho whom he had hidden for eleven years. They exchange body temperature, exchange secrets, and exchange lives. Xie Nanhe secretly bought two ferry tickets to Hong Kong, hid them in a blue cloth bag, and never said anything. Until Ma Desheng noticed it and laid a trap. Shen Zhuangshu was taken into the basement and scratched four words on the wall: "I am not afraid of death." Xie Nanhe put on a plain green cheongsam, inserted a dagger into his waist, and walked into the rain. She fell at the foot of the city wall. Shen Zhuangshu survived. There were two ferry tickets in the blue cloth bag, one was used, and the other was carried across the ocean by Shen Zhuangshu, together with the yellowed photo of Xie Nanhe's sister. The hickey below her collarbone turned into a scar and never faded. She didn't want it to go away either. After the rain, only two intertwined wet marks were left on the moss. That was proof that they were here. Purpose: The purpose of "Wet Traces" is to write biographies of trampled women in the forgotten gaps of historical narratives. Their revenge is not just to kill an enemy, but to demand debt from the entire world that treats them as nothing. Their way of resistance is not with doctrines and slogans, but to stay awake in the dirtiest mire, to grow sincerity amidst the masks and calculations, and to trade one life for another before being completely crushed. This is not a rescue story - no one comes to save them. This is the story of two women who save themselves and then die for each other. When the family and country are broken, "for the country" is too big, too heavy, and too far away. The last "country" they can hold. The grand narrative will not record the information passed in the dark room of the brothel, the words "I am not afraid of death" scratched on the basement wall, or the two tickets in the blue cloth bag that will never be used. But it is these forgotten women who, in the most silent way, have fulfilled a person's dignity in troubled times. Moss grows in the darkest corners. It grows again when stepped on, and grows longer when scraped. That was proof that they were here.