Bai Yuan, a celebrated Sichuan opera performer from Sichuan and Chongqing, was orphaned as a child. She went into opera simply to make a living. With her beautiful face, she was bought by a warlord to be his concubine at fifteen. After the Japanese occupation of Northeast China, she fell into Japanese hands. At long last, she met a decent man and became an officer's wife. But the man had no interest in women, and all she could do was live as a lonely wife in a sham marriage. Just as she had lost all faith in men and given up hope of love, she met Zhou Mei, and a yet more tragic story began amid the maelstrom of Republican-era history.
As for Zhou Mei, as her author, I still don't know how to describe her.
A woman of mature mind, strong enough to wound herself, possessed of a romance that cuts to the bone and a love she keeps in check. She's mischievous, wild, and fiercely proud; seductive, sensual, and heartless. Damn, she's captivating.
A restrained Republican-era story, with a style very different from my usual work. If you can't handle angst, proceed with caution. If you don't want to read it, then don't, but please don't insult anyone, especially Zhou Mei ^_^
It's also worth mentioning the main pairing: TPL, PPL, or TTL?
Honestly, nothing is more thrilling than a straight woman falling for another straight woman and them both breaking each other's hearts. It's mysterious, sensual, and exhilarating.
November 20, 2020: After five years, this long-running story is complete. Please enjoy.
Theme: Some things have always been beyond reach
From the plot of Bai Mansion to the end, I cried for more than an hour. What a bumpy life our Xiao Bai has had. Although I prefer Xiaobai's character design and character, I have to say that the author put a lot of effort into shaping the two characters. Both women are very plump. I really couldn't understand Zhou Mei at the beginning, but the more I look at it, the more I can understand her character. Zhou Mei and Xiaobai can be said to be two completely opposite types of people. Xiaobai was a messy person with a low sense of morality in her early years. Her tragic experiences since childhood left her with no time to care about human relationships and accidents. She would be happy if she could survive. She does not distinguish between right and wrong, and does not care about other people's feelings and opinions. If she is happy in life, she must have fun and indulge in everything. Contrary to Xiaobai, Zhou Mei was still a lady before studying abroad. So even though she has stayed abroad, I feel that Zhou Mei still retains the high moral requirements of feudal ethics in her bones. The experience of being bullied overseas has made her a cold, hard and extremely defensive person. The ethics and rules she has been exposed to since childhood have allowed her to navigate in a male-dominated society, but they have also been constraining her. She has always lived an overly regulated and repressed life. Zhou Mei is a born politician, and she is good at analyzing interests and losses, but her own personality has been obliterated. In the early stage, it was just between the organization and her hobby of tailoring. In the middle stage, it became a struggle between the interests of the organization and what she loved. In the later stage, her high sense of morality made her family responsibilities come before her love. This is a respectable but pathetic character, a mature and thoughtful woman from the early days. In contrast, Xiaobai was a simple, happy, casual and careless baby at the beginning. He was very interested in everything. Although his early cultural level was not high, he had already shown his talent in the military. After experiencing the counter-encirclement and suppression campaign, he began to gradually awaken his consciousness. At this stage, Duan's Xiaobai was calm and enthusiastic, until after Tang Sheng's death, she became gentle and firm again, able to take into account Jian Rong's emotions. By the time she returned to Chongqing from Peking, Xiaobai had become more concerned about the world. When she entered the room of Zhou Mei and her husband, she was so cautious that I pity her. I always feel that Xiaobai has a vitality and resilience. After so much pain and suffering, she is still able to live happily. What the two of them have in common is, firstly, they both mentioned that they love to forget things. Zhou Mei's forgetfulness is about hiding things deep in her heart and her pressure may also come from this. A balloon that is constantly inflated will always face the day when it explodes. Xiaobai's forgetfulness may be a kind of optimistic and casual indifference. Secondly, both of them long for close relationships. Zhou Mei will put aside her desire to feel lonely, while Xiao Bai likes to find a beautiful sister to relieve his loneliness. I was so happy watching Xiaobai, who was happy and self-centered in the early stage, slowly grow up. I was really sad to see Xiaobai, who was so lively and talkative in the early stage, become more gentle and reserved in the later stage. It hurt my heart to see the stubborn and tenacious Xiaobai grow old and be tortured. In short, I am grateful to the author for his five years.
"Write a story about an actor and a tailor." I remember this was the origin of this book, but I didn't expect you to actually do it. You were so busy at work that you could only flip through a few pages on the subway to and from get off work. I read Chapter 7 today. I don't know how other readers feel, but I read every word with warmth. Zhou Gong's week is a day of sleep. This is the origin of Zhou Mei's name. And the white mandarin duck is your white shirt and the iris in my painting. Many years have passed, and I asked you very anxiously if you could wait for me to finish reading and come up with a title for the book. The first reason for my uneasiness was that I was afraid that you would no longer want me to get involved in your things, and the second reason was... I have fallen out of fashion, and I don't know if I can be worthy of your writing style. I got up at 6:30 to go to work today and didn't get off work until 10:00 in the evening. This has been the case for half a month. Good night, Bai
Although the ending is "he", I still can't make up my mind... Because they couldn't be by each other's side when they were in the most pain. I always felt that they missed too much. In this era, when two people fall in love, they have to rely on a powerful man, and at the same time, they have to take great pains not to reveal their identities. It's really difficult for Zhou Mei. From the beginning, she was filled with a passionate spirit of saving the country, teaching and educating people. She longed for a free and equal China, but for the sake of the organization, she had to sacrifice her own happiness to obtain more rights and money to provide equipment and resources for the organization. At the same time, in order to protect the actor Bai, wandering in the profit field for a long time also gave her a more commercial thinking. Although her original intention has not changed, in the end, her biggest wish is to keep the actor Bai alive - even if it goes against the wishes of the organization. In order to take the overall situation into consideration, Ku Ju and Bai Yuan had to be sacrificed. The War of Liberation was over, but as a result, the actor Bai Yi's patriotism was extinguished by his own people. It was so heartbreaking! Who said that "business women don't know the hatred of their country's subjugation"? I think the later Xiaobai's experience is interchanged with Zhou Mei's. One teaches and educates people, fights Japanese invaders, and the other is a rich wife with no worries about food and clothing. In a certain sense, it's like "experience the other person's life again." In the end, I had to lament the deep and long-lasting love between Zhou Mei and Bai Yuan
This is the first time I have written such long thoughts in Jinjiang. I accidentally opened this book because I was bored during the Chinese New Year in my hometown in the countryside. Unexpectedly, after seeing this, I just wanted to go home quickly. I was flipping through the familiar place names in the book, and I really wanted to go to Datong Street, Baixiang Street, and the Nanshan Mountain I often climbed to see. It seemed that in the old city decades ago, there really was an actor like Bai and Miss Zhou. People from Chongqing feel really immersed in reading this book. In addition to the dialogue, place names and food in the article, the most immersive thing is the period of history, especially the period when I was the capital. I was frightened when I saw the time approaching May 3, May 4th. I finally turned the page and suddenly told me that Ding Zijun died in the June 5th massacre, and so on. The author is really good at picking things up. Just when I thought it was a happy ending, he suddenly told you about those ten years. I really love the two protagonists so much, I feel pity and reverence at the same time. I cried almost every chapter in the second half of the whole text. It really made my liver hurt. Fortunately, the ending is he. After going through so much, I can't help myself after all. But everything depends on man-made efforts. People like Piao Ping are struggling desperately in troubled times, and they are lucky to be able to rely on each other.
Hello, author~ I don't know if you still use Jinjiang. This is really a wonderful story. Thank you for spending five years creating such a beautiful dream. I was so moved by this story that the last sentence of the text seemed to hit me right now across time and space. If not so many people see it, then write it freely and freely, and just treat it as having fun for the character!
"Being driven crazy by one of your own people" is so ironic
Fortunately, I read it What impressed me most was the phrase "it's a last resort". In that era, women did have too many choices. Bai Yuan is actually happy. She has Tang Xiangwan in front of her and Zhou Mei behind her, who carefully protect her, so she becomes the "actor Bai" that all the women in the novel yearn for. Zhou Mei is too rational and too lonely. Her family, country, world, and love between her children all urge her to take the right path, so that she can protect Xiaobai. Her indulgence is limited to everything related to Xiaobai. She is forbearing. I can understand Zhou Mei, but I can't love someone like her and take the overall situation into consideration at the same time. This is not easy... From what Jing Luo said, he always felt that this should not be the end of this little Guliang, but considering the current situation, it seemed like it should be this way. This is the most realistic and authentic gay literature I have ever read. Even in this day and age, there are still people who do it as a last resort... Come on! Remember to come back and take a look when you have time
After reading it, I feel a little complicated. I seem to have a lot of thoughts but I don't know where to start. Is it the relationship between them? Is it history? Is it Chongqing? I can't figure it out, but I know there is something about them that is very attractive to me and may be something I will remember for a long time... (And what I read really makes me want to go to Chongqing to see it with my own eyes. It seems like a story really happened between the two of them there)
This article can be included in my top 3 favorites so far.
Two straight women fell in love, and it was against the background of national crisis. It was really good to have such an ending. It's good that we finally survived ten years of turmoil. I hope I can fill in the hole in Qingluan hahaha