The Night 夜深沉

Description:

Yue-Rong, a lonely girl who sings for a living, is bullied by others, but fortunately the carriage driver Er-He rescues her and takes her into his home. The neighbor Tian Er-Gu and the shoemaker Wang Shazi, seeing that Yue-Rong is clever and can sing, introduce her to learn opera from Yang Wu-Ye. Later she performs on stage and is warmly received, but this draws the covetous attention of Song Xin-Sheng, who schemes to lure her into a trap he has set. Er-Gu's mother wants to arrange a marriage between her daughter and Er-He, but Er-He, whose heart belongs to Yue-Rong, politely declines. Not long after, Er-Gu takes a job as a servant in Manager Liu's household, where she is seduced, loses her virtue, and becomes pregnant. Song Xin-Sheng takes Yue-Rong to Tianjin, where she discovers she has been deceived. After much difficulty she returns, hoping to find Er-He, but he has been working at Manager Liu's company, his life has improved, and he has moved with his mother to live elsewhere. Yue-Rong has no choice but to go back to singing for a living. Er-Gu's mother pressures Manager Liu to act as matchmaker so that her daughter, whose pregnancy is not yet showing, can marry Er-He, concealing the scandal between Er-Gu and Manager Liu. On their wedding night, Er-He faintly hears Yue-Rong outside singing "Night, The," but when he goes outside, she is nowhere to be seen. Later Er-He discovers he has been tricked into marrying Er-Gu and treats her very coldly. By chance he finds Yue-Rong at the Qingfeng Society. When Er-Gu learns of this, she immediately asks Manager Liu to restrain him, and Manager Liu, who also wants to possess Yue-Rong, takes her as his goddaughter. Before long Er-Gu learns that Manager Liu has turned his attentions to Yue-Rong, and in a fit of jealousy she quarrels with him and is kicked by Manager Liu, causing a miscarriage and her death. Manager Liu lures Yue-Rong to his home, and Er-He follows to rescue her. In the confusion Yue-Rong shields Er-He, Manager Liu's pistol goes off accidentally and kills him, and Yue-Rong, overcome with shame, also takes her own life.