"[1] The orphaned Guisheng lives with her cousin Ah Zhen and her family in Liuhe Township, working as an agricultural laborer in the fields.
Ah Zhen's mother has worked nonstop ever since she got married eleven years ago, and it has taken a toll on her health.
Around this time, soldiers from the Beiyang government arrive calling for young farmhands to join them and reclaim land in border regions.
Ah Zhen falls ill, and before the wedding she hands a letter to Mao Yuan to mail to Guisheng.
(Parts of the film are missing, but the likely scenario is: Guisheng is determined to visit home, so he and Cinque begin their long journey back.
It turns out that Shunqing had a jealous lover who came to the bridal chamber on his wedding night, and they stabbed each other to death with Ah Zhen's knife.
With the help of Cater, Ah Zhen dumped her body in the well, wrote a suicide note to mislead the villagers, and escaped.