Chapter 79: Second Daughter

The camera calmly and restrainedly records the first eighteen years of Li Tingnu's life.

There was no hysterical crying, but a feeling of suffocation was everywhere.

Li Tingnu is the one who gets up the earliest and goes to bed the latest in the family, the one who can only eat leftovers at the dinner table, the one whose sister and brother have new clothes, but she is always wearing old clothes that have been washed so hard that they are bleached.

She is like a weed forgotten in a corner, living silently and tenaciously.

Even for the basic nine years of compulsory education, the government had to come to her home to educate her before she could attend.

But in order to get this learning opportunity, she agreed to take on all the heavy work at home.

But when she graduated from junior high school with the highest score in the school and thought she could continue her studies, her family had already calculated her price.

He planned to sell her to an old widower in his fifties from the neighboring village.

She escaped, was caught and severely beaten.

On the night she was tied up and sent there, Li Tingnu carried a rusty kitchen knife, ready to kill the man and then end her own life.

It was her junior high school teacher who brought hope at the last moment.

They brought the police and people from the Women's Federation and told her that a kind-hearted city dweller was willing to sponsor her to finish high school.

Li Tingnu grabbed this life-saving straw and studied hard despite the gossip in the village and the cold eyes of her family.

After the college entrance examination, she waited for the admission letter with great joy.

Little did he know that the letter from the prestigious university in Beijing had already been hidden by his parents.

They planned to wait until she gave up and then let her go to the south to work with her sisters in the village.

There was a girl in the village who lived in the south. Every time she came back, she was dressed beautifully and built a new house for her family.

The last hope will also be extinguished.

The last scene of the movie shows Li Tingnu standing at the university gate.

She had cut off her long hair, was wearing a clean old dress, and was holding two things tightly in her hands.

One was the admission letter she applied for at the Education Bureau herself.

The other was an agreement signed with her name, severing ties with her family.

The camera slowly moved closer and fixed on her young yet weathered face.

There was no laughter, no crying, only a calm after the storm.

She finally walked out of the mountain.

As for whether her future is bright, there is no need for a movie to tell the story.

Because the director of this film, Lu Xiangyang himself, is the best answer.

The lights came on, and as the ending song played, suppressed sobs were heard in the theater.

Many female audiences were already moved to tears.

This kind of content, adapted from reality, is so touching.

Shi Qing and the film crew were sitting in the first row of the audience, also in tears.

I saw myself four years ago on the screen.

That stubborn face.

Both familiar and unfamiliar.

At that time, I tried my best and performed really well.

I'm glad this movie can be seen.

Shi Qing pulled up director Lu Xiangyang, who was also crying uncontrollably, and walked to the screen.

The host came on stage choking with tears in his eyes and began the post-screening exchange session.

When the microphone was handed to Director Lu Xiangyang, she took several deep breaths before she managed to calm down.

Lu Xiangyang's voice was still a little hoarse: "I know this story may not be popular, and some people may even think that it is deliberately selling misery."

"But I want to say that it's not fiction, it's a scar. It's mine, and it's also the scars of many of my female friends."

"We reveal it not to gain sympathy, but to hope that everyone can see that the wound really existed."

She paused and turned her gaze to Shi Qing beside her, her eyes full of gratitude and appreciation.

"I want to thank Shi Qing."

"Four years ago, when I approached her with this unpopular script, she spent an afternoon reading through it and then said to me earnestly, 'Director, I want to act.'"

"During the filming, she never asked me how to cry or break down."

"She asked me what Li Tingnu was thinking about when she was alone at night, looking at the mountains."

"It is her understanding that makes the character of Li Tingnu truly come alive."

"She is not just playing a role, she is speaking out for all girls like Li Tingnu who have struggled in the dark."

As director Lu Xiangyang finished speaking, the audience burst into thunderous applause that lasted for a long time.

Shi Qing gave the tenacious female director a deep hug.

He whispered in Lu Xiangyang's ear, "Thank you, Director Lu, thank you for telling this story, and thank you for believing in me."

Just like many people in the industry were not optimistic about "Second Daughter" before it was released.

This movie carries too much heaviness and reality, and is destined not to be as attractive as a commercial film.

From previews to official releases, the market response was dishearteningly cold.

Even the screening rate is getting lower day by day, and it is almost silent amid the competition from commercial blockbusters released at the same time.

Shi Qing had anticipated this and remained calm.

The film has limited publicity.

On the one hand, funding is limited, and on the other hand, it is not easy to release a film, let alone expand marketing.

Word of mouth began to spread on the fourth day of its release.

Some of them were interested in this movie themselves, and some were recommended by Sheng Han, Qu Jinhuan, Ji Qingyao, Xu Hui, Yao Shun, Cheng Cheng, Du Linlin and others on Big Eyes.

After watching the movie, these netizens became the first batch of fans.

On the Internet, comments about "The Second Daughter" began to explode.

I'm the "middle daughter" in my family. Growing up, the phrase I heard most often was, "You're a girl, you'll always get married." Every frame of the movie stabbed me like a knife, and I cried from beginning to end.

[Best film of the year! Shi Qing gives her best performance yet. The stubbornness and brokenness that comes through her are completely unrealistic. She's Li Tingnu! I'd be the first to disagree if she doesn't win the Best Actress award!]

This movie has such a lasting impact. It's not about pity, it's about questioning and shouting. After watching it, I just want to call my mom and give her a hug.

I'm a grown man, but I cried so hard in the cinema that my mask got soaked. I thought of my older sister, who didn't have much education but worked hard to send me to college.

Countless similar comments emerged on major social platforms, lifting "Second Daughter", a movie that was almost drowned in the market, out of the trough.

When Shi Qing received the good news from director Lu Xiangyang, she was on the set of director Feng Guohao's new movie "Stopped Time".

She held the phone, her fingertips trembling slightly, and her eyes became moist uncontrollably.

The film market in the second half of this year has been sluggish, and art films are struggling even more.

However, thanks to the reputation accumulated initially and the subsequent recommendations, "The Second Daughter" experienced a huge explosion in reputation after the initial poor screening schedule and cold box office.