Li Xia is a merchant of Xiang embroidery during the day and sends and receives telegrams in the attic at night. He Lanfen was originally a woman in the mill and was not used to dressing up as a wife. Li Xia patiently persuaded her that Shanghai was a dangerous front line and took her to the attic to explain the importance of his work to the revolution. In the battle, Li Xia and He Lanfen developed feelings. After the approval of the organization, they became a real husband and wife.
Li Xia exposed the Kuomintang's right-wing surrender plot, and spread our party's anti-Japanese proposition through radio waves, which made the enemy deeply panic. After Shanghai was completely occupied by the Japanese army, the Japanese invaders discovered this secret radio station and arrested Li Xia in different areas by means of power failure. Under the torture of the enemy, Li Xia kept the party's secrets strictly and handled them calmly.
From beginning to end, he only said "I am from China", but the enemy reluctantly let him go. Wei Yao, a Kuomintang spy who was in prison with Li Xia, mistakenly thought that Li Xia was from Chongqing. After he was released from prison, Wei Yao strongly invited Li Xia to participate in the activities of transmitting secret information to Japan. Li Xia took the opportunity to transfer the information to Yan 'an.
After the Japanese surrender, Li Xia and his wife continued to fight against the Kuomintang reactionaries. 1949, the final victory of the liberation war was about to be achieved, and Li Xia's radio station was discovered. The party organization informed Li Xia to withdraw from the base area. Just before the evacuation, Li Xia got two important news. In order to send two messages, he asked his wife to move with his son, and he insisted on working.
Wei Yao detected the signal from Radio Li Xia and surrounded Li Xia. At the critical moment when the enemy was about to arrive, Li Xia insisted on sending out the message. The enemy's gun was aimed at Li Xia. Li Xia calmly swallowed the telegram and sent his last words to his comrades-in-arms affectionately: Goodbye, comrades-in-arms, I miss you.
Line parameter
During the filming, two lines once caused internal disputes in Bayi Factory, and even were printed into a briefing to inform the whole factory. After Li Xia's plan to use enemy radio stations was approved by Yan 'an, he told Helanfen the good news. There was a conversation between them. He Lanfen's lines in the original script expressed her concern about the success of the plan-"You are too risky, if the plan fails" and "You are too courageous".
Some people think the lines are too negative. They are backing out. He Lanfen is a representative of the working class, so he can't say anything so frustrating. This is a distortion of the heroic image. Wang Ping thinks that He Lanfen said these two lines are reasonable because his wife cares about her husband. It is impossible for a husband and wife to talk with a straight face every day. The argument ended in Wang Ping's failure. She had to change her line to: "We should also be vigilant. The enemy is still very cunning.