Set against the late Beiyang Government era in Shanghai’s French Concession, a web of power, money, and rumor unfolds. Ma Zouri and Xiang Feitian plot to stage the Flower Nation Beauty Pageant, a beauty contest for sex workers, designed to launder money for General Wu’s son, Wu Qi. The event draws contestants from several countries and grabs the city’s attention as public intrigue swirls around every round of the competition. In the final round, the former champion courtesan Wanyan Ying is steered toward victory by Ma Zouri and Xiang Feitian, and she publicly commits to auctioning her right to marriage and donating all her wealth to worthy causes.
On a date with Wan Yanying, Ma Zouri finds himself pressed into marriage; when he refuses, she brandishes a gun. The pair embark on a reckless drive, and the night spirals into opium-fueled haze, ending in a countryside crash that leaves Wan Yanying dead and Ma Zouri fleeing the scene. As tabloids chatter and headlines mount, Ma Zouri becomes a prime suspect in the tragedy, forcing him to seek help from General Wu.
At the Wu residence, Ma Zouri encounters his former teacher, now the General’s wife, Qin Sainan, and his former lover, Wu Liu, the General’s daughter. There he learns that [Xiang Feitian] has already incurred the General’s wrath for visiting prostitutes with [Wu Qi]. To save his ally, Ma Zouri proposes a bizarre game—part gauntlet, part ritual—where touching the ground with both hands might bend fate. The gambit succeeds in sparing Xiang’s life, yet Ma Zouri realizes that his broader aims remain unfulfilled and that danger still stalks him. From this moment, Xiang Feitian turns from ally to hunter, relentlessly pursuing his former associate.
During Ma Zouri’s two-year odyssey on the run, theater troupes led by Wang Tianwang adapt his story into plays and even a film titled Execution of Ma Zouri. In these dramatizations, his image is recast as a merciless money-driven criminal, a portrayal that gnaws at him as public perception hardens into legend. Ma Zouri confronts Wang Tianwang in disguise, attempting to bribe and threaten him into halting the performances, but the actor refuses. The confrontation culminates in a live show where Ma Zouri strikes Wang Tianwang and is seized by police watching the scene unfold.
Back at the Wu residence, Wu Liu’s loyalty clashes with the world’s cruelty. She grows fond of Ma Zouri, which deepens the strain with her mother and father, while Wu Qi and Xiang Feitian remain convinced that Ma Zouri must pay for Wan Yanying’s death. A ritual yet again fractures the family dynamics when General Wu marries a Russian aristocrat as his concubine. Wu Liu and her father stage a foreign opera for the guests, and in a bold turn, Wu Liu secretly helps Ma Zouri escape, slipping away in a car as pursuers close in.
The pursuit heats up as General Wu’s retinue give chase. Wu Liu even shoots at a loudspeaker mounted on the pursuing vehicle to aid their escape. The couple finds shelter in a windmill house, but the escape is not clean: Ma Zouri knocks Wu Liu unconscious and finally surrenders himself. In front of a crowd of newlyweds, he confesses to Wan Yanying’s death and asserts that Wu Liu has been kidnapped, delivering a long oration about how he has been misunderstood and demonized by society. He is shot multiple times and dies, the weight of public judgment finally catching up with him.
The film closes on a dreamlike, if bittersweet, note: Wu Liu envisions a train station scene where she bids a tearful farewell to Ma Zouri as he departs on a train, a poignant moment that hints at the price of rumor, power, and mischaracterization.
