Green Tea

On a sequence of blind dates, Wu Fang orders a glass of green tea and keeps to herself, rarely revealing anything about her life. She is perceptive and quietly pretty, but her conservative clothing and awkward demeanor seem to put men off. The dating scenes establish her as an insightful observer of others rather than a talkative partner.

On the next date, she meets Chen Minglian and explains that her friend can read a stranger's fortune by swirling tea leaves. Mingliang scoffs at the idea and dismisses it as superstition. When he makes a perverted suggestion, Wu Fang slaps him and they part ways.

Despite their rocky start, Mingliang follows Wu Fang around the campus, hoping for another conversation. Their talks reveal her gentle humor and a fierce moral line: she hates when men hit women. Slowly, she begins to warm up to him, despite their initial friction.

During their conversations, Wu Fang describes the backstory of her fortune-telling friend: a woman who can make smoking look graceful and changes boyfriends as quickly as the weather. She mentions a terrifying father and a mother who worked as a makeup artist at a morgue, a detail she kept secret.

She continues with the details: the father forced his wife to wear gloves and raged through the home, destroying the family. The tale culminates with the father dying after a potato peeler incident and the mother being imprisoned for murder.

Fang laughs and adds that the story has been fictional the whole time, revealing her penchant for storytelling. Mingliang is equally intrigued, and the line between truth and fiction blurs as he wonders what is real. Her playful admission deepens his fascination while she remains inscrutable.

Mingliang becomes enthralled with both the tale and Wu Fang, but she keeps her nighttime commitments hidden and does not reciprocate his feelings. The tension between pursuit and aloofness deepens the dynamic between them.

Jun, Mingliang's artist friend, tries to set him up with Lang Lang, a sultry piano player who dates anyone but only once. Lang Lang bears a striking resemblance to Wu Fang, but without glasses, and Mingliang is initially convinced they are the same person.

Mingliang snatches Wu Fang's glasses off her face, hoping to confirm his suspicion, and she overreacts by leaving. Lang Lang kisses him on the cheek, playing along with the ruse but also hinting at their shared likeness.

For a few days Wu Fang disappears, allowing Mingliang and Lang Lang to date and talk without her presence. As Lang Lang's beauty and easy laughter set her apart from Wu Fang, Mingliang remains preoccupied with the original woman.

Lang Lang casually mentions her father was a violent, 'one hit wonder' composer who haunted the home, and that her mother supervised a glove factory. These personal details add depth to her character and echo the darker themes of the story.

Jun plans a couples dinner party, but Wu Fang is still missing. Mingliang asks Lang Lang to pose as Wu Fang for the night, and she performs a fortune telling via tea leaves that deepens the illusion.

During the dinner, Jun's drunken girlfriend flirts with Mingliang and stirs drama with Lang Lang. The confrontation escalates when Jun slaps his girlfriend, and Lang Lang slaps him back, underscoring her stance that she hates men hitting women.

In the film's final moment, Mingliang and Lang Lang are in a hotel room as a time-lapse plays beneath a translucent glass table. Wu Fang's glasses rest beside a glass of green tea, leaving the true nature of their relationships open to interpretation.