Tan Po and Zhao Qiansun

Tan Po and Zhao Qiansun are former fellow disciples whose youthful emotional bond persists into old age, though their reunion is shaped less by renewed romance than by memory, regret, and a choice to protect one another. Their private meeting gives Qiao Feng a chance to pursue the secret of the Leading Big Brother, but the pressure he applies instead reveals the force of their long-standing loyalty and Tan Po’s resolve not to betray Zhao Qiansun.

A Bond Carried from Youth

Qiao Feng knows that Tan Po and Zhao Qiansun were once fellow disciples, and that the emotional entanglement between them had never entirely ended. Seeing them slip away from Elder Xu’s memorial gathering, he suspects they are secretly meeting for an affair. That suspicion is his own conjecture, not what their meeting proves: the narrative makes clear that the elderly pair have come together to talk about the past, and that nothing improper is taking place.

On the boat, Tan Po addresses Zhao Qiansun as her elder fellow disciple and reminds him that they are both old, that the choices of their youth cannot be undone, and that revisiting them may serve little purpose. Zhao Qiansun, by contrast, says his life has been ruined and asks her to sing the old songs once more. Their exchange holds two different responses to the same past: Tan Po speaks with rueful restraint, while Zhao Qiansun continues to cherish its remembered intimacy.

The Reunion on the Boat

The meeting takes place in a wooden boat beside a canal, after Zhao Qiansun has left the city by a circuitous, secretive route. Qiao Feng follows him without being noticed and listens from the boat’s roof. From there, he hears Zhao Qiansun ask for the songs they knew in earlier years and hears Tan Po begin one about washing clothes beside a bridge. The unfinished song briefly makes their shared past audible before Qiao Feng enters the cabin and interrupts them.

Zhao Qiansun says he does not know when they will meet again and fears he may not live long enough to hear her sing another time. Tan Po initially warns that her husband is suspicious and already displeased by Zhao Qiansun’s visits, but eventually agrees to sing gently when he insists that he wants to hear her. The scene establishes both the tenderness of Zhao Qiansun’s request and the caution imposed by Tan Po’s marriage and the couple’s public standing.

Qiao Feng’s Interrogation

Qiao Feng’s suspicion about their meeting is bound up with his search for the person known as the Leading Big Brother. He believes Zhao Qiansun knows that person’s identity and suspects that Tan Po and her husband, Grandpa Tan, may know it too. He therefore sees the couple’s apparent secrecy as an opportunity to put pressure on them and pursue information, rather than simply leaving them to their private conversation.

After Qiao Feng enters in disguise, he fights both of them. By the seventh exchange, he strikes Zhao Qiansun at the waist with a finger attack; Tan Po, fighting more slowly after seeing Zhao Qiansun hit, is brought down by a palm strike to the back. Qiao Feng blocks their acupuncture points and announces that he will bring people from Elder Xu’s memorial gathering to judge the matter. His threat relies on the damage that public suspicion could do: although the pair have met only to reminisce and sing, others may interpret a private meeting between an older man and woman as sexual impropriety, leaving both of them and Grandpa Tan exposed to disgrace.

Loyalty, Silence, and Reputation

Tan Po offers to repay Qiao Feng if he shows mercy, but he asks only for the identity of the Leading Big Brother and promises to release them and keep the encounter secret if she tells him. She says she will answer if she knows. When Qiao Feng identifies himself and warns that refusal will bring future trouble, Zhao Qiansun begs her to agree, explaining that this is the one thing he has ever asked of her. The appeal matters because Tan Po understands that, for decades, Zhao Qiansun has cherished her deeply and has repeatedly put her before himself.

Tan Po recognizes that Zhao Qiansun is willing to die to protect someone to whom he feels indebted. Rather than repay his devotion by exposing the secret, she tells Qiao Feng that she and her fellow disciple have clear consciences and refuses to disclose what he wants, whatever he chooses to do. Her refusal is courteous in manner but absolute in substance. Zhao Qiansun thanks her, making the outcome a further expression of their bond: when his appeal asks her to protect another person, she honors it despite the danger and humiliation Qiao Feng has placed before them.

Qiao Feng concludes that further pressure will be useless. He takes a jade hairpin from Tan Po’s hair and leaves the cabin, but the pair’s refusal preserves the secret he came to uncover. Their encounter thus turns an old attachment into an active test of loyalty: the past is recalled in a song that never reaches its end, while the present is settled through Tan Po’s silence.