THE SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE

(Synopsis)

　　On a cold rainy night, while Nightingale (Christine Pai Lu-ming), the village belle, is worrying over her ailing poverty-stricken mother, Hsien Jung- chuan (Liu Ke-hsuan), the wealthy village bully, suddenly recalls a debt which Nightingale’s late father had incurred and left outstanding Having had a mind to take Nightingale as concubine, he immediately sends his hired hands to bring her home to him

　　Soon after Nightingale was carried off, her mother dies Brought before the village bully, she resists his advances, for debt or no debt, she is loath to become concubine Besides, she is in love with young Liu Cheng-yin (Hu Feng), who works as a tenant farmer on the Hsien estate Convinced that she cannot be rushed into complying with his wish, Old Hsien detains her to work around the house and bides his time

　　Old Hsien has a son, Ta-chi (Cheng Chun-mien), who being wild and licentious, also wishes to have a finger in the pie Aware of Nightingale’s love for Cheng-yin, he dismisses the later on a pretext and forbids the villagers to give him aid in the hope of forcing him to give up Nightingale

　　Finally, Nightingale manages to escape and, together with Cheng-yin and his mother, flees by night for the city to seek refuge in the house of Cheng-yin’s relative, An Chao-po (Lo Kung), who happily takes them in and finds employment for both Cheng-yin and Nightingale Soon, the two are wedded and the following year, become the proud parents of a daughter

　　Meanwhile, back in the village, Ta-chi the ne’er-do-well not only squanders the family estate, but gets into trouble for killing a man and is forced to flee to the city Losing her support in him, Hsiu-feng is also compelled to come to the city looking for employment One day, she runs into Cheng-yin, who out of pity receives her into his home

　　Addicted to all sorts of vice, Ta-chi sinks into vicious ways He robs someone on the street of a parcel of gems, but on being pursued, he tosses it into the empty rickshaw of Cheng-yin who happens along Discovering the gems later, Cheng-yin turns them over to the police The hold-up victim, Huang Kuei-jen (Li Peng-fei), manager of a jewelry store, is so moved by the honesty of Cheng-yin that he employs him to work for him, later promoting him to be branch store manager

　　Envious of his good fortune, Ta-chi in collusion with Hsiu-feng, tries blackmailing Cheng-yin, but the latter refuses to be browbeaten They then switch to working on Nightingale, who after a squabble with Cheng-yin, leaves home with their daughter Before long, Cheng-yin unearths the dark schemes of the two For fear of punishment, Hsui-feng is killed in a car collision and Ta-chi is drowned After a long search, Cheng-yin is reunited with Nightingale and child, and together they live happily ever after.