Na Meng

Underground CPC outwit enemies and steal military information in Beiping city.

Lu Ban's second short titled The Man Who Doesn’t Bother about Trifles (不拘小节的人 bùjū xiǎojié de rén). He carefully toned down the political satire here, switching his target to intellectuals instead of bureaucrats. The main character, Li Shaobai, is a rude literary critic who goes to a conference to lecture about satirical literature. Li is absolutely full of himself, and constantly misunderstands other people. Like Before the New Director Arrives, The Man Who Doesn’t Bother about Trifles was greeted with plenty of positive responses. Still, while Lu tried to be more careful with this second short, this didn’t stop some critics from taking issue with its ridiculous main character and humor.

"Among the many filmmakers who immigrated to Hong Kong after WWII was theater tycoon Jiang Boying, who established the company Great China in 1946, inviting fellow migrants to work on the first post-war Mandarin films of Hong Kong. Their hearts still anchored in Shanghai, they made films catered to the mainland market, with production modes of the former glory days. Fan Peilin, a virtuoso in musicals, was invited south to make Orioles Banished from the Flowers, dying in the crash of the returning flight. The only two films Fan made in Hong Kong–the other one Song of the Songstress–are thus his last. Both star the singing-acting superstar Zhou Xuan. In this MusCom–musical comedy–Zhou plays not the hapless songstress but a vivacious, willful youngster, rollicking between a young man and his girlfriend, resulting in a series of embarrassing but amusing situations. A remarkable sample of transplanted Shanghai-style entertainment."-- Hong Kong Film Archive

Yuerong is an downtrodden orphan girl. She is taken in by Erhe, a rickshaw driver, whose neighbors, recognizing her intelligence and singing talent, recommend her for opera lessons. However, the manager Liu soon begins to take advantage of her.

After school, Xinhua Primary School was quiet until Principal Lin Zheng heard arguing between fifth-graders Hua Xiaochuan and Fang Mingzhu. Fang was supervising Hua, who was late, as he did chores. Hua’s friend Zhang Chen wanted to help, but Fang refused, causing an argument. Principal Lin believed labour as punishment was ineffective and should be replaced with work-study programs, as instructed by the municipal party committee. He assigned Hong Dawei to lead the program, but Teacher Jiang opposed it, emphasising classroom education. Despite initial resistance, students participated in tire-moving labour, training teachers, parents, and students. Three students took sick leave, fueling Teacher Jiang’s objections. Principal Lin and the academic director found some parents were overly indulgent. Secretary Liu commended their efforts and encouraged them to continue.

A sick king instructs his loyal minister Luo Zhengqing to guide and install the crown prince as king after his death. However, the minister of the army, Situ Yangming, makes a grab for power after the King's death and incarcerates the crown prince. Luo's daughter disguises herself as the male bandit Robin Hood, robbing government offices to help the poor. Meanwhile, Situ orders captain of the imperial guards, Zhang Zhonggeng, to kill the crown prince. Zhang is a loyalist and conspires with Lady Robin Hood to save the crown prince. When Situ discovers that the prince has escaped, he falsifies the late King's will and has himself crowned as king. However, the female Robin Hood has stolen the original will. The female Robin Hood kills Situ and installs the crown prince as the ruler.