Preface
There are many cases of reversal against the wind in the world, but there may not be many who can blow up a bad hand so well from ancient times to the present.
She came from a poor background and was deceived all her life. was defiled before he became an adult, and then embarked on the road of no return to "pimping".
In this way, she should have struggled at the bottom all her life, adrift. But by chance, she actually had a spark with a director from a literary family, married another wife, and achieved a counterattack in life.
She is Tang Xiaoyan, the current wife of director Xu Tong. What kind of story did she go through in her life, and why did she write a different chapter in her life under such a bad situation?
Spanning more than ten years of fate
Readers interested in Chinese independent cinema should be familiar with Xu Tong's name. He used his lens to record the difficult lives of many marginalized people, and the nomad trilogy he filmed is definitely a classic in the history of documentaries.
And among them, the most impressive is "Fortune Telling". Xu Tong followed an elderly couple who were displaced in Beijing, the man made a living by fortune-telling, and the woman suffered from intellectual disability. They live together in this way, barely surviving on their meager income.
The director followed the couple for two years, and developed a deep relationship with them, he thought that this was the most surprising encounter in his life, but he didn't expect that the real fate was still to come.
Because fortune tellers always deal with the lower nine streams, the people who come to him for fortune tellers are generally sex workers. He traveled around Hualiu Lane to read the palms of those women, and talked about the future they wanted to hear or didn't want to hear.
Among these customers, Tang Xiaoyan is the most distinctive one. She speaks with a thick Northeast accent, is vigorous and resolute, has a good face, and has a temperament that is different from the prostitutes around her. For a moment, the director felt that she was a woman with a story, so he started interviewing and paying attention to her.
It turned out that Tang Xiaoyan was not a native of Beijing, but a woman from the Northeast to make a living. Because she was deceived and had no skills, she could only engage in the "bustard" industry and make money in the skin and meat business.
But life has come to this point, and it is not her own will to control it. At first, she didn't want to do this job, but at that time she was forced to helpless, if she didn't accept it, she was likely to be forced to engage in border trade, and the sin was even deeper.
However, in front of the camera, Tang Xiaoyan did not show half of her vulnerability and sadness. She seems to have been polished by life to be extraordinarily sharp, and when it comes to interests, she is as fierce as a gangster female boss.
She started a fire to make men afraid, and she didn't say cruel things like a woman could spit out. Although she is on the edge of the law, she seems to live the temperament of the owner, even in the dark and cramped massage room, she still exudes unyielding vitality.
But this is Tang Xiaoyan, but he has an extremely loveless heart. Talking about her previous experience, she couldn't help but burst into tears, and the uncertainty about the future made her even more painful. It is precisely because of this that she will find Li Baicheng to tell her fortune for herself.
Because she has no heirs, Tang Xiaoyan has a lot of anxiety about providing for the elderly. She recognized a goddaughter, and she was heartfelt and heartfelt for her.
She promised that her property was hers, and as soon as she met, she sealed a big red envelope of several thousand yuan. Feeling that the future was secured, she couldn't help but burst into tears, who knew that all this was just an illusion.
Because of the particularity of her work, it didn't take long for Tang Xiaoyan to be caught by the police, and her career came to naught in an instant. During the time he was waiting for bail in the police station, none of the people he used to call friends could be relied upon, and the so-called goddaughter was nowhere to be found.
There was no way, she had to dial Director Xu's number, but she didn't expect to be redeemed by the other party.
Seventy thousand was not a small amount fifteen years ago, and in order to rescue her, the director did not hesitate to pawn his car. And Tang Xiaoyan also regarded the director as a friend who had done his life, and swore in his heart that if he had the opportunity, he would give up his life for him.
But she left footprints in society like a gust of wind, and after being rescued, the director couldn't find her for a long time, but fortunately got in touch with her later, and after that, she became the director's partner, not only as a producer of documentaries, but also learned photography, and successfully transformed from a bustard mother to a literary youth.
At this point in the story, many people will be curious about what Tang Xiaoyan has experienced and why he has been so displaced before. After learning about her story, I realized that she had exhausted all her strength just to live.
The first half of Tang Xiaoyan's life
In the seventies of the last century, Tang Xiaoyan was born in a poor small village in the northeast. She has many siblings, and since she was a child, she has been the least noticed in the family.
From the moment she could go, she became a laborer called by her parents. Although she is a close relative, she watches her father's face all the time, which makes her heart sensitive and suspicious.
Because her family had no money and was not taken seriously, she only went to school for two years from childhood to adulthood. If she had a choice, of course she would prefer to study in school, but her dream is to compromise with reality, so she can only go out to work.
Pretty and tall, helpless. In Tang Xiaoyan, beauty has become a sin, and countless men regard her as a fish to be slaughtered. When she was still an adult, she was raped by others.
That experience was a hidden pain in her life, and even after more than ten years, she still burst into tears when she recalled it, scolding that man. After that, she lived in the city to do some low-level work, and just wanted to earn food and clothing with her own hands.
However, reality did not let her go. After several failed marriages, she once again fell into the trap of men and became the proprietress in charge of the massage parlor.
In order to protect herself and the girls under her control, she forcibly turned herself from a little white rabbit who was manipulated by others to a tiger with teeth baring her teeth. Under her protection, although the girls in the massage parlor were selling their bodies, no one was abused like her.
However, underneath her strong exterior, she has a soft heart on the inside. Although she is protecting others, she wants to be protected. Only loneliness can save her from injury, but she is afraid of loneliness.
Because Li Baicheng told her that her name was destined for her to be lonely, in order to no longer be lonely, she changed her name to Tang Xiaoyan.
In the dead of night, she often cried, hoping that she would not be alone again. But I don't know if the new name she gave her after a hundred journeys worked, or her misfortune was finally seen by God, or she seized the opportunity in front of her, and now Tang Xiaoyan is finally no longer a single person.
Married to the director
Last year, Tang Xiaoyan posted an amazing news on social platforms that she married Xu Tong, the director who had filmed her.
The director sacrificed a car to save her, and now she spends the rest of her life with each other. Many people were surprised when they learned the news, and they overshadowed their blessings, and they didn't know how the two people with such a huge difference in identity cultivated their relationship.
In fact, this is all related to Tang Xiaoyan's own charm. After working with the director, she not only quickly learned various skills and became the other party's right-hand man, but also walked into the camera herself to become the shooting material.
With high emotional intelligence and excellent social skills, she is in and out of the press conference of the documentary to promote the director's work. For Xu Tong, Tang Xiaoyan is his muse, and the two naturally walk together when they get along day and night.
Now she no longer has the anxiety of being single. I believe that the two will get better and better in the future.
epilogue
Tang Xiaoyan's experience is like a legend in ordinary daily life, inspiring people who are trapped by life. No matter how painful the present is, as long as you believe that there is something to look forward to, things will work out in a good direction.
Congratulations to Tang Xiaoyan for living the life she wants from now on, and I also wish all those who are trapped by life to get out of the sea of suffering as soon as possible.
Some references in this article:
[1] "Without Fun, People Don't Live?", Southern People Weekly
[2] "Tang Xiaoyan and Xu Tong's "Secular" Universe", ibid
[3] "Interview with Xu Tong, Director of the "Nomad Trilogy": Nomad China", Film World
[4] "The Story of Tang Xiaoyan and Xu Tong is not "Saving the Wind and Dust"", characters
[5] "Xu Tong & Tang Xiaoyan: We are obviously quantum entangled!", GQ Talk
[6] "Tang Xiaoyan: A Northeast Woman Who Doesn't Accept Her Fate", dictated by Tang Xiaoyan
[7] "The Legend of Tang Xiaoyan Has Just Begun", men's costume
[8] "Interview with Chinese Independent Films", Xu Jinjing
[9] "Dialogue with Xu Tong Tang Xiaoyan|No Record, No Record: The Real Distance from the Truth, Separated by a Whole Universe", Pessimistic Life Guide