The Mute Thief's Heartbreaking Journey of Hope and Friendship | Chinese Movie Recap

[0:00]Sometimes life brings people together not because they are perfect, but because they are broken in the same places. In the midst of their struggles, they find one another, and with that connection, everything begins to change. Hello everyone, welcome to Screenville. Today we'll follow the emotional journey in We Girls, a story where courage, friendship, and strength emerge in the most unexpected places. At the beginning of the story, we meet a woman named Hong. She works in a district prison in China, responsible for teaching new prisoners about rules and discipline. A few new inmates have just been sent to serve their sentences. Hong begins assigning them to different cells. First, she calls a woman who was involved in child trafficking and scolds her. Then she calls someone named Mao, but Mao stays silent. It turns out that Mao cannot hear. At that moment, a woman named Xiang, standing nearby, steps forward and says her own daughter is deaf, so she knows sign language. Xiang communicates to Mao with hand gestures, letting her know that Officer Hong wants them to stay in Cell number nine. They gather their belongings and move to Cell nine. The trafficker is also there, along with several other prisoners who were already in the cell. Among them is a woman named Hooping, the cell captain, who immediately shows a harsh attitude and warns them that they must follow her rules if they want to stay. Mao calls her an idiot, though Xiang does not translate the insult. Hooping orders them to clean the cell. Angered, the trafficker pushes Xiang and a fight breaks out. Mao jumps in to help Xiang and together they beat the woman until Hong steps in. She scolds the trafficker and sends her to another cell. Hong also reprimands Mao and Xiang, telling them that fighting on their first day in prison was completely unacceptable. Later, Hong asks Xiang why she ended up in prison. Xiang explains that she used to do live videos online, wearing attractive outfits, and she received a two-year sentence for it. Hong is surprised and asks why, especially since Xiang has a daughter. Xiang explains that her husband was a worthless man who drank all day, and she needed money, around 200,000 wen for her daughter's ear operation. She felt trapped, and though she regretted her actions at first, she would forget everything when she received payment. Then Hong asks Mao why she is in prison at just 19 years old. Mao communicates through signs that she is an orphan who was raised by an old man from a young age. Many other orphans worked under the same man, all involved in theft and robbery. Despite everyone looking down on her, a boy named Huang always protected her. One day, Mao pretends to be drunk on a busy street to steal money from people's pockets. However, she doesn't realize that two police officers are watching her. She notices them and quickly leaves, changing her clothes to avoid capture. Even then, she is caught, put into a police car, and attempts to unlock her handcuffs with a hair pin and run. But fails. She is beaten a second time and eventually sentenced to two years in prison. Hearing the tragic stories of these two young women, Hong realizes they are victims of circumstance. She shows them extra care and kindness. Inside the prison, there is a small garment workshop where inmates can work to earn some money. At the end of the month, their earnings are deposited into their accounts, and they can use that money to buy special food if they want. Mao decides to share her portion of the earnings with Xiang to buy noodles, which makes Xiang very happy. A few days later, Hong forms a team called Sunflower with the inmates. The prison is going to hold an anniversary celebration next month, and Xiang is chosen to perform a dance for the event. A professional dancer is brought in to teach them. At first, Hooping doubts Mao will be able to perform well because she cannot hear. But Xiang proves her wrong, teaching Mao to dance through sign language. Their performance impresses the teachers so much that they are asked to move to the front row. From then on, they practice together every day. One day during practice, Xiang feels dizzy and falls. She tells Mao her sugar is low and asks for a candy. That night, Mao is feeling emotional, remembering painful memories from her past. Seeing this, Xiang gives her the candy. In reality, Xiang had faked the dizziness just to get the candy for Mao, because Mao had mentioned she wanted one. Mao is overjoyed when she receives it. A few days later, the day of the performance arrives. The two inmates go on stage first, performing classical music. During the event, Xiang notices a visitor holding a child, which reminds her of her own daughter. Overcome with emotion, she rushes to the restroom and begins to cry. Mao tries to comfort her. Meanwhile, Hooping behaves badly, and in a moment of anger, Mao grabs her. Hong rushes in to stop the fight. After the event ends, the three of them are punished and placed in separate very small cells. During this time, Hong goes to a nearby settlement and, with the help of local police, tracks down Xiang's addicted husband. She learns that Xiang's daughter is missing. However, the husband's story seems suspicious, so Hong arrests and questions him further. Eventually, it is revealed that he had left his own daughter at an orphanage. Hong goes to the orphanage and sees Xiang's daughter playing happily with other children. Returning to the prison, Hong meets Xiang and asks if she has been checking on her daughter. Xiang explains that she had tried calling for a few days, but no one answered. Hong gently tells her not to cause any more trouble and reminds her that once she is released, she must become a responsible mother. Mao and Xiang are then sent back to Cell number nine. That day was Hong's birthday. On that occasion, a delicious meal was cooked. They are seen enjoying the food very much. Xiang says, "I'm eating such delicious food after a long time." Time passes, and two years go by. As Mao and Xiang finish their sentence, the money they earned during their time is handed to them in an envelope. Hong advises them to live properly and stay away from illegal activities. Later, Xiang discovers that her husband had left their daughter at an orphanage, which makes her furious. She threatens to harm him, but Hong reassures her that he is already in prison and warns her to stop thinking about revenge. Instead, she should focus on working hard and bringing her daughter back safely. Xiang tells Mao that she is going to be with her daughter. Mao, on the other hand, explains that she has nowhere to go and will likely return to her life of theft, risking prison again. Before leaving, Xiang and Mao take a selfie together to remember their time. Soon after, Huang, the boy who had protected Mao, comes to take her away. Xiang says her goodbyes, and Mao leaves with him. After that, Xiang goes to the orphanage. However, she does not go inside. She just sees her daughter from outside and leaves. She then starts looking for a job. Meanwhile, Huang and Mao are sitting at a hotel having a meal. Mao tells him that she no longer wants to go back to the boss. Hearing this, Huang becomes angry and burns his hand with a cigarette to test how determined Mao is about her decision. Mao shows no hesitation at all. Seeing this, Huang buys a mobile phone from a nearby shop and gives it to Mao, telling her to go far away from the place. He promises to handle things with the boss. He starts to leave, and Mao tries to stop him, worried that if the boss finds out, Huang will get beaten badly. But Huang ignores her and walks away. Mao then tries to find a place to stay. Since she cannot speak, no hotel accepts her. With no other options, she unlocks a car in a parking lot and spends the night inside. The next morning, when she wakes up, two security guards are standing there. They capture Mao and take all the money she had earned in prison. Mao can only cry, unable to speak or defend herself. Meanwhile, Xiang finds work as a hotel cleaner and is given a small room to stay in. She works all day at the hotel and earns a small amount of money. One day, a guest complains that their expensive watch is missing. Suspecting Xiang because she cleaned the room, the hotel manager searches her belongings. Finding prison papers, they assume she stole the watch because she had a criminal record. Xiang is insulted and humiliated as they interrogate her to return the watch. At that moment, a call comes from the guest's home. Turns out, the watch had been left at home. Realizing their mistake, they leave. But Xiang, furious at being forced to apologize, loses her job. Afterward, Xiang starts looking for work again. One day, at a train station, she sees Mao begging there. Seeing her, Xiang feels deep sympathy. She sits beside her and asks what she is doing. Mao explains that she has no place to stay, and that all the money she had saved was stolen. Since then, she's been living on the streets, begging. Xiang tells her that she has found a cheap apartment they can share, and the two of them go to rent it. The place is a tiny, dirty room with no bed. But since it is affordable, they take it. Xiang does not have any money at that time, so Mao pays the first month's rent from her pocket. From then on, the two of them worked tirelessly, doing small jobs like selling broken items and working at the fish market to get by. One day, Xiang takes Mao to a government hospital. The doctor asks how Mao's lips became so swollen. Xiang explains that she had been testing a new cosmetic product from a company in exchange for some money, but the product was fake, causing the swelling. After hearing this, the doctor prescribes medicine for Mao. After that, the two of them sat together talking. With small jobs, they weren't making much money, and Xiang felt very frustrated. She needed to save enough to bring her daughter back. The next day, they both dressed as police officers and went to a location to search for a place. They were looking for a girl named Hooping. After searching for a long time, they finally found her home. Inside, they saw that Hooping's grandmother was very sick, and their financial situation was far from good. Hooping, however, had been lying in prison, claiming her family was wealthy. Originally, Hong and Xiang had come disguised to take some money from them, but seeing the real situation changed their minds. Mao felt very sympathetic and suggested they help. She gave some of her own money to the family. At first, Xiang kept half of it for herself, but soon she realized this wasn't right and returned the full amount. After that, they returned to the city and began promoting a new juice product on the streets. When presented attractively, the product sold well. After finishing the advertisement, they went to the boss to collect their payment. Even though Xiang received her money, the boss refused to pay Mao because she hadn't spoken during the advertisement. Instead, he made a terrible proposal to Xiang. Thinking of Mao, Xiang reluctantly agreed. Mao watched as the boss went into a room with Xiang. Seeing this, Mao attacked him. Together they beat the man and ran away. After running a long distance, they were exhausted. Xiang scolded Mao because she hadn't even collected her share of the money and had lost her own. Hearing this, Mao felt hurt and left. Xiang returned home and tried to freshen up. Outside heavy rain was pouring. She worried about where Mao might be and what she was doing. Xiang grabbed an umbrella and went out to look for her. She found Mao buying something from a store. Xiang held the umbrella over her head, and together they returned home. Mao had actually gone out to buy drinks for Xiang, and Xiang was very happy. Mao treated Xiang like an older sister and couldn't stay upset for long. The next day, they went to a train station to beg for money. A girl recognized Mao. A month ago, she had given Mao some money at another train station, and realized now that Mao was a fake beggar. She confronted Mao, and a fight broke out. Xiang tried to stop them, but the fight escalated. Hong received a call from the police station and rushed over. She found that Mao and Xiang had been arrested along with the girl, whose name was Xiao. Hong got them released and asked Xiang why they were here. Xiang explained that they were just trying to survive by doing small jobs. Hearing this, Hong gave some money to all three of them and promised to arrange work for them. Later, Xiang brought Xiao to their shared apartment and learned that Xiao had spent a few months in prison for selling illegal goods. Now she was trying to live a proper life. In other words, the lives of the three of them were very similar. But Xiang had a goal. She wanted to bring her daughter back from the orphanage. The next day, Hong visited their place to see how they were doing. While talking, she noticed the fake police uniforms and got very angry. Xiang explained everything to her, and Hong then went to Hooping's house. From the elderly grandmother, she learned that two female officers had come by and given them money. Hearing this, Hong realized Xiang and Mao hadn't done anything wrong. Later she and her husband went to a lock manufacturing factory to arrange a job for the two girls. But the factory manager refused, saying they were ex-convicts, and hiring them would damage the company's reputation. Hong's husband, who was a lawyer for the company, requested him again, and only then did the manager agree. The next day, Xiang promoted the company's locks at a shopping mall. She first asked Mao to open a regular lock. Mao cleverly opened it within seconds. Xiang then told the crowd that ordinary locks can be broken into easily by thieves, but their company's lock was different. No one would be able to open it. Mao tried but failed to pick the company's lock. Seeing this, people rushed to buy them, and every single lock got sold out. Xiang finally had a stable job. Hong celebrated the good news by arranging a small party at her home. Xiang sincerely thanked Hong and her husband. Without their help, she felt she might have walked down the wrong path. Hong too had a painful past. She was once an orphan herself, and this man had adopted her and given her an education. So, when she saw Mao, another orphan, who had fallen into illegal activities under a bad man, she felt deeply connected and wanted to help them live a better life. A month later, Xiang went to the company to collect their salary. The manager paid them the full amount. Their unique selling method was bringing great profit to the company. Now the company wanted to advertise on social media too, and they asked Xiang to make a video. Xiang was excited, as this job would earn them good money. But after returning home, Mao told her she wouldn't be able to do it. She was scared of the camera. Xiang got frustrated. She said that maybe Mao didn't care about money, but she needed it desperately to bring back her daughter from the orphanage. Mao offered Xiang her entire share of the salary, but still refused to appear on camera. This led to a huge argument. Xiang scolded her harshly, and Mao, hurt and heartbroken, left the house. Xiang then went to the orphanage. Her daughter had been staying there all this time. She wanted to pay the fees and take her home. But the caretaker told her that a couple had decided to adopt her daughter. They would send her abroad for education and give her a better life. Xiang didn't want to agree. The caretaker reminded her to think about her daughter's future before deciding. Crying, Xiang left the orphanage and climbed up a tall tower, thinking about what to do. Meanwhile, Mao came running and tried calling her through gestures. She thought Xiang was trying to end her life. But Xiang couldn't see her signals. So Mao shouted her name out loud. Xiang was shocked. Mao had spoken. She came down and asked Mao what was going on. Mao finally revealed her secret. She'd been pretending to be mute all this time. When she was little, the man she worked for taught her to stay silent. Because if a mute person was caught stealing, the punishment would be lighter. Whenever young Mao tried to speak, that boss would pour hot water into her mouth. Over time, she stopped speaking completely and learned to communicate only through gestures. Hearing this heartbreaking story, Xiang hugged her tightly. Xiang then shared her own story. She used to walk past this tower every day. One day, she went up to end her life. But her daughter began calling her from below in a way similar to how Mao had just done. Hearing her daughter's voice brought her back down. Since then, whenever her heart felt heavy, she would come to this tower to calm her mind. After hearing everything, Mao finally agreed to appear in the advertisement video. Later, Xiang moved into an apartment. She filmed a video showing that ordinary company locks could be easily opened, but their company's locks were impossible to break. She published the video on social media. Mao's former boss saw it and got furious. He started beating Huang because Huang had told him that Mao's punishment had been extended, and she was still in jail. Meanwhile, Mao and Xiang collected their payment from the manager and stepped outside, only to see Huang standing there covered in blood. Seeing him, Mao ran toward him. Huang angrily asked, "Why didn't you stay away?" "The boss saw you." Hearing this, Mao broke down in tears. She said, "This is why I didn't want to make the video. I have to go back or they won't spare Huang. Don't try to find me. This is my fate." But Xiang couldn't let her go like that. She informed Hong about the situation. Hong investigated and discovered that Mao's boss was extremely cunning. Even though he used Mao and others for theft, he never kept any evidence against them, so no arrest warrant had been issued. Hearing this, Xiang cried and blamed herself. She thought, if she hadn't made that video, none of this would have happened. She told Hong that without evidence, Mao would spend her whole life in that nightmare. Hong said she couldn't intervene outside the law. But Xiang didn't stop there. She set out alone with the help of Xiao to find Mao. After much searching, she finally found her at a funeral home. Behind it, the old man ran a theft syndicate. Seeing Xiang, Huang got angry, but Xiang calmed him down. Huang brought Mao to the boss and showed him all the money they had saved. She demanded, "Release Mao in exchange for this money." The boss replied that if Mao wanted to go with Xiang, she could. Mao said she wanted to leave with Xiang. Hearing this, the boss hit her hand with a stone. It was apparently their rule to leave the world of theft. One had to break their hand. Xiang was stunned. She got furious, picked up the stone, and struck the boss. Police arrived and arrested Xiang. Mao and the boss were taken to the hospital. Hong rushed there after hearing the news. The doctor explained that to save the boss's life, a blood transfusion was needed, but his blood type was very rare. There was only one inmate in the jail with a matching blood type, Hooping. But Hooping initially refused to help. If the boss died, it would be considered murder, and if he survived, Xiang's punishment would be reduced. Hong arranged a video call with Hooping and her grandmother. Hooping learned that Xiang and Mao had brought money to her grandma's house, and her grandmother advised her to help the girls if she had the chance. Emotionally moved by her grandmother's words, Hooping agreed to donate her blood. The story then jumps two years ahead. Xiang completed her sentence and was released. Mao took her to a place where Xiang's daughter was waiting with a welcome sign. Mao had given the police all the information against the boss. As a result, she received a large sum of money from the government. With this money, Xiang's daughter was brought back from the orphanage, and her hearing treatment was completed. Seeing her daughter, Xiang became emotional. The girl still couldn't speak fully, and Xiang promised, "I will teach you to speak slowly, step by step." Her daughter then took Xiang to a garage where they met Hooping. Xiang thanked her for donating blood and helping them. Hong and Xiao also arrived and embraced Xiang. Together, they turned the garage into a place where no illegal activities would ever happen again. They pray to God, seeking forgiveness for their past and hoping for a brighter future. Through pain and struggle, they found courage, love, and the strength to rise again, proving that even the deepest scars can heal. If this story touched your heart, like, share, and subscribe to Screenville for more powerful, inspiring stories.