Inside and Outside the Siege

This film (drama)Also known as围城内外，is aMainland ChinaProducerbeauty live，At2005Released in year 。The dialogue language isMandarin/Northern Chinese，Current Douban rating0.0(For reference only)。

[Synopsis 1] "Inside and Outside the Siege" tells a story that, while drawing on the "siege complex" from Qian Zhongshu's classic novel "Siege," presents a narrative filled with pure modern sentiment from over half a century later. The story revolves around the extramarital affair of the male protagonist, Zhou Yixiong, portraying the complex emotions of the masses in a panoramic way: adult man Zhou Yixiong has reached the age where women refer to him as "forty is like a flower." Thus, confronted with power, reputation, family, wife, and lover, Zhou Yixiong finds himself in extreme contradiction. On one hand, there's a bright future ahead, on another, a envious small family with the daughter of a high-ranking official; yet another pulls him towards the romantic artist Ye Tiantian. Faced with the choice between power, beauty, or family, Zhou Yixiong grapples with his pain… [Synopsis 2] Zhou Yixiong, the chairman and general manager of a large state-owned enterprise, possesses everything enviable: power, money, status, in addition to being well-groomed, warm in personality, and exceptionally charismatic—something that others find unreachable. What’s more commendable is that he remains humble and principled, never swayed by temptations, earning him the reputation of an honest official and good man. His wife, Yu Tong, is also a strong woman, and her father was once the director and party secretary of the provincial power bureau, who has continually supported Zhou, a man from humble beginnings. However, all of this becomes the greatest pressure in Zhou Yixiong's life, as Yu Tong’s high expectations also weigh heavily on him, leaving Zhou often feeling suffocated in the family. Their relationship lacks the common domestic struggles of ordinary families but is filled with unspeakable psychological frustrations and spiritual torment; this seemingly harmonious family life constantly brings pain to both Zhou Yixiong and Yu Tong. Yu Tong, inherently proud, deeply loves Zhou Yixiong and fears losing him, yet never openly expresses this; she secretly endures the bitterness of loneliness and misunderstanding. Upon realizing an external threat, she resorts to underhanded means to harm those around Zhou Yixiong, plunging herself into deeper inner turmoil. Zhou Yixiong, who is particular about his image, has always played the wooden role of someone oblivious to married affection. He never casts his gaze towards any other woman and is reluctant to change anything. Just as he resolves an investment issue involving a collapsed real estate company related to the power company, an accident at a motor factory occurs. Initially thought to be an ordinary safety incident, further investigation reveals issues left behind by his father-in-law. Should he expose the problem or bear the responsibility? As a son-in-law, husband, and head of the unit, Zhou Yixiong is not at ease… The century building of the power company is set to begin public design bidding, and various parties come forward, presenting their interpersonal relations to general manager Zhou Yixiong and deputy general manager Song Jiajv. At this moment, Yu Tong surprisingly informs Zhou Yixiong that her company will also participate in the bidding. The company’s beautiful and scheming secretary, Xiu Ling, is burdened by the troubles of ordinary family life and, to repay her husband’s debts, tries all means to secure company projects, engaging in fierce competition with foreign representatives like Peng Yan. To gain Zhou Yixiong’s support, she keenly observes the potential crisis between Zhou Yixiong and Yu Tong, and under the guise of enriching employees’ cultural lives, introduces the beautiful and pure, yet divorced dance teacher Ye Tiantian, who possesses high artistic skills, to Zhou Yixiong while suggesting that Zhou Yixiong’s daughter, Zhou Pingping, learn dance from her, greatly delighting Zhou Yixiong. Yet Yu Tong, wise and experienced, senses this crisis brewing and feels a family disaster is nearing. Deeply bound by her pain, Yu Tong maintains her proud facade of indifference. Meanwhile, Zhou Yixiong remains absorbed in his career, unaware of the traps surrounding him and the love approaching him. In reality, Ye Tiantian does not anticipate falling in love with Zhou Yixiong, who seems to have it all. Upon learning that Zhou Yixiong has agreed to sponsor the dance performance, Ye Tiantian feels immense gratitude and respect for him. Through her dance lessons with Zhou Pingping, her impression of Zhou Yixiong deepens, leading her to seek a natural rapport with him. However, the ad man Wen Hao, who has long admired Ye Tiantian and vowed to win her heart, becomes aware of the challenge ahead, launching an aggressive emotional pursuit that drains Ye Tiantian. Ye Tiantian’s sister, Ye Susu, a television reporter, fortuitously saves a woman named An Li from suicide and volunteers to help her regain independence. However, An Li keeps silent about her background and reasons for her attempted suicide. Ye Susu’s intuition hints at some hidden truth, prompting her to investigate. She eventually discovers that An Li lost her job, was abandoned by her husband, and faced financial difficulties in treating her disabled daughter. Yet An Li remains tight-lipped about who her husband is. When Ye Susu learns that An Li is married to Wen Hao and witnesses his coldness towards An Li, she warns Ye Tiantian to keep her distance from Wen Hao, yet kind-hearted Ye Tiantian believes Wen Hao cannot be that bad. After her mother Ye Yuhan’s student Hardy, who has divorced and relocated to become a piano teacher at the cultural palace, does his utmost to help Ye Tiantian escape various life and work dilemmas, she deeply appreciates and trusts him, as he has always treated her like a brother. However, like Ye Susu, she fails to understand the reasons behind Hardy’s divorce, as he does not explicitly reveal the cause of his marital misfortune. Ye Susu urges Hardy to forget the past and start anew, introducing several high-quality young women to him, but Hardy scorns them all, presenting himself as a cynical playboy, displeasing Ye Susu and leading to several discontented partings. Although others are unaware of the so-called third party affecting Hardy’s life, he reveals his heartfelt troubles at his father’s grave: his innocent relationship with Ye Tiantian haunts him, yet he knows there’s no one else. Hardy buries his feelings deep within and, facing the many suitors of Ye Tiantian, he assumes the role of protective older brother, clashing with Wen Hao until they are often injured in their skirmishes. At this moment, due to Xiu Ling's constant efforts and matchmaking, Zhou Yixiong’s daughter gradually becomes attached to Ye Tiantian and the art of dance, prompting Yu Tong to begin to intervene. Under the shared affection for Zhou Pingping, Zhou Yixiong and Ye Tiantian find their hearts connecting and a burgeoning romance begins. Through Ye Tiantian and Yu Tong's differing attitudes towards various events, Zhou Yixiong becomes aware for the first time that women differ from one another, reflecting on his own lack of emotional experience at 42 despite being married and having children—he finds himself clueless about the love between men and women. Xiu Ling’s motives to match Zhou Yixiong and Ye Tiantian are clear to Song Jiajv, yet he does not oppose it. However, while possessing Xiu Ling, he sets his sights on foreign representative Peng Yan, who, as a mistress of foreign businessmen, is highly pragmatic and aware that the ambiguous relationship between Song Jiajv and Xiu Ling has led to his wife Zhang Hua’s displeasure. She flatters Song while scheming to instigate conflict, further escalating Song Jiajv’s family turmoil for her own gain, as he approaches the twilight of his career, driven by the mantra "enjoy every day after reaching the peak of officialdom." Indulging in all pleasures, he nevertheless adheres to the traditional belief that "home is a besieged fortress, and feeling like the lord of the manor is all that matters," navigating the treacherous waters astutely until he finally secures Peng Yan. Song Jiajv’s wife, Zhang Hua, during her menopause, influenced by traditional views and various provocations, begins to reflect on herself after many failed attempts to catch her husband cheating. She acknowledges reality—happy families are the same, while unhappy families have their own misfortunes. Thus, she adopts a "turning a blind eye" attitude, tolerating Song Jiajv's indiscretions. When she catches him with Xiu Ling, she sides with him, joining forces against Peng Yan to destroy her. Meanwhile, Wen Hao intensifies his pursuit of Ye Tiantian and discovers her romance with Zhou Yixiong, eager to compete with him. He employs various tactics to threaten Zhou Yixiong and Yu Tong regarding their family and political prospects, forcing Zhou to choose between power and beauty, landing him in a dilemma. Yu Tong understands the situation but pretends not to know, enduring the tumult of love and hate yet remaining composed, leaving Zhou Yixiong confused about how to respond. At this point, the competition for the project heats up. Yu Tong, competing for the project, forms an alliance with Xiu Ling and Peng Yan. Xiu Ling, leveraging the introduction of Ye Tiantian, gains Zhou Yixiong’s trust, skillfully sows discord, and persuades Song Jiajv to expel Yu Tong and her company from the bidding. At this time, Yu Tong is also diagnosed with cancer due to prolonged mental distress. As a proud and cultured woman, facing severe challenges in her family, career, and life, Yu Tong displays remarkable resilience, endurance, and rich, profound character. She prevents her company’s personnel from undermining Zhou Yixiong while engaging in negotiations with Song Jiajv, yearning for Zhou Yixiong’s love, but refrains from revealing her feelings or her illness. This, coupled with her jealousy over Zhou Yixiong's near-perfection and her bitterness towards Ye Tiantian, blends beneath her proud and astute exterior, only causing internal turmoil. Zhou Yixiong, as the chairman and general manager of a large enterprise, faces inconveniences in competing with the modern ad man Wen Hao. At this point, Hardy discovers the romance between Ye Tiantian and Zhou Yixiong. For Ye Tiantian’s happiness, he takes a stand, stopping Zhou Yixiong’s car in the pouring rain, demanding he promises to take good care of Ye Tiantian while confronting Wen Hao. In a fit of rage, Wen Hao shifts tactics, feigning support for Ye Tiantian’s happiness while tolerating the Zhou-Ye romance, secretly plotting greater revenge. Ye Tiantian’s sister Ye Susu and mother Ye Yuhan continue to help the laid-off employee An Li, who is actually Wen Hao’s wife. Wen Hao’s self-serving treatment of An Li and her sick daughter provokes Ye Susu’s dissatisfaction, and she stands up for An Li, but timid An Li stops her. As if engaged in both overt and covert warfare within the siege, An Li, Hardy, Ye Tiantian, Ye Susu, and Ye Yuhan are battling life outside the siege in various forms—for survival and reputation, among other obscure motivations. Ye Tiantian eventually understands the relationship between Wen Hao and An Li, rebukes Wen Hao for his unfair treatment, and does her best to help An Li. An Li is immensely grateful, and to express her true love for Ye Tiantian, Zhou Yixiong courageously confides his feelings to Ye Susu, sincerely reflecting on his emotional experiences, and plans to propose divorce to Yu Tong. Yu Tong, enduring the pain of cancer while seriously reflecting on her emotional journey with Zhou Yixiong, continues to act sharp and aloof in front of him, remaining silent in the face of Wen Hao’s provocations. Wen Hao, unwilling to back down, stalks Zhou Yixiong and Ye Tiantian, threatening Zhou with his family and political future, forcing him to choose between power and beauty, further complicating Zhou’s dilemma. Under Yu Tong’s biting ridicule, Zhou Yixiong firmed his resolve to break up with her, but on the night he plans to talk with Yu Tong, he receives the shocking news about her terminal illness, plunging him anew into a moral and emotional quandary. Ironically, even in dire straits due to her illness, Yu Tong maintains her pride, confronting Zhou Yixiong’s hesitations. Meanwhile, to spare Zhou Yixiong any dilemma, Ye Tiantian, making a painful decision to sever ties with him to eliminate Wen Hao's threat, falsely agrees to his proposal. Wen Hao, overjoyed, destroys all evidence related to Zhou Yixiong and Ye Tiantian; however, as Ye Tiantian walks out of Wen Hao’s office, she is struck by a car, leaving her severely injured. Wen Hao laments passionately. Zhou Yixiong is heartbroken over Ye Tiantian’s fate and must also find a doctor for Yu Tong, but Yu Tong claims she hates Zhou Yixiong and hands him a divorce agreement she had prepared long ago, plunging Zhou into an unbearable agony. An Li's daughter passes away, and upon hearing about Ye Tiantian’s misfortune, fueled by anger for herself, her daughter, and the kindness Ye Tiantian’s family showed her, she seeks out Wen Hao. Wracked with guilt over Ye Tiantian's plight, Wen Hao clashes with An Li, who accidentally stabs him in the liver with a knife, and he is rushed to the hospital… Zhou Yixiong, with extremely complicated emotions, rushes around to get treatment for Yu Tong only to find her tearfully admitting that after eighteen years of marriage, she has always deeply loved him, fearing his loss. Her harsh demeanor towards him throughout their marriage was rooted in feelings of unworthiness for him, as she loved him too much… After eighteen years, they are a couple who cannot express their true feelings. At this point, the competition for the project concludes, with Xiu Ling and Peng Yan each achieving their goals. Reflecting on the various helplessness of wins and losses and numerous grievances, they both feel that it becomes trivial and insignificant in an instant, uttering a simultaneous lament of "it’s nothing more than this" regarding life. Yu Tong’s condition stabilizes temporarily, and the family boards a train to Beijing. Meanwhile, Ye Tiantian, sitting in a wheelchair and receiving Hardy's care, regains her confidence in life and continues to devote herself to the world of dance.