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A Kindness in a Medicine Shop, and the Massacre It Brought — episode cover art
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A Kindness in a Medicine Shop, and the Massacre It Brought

About this story

In the C-drama Overdo (这一秒过火), a Republican-era Shanghai medicine-shop girl saves a warlord's runaway son — a kindness that destroys her family and sets a decade-long revenge in motion. HSK 3 Chinese listening practice.

This is an HSK 3-4 Chinese listening episode that runs about 3 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 13 key vocabulary words such as 救、命运、真相 and walks through 4 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.

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原文

Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.

今天我们一部一秒
故事发生民国初年上海一座繁华危险
男主角慕容
上海一个军阀家里该是汤匙长大
命运开始残忍玩笑他在婴儿被人根本不是亲生骨肉
养父发现真相从此一身这个孩子身上
十一岁慕容再也受不了一个逃出家门
街头日子饿一天终于撑不住饿倒在路边
他的女主角
当时十一岁上海一家女儿
这个奄奄一息男孩偷偷藏进自家吃饭
慕容黑暗日子几乎是生命唯一她的样子深深一辈子
没想到一次善良成了开始
因为收留慕容挡了慕容仇人成了他们报复目标
那些上门来一夜之间遭难
偌大最后只剩一个侥幸活了下来
逃生送进一个苦头地方
一天仇恨种子心里
很多过去当年孩子长大
改名一身回到上海
回来为了复仇
怎么也没兜兜遇上当年拼命救下那个男孩
只是此刻个人早已不是当年相依取暖少年少女
一个一条毁了整个
下来十年爱恨纠缠刚刚拉开序幕
如果救人善良最后的是家破人亡敢不敢这个世界一次
English transcript reference

Today, we're opening a new drama, called "Overdo" (Zhe Yi Miao Guo Huo).

The story unfolds in early Republican-era Shanghai, a city both dazzling and dangerous.

First, the male lead, Murong Qingyi.

He was born into a rich and powerful warlord family in Shanghai, and should have grown up a young master with a silver spoon.

But fate played a cruel joke on him from the start — as a baby he was swapped by mistake, and was not this family's true flesh and blood at all.

When his adoptive father learned the truth, he beat and cursed the boy, pouring all his bitterness onto him.

At eleven, Murong Qingyi couldn't take it anymore, and ran away from home alone.

The days on the street were cold and hungry, and one day he finally couldn't hold on and collapsed from hunger by the roadside.

The one who saved him was the female lead, Ren Susu.

Ren Susu was only eleven then too, the daughter of a small Shanghai medicine shop.

She secretly hid this barely-breathing boy in her own medicine shop, fed him, and treated his wounds.

In the darkest days of Murong Qingyi's life, Ren Susu was almost the only light he had, and he carved her face deep into memory for a lifetime.

But no one imagined this one act of kindness would be the beginning of a catastrophe.

Because they took Murong Qingyi in, the Ren family stood in the way of the Murong family's enemies, and became the target of their revenge.

Those people came to the door, and in a single night, the whole Ren family met disaster.

Out of that whole household, only Ren Susu was lucky enough to survive.

Barely escaping death, she was sent to a place of endless suffering.

And from that day, a seed of hatred was buried in her heart.

Many years passed, and the two children of back then both grew up.

Ren Susu hid her identity, changed her name to Fang Mulan, and returned to Shanghai carrying a mind full of schemes.

She came back for one thing: revenge.

Yet she never guessed that, through all the twists and turns, she would run into the very boy she had once risked her life to save.

Only, the two people now were no longer the boy and girl who had once huddled together for warmth in that medicine shop.

One kind thought saved a single life, yet destroyed an entire family.

And the love and hatred of the ten years to come are only now raising the curtain.

If saving someone with kindness ends up costing you your whole family, would you still dare to let your heart go soft for this world one more time?

Listen again

Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.

What vocabulary does this episode teach?

词汇
jiùto save; rescue

HSK 3. 救他的是任素素 = the one who saved him was Ren Susu.

mìngyùnfate

HSK 4-5. 命运跟他开了个残忍的玩笑 = fate played a cruel joke on him.

zhēnxiàngthe truth

HSK 4-5. 养父发现了真相 = his adoptive father discovered the truth.

shànliángkindness; kind

HSK 4. 这一次善良 = this one act of kindness.

mùbiāotarget; goal

HSK 4. 成了他们报复的目标 = became the target of their revenge.

jūnfáwarlord

Beyond HSK 3. 有钱有势的军阀家 = a rich, powerful warlord family.

yàopùmedicine shop

Beyond HSK 3. 一家小药铺 = a small medicine shop.

bàocuòto swap (a baby) by mistake

Beyond HSK 3. 婴儿时被人抱错了 = swapped by mistake as a baby.

yǎngfùadoptive father

Beyond HSK 3. 养父发现了真相 = his adoptive father found out the truth.

chóuhènhatred

Beyond HSK 3. 仇恨的种子埋进了她心里 = a seed of hatred was buried in her heart.

fùchóuto take revenge

Beyond HSK 3. 她回来是为了复仇 = she came back for revenge.

miè dǐng zhī zāicatastrophe; devastating disaster

Beyond HSK 3. 一场灭顶之灾 = an overwhelming, catastrophic disaster.

yǐn xìng mái míngto hide one's identity

Beyond HSK 3. 任素素隐姓埋名 = Ren Susu hid her name and identity.

* beyond level超纲词

What grammar patterns appear in this episode?

语法

本该 … (should have)

本该 = should have (been) — what was supposed to happen but didn't.

本该是含着金汤匙长大的少爷。

再也 + 不/没 …

再也不/没 = never again; emphasizes reaching a breaking point.

慕容清峄再也受不了。

竟 (unexpectedly)

竟 = unexpectedly / to one's surprise, marking a shocking turn.

这一次善良,竟成了一场灭顶之灾的开始。

为了 + 目的

为了 X = for the sake of X / in order to X.

她回来,是为了复仇。

Proper Nouns

专有名词
慕容清峄Mùróng QīngyìMurong Qingyi (male lead — a warlord's swapped, abused son)任素素Rèn SùsuRen Susu (female lead — the medicine-shop girl who saves him)方牧兰Fāng MùlánFang Mulan (the alias Ren Susu takes when she returns for revenge)上海ShànghǎiShanghai (where the story is set)

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来源

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