Better Days

The Stroy opens up in a classroom, where a young teacher; Chen Nian, is teaching the importance of English. Everyone seems to be paying attention, except one girl, who looks upset. Chen notices her, and suddenly recalls something from her past.

Following this, the movie goes into a flashback where Chen is still in high school. She is an intelligent student, who always tops her class. Since the exams are coming, Chen usually wears earphones to avoid others and concentrate on her studies.

But one day, a large commotion disturbs her. Everyone is rushing to the balcony to look at something. Chen also follows them and notices her best friend; Hu Xiaodie, lying on the ground. It appears as if she committed the unthinkable. Many students gather around her, but instead of helping, they start clicking pictures to share on their social media accounts.

Distraught and disgusted, Chen slowly approaches her best friend’s body and covers it with her jacket. It is then revealed that the entire school knows the reason why Hu committed the unthinkable, but they are too afraid to speak in public.

The next day during class, Chen is called to the principal’s office, where some police detectives have arrived. They question her about Hu’s death and if they were good friends. Surprisingly, Chen denies knowing her, and claims that she simply covered her face, as all the other students were clicking her pictures.

The detectives find it hard to believe, but nonetheless, they let her go. When Chen returns to her classroom, she finds red ink on her chair. She then remembers that her best friend; Hu, was also bullied in similar fashion before her death.

Later, as Chen is in the cafeteria, the leader of the bully group; Wei Lei approaches her, and asks her help in the upcoming exams. Chen replies that she doesn’t have time for that. So, Wei Lei starts taking pictures of her, just like she used to of Hu.

Here, it is finally revealed that the bullies were responsible for Hu’s death. They regularly tormented her, which completely broke her from the inside. Chen is aware of all this, but she is too afraid to tell the police. On her way home, Wei Lei and the other bullies attack her just because she talked to the police officers.

Despite all this, Chen does not speak a word and simply goes home, where she finds her mother. It turns out the latter barely comes home because she sells illegal goods for a living.

She doesn’t want her daughter’s studies to be affected by her business, so she tries to stay away from her as much as she can. At night, before going to bed, the mother promises Chen that soon, she will buy a new house where they can live happily.

Early next morning, she leaves without informing her daughter. However, Chen finds out about this and becomes sad. In the evening, as she is returning from school, she notices a group ganging up on a boy named Xiao Bei. Chen decides to call the police but one of the boys notices her and takes her phone away.

The group then takes all her money, and forces her to kiss Xiao. After this, they start laughing at her pitiful state, but this only makes Xiao angrier. He gets up and dishes out a brutal punishment on the leader of the group, prompting the others to run away.

Before leaving, Xiao stares into Chen’s eyes, but doesn’t say anything. The following day, however, he meets her personally and thanks her for saving him. He then inquires how much money the gang took from her. Chen replies ‘50 Yuan’, but Xiao doesn’t have a change to pay her.

So, he offers to repair her phone, which was damaged in the altercation from last night. At the repair shop, Xiao offers to be Chen’s bodyguard in return for money. However, she refuses, saying he couldn’t even take care of himself yesterday.

Later, Xiao follows her everywhere she goes. Outside her home, Chen notices many posters accusing her mother of not paying her debt in time. Enraged, she tears every single one of them before storming inside.

Unfortunately, at school, the poster has already become viral, and all the students make fun of Chen. When she can’t bear it anymore, she leaves her class and returns home.

This is something she has never done in her life. On her way, Chen runs into Xiao, and the two eventually get to talking. She explains everything that happened in class, and in response, Xiao tries to console her.

He then takes her to his place, which is a small shabby house located under a bridge. At night, the two eat noodles and have a good time. All of a sudden, Xiao inquires if she likes him, but Chen rudely tells him that he doesn’t have any qualities that are like-worthy.

This infuriates Xiao, so he shoves her against the wall and says ‘this is how I am’. Following this, Chen returns home, crying. The only person who had started to understand her, has put hands on her today.

The following day during gym class, Chen is ignored by everyone. No one wants to play volleyball with her. Wei Lei and her friends use this opportunity to make fun of her mercilessly. They even strike her with the volleyball multiple times.

Later, Chen is pushed down the stairs, but fortunately, she doesn’t sustain any serious injuries. Fed up with the bullies, Chen decides to tell everything to the police inspector, Zheng Yi. Afterward, Wei Lei and her friends are called by the police for interrogation.

All of them blame Hu’s family condition and her character for her death rather than confessing what they did to her. The police let them go, but the school decides to suspend the bullies for an entire year. The next day, inspector Zheng calls Chen and offers her a ride.

He apologizes for not being able to punish the bullies, and bring justice to the deceased Hu. That night, as Chen is about to enter her home, the bully group is waiting for her at the entrance. They are angry that she complained to the police and got them expelled from school.

For revenge, they have brought a box of mice, which they plan to unleash on Chen. Fortunately, the latter manages to run away and hide inside a garbage bin. After the bullies are gone, she slowly gets out and goes to the only person who can help her; Xiao.

She tells him everything and asks if he will protect her, even though she has nothing to offer in return. From the next day, Xiao follows Chen to the school and escorts her back. She even starts living with him in his house.

Because Xiao is a gang member, he often comes back home beaten and injured. One day, when he returns severely injured, Chen asks him if he is all right. She even requests him to come and sleep beside her.

Xiao reveals that his father left him when he was 13 years old and his mother abandoned him for another man. He further mentions that Chen is the first person to ask him if his injuries hurt.

From that night onwards, the two get along very well. They enjoy each other’s company and are playful when together. Chen is also able to focus better on her studies. When Xiao’s boss calls him for a fight, she stops him, knowing that he will get beaten up again.

Surprisingly, Xiao obeys and stays home. Unfortunately, one day, Xiao gets arrested for being a suspect in a robbery case. He, along with his friends are taken to the police station and are arrested until the culprit is found.

Meanwhile, Chen is about to return from school, so she calls Xiao to escort her home. When he does not pick up, she reluctantly decides to walk home. Unfortunately, Wei Lei and her bully group find her alone and start beating her up. They punch her, cut her hair, and even strip her clothes.

They also record the entire thing to blackmail her later. But before they can injure her seriously, a passerby notices them and threatens to call the police. Hearing this, the bullies run away, leaving a bruised and humiliated Chen on the road.

Shortly after, Xiao gets released from the police station and calls Chen but she does not answer. Worried, he immediately rushes to his place and finds Chen wounded and trying to tape her torn notebooks.

Xiao fumes at the sight. He grabs a metal rod, ready to kill all the bullies but Chen stops him. Later, he shaves her hair to make it even and shaves his own so she wouldn’t feel as bad. One night, Wei Lei approaches Chen and apologizes for her mistakes.

She even offers her money and begs her not to tell the police about her wrongdoings. She is scared that she will have to repeat the grade again and her father who hasn’t spoken to her for a year, will get angrier.

Chen forgives her and tells her not to show her face again. But when she tries to walk away, Wei Lei follows her and starts criticizing her mother. This infuriates Chen so much that she pushes the bully down the stairs.

As she watches on, Wei Lei bashes her head on the concrete floor and dies on the spot. Terrified, Chen immediately goes to Xiao and tells him about what happened. She now fears that she will be arrested and given a death sentence.

However, Xiao consoles her, promising to get rid of Wei Lei’s body. He then visits one of his friends and borrows his car for the night. Following this, Xiao takes Wei Lei’s body to a secluded area and buries it with pieces of evidence that would lead the police back to him.

On the other hand, Chen is very anxious, so to divert her mind, she focuses on her final examination. On the day of the exam, it rains heavily and the authorities urge the students to leave early so that they can reach the school on time.

Landslides also occur in a major part of the highway. While clearing the landslide, a driver discovers Wei Lei’s dead body. On further investigation, the police find out about the car Xiao used that night. They track the owner and ultimately get the information on Xiao.

Wei Lei's friends are also brought to the police station for interrogation and they directly blame Chen for her death. Meanwhile, officer Zheng finds the video of Chen being humiliated by Wei Lei and starts suspecting her for the death.

Hence, Chen is taken to the police station and asked where she was on the day Wei Lei died. Chen replies that she was busy preparing for her final exams. When asked why she didn’t inform the police officers about being humiliated, she replies that all she wanted was to move out of the place and study in Beijing.

After interrogating her for more than an hour, the police escort her back to her place but decide to keep a close eye on her. The following day, as Chen is returning home from school, Xiao suddenly approaches her and takes her to the basement of an abandoned building.

He locks the door, leaving all the police officers outside. Xiao wants Chen to blame him for assaulting her so that the police will assume he did the same to Wei Lei. That way, they would let Chen free, and he would be convicted for Wei Lei’s death.

As expected, Chen refuses, but when Xiao explains that he is a minor and that he will not get a very harsh sentence, she agrees. After a while, when the police finally arrive,, he acts like he is assaulting her and gets arrested.

In the next scene,officer Zheng looks at numerous CCTV footage and discovers that Xiao had been following Chen for a long time. On asking why he did so, Xiao replies that he was just stalking her. Chen is also brought in for interrogation and asked about Wei Lei’s death.

She denies her involvement and pretends like she doesn’t know Xiao. Xiao also acts as if he doesn’t know Chen. He was merely stalking her because he found her pretty.

After taking in all the statements, Chen is released due to lack of evidence. As for Xiao, he is imprisoned. Several days pass by, and now, Chen has started living with her mother. She tries focusing on her studies, but can’t because her mind is full of the memories she spent with Xiao.

She misses him very much and often breaks down in desperation. The only good thing is that she gets good marks in her exams, making her mother proud. One evening, officer Zhen visits Chen and congratulates her on topping the class. However, he also reveals that Xiao has been given a death sentence due to the severity of his past crimes.

Perplexed, Chen starts crying and says that it is impossible because Xiao is a minor. But officer Zhen tells her that it is a lie. Xiao is actually 23 years old. Hearing this, Chen becomes delirious and starts attacking the officer.

To calm her down, officer Zhen finally reveals that he was just lying about the death sentence. But now that he knows the two are related, he wants Chen to confess the truth.

She is reluctant, but the officer promises to reduce their sentences if they are honest. Later, Chen meets Xiao in prison and informs him that she has confessed everything. Now, she is being taken to another prison, and her life is going to be destroyed.

However, the relief she has found by confessing is priceless. Following this, the movie flashes back to the present, where Chen has grown up to become an English teacher.

She has left her criminal past behind, and now looks to start a new career. When she notices the silent kid, Chen recalls how she was tormented during her childhood.

The ends as Chen escorts the kid all the way to her home, encouraging her to fight against the bullies. Behind them is Xiao, who still likes to follow Chen everywhere she goes.