"The Pretender" is a spy war drama set in the Anti-Japanese War, which tells the story of the four Ming brothers who went undercover for the fate of the country and the nation, Japan, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Yu Manli in the play is Mingtai's partner and his lover, her life experience and fate are full of pathos, especially the child in her belly, which is a mystery.
Who is Yu Manli's child? This is a question that many viewers are concerned about, and it is also a suspense in the play. In the play, Yu Manli was disemboweled, and it was found that she had a codebook in her stomach, which was part of Wang Tianfeng's plan to protect Mingtai, which was fake. However, the Japanese did not know that they thought the codebook was real, so a fierce decipherment war began.
So, does Yu Manli have a child in her belly? If so, whose child does it belong to? There is no clear answer to this question in the play, just some hints and clues. Based on these clues, we can speculate on several possible scenarios:
The first situation is that Yu Manli has no child in her belly, she just swallows the codebook. The basis for this situation is that Yu Manli did not have any signs of pregnancy before her death, and she did not have a relationship with Mingtai, she was only unrequited in love with Mingtai, and Mingtai's feelings for her were not clear. Moreover, Wang Tianfeng's death plan is very sophisticated, he will not let Yu Manli really get pregnant, because that will increase the risks and variables, and it will also make it more difficult for Yu Manli to accept her sacrifice.
The second situation is that Yu Manli has a child in her belly, and the child is from Mingtai. The basis for this situation is that Yu Manli and Mingtai had some intimate contact during the course of their mission, such as pretending to be husband and wife on the train or spending the night together in a hotel. While these are all attempts to disguise identity, it is also possible that real feelings have occurred, or that they are motivated by impulse. Moreover, Yu Manli's love for Mingtai is sincere, and she may want to keep Mingtai's children as a testimony of their love.
The third situation is that Yu Manli has a child in her belly, and the child is a prostitute. The basis for this situation is that Yu Manli's background is very tragic, she was sold to a brothel by her stepfather at the age of fourteen, became a prostitute, and was forced to receive countless men. She became pregnant with her client's child at the age of sixteen, but was kicked out by the brothel owner because of the willow disease. When she was wandering on the streets, she met Boss Yu and was adopted by him and renamed Yu Manli. Boss Yu was later killed, and in order to take revenge, Yu Manli returned to the brothel, married one of the **, and then killed him on the wedding night. After she was **, she was selected by Wang Tianfeng and became Mingtai's partner. In this experience, Yu Manli may have been pregnant with the prostitute's child again, but she did not give up, but took it as her own hope or punishment for herself.
The above are three possible scenarios, but no matter which one of them, Yu Manli's child is a tragedy, because he (she) has no chance to be born, no chance to see the world, no chance to feel the love of his parents, and no chance to serve the country and the people. Yu Manli's child is a tragedy in a spy war drama and a tragedy of an era.