A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop

(Subtitled) In a small desert town near Jiayu Pass in China (the first pass at the west end of the Great Wall), Wang owns a noodle shop where he, his wife and his employees also live. Not exactly a loving boss, he spends every penny to his own advantage, owing his workers their wages for months. Miserable from suffering with Wang’s dark temper and abuse, his wife has an affair with Li, who can spin round sheets of noodle dough nimbly but never shows the same confidence outside the kitchen. Every time Li drives her to buy rouge, the two have sex in the carriage. One day, to Li’s dismay, she purchases a gun from a Persian merchant, claiming that only Wang’s death can guarantee their happiness. Never a match for her biting wit and tongue, Li agrees to hide the weapon. Meanwhile, waiter Zhao and patrol officer Zhang – both bribed by the cunning Wang – inform him of the gun and the affair respectively. After catching her wife red-handed and grappling with her during one of her rouge