Plot

Qixia town, China, Ming dynasty. Business is getting tougher all the time at Tongfu Inn, run by bottom-line businesswoman Tong Xiangyu, onetime widow of a martial arts hero and now married to younger wannabe hero Bai Zhantang (Sha Yi) and longing to start a family. Also working at the inn are former martial arts heroine Guo Furong (Yao Chen), who is now pregnant by her impoverished scholar husband Lü Xiucai (Yu Entai), and cook Li Dazui (Jiang Chao). Corrupt Revenue Ministry official Pei Zhicheng (Yue Yueli) arrives with his pretty young "ward" Chichi (Zhang Meng) on a mission to forcibly buy up properties to redevelop the town, and after a fracas at the inn in which he almost dies (several times) he calls in professional assassin Ji Wuli (Wang Lei) to kill off Tong and her associates. (Though purely driven by money, Ji has an axe to grind, as his elder brother Ji Wuming killed himself after being tricked by Lü.) Despite her husband's reluctance, Guo is in favour of moving out and buying a property on the quiet west bank of the river which Pei announces will be totally redeveloped, with a five-star hotel. After initially refusing Pei's offer, Tong has second thoughts and tries to soft-soap Pei into a deal by getting the town's only female constable, tomboyish martial artist Zhu Wushuang (Ni Hongjie), to butter him up. However, the meeting goes badly and Pei, suspecting he's under investigation by the authorities, goes into hiding and hires Ji to kill her and her wannabe boyfriend Ye Xiaoliu (Xiao Jian).