What does Hiroshi Abe (阿倍) do in Legend of the Demon Cat (妖猫传)?

I've watched Legend of the Demon Cat (妖猫传; IMDB; Wikipedia) a number of times now, but I still haven't figured out what this guy does

I might not have understood primarily because I watch the movie in order to learn Chinese.

In the movie, he's referred to as 阿倍 (Ābèi) which is Abe no Nakamaro. He seems to just look at things with an expression on his face, and doesn't say anything much. At about 1 hour and 23 minutes into the movie he says:

不，那不是我想和娘娘说的话
No, that's not what I want to say to the girl. (Google Translate)

It indicates he has some romantic interest in the emperor's concubine (杨贵妃), but doesn't disobey the emperor. Afterwards he thinks out loud:

皇帝没有杀我，可他的仁慈和轻蔑，还是让我倒在了贵妃的面前。他却在一旁写下了四个大字：极乐之乐。驾驭所有的人就是帝王的极乐之乐。
The emperor did not kill me, but his kindness and contempt, or let me fall in front of the noble. He wrote four big characters on the side: the joy of bliss. It is the bliss of the emperor to control all the people. (Google Translate)

Question: What does Hiroshi Abe (阿倍) do in Legend of the Demon Cat (妖猫传)?

character legend-of-the-demon-cat

Best Answer

The movie story line is that this detective partner of two (The monk and the poet in the movie) find the origin of that demon cat by "reverse chronology".
The character "Hiroshi Abe" played (it's the actor name not character's name) is already deceased in the movie. However ,he left a diary to record what he witness 30 years ago.(The mystery was solved based the incident to buried emperor's concubine alive to death. The demon cat is a spirit trying to revenge for this tragedy)