Tu Ming

Biodata

Appearance

Tu Ming is a short, stout man with a partially bald head. He is approximately half a head shorter than Yulan 8 29.

• Usual presentation: First appears carrying a black leather bag under his arm, smoking a cigarette, and accompanied by a young woman and two burly bodyguards 8.
• Major injury: Jiang Yiming severs his hand at the wrist with a table knife. Tu Ming takes the detached hand with him when he leaves for the hospital; the outcome of treatment is not established 37.

Personality

Tu Ming is domineering toward employees and demands measurable results rather than assurances. After the supermarket raid, he berates the general manager, questions his loyalty, and threatens to fire him unless the case is resolved within three days 28.

His demeanor changes immediately around attractive women. He abandons his anger when Yulan arrives, boasts about his businesses, and describes his supposed loneliness after divorce. Revealing his wealth before presenting himself as emotionally neglected is his practiced approach to attracting women 28 29.

His pursuit of Yulan becomes coercive: he bargains with Lu Yan to have her brought to him, then attempts to force wine on her while believing she cannot resist. He also treats his wealth as a measure of his personal importance, boasting that he is worth at least two billion yuan when Yulan offers a reward for cutting off his hand 37.

History

Acquisition of Rainbow Shopping Mall

Rainbow Shopping Mall originally belonged to an unnamed man and his wife, who had built their business from a street stall over more than a decade. The former owner accuses Tu Ming of acquiring the mall through illegitimate means and attributes his wife's hospitalization and death to the resulting distress 7.

After his wife's death, the former owner takes poison and attempts suicide by jumping from the mall. Jiang Yiming initially catches him, but the man later returns to the roof and jumps to his death. Having received his wallet and discovered 1.2 million yuan in his account, Jiang Yiming promises to avenge him rather than accept the money without repayment 7 8.

Tu Ming visits the morgue, calls himself the deceased's friend, and offers to pay the burial expenses. Jiang Yiming rejects the offer and openly accuses him of stealing from the dead man. Tu Ming denies understanding the accusation 8.

Raids and Public Humiliation

Once he has gained enough strength to act, Jiang Yiming begins targeting the mall. He releases his Primordial Gu into its underground supermarket to consume the food, simultaneously feeding his Gu and imposing losses on Tu Ming. Although independent vendors own the freezers, Jiang Yiming expects the mall to bear much of the compensation 27 28.

Tu Ming responds to the first documented raid by demanding that his general manager explain the incapacitated guards and failed surveillance cameras. His confrontation is interrupted by Yulan, who has noticed traces of Gu activity and entered the mall while searching for an Evil Gu Master 28 29.

Instead of addressing her offer of help, Tu Ming tries to impress her with his wealth and pursues her when she leaves. As he reaches to grab her shoulder, Yulan places him under an illusion. He strips down to his underwear in front of shoppers, some of whom record the spectacle. After recovering his senses, he angrily rejects the general manager's offered coat 29.

Bargain with Lu Yan

A news photograph of Tu Ming shows a heavily concealed man in black behind him. Jiang Yiming later recognizes the same man following Yulan; he is subsequently identified as Lu Yan, a Second-Grade Evil Gu Master 34 35 38 39.

Tu Ming promises Lu Yan an auction purchase costing 2.5 million yuan in exchange for bringing Yulan to him. At their meeting in a villa, he postpones handing over the item until after he has “had [his] fun” with her. Reassured that Lu Yan has sealed her abilities, he ignores her warning and attempts to make her drink expensive wine 37.

Yulan offers one hundred thousand yuan to whoever cuts off his hand. Jiang Yiming bursts through the window and does so with a table knife. Lu Yan stops the bleeding and sends Tu Ming to the hospital with the severed hand. He later admits that he deliberately withheld warning of Jiang Yiming's arrival because Tu Ming had delayed fulfilling their bargain 37.

After the ensuing battle, Jiang Yiming finds a black stone and a receipt for 2.5 million yuan. He suspects it is the promised auction purchase; Yulan identifies it as a possible rune stone and allows him to keep it 43.

Continuing Conflict

Jiang Yiming continues raiding the mall while preparing to leave Qiuyang City. He infers that the freezer vendors have begun profiting from compensation by restocking with inferior meat, leaving Tu Ming as the principal loser 46.

During another raid, armed Chrysanthemum Hall killers ambush Jiang Yiming inside the mall. Their leader refuses to identify the employer, so the encounter does not establish that Tu Ming hired them 48 49.

By Chapter 50, Jiang Yiming still intends to settle matters with Tu Ming before leaving, now placing that objective within the week before his scheduled duel with Yulan 50.

Resources and Possessions

• Rainbow Shopping Mall — His principal documented business and the target of Jiang Yiming's repeated retaliatory raids 8 28 46.
• Other businesses — Claims that he owns enough businesses for a mall of Rainbow's size to be relatively unimportant to him 29.
• Personal fortune — Claims a net worth of at least two billion yuan 37.
• Auction purchase — Paid 2.5 million yuan for the item promised to Lu Yan; later evidence suggests it is the black stone recovered by Jiang Yiming 37 43.

Relationships

• Jiang Yiming — Enemy pursuing revenge on behalf of the mall's former owner. Attacks Tu Ming financially through repeated raids and physically by severing his hand 8 28 37 46.
• Former owner of Rainbow Shopping Mall — Accuses Tu Ming of taking the business through illegitimate means. Tu Ming nevertheless describes himself as the man's friend at the morgue 7 8.
• Yulan — Target of his harassment and coercion. Humiliates him with an illusion and later offers the reward that prompts Jiang Yiming to cut off his hand 29 37.
• Lu Yan — Transactional associate who brings Yulan to him in exchange for an auction item. Deliberately allows Tu Ming to suffer injury over his delayed payment, but stops his bleeding afterward 37 38.
• Rainbow Shopping Mall's general manager — Subordinate whom he threatens with dismissal after the raid; attempts to cover him following his public stripping 28 29.