Recaps

Song Tianyao woke at his family’s building after spending the night in Lou Fengyun’s bed, only to learn she had stayed in Kowloon. He tried to stop his parents from buying water from a fireman’s truck, and the chapter left them facing Hong Kong’s strained water supply.

• Song Tianyao found Lou Fengyun absent and grumbled at Scribe Hui before sleeping in her bed.
• Song Tianyao woke at dawn and tried to sneak downstairs, but Song Chunliang and Zhao Meizhen caught him.
• Zhao Meizhen said she and Song Chunliang were going to buy water from a fireman’s truck.
• Song Tianyao warned his parents that truck water was dirty and explained how Hong Kong’s water shortage had made rationing and supply problems common.

The chapter explained Hong Kong’s severe water shortages and poor water quality, which left most residents vulnerable to parasitic diseases and motivated Song Tianyao to begin with deworming medicine. After Zhao Meizhen doubted him, Song persuaded her to buy American-made Santonin for the family, then went downstairs asking her to get him cold medicine too.

• Hong Kong’s water rationing and weak supply forced residents to compete for water, while Kowloon’s poor often bought untreated reservoir water from firefighters.
• Song Tianyao’s plan to start with deworming medicine rested on the widespread use of unsafe drinking water and the resulting parasitic diseases.
• Zhao Meizhen warned Song not to forget his humble roots after becoming a secretary and dismissed his concerns about worms.
• Song Tianyao gave Zhao Meizhen money and instructed her to buy Santonin for herself, Dad and Wenwen.
• Zhao Meizhen agreed to try the medicine, and Song Tianyao asked her to buy him Western cold medicine before heading downstairs.

Gao Lao Cheng took Chen Tai to Sheung Shui Pier, intending to make him seize an oil truck and earn a name in the jianghu. Chen Tai accepted the job and stepped into the road to confront the truck’s escorts.

• Gao Lao Cheng pointed out an oil truck and told Chen Tai they would take it back because its owners had not paid for the oil.
• The chapter explained how the embargo made New Territories oil depots and rural piers hubs for profitable smuggling protected by jianghu operators.
• Gao Lao Cheng told Chen Tai to demand ten thousand in protection money or beat the truck’s escorts, and handed him an axe.
• Chen Tai agreed because Brother Yiu had instructed him to work, tucked the axe into his waistband, and walked into the road to face the approaching truck and its escorts.

Chen Tai confronted Tong Ngau Ping and Shui Fong men over a refined-oil shipment, but Tong’s sword drove Chen into retreat. Gao Lao Cheng urged Chen to fight on as the battle continued.

• Gao Lao Cheng told his men to support Chen Tai if Shui Fong attacked together and otherwise let him fight Tong Ngau Ping one-on-one.
• Tong Ngau Ping identified himself as a Shui Fong Red Pole and demanded that Chen Tai let the oil shipment pass, but Chen demanded ten thousand bucks or the truck and cargo.
• Chen Tai threw one attacker to the ground and punched another away, while Gao Lao Cheng’s men engaged the rest of Shui Fong.
• Tong Ngau Ping attacked Chen Tai with a Japanese sword, and Chen blocked with an axe before fear made him retreat under a series of slashes.
• Gao Lao Cheng shouted at Chen Tai to stop backing away and defeat Tong Ngau Ping if he wanted a better future.

Song Tianyao visited Chu Xiaozhong to smooth over the repayment from Fu Zhong Trading Company and ask about European Coast Company. Chu Xiaozhong identified it as the Zhang Family’s company for the drug trade, realizing Song Tianyao might be targeting the family.

• Song Tianyao went to Liheng Trading Company and Kong Wing-yan arranged for him to meet Chu Xiaozhong.
• Song Tianyao described Fu Zhong’s outstanding 230,000 dollars as a generous effort to help Likang, presenting Chu Xiaoxin’s thanks.
• Song Tianyao asked Chu Xiaozhong about European Coast Company, saying Likang had done business with it before.
• Chu Xiaozhong explained the Zhang Family’s history and said European Coast Company was used specifically for the drug trade.
• Chu Xiaozhong guessed that Song Tianyao was thinking of going after the Zhang Family.

Song Tianyao analyzed Chu Xiaozhong’s warning about the Zhang Family and suspected Chu was trying to bait him into a confrontation. On a mountain road in Sheung Shui, Chen Tai was wounded by Tong Ngau Ping and threw an axe at him.

• Song Tianyao left the Jinxing Building and wondered whether he had underestimated the European Coast Company and the Zhang Family.
• Song Tianyao sat at a sugarcane juice stall and concluded that Chu Xiaozhong had deliberately tried to influence him with praise and warnings about the Zhang Family.
• Song Tianyao reasoned that Chu Xiaozhong wanted him to test the Zhang Family, but he would not take the bait without first finding out what they could do.
• Tong Ngau Ping forced Chen Tai to retreat while Gao Lao Cheng taunted him and prepared to join the fight.
• Tong Ngau Ping cut Chen Tai’s left ribs, and Chen Tai stepped back, switched his axe to his left hand, and hurled it at Tong Ngau Ping’s face.

Chen Tai outwitted Tong Ngau Ping and took his sword, while Gao Lao Cheng killed Tong and instructed Chen to deal with the remaining Shui Fong men. Later, Song Tianyao visited the Lu Yu Teahouse and asked Brother Leung for help.

• Chen Tai feinted twice, took Tong Ngau Ping’s katana, and slashed him, but vomited after cutting off an attacker’s hand.
• Tong Ngau Ping fled, and Gao Lao Cheng caught him and killed him with an axe.
• Gao Lao Cheng told Chen Tai to claim credit for defeating Tong and finish off the remaining Shui Fong men.
• Song Tianyao arrived at the Lu Yu Teahouse, ordered his usual pu'er, and asked Brother Leung for help.

Song Tianyao arranged to turn Likang’s stock of Santonin deworming tablets into affordable Pagoda Candy, planning to donate half and sell the rest for profit. He explained that the plan would also help Chu Xiaoxin secure influence, then waited at the teahouse for a young pipa player he had met before.

• Song Tianyao asked Wu Jinliang to find a reliable Chiu Chow candy shop and said the order would require at least 2,500 kilograms of sugar.
• Wu Jinliang rushed out to approach candy-shop owners and compete for the business.
• Song Tianyao planned to use Likang’s Santonin tablets to make flower-shaped Pagoda Candy, donating half and selling the rest affordably.
• Song Tianyao considered how his plans for the candy and Shek Chi-yik would strengthen Chu Xiaoxin’s position.
• A young pipa player offered to perform, but Song Tianyao paid her five dollars and asked her to tell the younger girl to come play for him.

Song Tianyao learned that the pipa-playing girl had been taken away by her master, then waited for Wu Jinliang to find a man for him. At a banquet, Chen Tai received his share of a profitable robbery and heard Gao Lao Cheng explain how Fuyixing made money.

• A woman told Song Tianyao that the girl he had asked about had been taken away by her master, and he hummed her song after she left.
• Wu Jinliang told Song Tianyao that he had found the man Song wanted.
• Chen Tai celebrated with Fuyixing members at the Mei Qing Guildhall after they split the proceeds from the New Territories robbery.
• Gao Lao Cheng gave Chen Tai about thirteen hundred dollars and explained the robbery’s proceeds and Fuyixing’s ties to the Chiu Chow Gang.
• Chen Tai declined to spend his money on the two girls and said he would take it home to make his mother happy.

Song Tianyao met candy-shop owner Chen Qingwen to arrange a large batch of milk candy mixed with tablets. He asked Chen to make a small trial batch by the next day, leaving the full order dependent on its production.

• Wu Jinliang introduced Chen Qingwen to Song Tianyao as the owner of Chenji Candy Shop.
• Chen Qingwen described his years of candy-making experience and offered Song several samples from his shop.
• Song tasted Chen’s expensive and cheap milk candies and asked about their ingredients and prices.
• Chen quoted eighteen thousand dollars to make twenty-five hundred kilograms of cheap milk candy.
• Song told Chen to grind two hundred and fifty kilograms of tablets into powder and mix them into the candy at a one-to-ten ratio.
• Song asked Chen to take one kilogram of tablets and make ten kilograms of pointed or flower-pagoda-shaped candy by the next day.

Song Tianyao had Chen Qingwen make a trial batch of Santonin Flower Pagoda Candy, then brought it home to test as a deworming remedy. After his parents passed worms from taking pills, he sent Scribe Hui to distribute three candies per neighbor so they could try them.

• Song Tianyao hired Chen Qingwen to make Flower Pagoda Candy with Santonin, and Chen's family produced several thousand pieces that afternoon.
• Song Tianyao tasted the candy with Chen Qingwen and paid him three hundred Hong Kong dollars for the batch.
• Song Tianyao returned home and learned that Song Chunliang and Zhao Meizhen had passed more than ten worms after taking deworming pills.
• Song Tianyao told Zhao Meizhen to take another pill the next day and explained that the candy was also meant to deworm.
• Zhao Meizhen ate some of the candy, and Song Tianyao asked Scribe Hui to give three pieces to each neighbor and warn them not to eat more.

Song Tianyao persuaded Angie Pellis to name their proposed charity Oxfam and outlined how it could build influence while benefiting Likang Trading Company. He expected Shek Chi-yik’s wife to meet them the next day and planned to recruit rejected applicants for Likang with Angie’s help.

• Song Tianyao returned to the Dulles Hotel and heard Angie Pellis describe her efforts to learn about registering a nonprofit and contact Shek Chi-yik’s wife.
• Song Tianyao rejected Angie’s formal name ideas and proposed calling the organization Oxfam, with a broad charitable mission.
• Song Tianyao laid out a plan for Oxfam’s leadership, funding, and board, including roles for Shek Chi-yik’s wife, his boss, himself, and wealthy young donors.
• Angie Pellis questioned whether Song Tianyao had planned the charity and their approach to Shek Chi-yik from the beginning, but Song dodged her question.
• Song Tianyao told Angie he would pick her up the next morning to seek talented rejected applicants for Likang, then went home to see how the medicated candy had worked.

Song Tianyao saw that the medicinal candy he had distributed had successfully expelled worms without obvious harm, then headed to work to turn the dangerous Santonin tablets into Pagoda Candy. The chapter then introduced Chunhe Private Club, where several young couples gathered in its second-floor café.

• Song Tianyao returned home, drank ginger soup made by Zhao Meizhen, and went to bed.
• Neighbors on Tai Wo Street reported that the medicinal candy had made them and their children pass worms, with no apparent poisoning.
• Zhao Meizhen told the neighbors that Song Tianyao had provided the candy as a welcome gift, while they praised his generosity.
• Song Tianyao left for work, intending to have the Santonin medicine made into Pagoda Candy for Likang's business.
• Chunhe Private Club was described as a grand postwar establishment in Shek Tong Tsui, and young couples chatted in its second-floor café to live jazz.

Zhang Yuliang met with Smith & Nephew representatives to demand delivery of the penicillin the European Coast Company had paid for. He offered a ten percent price increase to secure the shipment and silence Beryl Mayne’s objections.

• Zhang Yuliang greeted the café’s patrons, tipped a waiter, and went upstairs to meet Albert Fink and Beryl Mayne.
• Zhang Yuliang explained that he had attended a Tung Wah Group of Hospitals executive committee meeting before joining them.
• Zhang Yuliang said the company had paid two million Hong Kong dollars but still had not received its penicillin shipment.
• Beryl Mayne accused Zhang Yuliang’s companies of reselling penicillin at inflated prices and violating the embargo on sales to Mainland China.
• Jin Weikang suggested Zhang Yuliang accept a new quotation, while Beryl Mayne threatened to terminate the agency agreement.
• Zhang Yuliang offered a ten percent price increase and proposed that Smith & Nephew and Beryl Mayne receive a share so the shipment would be delivered.

Zhang Yuliang finalized a price increase with Jin Weikang while secretly using Beryl Mayne’s submission to manipulate her. He ordered Beryl to have Jin fired by Smith & Nephew and replaced as the company’s Hong Kong representative.

• Zhang Yuliang agreed to limit the price increase to ten percent and gave Jin Weikang and Beryl Mayne keys to club lockers containing gifts.
• Beryl Mayne left the tea room, and Zhang Yuliang went to his private room, where he whipped her.
• Zhang Yuliang reflected that he had used his knowledge of SM to make women dependent on him and gain influence over them.
• Zhang Yuliang told Beryl Mayne to have Smith & Nephew send a new head for its office and blamed Jin Weikang for taking a fifteen percent profit.
• Beryl Mayne eagerly agreed to do anything Zhang Yuliang asked.

Song Tianyao corrected Gao Lao Cheng for putting Chen Tai to work collecting debts and instead had him help Chen Qingwen make medicated candy. After missing most of the interviews, Song recruited the overlooked Luo Zhuankun, whose background remained unknown.

• Song Tianyao ordered Gao Lao Cheng to bring Chen Tai to Chen Qingwen’s shop and keep him away from trouble at the docks.
• Song Tianyao told Gao Lao Cheng that wealth and intelligence mattered more than fighting, and said he hoped to visit Fuyixing elders Lin Man, Tan Changshan and Bai Chunting.
• Song Tianyao and Angie Pellis arrived after the interviews had ended and found only a few rejected candidates still waiting.
• Song Tianyao approached Luo Zhuankun, offered him a cigarette, and asked about his origins and previous work.

Song Tianyao learned that Luo Zhuankun had worked for Shanghai gold magnate Wang Yuanxi and recalled how a Shanghai syndicate’s failed Hong Kong gold speculation had cost its members huge sums. The chapter left Song surprised that the once-wealthy Shanghai tycoons could no longer retain a capable employee like Luo.

• Luo Zhuankun told Song Tianyao that he had worked as a record keeper for Wang Yuanxi at the Shanghai Gold Firm.
• Song recognized Luo’s former employer and recalled the fortunes of the Shanghai magnates who had arrived in Hong Kong.
• Xu Jizhuang, George Hardoon, Zheng Zhongchen, and Wang Yuanxi formed a syndicate to speculate on Hong Kong gold.
• The syndicate bought nearly 800,000 taels of gold, expecting prices to rise after Guangzhou’s liberation.
• The Hong Kong Colonial Government released a large supply of gold, driving prices down and costing the Shanghai speculators tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars each.
• Song reflected on the syndicate’s decline and wondered how Wang Yuanxi had lost an elite employee like Luo.

Song Tianyao arranged to recruit Luo Zhuankun and reflected on the danger of wealthy speculators who overreached. He then went to the Chu family home to find Chu Xiaoxin, who had stayed there to ask his mother for spending money.

• Song Tianyao invited Luo Zhuankun to dinner and offered him a job at Likang Trading Company.
• Angie Pellis warned Song Tianyao that Luo Zhuankun gave her a bad feeling, and Song Tianyao reflected on how failed tycoons had lost everything.
• Angie Pellis prepared Oxfam's registration documents and a water-quality report intended to carry Mrs. Bess's name.
• Song Tianyao took fifty thousand Hong Kong dollars and went to the Chu family home to see Chu Xiaoxin.
• Chen Xingfu told Song Tianyao that Chu Yaozong was out and Chu Xiaoxin was inside keeping his mother company.

Song Tianyao visited the Chu household to deliver Likang’s weekly profit to Chu Xiaoxin, who had been asking Madam Chu for money while blaming his secretary for Likang’s expenses. The chapter ended with Madam Chu meeting Song Tianyao and watching him and her son banter as Chu Xiaoxin secretly counted the money.

• Song Tianyao arrived at the Chu household with an envelope containing Likang’s profits and asked Sister Hong to bring him to Chu Xiaoxin.
• Chu Xiaoxin told Madam Chu that Likang was short of funds and accused Song Tianyao of wasting money while asking his mother for a loan.
• Sister Hong brought Song Tianyao into the back hall just as Chu Xiaoxin was criticizing him to Madam Chu.
• Song Tianyao introduced himself to Madam Chu, revealed that the envelope held fifty thousand Hong Kong dollars, and teased Chu Xiaoxin for his complaints.
• Chu Xiaoxin took the envelope and denied making the accusations, while Madam Chu smiled at their exchange.

Song Tianyao gave Chu Xiaoxin fifty thousand dollars and told him to spend it in public to support the impression that Likang had made seven hundred thousand. Chu Xiaoxin agreed to host an extravagant celebration at the Shanghai Restaurant, though he still balked at the cost.

• Madam Chu praised Song Tianyao and arranged for new suits to be made for the Chu brothers and Song Tianyao.
• Chu Xiaoxin took the fifty thousand dollars Song Tianyao had brought and asked whether it was meant to rent a smuggling boat.
• Song Tianyao insisted that Chu Xiaoxin spend all the money that day, and Chu Xiaoxin left with him.
• Song Tianyao told Chu Xiaoxin to invite the Young Uncles' Club and Zhang Yuliang to a lavish party at the Shanghai Restaurant, including seven or eight popular singers.
• Chu Xiaoxin agreed to spend the money as a celebration of Likang's supposed seven-hundred-thousand-dollar earnings and got into the Ford 49 with Song Tianyao.

Chu Xiaoxin spent lavishly to host a banquet at Lichi and gather his Young Masters' Club friends, while Song Tianyao watched Zhang Yuliang closely. The feast reached its climax when Master Li revealed the final dish, whose contents were not described.

• Chu Xiaoxin ordered Manager Jin to reserve Lichi's Shanghai Restaurant, invite his friends and Zhang Yuliang, and bring Chen Judy and her fellow singers to the banquet.
• Song Tianyao gave Jin Deming red envelopes and asked him to arrange the evening and invite the guests early.
• At the banquet, Zhang Yuliang charmed the guests with stories about his time studying in the United States, while Song Tianyao observed him.
• Manager Jin introduced Master Li, who lifted the silver covers on the final dish.

At a banquet, Chu Xiaoxin revealed that he had invited Zhang Yuliang to publicly end their friendship over a scheme involving Fuzhong Trading Company and Likang. Their followers nearly fought, and Zhang Yuliang denied cheating him as the two men parted on hostile terms.

• Master Li introduced liyunzi, a rare seasonal crab-egg delicacy, and Chu Xiaoxin praised it after tasting it.
• After the other young masters left, Chu Xiaoxin threw tea in Zhang Yuliang’s face and accused him of conspiring with Fuzhong Trading Company to cheat him.
• Gao Lao Cheng attacked Zhang Yuliang’s driver with a short-handled axe, but the driver caught it and blocked Chu Xiaoxin’s kick.
• The young masters returned and pulled Chu Xiaoxin and Zhang Yuliang apart before their followers could start a fight.
• Chu Xiaoxin declared that he and Zhang Yuliang were no longer friends, while Zhang Yuliang denied the accusation and threatened to repay the insult.

Chu Xiaoxin and Song Tianyao discussed their staged confrontation with Zhang Yuliang and planned how Chu would keep up his display of wealth. The chapter ended with Zhang Yuliang calmly telling Zhang Yulin that Chu Xiaoxin was a poor businessman, though he had enjoyed the banquet.

• Zhang Yuliang left the restaurant after his follower handed Gao Lao Cheng the axe, while Chu Xiaoxin and his companions went to the dance hall.
• Song Tianyao questioned Manager Jin about Zhang Yuliang, then spent three hours with Chu Xiaoxin at the dance hall.
• Song Tianyao told Chu Xiaoxin their performance had likely secured their plan and said he would speak to the foreign lawyer when she returned.
• Chu Xiaoxin asked Song Tianyao for money to continue acting wealthy, and Song agreed to lend him five thousand if he put on another show.
• Zhang Yuliang told Zhang Yulin that Chu Xiaoxin lacked business sense but praised the banquet's food.

Zhang Yuliang suspected Chu Xiaoxin was making money from medicated candy and planned to reserve the Santonin stock Chu Xiaoxin needed, hoping to force him to apologize. Zhang Yulin agreed to the plan but warned Zhang Yuliang that he would have to pay for the deposit if it failed.

• Zhang Yuliang teased Zhang Yulin about dining out while describing the Zhang Family's strict shared household and finances.
• Zhang Yuliang told Zhang Yulin that Chu Xiaoxin had made a large profit and revealed that Chu's medicated candy used Santonin deworming medicine.
• Zhang Yuliang proposed depositing one hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars with the Gaili Subsidiary Company to reserve its remaining Santonin stock.
• Zhang Yuliang said he would use the reserved stock to make Chu Xiaoxin beg, or investigate and take over Chu's business opportunity.
• Zhang Yulin agreed to the plan on condition that Zhang Yuliang accept an apology and not push Chu too far, and said the deposit would come out of Zhang Yuliang's year-end account if the scheme failed.

Zhang Yuliang told Zhang Yulin he had exposed Jin Weikang for plotting to raise Penicillin prices and won permission to proceed with a transfer of funds. Meanwhile, Angie Pellis persuaded Mrs. Bess to help launch Hong Kong Oxfam and shape a public image as a British philanthropist and hydrologist, leaving Mrs. Bess uneasy about the bargain.

• Zhang Yuliang told Zhang Yulin he had bribed Jin Weikang's finance officer and reported the price scheme to Smith & Nephew's head office.
• Zhang Yuliang asked to transfer a hundred thousand dollars as a deposit, and Zhang Yulin agreed to let him act against Chu Xiaoxin for a week.
• Angie Pellis and Mrs. Bess reviewed and corrected a Hong Kong water quality report late into the night.
• Angie Pellis presented Mrs. Bess with plans for her to chair Hong Kong Oxfam and for the media to publicize its work.
• Mrs. Bess agreed she needed to present herself as a British woman philanthropist and hydrologist, but asked Angie Pellis whether she was entering a deal with the devil.