Chapter Summaries

Song Tianyao escaped the fight on Tai Wo Street and rushed to the Chu Family mansion to find Chu Yaozong, only to learn that he and Uncle Yan had gone to visit Chairman Cai. Meanwhile, Chen Tai faced Dai Feng until Heizai Jie arrived with Wo Shing Yee reinforcements.

• Chen Tai fought Dai Feng, who wounded him in the shoulder and mocked his Harmony Heroes gang.
• Heizai Jie arrived with more than a dozen Wo Shing Yee men and charged Dai Feng with his brush-rest forks.
• Song Tianyao jumped into a rickshaw and paid the puller to hurry him to the Chu Family mansion on Caughton Road.
• Song Tianyao told Chen Tai's brothers that Chen Tai no longer owed him and promised to treat them to drinks another day.
• Sister Hong told Song Tianyao that Chu Yaozong and Uncle Yan had gone to visit Chairman Cai, and offered to call the Zhou Family so he could speak to Uncle Yan.

Song Tianyao explained to Chu Yaozong how Zhang Yuliang’s failed attempt to kill him had opened a path to peace talks with the Zhang Family. He asked whether the Chu Family would help the Zhang Family when the time came, and Chu Yaozong agreed while encouraging him to strike first.

• Song Tianyao called Uncle Yan from Sister Hong’s home and waited for Chu Yaozong to return.
• Chu Yaozong questioned Song Tianyao about his dealings with Oxfam, the Foreign Devil, and the Zhang Family.
• Song Tianyao argued that Zhang Yuliang, acting alone, had tried to kill him to conceal a greater secret, making both men potential scapegoats and peace talks possible.
• Chu Yaozong praised Song Tianyao’s judgment and asked why he had come to see him.
• Song Tianyao asked whether the Chu Family would help the Zhang Family when the time came, and Chu Yaozong said it would while urging him to strike in anger.

After Chu Yaozong arranged protection for Song Tianyao, Song went to the docks and ordered Chan Ah-sap to find Lei Danzi. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuliang stayed away from home and considered the consequences of killing Song Tianyao.

• Song Tianyao left the Chu Family mansion and found Rotten-Life Ju and his men waiting to protect him.
• Song Tianyao rode with Rotten-Life Ju to Central Pier to see Chan Ah-sap.
• Song Tianyao ordered Chan Ah-sap to find Lei Danzi and tell him to meet at Lu Yu Teahouse before eight that night, mentioning Likang’s supply of penicillin and PAS Lung Tablets.
• Song Tianyao went to Central Police Station to pick something up.
• Zhang Yuliang went to the European Coast Company and tried unsuccessfully to reach Lawyer Pan before considering how to arrange Song Tianyao’s murder.

Zhang Yuliang learned from Zhang Yulin that the Zhang Family was trying to contain the dispute with Likang and believed Song Tianyao had been killed. On Tai Wo Street, Dai Feng fought Heizai Jie while Chen Tai prepared to join the attack against him.

• Zhang Yulin called Zhang Yuliang and warned him not to provoke Chu Xiaoxin or act without informing the family.
• Zhang Yuliang reassured Zhang Yulin that he had only ordered dockworkers to beat Chu Xiaoxin's secretary, then inferred that Dai Feng had killed Song Tianyao.
• Heizai Jie arrived on Tai Wo Street and attacked Dai Feng with Bik Gaai Cha.
• Dai Feng released his whip, overwhelmed Heizai Jie with claw attacks, and cut his chest.
• Chen Tai decided to help Heizai Jie kill Dai Feng, and Dai Feng turned to face them both.

Chen Tai, Heizai Jie, and Scribe Hui joined forces to kill Dai Feng, but a large Green Gang force then attacked Heizai Jie’s men. Chen Tai sent Song Chunren and Scribe Hui upstairs and stayed behind to defend the building while his men went to warn Song Tianyao.

• Chen Tai helped Heizai Jie fight Dai Feng, and Scribe Hui joined them after Xianyu Shuan died in his arms.
• Heizai Jie stabbed Dai Feng in the groin and waist, then killed him by driving both brush-rest forks through his chest.
• Dozens of Green Gang men arrived, accused Heizai Jie’s men of burning Mr. Du’s home, and charged at them.
• Chen Tai sent Song Chunren and Scribe Hui upstairs, then stayed downstairs to guard the building while he sent his men to warn his boss that the Green Gang had started a war against the He-prefix gangs.

Song Tianyao secured evidence linking Zhang Yuliang to the fake-medicine factory while arranging protection and surveillance for Likang’s affairs. Meanwhile, Chu Xiaozhong heard that Chu Xiaoxin’s charity work had brought him closer to becoming a Justice of the Peace.

• Lam Kong complained that he could not keep the factory owner in custody without grounds, and Mangongshi offered to persuade the man to delay his bail.
• Gao Lao Cheng left to meet Song Tianyao after learning he had arrived at the station.
• Gao Lao Cheng gave Song Tianyao photographs and statements showing that workers and the factory owner implicated Zhang Yuliang and lawyer Pan Yunming.
• Song Tianyao explained that the Chu Family had assigned Chao Yong Yi men to protect him, then told Gao Lao Cheng to guard the customs warehouse and arrange an escort for Likang’s foreign lawyer.
• Song Tianyao gave Gao Lao Cheng money for the officers and Fuyixing members, and left for the Lu Yu Teahouse.
• Kong Wing-yan told Chu Xiaozhong about Likang’s public deworming-medicine donation and Chu Xiaoxin’s Oxfam role, prompting Chu Xiaozhong to envy his brother’s likely Justice of the Peace appointment.

Song Tianyao met Lei Yingdong at Lu Yu Teahouse to discuss looking after him, while Chu Xiaozhong decided to support his younger brother by transferring money to Likang Trading Company. The chapter left Song and Lei face to face as Lei described the customs standoff over the All-Hong Kong Pharmaceutical Company's medicines.

• Chu Xiaozhong asked Kong Wing-yan how much cash the company had available and ordered 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars transferred to Likang Trading Company.
• Chu Xiaozhong told Kong Wing-yan he would stand by his younger brother, Chu Xiaoxin, against the Zhang brothers.
• Song Tianyao waited at Lu Yu Teahouse with Rotten-Life Ju until Chan Ah-sap arrived with Lei Yingdong.
• Lei Yingdong entered Song Tianyao's private room and said he had heard Song wanted to look after him.
• Lei Yingdong told Song Tianyao that Fuyixing men were guarding the customs warehouse and keeping Chinese people away.

Song Tianyao offered Lei Yingdong a deal involving damaged military hemostatic powder and genuine penicillin, while Lei warned him against going too far. At Du Mansion, Li Caifa waited to meet Du Yuesheng but was received only by Wan Molin, as a crowd of Green Gang disciples gathered outside after a local gang doused the residence in kerosene.

• Song Tianyao offered Lei Yingdong twenty cases of genuine penicillin in exchange for twenty cases of water-damaged military hemostatic powder and 100,000 Hong Kong dollars.
• Lei Yingdong questioned Song Tianyao's motives, then agreed to arrange the powder through Chan Ah-sap of Chao Yong Yi, with payment upon delivery.
• Lei Yingdong warned Song Tianyao not to frame rivals or trust the Foreign Devils before leaving.
• Several hundred Green Gang disciples gathered outside Du Mansion after a local gang doused the residence in kerosene.
• Li Caifa was denied an audience with Du Yuesheng and sat with Wan Molin in the study instead.

Wan Molin and Gu Jiatang blocked Li Caifa from using Du Yuesheng’s name to start a war with Wo Shing Yee or formally open the Green Gang’s altar in Hong Kong. Li Caifa left the Du Mansion and urged his followers to attack Wo Shing Yee anyway, keeping Du Yuesheng’s name out of the confrontation.

• Wan Molin told Li Caifa that Du Yuesheng wanted to settle the dispute with the local gangs peacefully and avoid fighting.
• Li Caifa argued that war with Wo Shing Yee would establish the Green Gang’s reputation and help him take command in Hong Kong.
• Wan Molin insulted Li Caifa, and Gu Jiatang held a pistol to the back of his head when he tried to react.
• Wan Molin explained that Du Yuesheng wanted the Green Gang to keep a low profile, build ties with local societies, and avoid using his banner in Li Caifa’s ventures.
• Li Caifa left the mansion and ordered his followers to wipe out Wo Shing Yee, claiming he would handle the conflict himself.

Heizai Jie and his men fought a much larger force of Shanghai gangsters on Tai Wo Street, and Chen Tai joined the battle to save Heizai Jie. Just as the two prepared to die fighting, Liang Pei and other police officers arrived and arrested the Shanghai men.

• Heizai Jie ordered Ah Hua to seek help from Flower-Faced Yong while he and his men faced the Shanghai gangsters.
• After more than ten minutes of fighting left Heizai Jie as the only one of his men standing, Chen Tai charged in and helped him retreat.
• Chen Tai and Heizai Jie stood together to face the Shanghai men, prepared to fight to the death.
• Liang Pei arrived with police officers, shot a gangster who refused to surrender, and ordered the Shanghai men to drop their weapons.
• Heizai Jie told Chen Tai that Liang Pei was Single Righteousness's Second Marshal and the reinforcement who had saved them.

Song Tianyao waited at Lu Yu Teahouse for Angie Pellis, but Chu Xiaozhong arrived first and offered financial backing for Likang’s fight against the Zhang Family. Chu Xiaozhong left after proposing that Likang and Li Heng seize the entire medicine shipment, while Song Tianyao suspected he had come to claim a share of the spoils.

• Song Tianyao asked Rotten-Life Ju whether Chan Ah-sap would lend him money for a meal, and Chu Xiaozhong arrived with Chan Ah-sap.
• Chu Xiaozhong gave Song Tianyao three hundred thousand in cash and said another one and a half million had been transferred to Likang’s account.
• Chu Xiaozhong explained that Likang needed money to strengthen its supporters’ morale and said he would back Chu Xiaoxin against the Zhang Family.
• Chu Xiaozhong proposed that Likang and Li Heng join forces to take the entire medicine shipment, with Song Tianyao acting as Chu Xiaoxin’s vanguard.
• Chu Xiaozhong left with Chan Ah-sap, and Song Tianyao suspected he had come to secure a share of the spoils.

Song Tianyao sent Angie Pellis to persuade the customs commissioner to visit the pier warehouse, while preparing to send her back to London. Elsewhere, Liang Pei found Heizai Jie alive after the Shanghai men’s sweep through Wo Shing Yee territory.

• Song Tianyao gave Angie Pellis money and instructed her to bring the customs commissioner to the warehouse that night.
• Angie Pellis warned Song Tianyao that Likang could build its reputation and business without continuing to take risks, but he explained that he needed to satisfy Shek Chi-yik and other powerful men first.
• Song Tianyao told Angie Pellis to return to London, complete her internship report, and arrange for her mentor to establish a Hong Kong branch law office.
• Angie Pellis agreed to meet Song Tianyao at the pier warehouse and asked him to see her off at the airport; he promised to do so and to welcome her back in six months.
• Liang Pei met Heizai Jie on Tai Wo Street after Shanghai men had attacked Wo Shing Yee’s gambling dens, opium dens, clubs, and brothels.

Zhang Yulin reassured the Zhang Family’s business associates that Customs’ warehouse raids stemmed from a personal dispute between Chu Xiaoxin and Zhang Yuliang, not a campaign against them. He promised to seek a timetable for lifting the seals when he went fishing with a Customs deputy commissioner.

• Liang Pei told Heizai Jie that Shui Fong and Wo Shing Wo had protected his gang, but ordered him to pay for police work and find someone to take the blame for the beheading.
• Heizai Jie proposed blaming a man surnamed Zhang, but Liang Pei warned him not to frame someone and urged him to find out whom the lawyer’s client had wanted to kill.
• Chen Tai told Liang Pei that Dai Feng had wanted to kill Song Tianyao, and Liang Pei recognized Song as the Chu Family’s secretary and advised Heizai Jie to visit him.
• Heizai Jie learned that Chen Tai was Brother Yiu’s younger cousin, whose home was at the scene.
• At a banquet, Zhang Yulin thanked the business associates who had contacted newspaper offices and asked why the Zhang Family’s warehouses had been raided.
• Zhang Yulin blamed the conflict on Chu Xiaoxin and Zhang Yuliang’s dispute, reassured the guests that they would not be punished, and promised to ask a Customs deputy commissioner when the seals would be lifted.

Song Tianyao summoned Zhang Yulin to Central Pier and warned him that the Zhang Family would take the blame unless Zhang Yujie returned to Hong Kong to decide whether the family would fight or make peace with Likang. The chapter ended as Song beckoned Gao Lao Cheng over to introduce Zhang Yulin to someone.

• Zhang Yulin reassured the gathered merchants that the Zhang Family would handle any fallout, then left the dinner and headed home.
• Gao Lao Cheng stopped Zhang Yulin’s car and showed him photographs of the Customs Department director and British soldiers inspecting crates in a customs warehouse.
• Song Tianyao paid the customs director and the British soldiers to pose for photographs, then told Angie Pellis to take the evidence to the American newspapers if he did not contact her within a week.
• Zhang Yulin arrived at Central Pier, where Song Tianyao told him to call Zhang Yujie back to Hong Kong before it was too late.
• Song Tianyao warned Zhang Yulin that the Zhang Family, not Likang, would provide the scapegoat, then beckoned Gao Lao Cheng over.

Song Tianyao explained to Zhang Yulin that Zhang Yuliang was using shell companies to raise money for a plan to create a new stock index with Shanghai speculators and manipulate Hong Kong’s stock market. Zhang Yulin realized the danger to his family and no longer seemed confident that he could decide Zhang Yujie’s return on his own.

• Gao Lao Cheng brought the beaten and bound Lawyer Pan Yunming to Song Tianyao and Zhang Yulin, and Song told Zhang Yulin to question him before deciding whether Zhang Yujie should return to Hong Kong.
• After speaking with Pan Yunming, Zhang Yulin told Song Tianyao that Zhang Yuliang had registered companies under others’ names to raise cash, and wondered whether his brother was speculating in stocks.
• Song Tianyao explained the history of the Ellis Index and concluded that Zhang Yuliang intended to use it as the basis for a new Hong Kong stock index backed by Shanghai speculators.
• Song Tianyao warned that Zhang Yuliang could use the index and the funds raised through the shell companies to profit in the stock market, then make his brothers scapegoats and leave the Zhang Family’s reputation in ruins.
• Song Tianyao asked whether Zhang Yulin still thought he could make the decision, and Zhang Yulin grew pale as he grasped the danger posed by Zhang Yuliang’s plan.

Zhang Yuliang comforted his wife Kuang Jieying at home while Zhang Yujie, staying in Melbourne, considered moving the Zhang Family’s business and household to Australia. The chapter left Zhang Yujie assessing Melbourne’s real estate prospects as an alternative to the family’s wartime pharmaceutical trade.

• Zhang Yulin agreed to contact Australia, and Song Tianyao advised him to stay at a hotel and leave Zhang Yuliang confined at home while his brothers decided what to do.
• Zhang Yuliang returned home, helped his mother with the family observances, and shared secretly purchased beef jerky with Kuang Jieying.
• Zhang Yuliang promised Kuang Jieying they would soon move to a larger house, where they could have children and servants.
• Zhang Yujie lay awake in a Melbourne hotel and considered moving the Zhang Family and its business out of Hong Kong.
• Zhang Yujie weighed the risks of relying on medicine sales after the Korean War and examined Melbourne’s real estate opportunities, with Zhang Yuqi’s research already in hand.

After a late-night call from Zhang Yuqi, Zhang Yujie abruptly prepared to return to Hong Kong, where he reacted with murderous anger to news about Zhang Yuliang. The story then shifted to Zhang Yuliang, who noticed that Zhang Yulin and Dai Feng were missing.

• Zhang Yujie told Cai Jianxiong he wanted him at his side in Melbourne and offered to leave him a building in Hong Kong if he preferred to stay.
• Zhang Yuqi arrived after receiving a late-night call from Young Master Lin and spoke privately with Zhang Yujie until dawn.
• Zhang Yujie ordered the group to catch the first flight back to Hong Kong and said he wanted to have dinner with his family that evening.
• Zhang Yuqi chided Zhang Yujie for treating Sister Yin like a servant, and Zhang Yujie responded that Zhang Yuliang had grown up before showing murderous intent.
• Zhang Yuliang noticed at breakfast that Zhang Yulin had not come home and Dai Feng was not waiting outside, and wondered whether Song Tianyao was dead.

Zhang Yuliang learned that Song Tianyao was alive and that Zhang Yulin had exposed his schemes, then discovered that his secret stock-index project had been destroyed. He decided to join forces with Song Tianyao against the Zhang Family, but his partner Du Weifan withdrew from the venture and planned to go to Taiwan.

• Fishhead Biao told Zhang Yuliang that Fuyixing’s men had orders to keep him inside, and Zhang Yulin had prevented the Five Counties Youth Society from intervening.
• Zhang Yuliang realized Song Tianyao and Zhang Yulin knew about his schemes and expected his eldest brothers to return to deal with him.
• Zhang Yuliang resolved to work with Song Tianyao to bring down the Zhang Family rather than face punishment at home.
• Zhang Yuliang found Lawyer Pan unreachable and the clubhouse phone busy, then learned from Du Weifan that the clubhouse had burned down and Dai Feng was missing.
• Du Weifan said his father had ordered him to keep a low profile and that he was going to Taiwan, while Zhang Yuliang insisted he would not give up because of fate.

Song Tianyao spent the day at Likang and prepared to see Angie Pellis off while the Chu Family pressured the medicine merchants. Zhang Yuliang rejected the idea of retreating and set fire to his bedroom before confronting the Zhang Family.

• Zhang Yuliang made several calls, paid a quiet visit to his chanting mother, then soaked his bedding in kerosene and set it alight rather than wait for Zhang Yujie.
• Song Tianyao returned to Likang after arranging a generous funeral for Xianyu Shuan and giving twenty thousand Hong Kong dollars to A Shuan’s wife.
• Chu Xiaozhong told Song Tianyao that he had stopped ships chartered by more than half the Five Counties medicine merchants from sailing.
• Song Tianyao teased Chu Xiaozhong about Chu Xiaoxin’s newspaper coverage and learned that the Zhang Family had kept negative reports about itself out of the papers.
• Song Tianyao went to the Dulles Hotel for lunch with Angie Pellis, who dressed more conservatively than usual.

Song Tianyao saw Angie Pellis off as she returned to London, while Zhang Yujie arrived back in Hong Kong and confronted Zhang Yulin over the family crisis. The chapter leaves Zhang Yujie heading to the company to face the gathered medicine merchants and shipowners.

• Song Tianyao and Angie Pellis shared a heartfelt farewell at the airport, and Angie promised him to wait for her.
• Zhang Yulin told Zhang Yujie that the Pharmaceutical Association and shipowners were demanding action, and that Chu Xiaozhong had stirred up trouble over the ships.
• Zhang Yulin reported that Zhang Yuliang had set fire to the house and gone missing, while their mother was safe at a hotel.
• Zhang Yujie kicked and berated Zhang Yulin, then ordered Zhang Yuqi to handle matters involving their mother and sent Zhang Yulin with him to confront the company’s dissenters.
• More than twenty medicine merchants gathered noisily in the European Coast Company conference room, where Feng Yichang was among the loudest calling for action.