Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yujie insisted on framing his wife to force Zhang Yuliang out of hiding, but Detective Chief Inspector Liu Fu arrived and arrested him. Afterward, Ding Jiafeng told Zhang Yuqi that witnesses had accused Brother Hung of ordering the customs warehouse fire.

• Zhang Yuqi offered to confess to processing and stockpiling expired and counterfeit medicines, but Zhang Yujie insisted that Fourth Brother's wife should take the blame.
• Zhang Yujie defended his harsh treatment of Yuliang and said he would send him to Xiaogan Prison and then Macau rather than kill him.
• Liu Fu entered with plainclothes officers, announced Cai Jianxiong had been arrested, and ordered Zhang Yujie to accompany them for questioning.
• Zhang Yujie resisted an officer's attempt to seize him, then left with the police after telling Zhang Yuqi to send the family lawyer to the station.
• Ding Jiafeng reported that the customs warehouse had burned down and that eleven medicine firms, led by Huang Xiaoqiu, had told police Brother Hung ordered the arson.

Zhang Yuqi prepared a legal defense for his elder brother as the European Coast Company scandal spread in Britain. At Police Headquarters, Zhang Yujie learned that the burned customs warehouse and witness testimony had made the smuggling allegations difficult to fight.

• Zhang Yuqi learned that a British newspaper had reported the Zhang Family’s alleged smuggling and hoarding of military medical supplies, then arranged for top Hong Kong law firms to defend Zhang Yujie.
• Zhang Yuqi arranged for the company’s lawyer to visit Zhang Yujie and went to sleep after making several calls.
• Liu Fu brought Zhang Yujie to Police Headquarters, where Lee Jusheng treated him cordially and told him to wait for his lawyer.
• Lawyer Wei Jiafei told Zhang Yujie that the customs warehouse had been burned and that rumors blamed him for ordering the fire.
• Wei Jiafei said merchants had testified that the Zhang Family sold military medical supplies, while newspaper photos and British witnesses could support the charges.

Zhang Yujie was arrested over the Zhang Family’s smuggling and counterfeit medicine operation, then plotted to silence Zhang Yuliang and retaliate against Chu Xiaoxin. As an attacker sent by Young Master Liang approached him in the police station, Zhang Yujie spotted the dagger and fought back.

• Wei Jiafei told Zhang Yujie that Zhang Yuliang had confessed and blamed him for the Zhang Family’s crimes, and that Zhang Yujie would remain in custody while the company’s assets were frozen.
• Zhang Yujie refused to answer Liu Fu’s interrogation questions and privately planned to have Ding Jiafeng arrange Zhang Yuliang’s murder before he could testify.
• Zhang Yujie resolved to blame the scandal on Zhang Yuliang, preserve the family’s pharmaceutical agency rights, and later drive Chu Xiaoxin’s Likang Company out of business.
• A man carrying a concealed dagger entered and said Young Master Liang had sent his regards, but Zhang Yujie noticed the weapon and hurled a teacup before swinging his chair at the attacker.

A would-be assassin confessed that Zhang Yuliang had paid him to kill Zhang Yujie, who remained in police custody with Cai Jianxiong protecting him. With the Zhang Family facing a business crisis, Zhang Yujie appointed Zhang Yuqi to manage its affairs during his detention and named his mother to take charge if he died.

• A man tried to stab Zhang Yujie at Police Headquarters, but officers intervened and arrested him.
• The attacker confessed that Zhang Yuliang had paid him five thousand dollars to kill Zhang Yujie, and Liu Fu ordered Cai Jianxiong brought to join Zhang Yujie.
• Zhang Yujie told Cai Jianxiong to guard him and warned his arriving family and associates that Zhang Yuliang might try again.
• Zhang Yujie assigned Zhang Yuqi to manage the Zhang Family's business while he was detained and instructed that his mother, Guo Geng, take charge if he died.
• Wei Jiafei drafted Zhang Yujie's temporary will, and A-Yin read it aloud to those present.

Zhang Yujie ordered Ding Jiafeng to find and kill Zhang Yuliang while entrusting Zhang Yuqi with protecting the family’s agency rights, and Zhang Yulin began considering leaving the family to avoid its growing violence. At the dock, Song Tianyao sold medicine to Lei Yingdong, who explained how his hardworking mother had built the family’s livelihood.

• Zhang Yujie ordered Ding Jiafeng to find Fourth Brother and deal with him within two weeks, while Zhang Yuqi was told to protect the agency rights.
• Zhang Yulin left separately, concluded that the Zhang Family was nearing a bloody struggle, and considered finding a wealthy girlfriend so he could leave the family business.
• At the dockside customs warehouse, Lei Yingdong and Song Tianyao watched their men load two hundred cases of Penicillin and three hundred cases of PAS Lung Tablets onto a boat.
• Lei Yingdong questioned why Song Tianyao risked his life for his boss, then described how his mother had built a coal-lightering business and kept the family afloat.

Lei Yingdong told Song Tianyao about the six jobs he had botched before they parted after completing their medicine deal. Song returned to Likang’s warehouse, where Kong Wing-yan confirmed the 3.97 million Hong Kong dollar payment.

• Lei Yingdong recounted how his mother found him six jobs, all of which he ruined through mishaps and incompetence.
• Song Tianyao mocked Lei Yingdong’s work history and explained that he had to work hard because his family had borrowed money for his secretary job.
• Lei Yingdong asked whether Song had slept with a man and requested a different Likang secretary next time because he had a wife.
• Song Tianyao and Lei Yingdong exchanged teasing farewells as Lei boarded his motorboat and departed.
• Song Tianyao returned to Likang’s warehouse, where Kong Wing-yan reported that Lei’s payment for the medicines totaled 3.97 million Hong Kong dollars.

Song Tianyao used money from the Zhang Family’s seized drugs to secure political support for Likang and protect himself. He visited Zhang Yuliang before his trial, where their conversation left Zhang Yuliang’s next move unclear.

• Kong Wing-yan calculated that Likang’s remaining genuine medicines were worth about nine million Hong Kong dollars, while Song Tianyao directed her to distribute millions from the recent sale as donations and political payments.
• Song Tianyao told Kong Wing-yan that he was using the Zhang Family’s money to buy Governor Grantham’s neutrality and maintain Shek Chi-yik’s support, while relying on the Chu Family to act if he was killed.
• Song Tianyao visited Zhang Yuliang in a police safe house before Zhang Yuliang’s trial, where Zhang Yuliang was due to testify against Zhang Yujie.
• Zhang Yuliang said Song Tianyao had helped him turn the Zhang Family against itself, and Song Tianyao returned the Zippo that Zhang Yuliang had used to pass him a note.
• Song Tianyao asked whether Zhang Yuliang would return to the United States after the trial and suggested he had another move planned.

Song Tianyao visited Zhang Yuliang in prison, where Zhang admitted his mistakes and vowed to keep fighting for control of the Zhang Family. As Zhang Yujie's trial began, Song arranged protection for his family and Likang, then found Chu Xiaoxin paying a ritual woman to curse the Zhang brothers outside the courthouse.

• Zhang Yuliang told Song Tianyao that he had lost because he underestimated him, but planned to keep competing with his second brother and hoped to face Song again in business.
• Song Tianyao gave Golden-Tooth Lei three hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars for Fuyixing's help and asked him to protect Young Master Shun, Song's family, and Likang during Zhang Yujie's trial.
• Golden-Tooth Lei said he had stationed men at Likang's warehouse and company, Song's family home, Young Master Shun's location, and near the Five Counties people.
• Song Tianyao drove with Rotten-Life Ju to the Hong Kong Supreme Court, where Chu Xiaoxin was paying a ritual woman to beat paper figures bearing Zhang Yujie's and Zhang Yuliang's names.

Chu Xiaoxin and Song Tianyao attended Zhang Yujie's trial, where prosecutors presented a forceful case against him. The chapter left Zhang Yujie facing mounting accusations as Chu Xiaoxin condemned him from the gallery.

• Chu Xiaoxin paid the Shaman Woman to continue her cursing ritual while he went to watch the trial.
• Song Tianyao, Chu Xiaoxin, and Chu Xiaozhong entered the High Court, where Song predicted the trial's main spectacle would be Zhang Yuliang testifying against Zhang Yujie.
• Zhang Yujie arrived in court and glared at Zhang Yuqi, who had not yet dealt with Zhang Yuliang.
• The prosecutors presented evidence and witnesses for Zhang Yujie's charges, making Chu Xiaoxin and Chu Xiaozhong take the accusations seriously.
• Chu Xiaoxin told Song Tianyao that Zhang Yujie deserved the harshest punishment for taking Likang's raw materials.

During Zhang Yuliang’s testimony, Ding Jiafeng stabbed him to death in the courtroom, leaving Zhang Yujie under suspicion of arranging the murder. As the Chu brothers and Song Tianyao left court, they considered whether Zhang Yuqi had orchestrated the killing and what he would do next.

• Zhang Yuliang entered court as a witness and greeted the Zhang Family before Ding Jiafeng suddenly stabbed him twice.
• Court officers restrained Ding Jiafeng, and a court officer declared Zhang Yuliang dead; the judge adjourned the trial and ordered Zhang Yujie held in Victoria Prison under strict restrictions.
• Zhang Yujie glared at Zhang Yuqi and accused him of doing well, while Zhang Yuqi watched Zhang Yuliang being carried away.
• Outside the courthouse, Chu Xiaoxin wondered whether the effigy-cursing ritual had brought about Zhang Yuliang’s death and Zhang Yujie’s predicament.
• Song Tianyao said Zhang Yuqi stood to benefit most, but they needed to see whether he tried to save Zhang Yujie or moved to take control of the Zhang Family.

Zhang Yuqi returned to his mother Guo Geng after Zhang Yuliang’s death and told her that Zhang Yujie had not killed him. As Guo Geng recalled the brothers’ happier years, Zhang Yuqi knelt before her, leaving the family’s future unsettled.

• Song Tianyao explained to Chu Xiaozhong that the Chu family would help Zhang Yuqi take charge while pressuring him to surrender the Zhang family’s agency rights.
• Zhang Yuqi entered the guest room where Guo Geng and the Zhang brothers’ wives were gathered, while Zhang Yulin stayed away to arrange Zhang Yuliang’s body and funeral.
• Zhang Yuqi knelt before Guo Geng and told her that Zhang Yujie had not killed Zhang Yuliang.
• Guo Geng recalled moments when the four brothers had supported and enjoyed each other, while the women listened in shock and grief.
• Guo Geng did not question Zhang Yuqi or blame him, knowing she could not risk anything happening to her second son while Zhang Yujie was imprisoned and Zhang Yuliang was dead.

Zhang Yuqi vowed to take the blame for his family’s crimes and free Zhang Yujie, while Zhang Yujie agreed to wait but warned A-Yin to watch him. Song Tianyao then sent Scribe Hui to follow Zhang Yuqi again.

• Zhang Yuqi promised the family he would confess to the charges and secure Zhang Yujie's release, and asked A-Yin to witness their prison visit.
• Zhang Yuqi told Zhang Yujie he would claim responsibility for arranging fourth brother's murder and trafficking military supplies so Zhang Yujie could return to lead the family.
• Zhang Yujie said he no longer wanted the remaining brothers to fight over the family and agreed to wait for Zhang Yuqi to prove his resolve.
• Zhang Yujie told A-Yin to keep watch on Zhang Yuqi and prevent him from taking control of the family business or moving its assets.
• Song Tianyao instructed Scribe Hui to follow Zhang Yuqi again, despite Scribe Hui's complaints about having watched him all day before.

Song Tianyao questioned Scribe Hui about visiting Xianyu Shuan’s family, then learned he was helping care for a wounded stranger. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuqi went alone to the morgue to see his dead brother Zhang Yuliang, after taking steps to make himself appear responsible for the Zhang family’s crimes and protect Zhang Yujie.

• Song Tianyao challenged Scribe Hui’s plan to visit Xianyu Shuan’s widow and daughter, and Scribe Hui explained that he was helping a wounded young man they had rescued.
• Song Tianyao told Scribe Hui to visit the young man openly and declined Rotten-Life Ju’s offer to assign guards to Zhang Yuqi.
• Zhang Yuqi asked A-Yin, Alice, and his protectors to let him spend time alone with Zhang Yuliang’s body at Tung Wah Hospital.
• A-Yin led Alice away while Zhang Yuqi paid the morgue attendant to open the door and bring out his brother’s body.
• Zhang Yuqi opened the body bag and stared at Zhang Yuliang until he bit through his handkerchief and injured his finger.

Zhang Yuqi killed Zhang Yuliang and planned to take control of the Zhang Family, while publicly presenting himself as a grieving brother still trying to save Zhang Yujie. Later, Chu Xiaoxin received a Justice of the Peace appointment as news emerged that Malaysian authorities were seeking Zhang Yujie over an old murder.

• Zhang Yuqi confessed to Zhang Yuliang that he had arranged his murder to secure control of the Zhang Family and intended to deal with Zhang Yujie next.
• Zhang Yuqi concealed his bloodstained handkerchief, left the morgue, and told A-Yin and Alice that they should keep trying to save Zhang Yujie.
• On Commonwealth Day in May 1951, Chu Xiaoxin was named one of Hong Kong's new unofficial Justices of the Peace.
• A Malaysian newspaper reported that Zhang Yujie had murdered a business partner and that Malaysian authorities sought to investigate him and extradite him for trial.
• Observers praised Zhang Yuqi for gathering evidence to save Zhang Yujie, unaware of his confession and plans.

After Zhang Yuqi took control of the Zhang Family business, he sold its troubled companies and arranged for the family to move to Australia, while rumors blamed the Chu and Cai Families. At the Chu household, Chu Xiaozhong resented Song Tianyao’s role in dividing the business profits, and he accused him of preparing to break away from the Chu Family.

• News of the Zhang brothers’ conflict and the Zhang Family’s troubles spread, and Zhang Yuqi took over the family business after visiting Zhang Yujie in prison with their mother, Guo Geng.
• Zhang Yuqi sold European Coast Company to Chu Xiaoxin and Zhuxing Trading Company to Li Heng, then announced that the family would go to Australia while Zhang Yujie’s case proceeded.
• News spread that Shek Chi-yik had become director of the Industrial and Commercial Administration Office and his wife had taken senior posts in London and Hong Kong.
• Chu Xiaozhong complained to Chu Yaozong that the Chu Family was bearing the blame for the Zhang Family’s downfall while the Cai Family also profited.
• Chu Yaozong explained that Song Tianyao had helped Chu Xiaoxin win a Justice of the Peace appointment through charity work and publicity.
• Chu Xiaozhong resented Song Tianyao for reducing Li Heng’s share of Zhuxing Trading’s business and accused him of registering his own trading company to leave the Chu Family.

Chu Xiaoxin and Chu Xiaozhong argued over Song Tianyao's trading company, while Chu Yaozong considered their business interests clearly divided. At Likang's celebration, Song Tianyao explained why the Pharmaceutical Association had come, and Chu Xiaoxin rejected the idea of forgiving Chan Ah-sap.

• Chu Xiaoxin explained that Song Tianyao had registered his trading company with his approval and that it would use Zhuxing's warehouse.
• Chu Xiaozhong angrily objected to Song Tianyao running a company of his own, and Chu Yaozong saw the brothers' dispute as a sign their accounts and interests were distinct.
• Chu Yaozong asked where Song Tianyao was, and Chu Xiaoxin said he had booked three seafood restaurants for a consort selection.
• At Taibai Seafood Restaurant, Song Tianyao told Chu Xiaoxin that Pharmaceutical Association members had come to pay respects to Likang's new leader and secure future business.
• Chu Xiaoxin asked why Chan Ah-sap had visited, and Song Tianyao said Chan was seeking forgiveness and might want Chao Yong Yi to keep handling Likang's dock business.
• Chu Xiaoxin told Song Tianyao to tell Chan Ah-sap to get lost.

After Chu Xiaoxin celebrated his new position, he tried to arrange for Song Tianyao to spend time with Wanqing, the woman who had once received a gold bar from him. Song learned that Wanqing had been taken away by her opium-addicted brother, who may have been handing her over to Fuyixing's loan sharks to settle his debts.

• Gao Lao Cheng told Song Tianyao that Brother Ten and the others had left without showing anger, and Chu Xiaoxin cursed at the news.
• Song Tianyao teased Chu Xiaoxin about his drunken praise and joked about choosing one of the women at the gathering.
• A woman at the table remembered that Song Tianyao had tipped Wanqing a gold bar at Tai Pak, and Chu Xiaoxin summoned her to keep Song company.
• An attendant reported that Wanqing had left with her younger brother, so Song Tianyao lost interest and said he would return to the hotel to sleep.
• A woman serving Chu Xiaoxin said Wanqing's opium-addicted brother owed Fuyixing's opium den money and might be offering Wanqing to the loan sharks as payment.

Golden-Tooth Lei learned that Fuyixing had taken the singing girl Wanqing, whom Song Tianyao wanted to see, and hurried to resolve the matter before it angered Song Tianyao and Chu Xiaoxin. He sent men to search for her and planned to bring her quietly to the docks while keeping her from speaking.

• Song Tianyao and Chu Xiaoxin ordered Gao Lao Cheng to retrieve Wanqing from Golden-Tooth Lei and warned that they would wait only one hour.
• Golden-Tooth Lei hosted wealthy young men introduced by Song Tianyao and saw Likang’s support as a chance for Fuyixing to expand its dock business.
• Gao Lao Cheng told Golden-Tooth Lei that Wanqing had been taken by Fuyixing’s people and that Chu Xiaoxin wanted her brought over.
• Golden-Tooth Lei gave the singing girls money to entertain the young men, then ordered Gao Lao Cheng to search Fuyixing’s establishments for Wanqing.
• Gao Lao Cheng said Fish Ming, Mangongshi, and other men were already searching, and suggested Golden-Tooth Lei go calm Song Tianyao and Chu Xiaoxin.

Meng Wanqing was forced into a brothel over her brother’s debts, but Song Tianyao arrived with armed plainclothes officers to rescue her. The chapter left Song smiling as he asked whether she had just said she hated him.

• Golden-Tooth Lei went to wait at the pier, worried about Secretary Song discovering that Fuyixing had pushed Meng Wanqing into a brothel.
• Rat Xiang demanded that Meng Wanqing pay her younger brother Ah Hing’s debt interest and threatened to make her spend the night with his boss.
• Meng Wanqing refused to pay and was dragged toward a room, where she gave up struggling and lamented that she hated the young man who had once helped her.
• Song Tianyao entered with armed plainclothes officers, who subdued Rat Xiang’s men and aimed their guns at Rat Xiang.
• Song Tianyao asked Meng Wanqing whether she had just said she hated him to death.

At Chu Xiaoxin’s Justice of the Peace celebration, Song Tianyao coached him to handle Inspector Cheung Wing-kam with polite restraint rather than anger. Chu Xiaoxin welcomed Cheung, his godson, and Yan Hung, then maintained a courteous smile as Cheung explained their late arrival.

• Chu Xiaoxin scattered money down the stairs, drawing singers upstairs to join the celebration with him and Song Tianyao.
• Gao Lao Cheng announced that Inspector Cheung Wing-kam had arrived to congratulate Chu Xiaoxin, and Song Tianyao reminded Chu of their past conflict and advised him to act graciously.
• Chu Xiaoxin agreed to follow Song Tianyao’s advice and invited Cheung Wing-kam upstairs.
• Cheung Wing-kam arrived with his godson and Yan Hung, surprising Chu Xiaoxin and Song Tianyao.
• Chu Xiaoxin welcomed all three men, and Cheung Wing-kam sent his godson downstairs to fetch their congratulatory gifts.
• Cheung Wing-kam explained that he had waited for Yan Hung to travel from Sha Tau Kok, while Chu Xiaoxin smiled and modestly dismissed his new title.