Chapter Summaries

Song Tianyao proposed using British department stores to sell Hong Kong-made wigs and discussed how the sales could boost the colony’s reported figures. Shek Chi-yik agreed to help arrange talks and confirmed that HSBC would handle Song’s loan through Angie Pellis’s company, leaving Song startled by the assigned manager’s name, Michael Sandberg, also known as Shen Bi.

• Song Tianyao asked Shek Chi-yik to help promote his wigs to Lane Crawford, Marks & Spencer, and Debenhams as British goods.
• Song Tianyao offered the department stores wigs for HK$1,050 each and said HK$50 per sale would go to Mrs. Bess’s Oxfam account.
• Song Tianyao explained that his four machines could produce about nine hundred wigs a month, worth HK$900,000 at the factory price.
• Shek Chi-yik questioned whether Song would share the American market with other manufacturers, and Song said he would follow the plan in his notebook.
• Shek Chi-yik confirmed HSBC would process the loan through Angie Pellis’s company and named Michael Sandberg, or Shen Bi, as the business manager.
• Song Tianyao recognized the name Shen Bi and privately recalled Sandberg’s later connection to Li Chaoren and Hutchison Whampoa.

Angie Pellis packed up her office at Clifford Chance and told Juliana Aiber she was leaving London for Hong Kong to join Song Tianyao. Juliana supported her choice, and Angie left confident in their relationship and in Song Tianyao’s ability to handle any problems.

• Angie Pellis packed her belongings while Juliana Aiber asked whether she was happy to leave and reminded her of the assistant position she was turning down.
• Angie told Juliana that Song Tianyao needed her and that she was going to Hong Kong, where he owned a small factory.
• Juliana warned Angie that Hong Kong’s industry was struggling and questioned whether she should give up a secure London career for a Chinese factory owner.
• Angie explained that Song Tianyao had helped her earn her solicitor’s certificate and that they had supported each other through difficult times.
• Juliana chose to respect and support Angie’s decision, and Angie said she trusted Song Tianyao to deal with any family or relationship complications before saying goodbye.

Angie Pellis returned to Hong Kong determined to settle what had long been delayed, while Scribe Hui agreed to help Harry sell surplus military machinery without taking a profit. Song Tianyao arranged a factory visit and explained to Lou Fengyun how to conceal Lei Danzi’s hair deliveries in the accounts.

• Angie Pellis told Juliana Aiber that she wanted to finish with him what should have happened long ago.
• Harry praised Scribe Hui for arranging uniforms for the barracks children, and Scribe Hui gave him cigars for his birthday.
• Harry offered Scribe Hui a chance to sell surplus machinery from the barracks warehouse and split the proceeds with officers.
• Scribe Hui agreed to sell the machinery and return all proceeds, minus transport and labor costs, to Harry.
• Song Tianyao told Lou Fengyun to prepare the factory for a visitor and explained that Lei Danzi’s hair deliveries should be omitted from the books and stockpiled.

Song Tianyao asked Sister Xiong and Brother Xiong to prepare dinner so he could eat and drink with Ning Zikun. As they gathered around the meal, Ning Zikun’s past and the reasons he had chosen to stay at the factory were recounted.

• Song Tianyao asked Sister Xiong to cook dinner and invited Brother Xiong to drink with him.
• Brother Xiong prepared clams, beef with water spinach, and char siu while Sister Xiong set out the table, liquor, and a lamp.
• Song Tianyao called Ning Zikun out of the dormitory to join them for drinks.
• Ning Zikun’s savings were wiped out by inflation after the civil war, and he fled to Hong Kong rather than resume his old con work.
• Fearing war would reach Hong Kong, Ning Zikun tried to swindle money for an overseas retirement, but Song Tianyao exposed his scheme.
• After teaching Song Tianyao and the workers wig-making techniques, Ning Zikun sent Song Sidi away and stayed at the factory as an instructor.

Song Tianyao explained why he was grateful to the woman returning from London, then waited at Kai Tak Airport to greet Angie Pellis. Angie spotted him in the arrivals hall as she collected her suitcase.

• Ning Zikun continued teaching the factory workers and stayed with Song Tianyao, who welcomed his company.
• Song Tianyao told Ning Zikun and the Xiongs that he was going to pick up a woman arriving the next morning.
• Song Tianyao explained that the woman had supported him when he was poor and had returned from London to help him again.
• Sister Xiong realized the returning woman was Song Tianyao's longtime partner, while Ning Zikun sang about love and was scolded.
• Song Tianyao waited in the cold drizzle outside Kai Tak Airport in a trench coat made by Meng Wanqing.
• Angie Pellis arrived in a red trench coat, spotted Song Tianyao in the arrivals hall, and collected her suitcase.

Song Tianyao reunited with Angie Pellis at the airport, and they spent the afternoon together before he headed to the factory to meet Shek Chi-yik and department-store buyers. Angie returned to help Song with his work, and he explained how he planned to use the low price and limited supply of black wigs to attract department stores.

• Angie Pellis arrived and Song Tianyao greeted her with a kiss, then took her to the Dulles Hotel.
• Song Tianyao and Angie spent several hours together before he left to meet Shek Chi-yik and the department-store purchasing heads.
• Angie said she had returned to help Song rather than remain at the hotel, and they drove together toward the factory.
• Song explained that he had offered the department stores ordinary-wig pricing for black wigs, while limiting production to nine hundred wigs a year and reserving some for other buyers.

Song Tianyao showed department-store buyers the Long Light Wig Factory’s production line and finished wigs as he sought to expand the business. The buyers acknowledged the products’ quality but began pointing out flaws, leaving negotiations open.

• Angie Pellis questioned Song Tianyao’s risky plans, and he said he had no time to develop slowly before driving them to the factory.
• Song Tianyao and Angie Pellis guided purchasing managers from Lane Crawford, Marks & Spencer, and Debenhams, along with Shek Chi-yik, through the factory.
• Song Tianyao told Liu Xinze that it had taken nine months to prepare the factory and produce an acceptable wig.
• The buyers examined four finished wigs, and Song Tianyao explained that washing and drying them would restore their style.
• Bao Shijie, Liu Xinze, and Ji Ledong praised the wigs but noted their weight, hair quality, and limited range of colors.

Song Tianyao negotiated with three department-store buyers over orders for Long Light Wig Factory’s black wigs, while they secretly agreed to suppress future prices by encouraging competitors. He rejected their offer of a one-year commitment and demanded two years of monthly orders and payments.

• Bao Shijie offered to buy wigs at 1,100 Hong Kong dollars apiece, and Ji Dongle proposed an order for Lane Crawford.
• Liu Xinze brought Bao Shijie and Ji Dongle together to agree on a common bargaining position and divide the factory’s yearly output among their stores.
• Liu Xinze proposed promoting the wig business to attract competitors and trigger a future price war, and Bao Shijie and Ji Dongle agreed.
• The three buyers offered to divide one year of orders from Long Light Wig Factory equally.
• Song Tianyao countered by demanding two years of orders, delivered and paid for monthly.

After Long Light Wig Factory secured a two-year exclusive supply deal with three major department stores, Song Tianyao discussed future business and risks with Shek Chi-yik. The news pushed Tang Wenbao to start a wig factory, while Tang Boqi went to inspect Song’s operation.

• Song Tianyao persuaded Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, and Lane Crawford to sign a two-year exclusive supply agreement with Long Light Wig Factory.
• Song Tianyao gave the contract to Angie Pellis and dined with Shek Chi-yik, who questioned why he still wanted an HSBC loan.
• Song Tianyao and Shek Chi-yik toasted to two years in the future and the possibility of London.
• Tang Boqi decided to visit Song Tianyao’s factory to study its production process, while Tang Jingyuan urged him to begin making wigs.
• Tang Wenbao told Tang Jingyuan to rent factory premises and order machinery, and planned to ask Chu Yaozong to arrange a meeting with Song Tianyao.

Tang Boqi went to Song Tianyao's factory to ask why he had sold two years of wig production to a British department store, but found Song away and waited outside. Meanwhile, Song and his associates completed loan arrangements with HSBC and discussed why Chinese customers avoided foreign banks.

• Tang Boqi arrived at Song Tianyao's factory, where Sister Xiong mistook him for a suitor and chased him outside with a cleaver.
• Tang Boqi introduced himself as Song Tianyao's friend from the United States and waited outside because Song was away.
• Song Tianyao, Chu Yaozong, Angie Pellis, Chu Shuheng, and their lawyers met with Michael Sandberg after completing their HSBC loan formalities.
• Sandberg questioned why Hong Kong Chinese preferred Chinese-owned banks, and Song explained that HSBC's barriers to ordinary customers drove them away.

Song Tianyao arranged for Angie Pellis to build a company importing wig-making machinery from America, while explaining why he planned to profit from the industry and move on. He promised to find a suitable identity to present himself to her family.

• Song Tianyao explained to Angie Pellis how to order wig-making machines from American factories, resell them in Hong Kong, and establish a machinery company with Galen Nelson for maintenance and parts.
• Angie Pellis questioned the complicated plan and joked that it would turn her from a lawyer into a grease-covered worker.
• Song Tianyao said he would lend her two hundred thousand US dollars but expected her to manage the rest of the funds and return the American company's profits to Hong Kong.
• Angie Pellis suggested he could build a lasting brand and become a famous businessman, but Song Tianyao said he preferred to make a quick profit and move to the next rising industry.
• Song Tianyao promised Angie Pellis he would find a suitable identity to meet her family, and she realized he had guessed what she wanted.

Song Tianyao spent time with Angie Pellis before returning to his factory, where Tang Boqi had been waiting to question him about his wig business. Tang Boqi asked to buy machinery, while Song Tianyao offered equipment and training but kept his strategy to himself.

• Angie Pellis asked Song Tianyao to spend time with her before she left for the United States, and they made love at the hotel.
• Tang Boqi toured Song Tianyao's factory, saw its four old-fashioned production lines, and stayed to learn more about Song Tianyao's plans.
• Song Tianyao returned to the factory and invited Tang Boqi to his office, where they discussed his factory orders and business strategy.
• Tang Boqi said Song Tianyao's actions had forced his uncle and cousin into the wig business and asked whether Song Tianyao would sell him machinery.

Song Chengqi and Bo Ming struggled to care for the growing number of abandoned children and homeless elderly people at the Kowloon Elderly Home after spending their funds on community aid. Bo Ming offered to take some residents to a welfare home and stay there himself, leaving Song Chengqi to consider the proposal.

• Bo Ming soothed an abandoned infant while Song Chengqi worried that the Elderly Home was overcrowded and out of money.
• Song Chengqi recalled how the old men had spent Ge Zhaohuang's 100,000 Hong Kong dollars repairing local facilities and providing free medical care.
• Bo Ming warned Song Chengqi that building more shacks would draw even more destitute people to the home.
• Song Chengqi insisted they could not let elderly people and children starve, while Bo Ming proposed taking half the old residents to a welfare home.
• Bo Ming volunteered to go with them, and Song Chengqi frowned as he asked whether Bo Ming would really leave.

Song Chengqi arranged for Bo Ming to take some elderly residents to a welfare home, while Qi Weiwen reflected on the strain the Elderly Home had placed on them. Nine-Tattooed Dragon recovered and visited Scribe Hui to ask for advice about buying Xiu'er a New Year's gift.

• Song Chengqi agreed to send Bo Ming and several healthier residents to the welfare home to check its conditions.
• Qi Weiwen teased Song Chengqi about the abandoned babies named Song and worried about the Elderly Home's finances.
• Bo Ming prepared to leave with a baby and promised to return after settling the old residents in.
• Song Chengqi went for a walk after Bo Ming left, and Qi Weiwen recalled the lifelong friendship between the two old men.
• Nine-Tattooed Dragon visited Scribe Hui after recovering and said he wanted to buy Xiu'er a New Year's gift.

Nine-Tattooed Dragon stayed on at Tianming Company despite Scribe Hui's attempts to send him away, and used a wage advance to buy Wu Xiu'er a flute for New Year. After spotting Song Chengqi and Qi Weiwen hurrying west in rickshaws, he suspected they were in trouble and chased after them.

• Scribe Hui complained that Nine-Tattooed Dragon had left the two hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars in Tianming Company's account, while Nine-Tattooed Dragon refused to leave the company.
• Scribe Hui gave Nine-Tattooed Dragon five hundred Hong Kong dollars and told him not to stir up trouble; Nine-Tattooed Dragon said he would buy Xiu'er a New Year's present.
• Nine-Tattooed Dragon bought Wu Xiu'er the cheapest copper flute at a music shop in Kowloon Tong.
• Nine-Tattooed Dragon saw Song Chengqi and Qi Weiwen racing past in rickshaws, and noticed that Song Chengqi looked disheveled and ragged.
• Nine-Tattooed Dragon hired a rickshaw to follow them west out of the city, caught up with them, and asked what had happened and where they were going.

Song Tianyao considered how Chu Xiaoxin could keep Oxfam relevant after its second medicine donation drew less attention. He began shaping an answer to Lu Wenhui’s question about the charity’s future.

• Song Chengqi, Qi Weiwen, and Nine-Tattooed Dragon set off for a remote welfare home in Kwai Tsing to investigate the disappearance of Uncle Bo Ming and the elderly people.
• Nine-Tattooed Dragon joined Song Chengqi’s undercover visit, planning to pose as his deaf-mute grandson while Qi Weiwen acted as a social worker.
• Chu Xiaoxin asked Song Tianyao for advice because Oxfam’s second free medicine donation attracted less attention than the first.
• Chu Xiaoxin explained that Lu Wenhui had asked him to consider Oxfam’s future and the advantages of his public identity as a philanthropist.
• Song Tianyao observed that repeating the same charity event would lose its novelty, then questioned Chu Xiaoxin about his discussion with Lu Wenhui.

Song Tianyao advised Chu Xiaoxin on how to answer Mr. Lu about Oxfam’s future, and Chu Xiaoxin tried to write down the advice before learning to leave room for his future father-in-law to guide him. Their conversation ended when Chen Xingfu announced that Lam Kong had come to see Song Tianyao.

• Song Tianyao told Chu Xiaoxin to describe Oxfam’s approach as “one tight, one loose; one in the open, one in the shadows” and let Mr. Lu advise him further.
• Chu Xiaoxin began writing down Song Tianyao’s full explanation, but Song Tianyao told him to give only a brief answer and invite Mr. Lu’s guidance.
• Chu Xiaoxin worried that he was outmatched by the people around him, and Song Tianyao reassured him about his position and joked about his future marriage to Miss Lu.
• Chen Xingfu knocked on the private room door and said that Lam Kong wanted to see Song Tianyao.

Song Chengqi, Qi Weiwen, and Nine-Tattooed Dragon investigated the Tong An Elderly and Child Care Center after Bo Ming and other residents were taken there, but the staff turned them away. Suspecting the center was hiding something, Song Chengqi tried to sneak in over its back wall.

• Qi Weiwen introduced Song Chengqi and Nine-Tattooed Dragon as a grandfather and deaf-mute grandson seeking shelter, but a social worker said the center was full.
• After they left, Song Chengqi suspected the center accepted only people whose identities it had verified and said Bo Ming might still be inside.
• Song Chengqi rejected Qi Weiwen's suggestion of forcing entry and decided to circle around and climb the back wall, while Nine-Tattooed Dragon followed him.
• Song Chengqi told Nine-Tattooed Dragon to brace himself, then charged toward the nearly four-meter wall and planted a foot against it.

Song Chengqi discovered that the welfare home was imprisoning people, abusing them, and selling children, while Bo Ming had disappeared after being beaten. He and Nine-Tattooed Dragon began freeing the captives, and Song Chengqi woke the young men’s ringleader with a bayonet.

• Song Chengqi crossed the welfare home’s rear wall by stepping on Nine-Tattooed Dragon, who followed after several failed attempts.
• Nine-Tattooed Dragon knocked down the welfare home’s young men while Song Chengqi slipped into the shelter building.
• Song Chengqi found the rooms crowded with starving, imprisoned people and learned from an old man that Bo Ming had been beaten and vanished and the children had been sold.
• Song Chengqi retrieved a bayonet, took the keys from an unconscious young man, and told Nine-Tattooed Dragon to unlock the rooms.
• Song Chengqi woke the young men’s ringleader with the bayonet as the captive residents began to be freed.

Song Tianyao learned that his grandfather had attacked a fake welfare home in Lai Wan after discovering it was trafficking people and harvesting blood. With the incident contained but a British Red Cross official still alive, Song Tianyao questioned whether he could trust Lam Kong.

• Song Chengqi stabbed one welfare-home underling to death and pinned another while demanding to know where the lame old man was being held.
• Nine-Tattooed Dragon told Song Chengqi that the captives were escaping and that doctors, including a Foreign Devil, were trying to recapture them.
• Lam Kong told Song Tianyao and Chu Xiaoxin that Song Chengqi had killed welfare-home staff and that the home had exploited poor people by selling the young and harvesting blood from the old.
• Lam Kong explained that Brother Hung had contained the news and arranged scapegoats, but Song Chengqi still insisted on killing a British Red Cross official whom the 14K men feared to silence.
• Song Tianyao asked Lam Kong whether he could be trusted, and Lam Kong told him to give the word.