Chapter Summaries

Tang Boqi rushed to confront Song Tianyao after learning that the Indians had been arrested for smuggling mainland materials, threatening his American wig business. Song revealed that the scandal had already ruined Tang’s position in the U.S. market and that his British girlfriend, through her company, would take over the business.

• Tang Boqi ordered every factory to suspend its contracts for the next two quarters and prepare to sign new ones.
• Tang Boqi drove to Song Tianyao’s factory and asked whether Song had caused the Indians’ arrest.
• Song warned Tang to declare bankruptcy, explaining that the Americans knew about the smuggled braids and Tang’s ties to Prosperity Wig Factory.
• Tang insisted he could replace the orders with European and American wigs, but Song argued that American authorities would not allow Kimei to retain its distributors.
• Tang realized Song intended to take over the American market and accused him of using his British girlfriend, Lou Fengyun, to do so.
• Song explained that Manifest Glory Trading Company belonged to Lou Fengyun’s British company and that the colonial government would favor her interests.

Song Tianyao explained to Tang Boqi that he meant to destroy the ten rival factories and control Hong Kong’s wig industry, but Tang vowed to keep fighting. Gu Linshan arrived to support Tang, and Song left them together.

• Song Tianyao told Tang Boqi that the rival factories had been drawn into a fight he intended to win and warned Tang to return to Wall Street.
• Tang Boqi refused to retreat and vowed to fight Song to the bitter end.
• Gu Linshan arrived in her Chevrolet and asked Tang what had happened at the wig factory.
• Gu Linshan identified herself as the Wing On heiress, defended Tang, and confronted Song.
• Song teased Tang about Gu Linshan being his girlfriend, then left with Huang Liu.

After Song Tianyao cornered Tang Boqi in the wig business, Gu Linshan vowed to fight him on Tang’s behalf. Tang Boqi collapsed under the pressure and vomited blood, while Gu Linshan took him to the hospital and offered to manage his company.

• Gu Linshan found Tang Boqi dazed after Song Tianyao confronted him and threatened to challenge Song on his behalf.
• Song Tianyao admitted he envied Tang Boqi for winning Gu Linshan’s devotion and reflected on the Wing On Gu Family’s business power.
• Tang Boqi told Gu Linshan he had lost and vomited blood in her car.
• Tang Boqi recalled how Song Tianyao had toppled the wig industry’s businesses one by one and driven him into a corner.
• Gu Linshan drove Tang Boqi toward the hospital and offered to manage his company’s affairs.

Gu Linshan concealed her alarm as Tang Boqi believed Kimei International Trading Company was ruined, then began taking control of the company’s response. She arranged to keep news about Xia Harry quiet and gave Kimei’s staff instructions that could buy time while she went to meet the company’s lawyer.

• Gu Linshan took Tang Boqi to Britain Anglican Church St. Joseph's Hospital instead of Kwong Wah Hospital, and he gave her the key to the office safe so she could dismiss employees and pay them an extra month’s salary.
• Gu Linshan called Gu Linjiang and asked him to keep Customs, the Medical and Health Department, and the police from releasing information about Xia Harry for four hours, as well as to book two tickets to the United States.
• Gu Linshan called A-Lian at Kimei International Trading Company and told her to summon Tang Jingyuan and ask Chairman Tang to calm the ten factories while production was suspended for three days.
• Gu Linshan instructed A-Lian to say that Billy had definite information and evidence against Song Tianyao, then told her to have Jimei Company's lawyer wait for her at the Bivero Building.
• Gu Linshan drove to the Bivero Building after confirming that A-Lian had repeated her instructions.

Gu Linshan pressured lawyer Chen Dawen into facilitating the transfer of Kimei International Trading Company from the supposedly hospitalized Billy Tang Boqi to Tang Jingyuan. Tang Jingyuan secured the company and planned to visit Tang Boqi at the hospital, while Gu Linshan left to see him.

• Gu Linshan told Chen Dawen that Billy Tang Boqi was ill and had authorized her to transfer Kimei International Trading Company to Tang Jingyuan.
• Gu Linshan intimidated Chen Dawen into confirming the transfer and promised him Gold Mountain House's legal work.
• Gu Linshan and Chen Dawen met Tang Jingyuan in Tang Boqi's office and spent more than two hours completing the transfer agreement.
• Tang Jingyuan obtained the company agreement, seal, and safe key, then registered himself as Jimei Company's owner.
• Gu Linshan left with Tang Boqi's belongings and documents to visit him, while Tang Jingyuan said he would visit with his father.

Gu Linshan transferred the company and prepared to leave Hong Kong to protect Tang Boqi from Song Tianyao’s trap, knowing her actions could destroy their relationship. At the hospital, Tang Boqi remained determined to rally the ten factory owners and challenge the accusations, despite doubting he could turn the situation around.

• Gu Linshan told Tang Jingyuan to visit Tang Boqi at Kwong Wah Hospital and said Billy wanted the factories to suspend production and report Song Tianyao to the authorities.
• Gu Linshan left the company, then collapsed in the elevator and reflected that she had transferred it to save Tang Boqi from political and business ruin.
• Gu Linshan decided she would accept Tang Boqi’s hatred if he learned she had set up his uncle and cousin, because she wanted to save the man she loved.
• At the hospital, Tang Boqi urged Gu Linshan to go home and said he would find a way to solve the crisis.
• Tang Boqi planned to meet the owners of the ten factories, coordinate their account, and seek evidence against Song Tianyao, though he privately doubted their chances.

Gu Linshan visited Tang Boqi in the hospital and decided to tell him about their plans the next morning. Meanwhile, Xia Zuoji returned to Hong Kong and learned that Xia Harry had been arrested for buying mainland hair, leaving the Xia family exposed to the bank over their loan.

• Gu Linshan left Tang Boqi with an apple and planned to tell him everything the next morning, while keeping two tickets to San Francisco in her car.
• Xia Zuoji returned from Japan intending to start a garment factory, but learned that Xia Harry had been arrested on suspicion of smuggling.
• At the Marine Police station, an officer explained that Xia Harry had bought mainland hair using forged Thai-origin documents and could face a fine or a short detention.
• Xia Zuoji realized the purchase had used bank loan money and feared the bank would freeze the Xia family's accounts under the loan guarantee.
• The officer told Xia Zuoji that HSBC manager Michael Sandberg had already been informed and that Song Tianyao had sent his regards.

Song Tianyao learned that Tang Boqi had escaped, leaving Tang Jingyuan to handle bankruptcy formalities, and explained that Tang Boqi’s departure would make him the scapegoat for the industry’s troubles. The next morning, Song Chunliang visited the factory, where he joined Song Tianyao and the others for breakfast.

• Lou Fengyun reported that Tang Jingyuan had gone to the Registrar General’s Department with Tang Boqi’s girlfriend and a lawyer, while Tang Boqi stayed away.
• Song Tianyao concluded that Tang Boqi had abandoned Tang Jingyuan and was pleased that he had escaped to become the industry’s blameworthy mastermind.
• Song Tianyao told Lou Fengyun he needed the factories to keep operating and wanted the factory owners to blame Tang Boqi rather than turn against him.
• Song Chunliang arrived at the factory while Song Tianyao was asleep and ate breakfast with Huang Liu and Ning Zikun.
• Song Tianyao joined his father, lit his cigarette, and Fu Xinniang quietly complained to Shu Yan and Shi Yin that Huang Liu had anticipated Song Tianyao’s need for cigarettes.

Song Tianyao agreed to visit Government House with his family and headed to the airport to pick someone up. There, Gu Linshan urged Tang Boqi to flee Hong Kong and distance himself from the collapsing Kimei business, but he refused to abandon his reputation or let others decide his fate.

• Song Chunliang told Song Tianyao to visit Government House during azalea season for good fortune, and Song Tianyao promised to go that afternoon.
• Song Tianyao asked Fu Xinniang to send He Xian’s tonics to his parents, then left for the airport with Huang Liu.
• Gu Linshan explained that she had transferred Kimei International Trade’s Hong Kong subsidiary to Tang Jingyuan and urged Tang Boqi to return to the United States and prepare a legal defense.
• Tang Boqi rejected Gu Linshan’s plan, saying that fleeing would let Song Tianyao blame him for ruining Hong Kong’s wig industry.
• Gu Linshan warned Tang Boqi that staying could expose him to accusations of communist sympathies in America and pleaded with him to think about the chance she had tried to preserve.

Tang Boqi chose to return to the United States with Gu Linshan, while Gu Linshan revealed her suspicions about Song Tianyao’s stock-market moves. The next scene opened with Shodick warning Mr. Mason that the Governor viewed the threatened collapse of Hong Kong’s trade and manufacturing as an economic disaster.

• Gu Linshan told Tang Boqi to choose between staying in Hong Kong and returning to the United States, and Tang left with the ticket she had packed.
• Tang Boqi returned to ask Gu Linshan to wait for him and invited her to accompany him after finding two tickets in her bag.
• Song Tianyao arrived at the airport and wished Tang Boqi a safe trip as Tang and Gu Linshan left together.
• Gu Linshan explained that Song Tianyao appeared to be quietly buying Xizhen Properties shares through brokers and cover stocks.
• Shodick told Mr. Mason that Governor Grantham feared Hong Kong’s trade and manufacturing would dry up if the reported events were true.

Shek Chi-yik met with Shodick after Governor Grantham blamed him for letting the United States Consulate discover that Mainland Chinese hair was supplying Hong Kong wig factories. Shek defended his handling of the incident and argued that the wig industry’s disorderly growth had made such a crisis likely, while American scrutiny threatened to destroy its trade.

• Shodick told Shek Chi-yik that Grantham was furious because the Americans had exposed the hair trade and accused the colonial government of failing to enforce the embargo.
• Shek asked whether selling hair violated the United Nations embargo, noting that hair was not a strategic material.
• Shodick explained that the United States Consulate had complained to Grantham and was investigating Hong Kong wigs, while the United States Department of Commerce was preparing to suspend orders.
• Shek described the wig industry as disorderly and driven by profit, with no standards or oversight for its raw materials.
• Shek told Shodick that the industry’s disorder had caused the incident, and admitted that he had helped bring it to a head.

Shek Chi-yik told Shodick that he had arranged to disrupt the wig industry’s supply scandal so a British businessman could take over and restore production. Meanwhile, Tang Wenbao and Tang Jingyuan faced the furious factory owners after Gu Linshan’s scheme left them holding Kimei’s company and its potentially illegal mainland hair supplies.

• Shek Chi-yik explained that he had alerted the Medical and Health Department and Marine Police, and planned to introduce a British businessman to the wig industry.
• Gu Linshan diverted Tang Wenbao to visit factories while arranging for Tang Jingyuan to take ownership of Kimei International Trading Company’s Hong Kong subsidiary.
• Tang Wenbao and his sons went to Kwong Wah Hospital but discovered that Tang Boqi had never been admitted there.
• The factory owners learned that Indian Xia Harry had been arrested over mainland hair, and Tang Wenbao realized the raw materials supplied to their factories might also have come from the mainland.
• A lawyer told Tang Wenbao and Tang Jingyuan they would not be arrested, but American distributors could sue Kimei for failing to fulfill orders.
• Huang Siqun accused Tang Wenbao of misleading the factory owners and demanded answers about their mainland hair supplies.

Shek Chi-yik told the wig factory owners that their American orders had been suspended because Xia Harry had supplied them with hair from mainland China, and warned that the Xia family would have no assets left to compensate them. He urged them to find a legitimate raw-material supplier quickly, but none of the owners knew of one.

• The factory owners argued with Tang Wenbao and Tang Jingyuan, blaming the Tang family for bringing Xia Harry’s materials into their businesses.
• Shek Chi-yik arrived and confirmed that Xia Harry had supplied 200,000 mainland braids to the ten factories.
• Shek explained that the United States had suspended their orders and that the factories could face breach-of-contract claims, while the Xia family was headed for bankruptcy and deportation.
• Huang Siqun accused the Tang family of responsibility and feared losing the savings he had invested in his factory.
• Shek asked whether any factory had another supplier of legitimate raw materials, and the owners lowered their heads without an answer.

Song Tianyao arrived at the trade association meeting with Angie Pellis after Shek Chi-yik explained that the factories needed help resolving the American embargo crisis. He revealed that he, not the British, had arranged the rescue, then confronted the factory owners who had previously tried to drive him out.

• Shek Chi-yik criticized the association leaders for having no plan to address the embargo and said Jimei Company faced bankruptcy with no help from him.
• Shek Chi-yik introduced Angie Pellis as the person who would carry out remedial measures for ten factories.
• Song Tianyao entered with Angie Pellis, and Huang Liu stopped Tang Jingyuan from attacking him and pushed him into a seat.
• Shek Chi-yik introduced Song Tianyao and Angie Pellis, thanked her, and left his secretary to record the meeting.
• Song Tianyao rebuked the factory owners, saying he had arranged their help while they had previously called him a bastard and tried to expel him.
• Song Tianyao kicked the meeting table, spilling the tea in front of the factory owners.

Song Tianyao laid out a way to rescue the factory owners from the embargo crisis, then demanded that they hand Manifest Glory Trading Company all profits from eight months of wig orders. The chapter ended with the owners facing his ultimatum in a suddenly cold conference room.

• Huang Siqun and the other factory owners apologized to Song Tianyao and blamed Tang Boqi for the crisis.
• Song Tianyao explained that the factories needed legitimate raw materials, a resolution with the United States Consulate in Hong Kong, and approval from the United States Department of Commerce.
• Song Tianyao said he had enough certified raw materials to supply eleven factories for a year and that Angie Pellis would handle the negotiations.
• Song Tianyao proposed making Angie Pellis chairman and Ms. Lou vice chairman of the Hairpiece Industry Association, and the owners agreed.
• Song Tianyao offered to preserve the factories' American orders through Manifest Glory Trading Company in exchange for all profits on eight months of production, and demanded that the owners accept or face bankruptcy and breach penalties.

Song Tianyao forced the wig factory owners to surrender eight months of profits in exchange for keeping their businesses and U.S. contracts. After signing, Huang Siqun and other Chiu Chow merchants went to Chu Yaozong for help, only to find other Chamber of Commerce members already asking him to negotiate with Song Tianyao.

• Song Tianyao told the factory owners they could accept his terms or risk losing their American business, and Luo Jiabao protested before falling silent.
• Huang Siqun agreed first, and Song Tianyao promised that his factory could keep operating and that he could retain his vice-chairman position.
• The other factory owners reluctantly agreed, and Angie Pellis distributed prepared agreements for them to review and sign.
• Huang Siqun and two other Chiu Chow merchants left to ask Chu Yaozong to persuade Song Tianyao to reduce the number of months’ profits he would take.
• At the Chu Family home, the three merchants found at least eight Chamber of Commerce members asking Chu Yaozong to speak to Song Tianyao about their plans to buy machines and open factories.

Song Tianyao secured wig orders for ten factories and met HSBC manager Michael Sandberg to discuss buying a troubled Indian businessman’s factory and machinery. Sandberg asked Song to bring more Chinese borrowers to HSBC, and Song asked whether he wanted clients like the Indian or like himself.

• Huang Siqun asked Chu Yaozong to persuade Song Tianyao to take less profit from the three factories’ orders, but Chu refused to press the young man who had been bullied.
• Song Tianyao gave Michael Sandberg cigars and a Citibank check, and Sandberg thanked him while discussing the Indian borrower’s default.
• Sandberg told Song that the Indian’s factory and garment-machine heads would likely be auctioned to recover the debt.
• Song said a friend in the garment business wanted the factory and machinery, and Sandberg offered to arrange a favorable sale through HSBC.
• Song told Sandberg that Angie Pellis’s return from the United States would bring eight months of orders for ten factories.
• Sandberg asked Song to help Chinese businessmen take HSBC loans, and Song asked whether he wanted borrowers like the Indian or like him.

Song Tianyao learned that Scribe Hui had expanded his uniform business to the US military in Okinawa and decided to focus on launching a newspaper. At Chu Xiaoxin’s newly bought house, he teased Lu Peiying about asking for more before her marriage, which was set for March 9, 1953.

• Song Tianyao learned that Scribe Hui was in Okinawa measuring American soldiers for uniforms after taking over orders for all seventeen Hong Kong garrisons.
• Song Tianyao decided to contact Meng Chengzhi about Xia Zuoji’s garment factory and to spend his spare time launching a newspaper.
• Song Tianyao toured Chu Xiaoxin’s newly bought house and joked that Lu Peiying should demand more from her wealthy fiancé.
• Madam Chu chose March 9, 1953, as Chu Xiaoxin and Lu Peiying’s wedding date after comparing the dates proposed by feng shui masters.

The Chu Family prepared a luxurious Kellett Road villa as Chu Xiaoxin’s marital home, while Song Tianyao advised him on how to revive the struggling Pharmaceutical Factory. The chapter ended with Lu Peiying asking Song Tianyao whether he had a girlfriend.

• The Chu Family bought Mak Qizhi’s Kellett Road villa for Chu Xiaoxin’s future marriage, with Chu Xiaozhong paying for it as part of the family’s inheritance arrangements.
• Lu Peiying and Lu Wenhui expressed satisfaction with Chu Xiaoxin, and preparations for the villa and its staff began ahead of the wedding.
• Chu Xiaoxin told Song Tianyao that he was considering closing the Pharmaceutical Factory because Flower Pagoda Candy sales had fallen.
• Song Tianyao proposed expanding the factory into Chinese medicines, first by having pharmacies contribute formulas and then by offering to buy their formulas outright.
• Chu Xiaoxin agreed the purchase proposal seemed reasonable, and Song Tianyao suggested selling the medicines in Southeast Asian markets with large Chinese communities.
• Lu Peiying asked Song Tianyao whether he had a girlfriend.

Song Tianyao visited the injured Hong Lai-sau, who explained why Hong Kong newspaper figures were funding a weekly knockoff of The Correct Newspaper and why he had defended its newsboy. The chapter ended with Hong Lai-sau joking that Song Tianyao might replace him as editor-in-chief.

• Song Tianyao hurried to a dispensary after Lou Fengyun told him Hong Lai-sau had been beaten.
• Hong Lai-sau told Song Tianyao that he had intervened when Kuomintang supporters attacked a newsboy selling The Correct Newspaper.
• Xu Minjun learned that Hong Lai-sau donated part of his salary to help fund the paper.
• Hong Lai-sau explained that Hong Kong cultural figures supported the paper out of gratitude to the Communist Party for rescuing them during the Japanese occupation.
• Hong Lai-sau said he would fight the attackers again and joked that Song Tianyao might replace him as editor-in-chief.