Chapter Summaries

Qiao Dingguo sent Pakistani officers to surround an armed fight and ordered Cheung Wing-kam to arrest the workers at the United Soda Factory. At Song Tianyao’s villa, he told Chu Xiaoxin that the factory was being left for him, while Chu learned that several other matters might also fall to him.

• Qiao Dingguo ordered Cheung Wing-kam to arrest the United Soda Factory workers, while Pakistani officers moved to surround the armed fight.
• Song Tianyao explained that the United Soda Factory remained a valuable asset for the Lin Family and would attract interest as a source of cash.
• Angie Pellis moved into the villa with Juliana Aiber after hiring two White Russian maids to prepare it.
• Song Tianyao told Chu Xiaoxin that the soda factory was being left to him, and Ji Wenming said there were probably several other matters like it.
• Chu Xiaoxin complained that he had become the Lu Family’s secretary, and Song Tianyao joked that he planned to enjoy himself in Japan.

Song Tianyao arranged for Bozai Gen and the Macau gang members to leave after the soda factory was seized, then planned to deal with Lin Xiao qia. Meanwhile, Song Chunzhong faced Chang Yue'e and the Su family, claiming Su Wenting had been forced by a man surnamed Lin to transport rubber tree seeds in Malaysia.

• Bozai Gen told Song Tianyao that Harmony Heroes and Wo On Lok had fought, the To Kwa Wan Squatter Area had burned, and the police had arrested the soda factory workers after finding opium and guns.
• Song Tianyao arranged a meal and passage for Bozai Gen's men, then told Chu Xiaoxin he would deal with Lin Xiao qia and donate two million to help rebuild homes.
• Song Chunzhong met Chang Yue'e and the Su family in a tong lau, where she accused him of causing Su Wenting's death and demanded he clear his name.
• Song Chunzhong denied involvement in Su Wenting's murder and said Su Wenting had been forced by a man surnamed Lin to transport rubber tree seeds to Malaysia.

Song Chunzhong urged Chang Yue'e to flee to Malaysia with the Shui Fong families, but news that the police had killed Brother Cai underscored the danger in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Lin Xiaosen considered HSBC’s offer to buy the Lin Family’s Xizhen Properties shares as his family’s crisis deepened.

• Song Chunzhong denied helping Lord Ting smuggle contraband and urged Chang Yue'e to relocate the Shui Fong families to Malaysia.
• A Wo On Lok member reported that police had shot Brother Cai dead and charged him with numerous offenses.
• Michael Sandberg offered Lin Xiaosen eighty million Hong Kong dollars for the Lin Family’s Xizhen Properties shares, warning the offer might vanish if the crisis worsened.
• Lin Xiaosen asked whether the Lin Family could buy the shares back after resolving its internal affairs.

Lin Xiaosen agreed to sell the Lin Family’s stake in Xizhen Properties to HSBC after learning that the soda factory had been sealed by police. Lin Xiaojie was summoned for questioning, while Ji Dongpu blamed the factory’s gang-affiliated workers and advised him to let the family lawyer handle the investigation.

• Michael Sandberg offered Lin Xiaosen eighty million Hong Kong dollars for the Lin Family’s 27 percent stake in Xizhen Properties and explained HSBC’s view of the market.
• Lin Xiaosen learned that police had sealed the soda factory after finding opium and weapons, and feared that missed contracts could lead to costly lawsuits.
• Lin Xiaosen agreed to sell the shares to HSBC and arranged to sign the contract that night.
• Plainclothes officers arrived at the Ji Family home and asked Lin Xiaojie to return to the police station to assist with an investigation.
• Ji Dongpu arranged for a lawyer to accompany Lin Xiaojie and said Lin Xiaohe’s gang-affiliated workers had made the factory vulnerable to police action.

Song Tianyao learned that Lin Xiaosen had sold the Lin Family’s twenty-seven percent stake in Xizhen Properties to HSBC for HK$80 million. He planned to block Lin Xiaosen from accessing the money and to stabilize the company’s shares, leaving the next move to begin the following morning.

• Ji Dongpu told Lin Xiaojie that HSBC was unlikely to support Song Tianyao and credited He Shili with helping the Lin Family survive.
• Ji Wenming received a call from Michael Sandberg confirming that Lin Xiaosen had sold the Lin Family’s stake in Xizhen Properties to HSBC for HK$80 million.
• Song Tianyao learned that Lin Xiaosen had directed HSBC to transfer the money to Guangnian Commercial Bank.
• Song Tianyao planned to have HSBC deliver the funds on the third day and then ask the court to intervene, while accompanying Third Aunt to see Mr. Lu the next morning.
• Song Tianyao told Ji Wenming to contact Michael Sandberg in the morning and instructed him to have Luo Zhuankun buy Xizhen Properties shares after the market opened.

Song Tianyao sent Yao Chunxiao with him to meet Lam Kong in Sai Wan, while Angie Pellis and Juliana Aiber discussed Song’s motives and his use of Angie’s British identity. Juliana questioned whether Song truly trusted Angie, leaving Angie to consider her mentor’s doubts as Song headed out into the night.

• Song Tianyao told Ji Wenming that the Lin family was finished and said he planned to go to Japan, then learned Huang Liu had completed his bank errand in Macau.
• Song Tianyao told Yao Chunxiao that Huang Liu should remain in Macau to recover and asked him to come along to see someone off on a final journey.
• Song Tianyao and Yao Chunxiao drove to Sai Wan to meet Lam Kong without bringing the other men.
• Angie Pellis watched Song’s car leave, and Juliana Aiber joined her on the terrace with wine.
• Juliana apologized for doubting Song’s abilities but argued that he had put his assets in Angie’s name to benefit from her British identity and reputation.
• Angie asked Juliana whether she was advising her to leave Song and return to London.

Song Tianyao instructed Lam Kong to accuse Lin Xiao qia of trying to recruit him for the mainland and bribe him, setting up a report to the Political Department. Lam Kong agreed reluctantly after Song supplied a bank draft as evidence, but questioned why it came from a Macau bank.

• Song Tianyao told Lam Kong that Yan Hung had taken the Yau Ma Tei Detective Chief Inspector post and offered Lam Kong the Mong Kok Senior Detective Sergeant position.
• Song asked Lam Kong about the Lin Family representative who had visited him at the station, and Lam described an unremarkable middle-aged man who had urged him to choose between Song and the Lin Family.
• Song showed Lam a photograph of Lin Xiao qia and told him to claim Lin had offered him money to work for the mainland.
• Lam worried that the Political Department would not believe him and that he might be forced out of the Police Force, but Song reassured him and advised him to report a hundred-thousand-dollar bribe.
• Song gave Lam a bank draft for a hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars to present as the untouched bribe, and Lam noticed that it was drawn on a Macau bank.

Lin Xiao qia left his mother’s hospital room and returned to custody after learning that she had poisoned the first madam. A new bribery accusation gave him a chance to implicate his brother A He, while Herlys examined a bank draft as evidence of the Lin Family’s actions.

• Lin Xiao qia watched over his sedated mother and told the officers he had once seen people paid two thousand dollars to take the blame for capital crimes.
• Lin Xiao qia reassured Sister Xiang, asked her to care for his mother, and told her to have his eldest brother hold A-Sen off while he trapped A He.
• Liu Zhichen arrived with officers to investigate Lin Xiao qia for bribing police, and Lin Xiao qia said A He had ordered him to do it.
• Herlys told Political Department officials that the bank draft clarified the Lin Family’s actions.

Song Tianyao visited Jiang Yongen late at night after drinking, and she questioned whether he had come to discuss work. He denied that he was there to take liberties with his secretary, leaving their purpose unresolved.

• Jiang Yongen noticed Yao Chunxiao waiting beside Song Tianyao’s Ford and asked Song Tianyao whether he had come to discuss work.
• Song Tianyao gazed at Jiang Yongen before turning back to watch the deserted street.
• Song Tianyao denied that he had come to take liberties with her.

Song Tianyao warned Jiang Yongen that the British might target him and the Lin Family, and he laid out steps to protect their businesses while he went to Japan. The chapter then shifted to a detention-room meeting between Lin Xiao qia and Lin Xiaoze, whose purpose remained unexplained.

• Jiang Yongen confirmed that the HSBC loan documents and collateral were in Angie Miss Pellis's name and that she had kept copies.
• Song Tianyao told Jiang Yongen to arrange for Scribe Hui's first factory to be built in Malaysia and to keep the plan from Foreign Girl for now.
• Song Tianyao said he would travel to Japan, then instructed Jiang Yongen to obtain British citizenship and register a British company.
• Song Tianyao asked Jiang Yongen to make another copy of the loan paperwork and keep it safe before he left.
• Lin Xiao qia met Lin Xiaoze in the detention room and said he expected to be released soon, while Lin Xiaoze stared at him without expression.

Lin Xiaoze confronted Lin Xiao qia in detention, uncovering how he had maneuvered the Lin family into conflict to secure his own position. Song Tianyao arrived and challenged Lin Xiaoze about leaving the family funeral to visit the detention room.

• Lin Xiao qia admitted that he had pushed A-Kang to act against A He so he could use the fallout to gain an advantage.
• Lin Xiaoze accused Lin Xiao qia of cultivating loyal supporters among the Lin Family’s business managers and arranging for him to be run over to divide him from A He and A-Sen.
• Lin Xiao qia defended his past sacrifices for the family and argued that he had been overlooked, while Lin Xiaoze accused him of using his elder brother to remove A-Sen.
• Lin Xiao qia told Lin Xiaoze that A-Sen would never trust him and that, as the eldest son, everything belonged to Lin Xiaoze by right.
• Song Tianyao entered the detention room and questioned why Lin Xiaoze had left the Lin family funeral, then said money now mattered more than the family’s old connections.

Song Tianyao confronted Lin Xiao qia over his role in selling Song’s third aunt’s mother and gave him a choice: die that night so Lin Xiaoze and their mother could live, or face the destruction of his family. After Song met with Liu Zhichen outside, an officer reported that Lin Xiao qia had hanged himself.

• Song Tianyao accused Lin Xiao qia of arranging the sale of his third aunt’s mother and rejected his claim that he had been forced into it.
• Song Tianyao told Lin Xiao qia to kill himself that night in exchange for sparing Lin Xiaoze and their mother, warning that otherwise the Lin Family would be destroyed.
• Lin Xiao qia asked to see Ah Jing before answering, but Song refused and left the room.
• Song Tianyao spoke with Liu Zhichen about donating three million Hong Kong dollars to the Police Force and establishing an officers’ club.
• An officer told Liu Zhichen that Lin Xiao qia had hanged himself during a shift change and was already dead when they found him.

Song Tianyao told Lin Yujing that her mother had died and that Lin Xiao qia had arranged the past plot against her, then asked her to sue the Lin Family for a share of its assets. Lin Yujing agreed, and Song Tianyao sent Nine-Tattooed Dragon to accompany her and Lawyer Ji.

• Song Tianyao gave Lin Yujing a registration form bearing her mother's photograph and explained that her mother had died in Java, Lin Xiao qia had killed himself, and the Lin Family might move to Taiwan.
• Lin Yujing rejected the idea of visiting the remaining Lin Family members and kept her mother's photograph.
• Song Tianyao asked Lin Yujing to sue the Lin Family for a share of its eighty million Hong Kong dollars, saying the money could become Feng Yunzhi's dowry.
• Lin Yujing agreed to file the suit despite worrying about the family scandal and Song Tianyao's debt.
• Song Tianyao called for Nine-Tattooed Dragon to accompany Lin Yujing and Lawyer Ji.

Song Chunzhong persuaded Chang Yue'e to transfer Shui Fong's bank deposits into his account as the police cracked down on the organization. Chang Yue'e agreed on the condition that he remained under watch and returned the money in Malaysia.

• Ah Zhen told Chang Yue'e that police had raided Shui Fong's halls and businesses and planned to freeze its bank deposits.
• Song Chunzhong offered to arrange passage out of Hong Kong for Su Wenting's family.
• Su Wenting's eldest daughter and Chang Yue'e refused to abandon the family's bank deposits.
• Song Chunzhong proposed transferring the deposits into his account and withdrawing them in Malaysia.
• Chang Yue'e agreed to the transfer, provided Song Chunzhong stayed under watch and returned the money, and offered him a ten percent reward.
• Lou Fengyun, Fu Xinniang, Shuyan and Shi Yin attended to Song Tianyao.

Song Tianyao explained how his Police Officers' Club would build influence within the Hong Kong Police Force while securing a valuable plot of land. The chapter then shifted to a debt collection at sea, where Song Chunzhong began throwing captives overboard as Chang Yue'e pleaded for their lives.

• Song Tianyao told Lou Fengyun that he had donated two million to the Police Force and planned to make her the boss lady of a members-only Police Officers' Club.
• Song Tianyao explained that he had secured Four Directions Street land cheaply and arranged a contract with loopholes that could let him reclaim the property.
• Sister Xiong interrupted Song Tianyao as he was about to invite Lou Fengyun to spend the night, saying someone had come to the factory to collect a debt.
• Song Chunzhong had Ah Zhen bound in a sack with rocks and thrown into the sea after the ship left Hong Kong waters.
• Song Chunzhong's men threw Su Wenting's fourteen-year-old son into the sea, and Chang Yue'e pleaded with him to spare the remaining captives.

Song Chunzhong left Chang Yue'e and the other women in the hands of sailors bound for Malaysia, then returned to Hong Kong with Lei Yingdong, who questioned his motives and identities. Back at Song Tianyao’s factory, a group of men arrived claiming the factory owed Chen Tai a million and demanding money for bail.

• Song Chunzhong assaulted Chang Yue'e, then handed the women over to the sailors to be taken to a mine in Malaysia.
• Song Chunzhong boarded Lei Yingdong’s freighter for Hong Kong and defended his revenge against Su Wenting’s family.
• Lei Yingdong wondered how many identities Song Chunzhong had as he watched him head to rest.
• Sister Xiong told Song Tianyao that debt collectors had come to the factory, and he went outside with Lou Fengyun.
• A bald young man told Brother Xiong that the factory owed Chen Tai a million and demanded bail money for Chen Tai and his arrested men.

Song Tianyao refused to pay Chen Tai’s men directly and sent them to Yan Hung for an answer, while he continued pressuring Lin Xiaojie over the Soda Factory. Chen Tai was bailed out by Handkerchief Qing, who said his gang had struggled without him.

• Chen Tai’s men came to Song Tianyao’s factory demanding money for bail and compensation, and Kam Shou-hong pretended to be a lawyer to get past Brother Xiong.
• Song Tianyao told Chen Tai’s bald messenger to wait outside Yau Ma Tei Police Station for Yan Hung, then mocked him about buying a wig.
• Ning Zikun followed Kam Shou-hong outside and offered to teach him tricks of the swindling trade.
• Song Tianyao told Lou Fengyun to tell Lin Xiaojie he would not discuss the Soda Factory while it remained sealed and default penalties continued to mount.
• Chen Tai was released on bail, promised the Harmony Heroes members still in custody that he would try to free them, and met Handkerchief Qing outside the prison.
• Handkerchief Qing told Chen Tai that he had arranged the bail and that his gang had lacked confidence while Chen Tai was locked up.

Lu Rongfang explained her earlier misjudgment of the Lin Family to Lu Yuanchun and shared her notes on Song Tianyao’s real-estate plans. Lu Yuanchun believed Song would wait at least six months before developing land and asked to meet him again to learn his next plans.

• Lu Rongfang apologized to Lu Yuanchun for advising her not to back Song Tianyao against the Lin Family.
• Lu Rongfang described the Lin Family’s collapse and explained why she doubted HSBC had truly funded Song Tianyao’s acquisition of Xizhen Properties.
• Lu Yuanchun asked Lu Rongfang what Song Tianyao would do next, and Lu Rongfang predicted he would enter real estate and showed her notes about Causeway Bay and Ngau Tau Shan.
• Lu Yuanchun said Song Tianyao would likely stockpile land and wait at least six months before developing it.
• Lu Yuanchun asked Lu Rongfang to arrange another meeting with Song Tianyao so she could hear his plans.

Song Tianyao told Lu Wenjin he was going to Japan and would leave the Lin Family lawsuit and his other business to others. In Japan, Wei Meixian questioned whether he had come to explore business, while Song Tianyao asked about geisha performances at their inn.

• Lu Wenjin said preparations for Lin Yujing's lawsuit were complete and asked Song Tianyao what he planned to do next.
• Song Tianyao said he had booked a flight to Japan and would leave the Lin Family's affairs to Lu Wenjin and his other unfinished business to Angie Pellis.
• Lu Wenjin's Devil Black Knifefish darted through the aquarium and swallowed the bloodworms.
• Song Tianyao arrived at a Japanese inn with Wei Meixian and had a kimono-clad maid help him remove his shoes.
• Wei Meixian questioned Song Tianyao about his claim that he had come to Japan to explore business, while he asked in Japanese whether the inn offered geisha performances.

Song Tianyao explained why he had come to Atami, seeing its tourists and high prices as evidence of Japanese consumers’ growing wealth and spending power. He left the group with a broader concern about Japan’s rapid industrial recovery under American support.

• Song Tianyao joked with Scribe Hui and Nine-Tattooed Dragon, then asked Wei Meixian whether he should visit Japanese factories or pursue American military orders.
• Wei Meixian advised Song Tianyao to visit major industrial cities such as Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka instead of Atami.
• Song Tianyao argued that Atami’s high prices and crowds showed that ordinary Japanese people had money to spend, and said he had another reason for coming there.
• Song Tianyao reflected on how American procurement orders, returned factories, and technology had rapidly strengthened Japan’s industry since the Korean War began.