Chapter Summaries

Shek Chi-yik and Beth returned home after dinner, where the evening’s meetings and gifts gave way to Shek’s reflections on his long career in the colonial administration. The chapter left him looking back on how the war had diverted his path from those of his former colleagues.

• Lam Kong drove away after Gao Lao Cheng declined his offer of a lift and said he was now working with Likang.
• Gao Lao Cheng told his underlings to watch Headless and stop him from causing trouble that could damage Likang’s business with Secretary Song.
• On the last tram, Angie Pellis told Song Tianyao she believed he had greater potential than Lam Kong, and she wondered what he would do if she developed feelings for him.
• Shek Chi-yik and Beth received no usual praise for their roast beef dinner, then returned to their Mid-Levels villa and kissed their sleeping children goodnight.
• Beth and the servants opened gifts from the five groups who had met with the couple that evening.
• Shek Chi-yik reflected on his career from Cambridge and his early colonial service through wartime postings in Asia and London, and recalled that he had avoided the fall of Hong Kong by leaving shortly beforehand.

Shek Chi-yik reflected on the career and family choices that had left him stalled in the colonial administration, then hid his tears from his wife. Outside Lichi Nightclub, Green Gang waiters complained about local hostility and waited for Choi Fat to organize the gang after Du’s death.

• Shek Chi-yik recalled being excluded from the Hong Kong Planning Group and denied promotion because his wife was Aboriginal Australian.
• Shek Chi-yik remembered his education, early ambitions, marriage, and worries about his children, then found himself crying at his reflection.
• Mrs. Bess asked Shek Chi-yik what was wrong, and he brushed her concern aside by claiming sand had blown into his eyes.
• Two Green Gang waiters at Lichi Nightclub grumbled that Hong Kong’s young masters cursed and mistreated them, unlike people on the Shanghai Bund.
• Brother Fei told the waiters that Choi Fat planned to hold a Green Gang altar-opening ceremony in Hong Kong if Du died, giving them a chance to establish themselves.

Song Tianyao brought Angie Pellis to the Lichi Nightclub, where Chu Xiaoxin told him that Chu Xiaozhong had admitted to money being siphoned from Likang and promised to repay it. The chapter left Song Tianyao considering Chu Xiaozhong’s attempt to avoid an open break, while Chu Xiaoxin remained furious at the company employees who had sided against him.

• At the Lichi Nightclub, Green Gang waiters discussed Mr. Choi Fat’s plans to raise the gang’s banner and expand in Hong Kong.
• Bighead Ah Jin greeted Song Tianyao and Angie Pellis, then discreetly welcomed a Green Gang grandmaster who entered with two young women.
• Song Tianyao found Chu Xiaoxin drinking alone, with neither Chen Judy nor his usual companions present.
• Chu Xiaoxin told Song Tianyao that Chu Xiaozhong had blamed Fu Zhong Trading Company’s irregularities on Uncle Fu and promised to repay the money taken from Likang.
• Song Tianyao concluded that Chu Xiaozhong had admitted the wrongdoing to prevent a direct feud, while Chu Xiaoxin condemned the Likang employees who had supported his brother.

Song Tianyao asked Chu Xiaoxin to deliver a warning to Zhang Yuliang and bet that he would secure money from Likang within a month. After assigning Angie Pellis work on a civic association and the European Coast Company, Song Tianyao returned to the hotel and sneezed from the temperature change.

• Song Tianyao asked Chu Xiaoxin to pass Zhang Yuliang a message threatening retaliation for taking money from Likang.
• Song Tianyao promised to hold a consort-selection gathering for Young Master Shun using money recovered from Zhang Yuliang.
• Song Tianyao and Chu Xiaoxin bet that Song Tianyao would borrow money from Likang in a month, with Chu Xiaoxin agreeing to lend it and give him his Ford if he succeeded.
• Song Tianyao told Angie Pellis to investigate establishing a nonprofit civic organization and to reserve a founding-member place and the first chairmanship for Mrs. Bess.
• Song Tianyao said he would recruit promising applicants and investigate the European Coast Company, then sneezed after returning to the hotel.

After a grueling day, Song Tianyao accepted Angie Pellis's invitation for bedtime tea, but left her room without acting on their mutual flirtation. Still consumed by desire, he headed home to Tai Wo Street, intending to seek out Lou Fengyun.

• Song Tianyao finished his long day of work and accepted Angie Pellis's invitation to drink bedtime tea in her room.
• Angie Pellis teased Song Tianyao about avoiding intimacy, while he drank the tea and insisted that he had come only for a cup.
• Song Tianyao left Angie Pellis's room, resisting the temptation to pursue her because he feared it would damage their relationship.
• Song Tianyao went out to take a hotel car home to Tai Wo Street and decided Lou Fengyun was the most suitable person to satisfy his desire that night.

Song Tianyao woke at his family’s building after spending the night in Lou Fengyun’s bed, only to learn she had stayed in Kowloon. He tried to stop his parents from buying water from a fireman’s truck, and the chapter left them facing Hong Kong’s strained water supply.

• Song Tianyao found Lou Fengyun absent and grumbled at Scribe Hui before sleeping in her bed.
• Song Tianyao woke at dawn and tried to sneak downstairs, but Song Chunliang and Zhao Meizhen caught him.
• Zhao Meizhen said she and Song Chunliang were going to buy water from a fireman’s truck.
• Song Tianyao warned his parents that truck water was dirty and explained how Hong Kong’s water shortage had made rationing and supply problems common.

The chapter explained Hong Kong’s severe water shortages and poor water quality, which left most residents vulnerable to parasitic diseases and motivated Song Tianyao to begin with deworming medicine. After Zhao Meizhen doubted him, Song persuaded her to buy American-made Santonin for the family, then went downstairs asking her to get him cold medicine too.

• Hong Kong’s water rationing and weak supply forced residents to compete for water, while Kowloon’s poor often bought untreated reservoir water from firefighters.
• Song Tianyao’s plan to start with deworming medicine rested on the widespread use of unsafe drinking water and the resulting parasitic diseases.
• Zhao Meizhen warned Song not to forget his humble roots after becoming a secretary and dismissed his concerns about worms.
• Song Tianyao gave Zhao Meizhen money and instructed her to buy Santonin for herself, Dad and Wenwen.
• Zhao Meizhen agreed to try the medicine, and Song Tianyao asked her to buy him Western cold medicine before heading downstairs.

Gao Lao Cheng took Chen Tai to Sheung Shui Pier, intending to make him seize an oil truck and earn a name in the jianghu. Chen Tai accepted the job and stepped into the road to confront the truck’s escorts.

• Gao Lao Cheng pointed out an oil truck and told Chen Tai they would take it back because its owners had not paid for the oil.
• The chapter explained how the embargo made New Territories oil depots and rural piers hubs for profitable smuggling protected by jianghu operators.
• Gao Lao Cheng told Chen Tai to demand ten thousand in protection money or beat the truck’s escorts, and handed him an axe.
• Chen Tai agreed because Brother Yiu had instructed him to work, tucked the axe into his waistband, and walked into the road to face the approaching truck and its escorts.

Chen Tai confronted Tong Ngau Ping and Shui Fong men over a refined-oil shipment, but Tong’s sword drove Chen into retreat. Gao Lao Cheng urged Chen to fight on as the battle continued.

• Gao Lao Cheng told his men to support Chen Tai if Shui Fong attacked together and otherwise let him fight Tong Ngau Ping one-on-one.
• Tong Ngau Ping identified himself as a Shui Fong Red Pole and demanded that Chen Tai let the oil shipment pass, but Chen demanded ten thousand bucks or the truck and cargo.
• Chen Tai threw one attacker to the ground and punched another away, while Gao Lao Cheng’s men engaged the rest of Shui Fong.
• Tong Ngau Ping attacked Chen Tai with a Japanese sword, and Chen blocked with an axe before fear made him retreat under a series of slashes.
• Gao Lao Cheng shouted at Chen Tai to stop backing away and defeat Tong Ngau Ping if he wanted a better future.

Song Tianyao visited Chu Xiaozhong to smooth over the repayment from Fu Zhong Trading Company and ask about European Coast Company. Chu Xiaozhong identified it as the Zhang Family’s company for the drug trade, realizing Song Tianyao might be targeting the family.

• Song Tianyao went to Liheng Trading Company and Kong Wing-yan arranged for him to meet Chu Xiaozhong.
• Song Tianyao described Fu Zhong’s outstanding 230,000 dollars as a generous effort to help Likang, presenting Chu Xiaoxin’s thanks.
• Song Tianyao asked Chu Xiaozhong about European Coast Company, saying Likang had done business with it before.
• Chu Xiaozhong explained the Zhang Family’s history and said European Coast Company was used specifically for the drug trade.
• Chu Xiaozhong guessed that Song Tianyao was thinking of going after the Zhang Family.

Song Tianyao analyzed Chu Xiaozhong’s warning about the Zhang Family and suspected Chu was trying to bait him into a confrontation. On a mountain road in Sheung Shui, Chen Tai was wounded by Tong Ngau Ping and threw an axe at him.

• Song Tianyao left the Jinxing Building and wondered whether he had underestimated the European Coast Company and the Zhang Family.
• Song Tianyao sat at a sugarcane juice stall and concluded that Chu Xiaozhong had deliberately tried to influence him with praise and warnings about the Zhang Family.
• Song Tianyao reasoned that Chu Xiaozhong wanted him to test the Zhang Family, but he would not take the bait without first finding out what they could do.
• Tong Ngau Ping forced Chen Tai to retreat while Gao Lao Cheng taunted him and prepared to join the fight.
• Tong Ngau Ping cut Chen Tai’s left ribs, and Chen Tai stepped back, switched his axe to his left hand, and hurled it at Tong Ngau Ping’s face.

Chen Tai outwitted Tong Ngau Ping and took his sword, while Gao Lao Cheng killed Tong and instructed Chen to deal with the remaining Shui Fong men. Later, Song Tianyao visited the Lu Yu Teahouse and asked Brother Leung for help.

• Chen Tai feinted twice, took Tong Ngau Ping’s katana, and slashed him, but vomited after cutting off an attacker’s hand.
• Tong Ngau Ping fled, and Gao Lao Cheng caught him and killed him with an axe.
• Gao Lao Cheng told Chen Tai to claim credit for defeating Tong and finish off the remaining Shui Fong men.
• Song Tianyao arrived at the Lu Yu Teahouse, ordered his usual pu'er, and asked Brother Leung for help.

Song Tianyao arranged to turn Likang’s stock of Santonin deworming tablets into affordable Pagoda Candy, planning to donate half and sell the rest for profit. He explained that the plan would also help Chu Xiaoxin secure influence, then waited at the teahouse for a young pipa player he had met before.

• Song Tianyao asked Wu Jinliang to find a reliable Chiu Chow candy shop and said the order would require at least 2,500 kilograms of sugar.
• Wu Jinliang rushed out to approach candy-shop owners and compete for the business.
• Song Tianyao planned to use Likang’s Santonin tablets to make flower-shaped Pagoda Candy, donating half and selling the rest affordably.
• Song Tianyao considered how his plans for the candy and Shek Chi-yik would strengthen Chu Xiaoxin’s position.
• A young pipa player offered to perform, but Song Tianyao paid her five dollars and asked her to tell the younger girl to come play for him.

Song Tianyao learned that the pipa-playing girl had been taken away by her master, then waited for Wu Jinliang to find a man for him. At a banquet, Chen Tai received his share of a profitable robbery and heard Gao Lao Cheng explain how Fuyixing made money.

• A woman told Song Tianyao that the girl he had asked about had been taken away by her master, and he hummed her song after she left.
• Wu Jinliang told Song Tianyao that he had found the man Song wanted.
• Chen Tai celebrated with Fuyixing members at the Mei Qing Guildhall after they split the proceeds from the New Territories robbery.
• Gao Lao Cheng gave Chen Tai about thirteen hundred dollars and explained the robbery’s proceeds and Fuyixing’s ties to the Chiu Chow Gang.
• Chen Tai declined to spend his money on the two girls and said he would take it home to make his mother happy.

Song Tianyao met candy-shop owner Chen Qingwen to arrange a large batch of milk candy mixed with tablets. He asked Chen to make a small trial batch by the next day, leaving the full order dependent on its production.

• Wu Jinliang introduced Chen Qingwen to Song Tianyao as the owner of Chenji Candy Shop.
• Chen Qingwen described his years of candy-making experience and offered Song several samples from his shop.
• Song tasted Chen’s expensive and cheap milk candies and asked about their ingredients and prices.
• Chen quoted eighteen thousand dollars to make twenty-five hundred kilograms of cheap milk candy.
• Song told Chen to grind two hundred and fifty kilograms of tablets into powder and mix them into the candy at a one-to-ten ratio.
• Song asked Chen to take one kilogram of tablets and make ten kilograms of pointed or flower-pagoda-shaped candy by the next day.

Song Tianyao had Chen Qingwen make a trial batch of Santonin Flower Pagoda Candy, then brought it home to test as a deworming remedy. After his parents passed worms from taking pills, he sent Scribe Hui to distribute three candies per neighbor so they could try them.

• Song Tianyao hired Chen Qingwen to make Flower Pagoda Candy with Santonin, and Chen's family produced several thousand pieces that afternoon.
• Song Tianyao tasted the candy with Chen Qingwen and paid him three hundred Hong Kong dollars for the batch.
• Song Tianyao returned home and learned that Song Chunliang and Zhao Meizhen had passed more than ten worms after taking deworming pills.
• Song Tianyao told Zhao Meizhen to take another pill the next day and explained that the candy was also meant to deworm.
• Zhao Meizhen ate some of the candy, and Song Tianyao asked Scribe Hui to give three pieces to each neighbor and warn them not to eat more.

Song Tianyao persuaded Angie Pellis to name their proposed charity Oxfam and outlined how it could build influence while benefiting Likang Trading Company. He expected Shek Chi-yik’s wife to meet them the next day and planned to recruit rejected applicants for Likang with Angie’s help.

• Song Tianyao returned to the Dulles Hotel and heard Angie Pellis describe her efforts to learn about registering a nonprofit and contact Shek Chi-yik’s wife.
• Song Tianyao rejected Angie’s formal name ideas and proposed calling the organization Oxfam, with a broad charitable mission.
• Song Tianyao laid out a plan for Oxfam’s leadership, funding, and board, including roles for Shek Chi-yik’s wife, his boss, himself, and wealthy young donors.
• Angie Pellis questioned whether Song Tianyao had planned the charity and their approach to Shek Chi-yik from the beginning, but Song dodged her question.
• Song Tianyao told Angie he would pick her up the next morning to seek talented rejected applicants for Likang, then went home to see how the medicated candy had worked.

Song Tianyao saw that the medicinal candy he had distributed had successfully expelled worms without obvious harm, then headed to work to turn the dangerous Santonin tablets into Pagoda Candy. The chapter then introduced Chunhe Private Club, where several young couples gathered in its second-floor café.

• Song Tianyao returned home, drank ginger soup made by Zhao Meizhen, and went to bed.
• Neighbors on Tai Wo Street reported that the medicinal candy had made them and their children pass worms, with no apparent poisoning.
• Zhao Meizhen told the neighbors that Song Tianyao had provided the candy as a welcome gift, while they praised his generosity.
• Song Tianyao left for work, intending to have the Santonin medicine made into Pagoda Candy for Likang's business.
• Chunhe Private Club was described as a grand postwar establishment in Shek Tong Tsui, and young couples chatted in its second-floor café to live jazz.

Zhang Yuliang met with Smith & Nephew representatives to demand delivery of the penicillin the European Coast Company had paid for. He offered a ten percent price increase to secure the shipment and silence Beryl Mayne’s objections.

• Zhang Yuliang greeted the café’s patrons, tipped a waiter, and went upstairs to meet Albert Fink and Beryl Mayne.
• Zhang Yuliang explained that he had attended a Tung Wah Group of Hospitals executive committee meeting before joining them.
• Zhang Yuliang said the company had paid two million Hong Kong dollars but still had not received its penicillin shipment.
• Beryl Mayne accused Zhang Yuliang’s companies of reselling penicillin at inflated prices and violating the embargo on sales to Mainland China.
• Jin Weikang suggested Zhang Yuliang accept a new quotation, while Beryl Mayne threatened to terminate the agency agreement.
• Zhang Yuliang offered a ten percent price increase and proposed that Smith & Nephew and Beryl Mayne receive a share so the shipment would be delivered.

Zhang Yuliang finalized a price increase with Jin Weikang while secretly using Beryl Mayne’s submission to manipulate her. He ordered Beryl to have Jin fired by Smith & Nephew and replaced as the company’s Hong Kong representative.

• Zhang Yuliang agreed to limit the price increase to ten percent and gave Jin Weikang and Beryl Mayne keys to club lockers containing gifts.
• Beryl Mayne left the tea room, and Zhang Yuliang went to his private room, where he whipped her.
• Zhang Yuliang reflected that he had used his knowledge of SM to make women dependent on him and gain influence over them.
• Zhang Yuliang told Beryl Mayne to have Smith & Nephew send a new head for its office and blamed Jin Weikang for taking a fifteen percent profit.
• Beryl Mayne eagerly agreed to do anything Zhang Yuliang asked.