Chapter Summaries

Song Tianyao gave Xianyu Shuan a chance to leave dock work for a job at Likang’s possible pharmaceutical factory and asked him to investigate North Point packaging factories producing medicine boxes. The scene then shifted to Chu Xiaoxin, who invited Lichi’s young masters to a charity ceremony he was organizing to promote Chen Judy and the singers they supported.

• Song Tianyao offered Xianyu Shuan and his wife possible jobs at Likang’s pharmaceutical factory and asked him to investigate factories packaging Penicillin or PAS Lung Tablets.
• Xianyu Shuan repeated Song Tianyao’s instructions and agreed to report his findings at the Dulles Hotel.
• Scribe Hui arrived just as Song Tianyao was leaving and began asking whether he was going to see Sister Yun.
• Chu Xiaoxin announced that he would organize a charity ceremony at the Cathedral of St John and invited the young masters to bring the singers they backed.

Chu Xiaoxin used a charity event for Oxfam’s founding to persuade singers and wealthy young men to attend and donate, following Song Tianyao’s plan. The chapter then shifted to Zhang Yuliang meeting Nie Weisheng privately, where Zhang sought his help.

• Chu Xiaoxin invited the wealthy young men at Lichi to attend Chen Judy’s charity appearance and demanded donations of at least two thousand Hong Kong dollars each.
• Fang Run'an agreed to bring Gu Mei and the Young Masters' Club, promising a separate donation of ten thousand dollars.
• The other wealthy young men agreed to attend, while Chu Xiaoxin reflected that Song Tianyao had correctly anticipated their reactions.
• Zhang Yuliang welcomed Nie Weisheng to a private dinner at Xinhui Restaurant and said he wanted his advice and help.
• Nie Weisheng recalled that his family had entered the embargoed-goods trade during the Korean War, selling Western medicine bought from Zhuxing Trading Company on the mainland.

Zhang Yuliang persuaded Nie Weisheng to pay cash for four hundred cases of Penicillin by pretending he only needed temporary financing, while Nie secretly planned to resell the medicine for a large profit. On May 21, 1951, Song Tianyao and his men prepared for the founding ceremony of Oxfam in Hong Kong.

• Zhang Yuliang told Nie Weisheng that Junlang and Wei Lin needed him to buy four hundred cases of Penicillin temporarily.
• Nie Weisheng calculated that he could earn far more by selling the Penicillin himself and agreed to pay cash without a written agreement.
• Nie Weisheng hurried away to raise the money, while Zhang Yuliang stayed behind and remarked that Nie had refused to put their deal in writing.
• On May 21, 1951, Song Tianyao greeted his boss's associates at the Cathedral of St John for Oxfam's founding ceremony.
• Scribe Hui and Xianyu Shuan directed guests' drivers to park away from the church and gave red envelopes to the reporters covering the event.

Song Tianyao attended Oxfam’s founding ceremony and saw Shek Chi-yik bring high-ranking colonial figures, including the governor’s wife, to support it. Chu Xiaoxin’s public pledge to donate medicine won the British guests’ admiration, while Song remained uncertain about Shek’s plans concerning Zhang Yuliang.

• Song Tianyao saw more than three hundred guests attend Oxfam’s founding ceremony, including Ge Mulian, He Mingguang, and Shek Chi-yik.
• Song Tianyao wondered why the head of the Customs Department had attended the ceremony instead of preparing to investigate the European Coast Company.
• Mrs. Bess presented her research on Hong Kong’s water quality at the ceremony.
• Chu Xiaoxin announced that Likang Trading Company would donate five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of deworming medicine and continue making donations twice a year.
• The British guests were astonished and impressed by Chu Xiaoxin’s pledge to donate medicine worth at least one million dollars each year.

At Oxfam’s launch, Chu Xiaoxin pledged medicine and donations flowed in as Song Tianyao learned that authorities had sealed Western medicine warehouses across Hong Kong. He suspected Shek Chi-yik was behind the operation, but realized its scale required Governor Grantham’s knowledge and authorization.

• Chu Xiaoxin’s donation and Oxfam’s British connections impressed the guests and appeared likely to earn him a Justice of the Peace title.
• Chu Xiaoxin unveiled the first shipment of Shun Brand Flower Pagoda Candy, and other guests pledged medicine, cash, Bibles, and food.
• Xianyu Shuan told Song Tianyao that police, customs, and the British Army had sealed Western medicine companies’ warehouses, including Likang’s.
• Song Tianyao reasoned that Shek Chi-yik could direct customs and involve the police, but the British Army’s participation meant Governor Grantham had authorized the operation.

Song Tianyao suspected that Shek Chi-yik’s sweeping Customs raid had a purpose beyond punishing Zhang Yuliang, so he ordered Fuyixing men to guard the warehouses where confiscated medicines were being stored. Zhang Yulin reassured Zhang Yuliang that the inspections were routine, while Zhang Yuliang left to meet Shanghai merchants.

• Song Tianyao reasoned that counterfeit and expired drugs would only bring Zhang Yuliang fines and reputational damage, and wondered why Shek Chi-yik had involved Governor Grantham and the British Forces in Hong Kong.
• Song Tianyao told Xianyu Shuan to have Gao Lao Cheng recruit one thousand Fuyixing members to guard the Customs warehouses and prevent anyone but Foreign Devils from entering or leaving.
• A European Coast Company employee told Zhang Yulin that Customs had sealed pharmaceutical warehouses and that the British Army had escorted the medicines to the Central Pier warehouse.
• Zhang Yulin told the employee and Zhang Yuliang that the raid was a response to American reports of military medical supplies being smuggled to the mainland, and predicted the companies would recover their goods within two days.
• Zhang Yuliang accepted Zhang Yulin’s explanation and left to meet Shanghai merchants in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Song Tianyao joined a public medicine donation at the Kowloon Tong Old People's Home and reflected on the contrast between its foreign residents and nearby Chinese squatters. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuliang arranged a false accusation against Song, and a crowd gathered outside Song's family home in Wan Chai.

• Zhang Yuliang asked Lawyer Pan to hire stand-ins to accuse Song Tianyao of commissioning counterfeit penicillin packaging and to arrange mocking newspaper stories.
• Song Tianyao and the charity delegation traveled to the Kowloon Tong Old People's Home to donate medicine.
• Song Tianyao saw the disparity between the foreign residents at the home and the impoverished Chinese residents of nearby Beacon Hill, and quietly said, “There will always be a chance.”
• A crowd of neighborhood women and curious passersby gathered outside Song Tianyao's family home and asked Sister Zhen to show them the money.

Zhao Meizhen tried to recruit a thousand neighbors to lay flowers at a foreigner's villa, offering them ten dollars each, but could not reassure them that she could pay. Lou Fengyun arrived with a box of Hong Kong dollars and silenced the crowd with a threat, preparing to show them the money.

• Zhao Meizhen told the neighborhood women they would be paid to lay flowers at a villa and warned them to pretend they were volunteers from different districts.
• The women challenged Zhao Meizhen to prove she had the money, leaving her unable to answer.
• Lou Fengyun heard the argument and brought Song Wenwen downstairs with a keepsake box full of Hong Kong dollars.
• Lou Fengyun threatened the neighbors, making them fall silent and step back.
• Lou Fengyun told Song Wenwen to open the box and said they could find another group if the neighbors refused the job.

Song Tianyao realized Shek Chi-yik had arranged a customs operation that let Likang pursue profits while protecting Shek and advancing his wife’s status. At the donation ceremony, Mrs. Bess publicly revealed that European Coast had cornered Likang’s deworming-medicine ingredients and doubled their price.

• Shek Chi-yik told Song Tianyao that the customs operation was Likang’s opportunity and that their cooperation would end with this deal.
• Song Tianyao recognized that Shek had enlisted the governor and British Forces to seal pharmaceutical warehouses while shielding himself from responsibility.
• After the ceremony, Angie Pellis told Mrs. Bess about the shortage of ingredients for Likang’s donated medicine.
• Mrs. Bess told reporters that European Coast had reserved Gaili Subsidiary Company’s available raw materials and demanded twice the price from Likang.

After Chu Xiaoxin’s accusation put the European Coast Company under scrutiny at a charity event, Zhang Yulin moved quickly to contain the fallout and sought help from Zhou Xiyu. The chapter left Zhang Yulin asking whether Chairman Chu was behind the powerful attack.

• A Five Counties heir warned his father that Chu Xiaoxin and the British were targeting the Zhang Family, prompting Feng Chunhua to contact Zhang Yulin.
• Zhang Yulin asked Feng Chunhua to have the Pharmaceutical Association families pay Hong Kong newspapers to delay reporting Mrs. Bess’s remarks.
• Zhang Yulin called Zhou Xiyu and truthfully explained the dispute, including Zhang Yuliang’s hundred-thousand-dollar deposit on the Gaili Subsidiary Company’s stock.
• Zhang Yulin asked Zhou Xiyu whether Chairman Chu had orchestrated the attack against the Zhang Family.

Song Tianyao watched the medicine distribution in the Jialin Road Squatter Area while old neighbors saw how far he had risen, including Li Laoshi’s family, who had broken his engagement to Li Suzhen. Elsewhere, Zhang Yulin set out to consult Zhou Xiyu and protect the Zhang Family’s reputation amid a customs raid and the threat of a public scandal.

• Zhou Xiyu reassured Zhang Yulin that keeping the newspapers quiet would leave time to resolve the crisis, and invited him to discuss it over tea with Chairman Chu.
• Zhang Yulin offered Zhou Xiyu a Huang Bi painting as a gift and ordered Chen Fu to bring it to Zhou’s home on Caughton Road.
• Zhang Yulin left his office determined to hold the Zhang Family together while his elder brothers were away.
• Scribe Hui told Song Tianyao that four of Young Master Shun’s friends had left, and Song compared their moves to a chess game.
• Song Tianyao watched Fuyixing members and police officers manage the free Flower Pagoda Candy distribution as residents recognized him and discussed his success.
• Li Laoshi, his wife, and Li Suzhen joined the medicine queue, and Li Laoshi realized why the neighbors had been watching his family when he saw Song Tianyao standing beside the aid workers.

Song Tianyao’s charity distribution was disrupted by Shek Chi-yik’s move, forcing him to reconsider his conflict with the Zhang Family before returning to Hong Kong Island. As he departed, Auntie Hong mistook his courtesy to his former neighbors for hope that he would marry Li Suzhen, while Suzhen noticed his closeness with Angie Pellis.

• Li Laoshi tried to take Auntie Hong and Li Suzhen home, but Auntie Hong left the queue after recognizing Song Tianyao.
• Song Tianyao sent Auntie Hong three bags of medicine candy and spoke with Angie Pellis about Shek Chi-yik forcing him into a dangerous clash with the Zhang Family.
• Song Tianyao told Scribe Hui to get two rickshaws so they could cross the harbor back to Hong Kong Island.
• Auntie Hong bragged that Song Tianyao had remembered his old neighbors, while Li Suzhen watched him leave and noticed Angie Pellis use the same handkerchief he had used.
• Auntie Hong reassured Li Suzhen that they could visit Auntie Zhen and persuade her to soften.

Zhang Yulin met Zhou Xiyu and Chu Yaozong to discuss the Zhang family’s interception of Likang’s deworming tablets and the public backlash. After receiving a message from his butler, Chu Yaozong fixed Zhang Yulin with murderous intent, then left to meet a young Chiu Chow man.

• Zhang Yulin visited Zhou Xiyu’s villa and joined Zhou and Chu Yaozong for tea.
• Chu Yaozong asked Zhang Yulin about the customs and British Army raids on pharmaceutical warehouses and Likang’s role in the dispute.
• Zhang Yulin admitted that A-Liang had intercepted Likang’s medicine and offered to apologize and transfer it at the original price.
• Chu Yaozong told Zhang Yulin that the Chu family and the Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce were not involved, then began to say more before Uncle Yan arrived with a message.
• Chu Yaozong glared at Zhang Yulin with murderous intent, but Zhou Xiyu interrupted by serving tea.
• Chu Yaozong left to meet a young Chiu Chow man who had come to his home.

Zhang Yuliang realized Song Tianyao had outmaneuvered him and ordered Dai Feng to have Song killed. At the docks, Gao Lao Cheng struggled with the many tasks Song had assigned him and wondered whether secretaries were all so capable.

• Zhou Xiyu explained that Chu Yaozong had tested Zhang Yulin and urged him to investigate Zhang Yuliang.
• Lawyer Pan told Zhang Yuliang that the police had raided the packaging factory and that Oxfam had launched with Chu Xiaoxin as a founder.
• Zhang Yuliang concluded that Song Tianyao had arranged the trap and that his schemes involving the deworming medicine were at risk of exposure.
• Zhang Yuliang ordered Dai Feng to arrange for unfamiliar men to kill Song Tianyao as soon as possible.
• Gao Lao Cheng complained to Mangongshi about handling Song Tianyao's many assignments and asked whether secretaries were all so formidable.

Song Tianyao ordered Gao Lao Cheng to help the police raid a North Point factory producing counterfeit penicillin packaging, prompting Zhang Yuliang to order Song's death. Meanwhile, Zhao Meizhen guarded a treasure box while Lou Fengyun counted its money.

• Mangongshi told Gao Lao Cheng that Xianyu Shuan had returned with a message from Song Tianyao about raiding a factory in North Point.
• Gao Lao Cheng recruited Lam Kong and police officers, while Fuyixing men helped raid the factory and Mangongshi arranged for photographs of the counterfeit packaging and workers.
• Lawyer Pan informed Zhang Yuliang of the raid, and Zhang ordered Song Tianyao killed.
• Zhao Meizhen barred the door and guarded the treasure box as Lou Fengyun counted 7,933 dollars and 75 cents and reassured her.

Zhao Meizhen and Lou Fengyun waited anxiously for Chen Tai after displaying the treasure money, fearing that someone might try to rob them. Elsewhere, Heizai Jie learned that the man who had attacked his mahjong den had been found and gathered his men to go after him.

• Zhao Meizhen warned Lou Fengyun that showing the money might attract thieves and prepared to defend the house with a door bar and kitchen knife.
• Heavy footsteps and pounding sounded at the door as Scribe Hui and Song Chunren urged them to open up, while Chen Tai promised to guard downstairs and call for reinforcements.
• Heizai Jie brooded over the injuries and damage the unknown attacker had inflicted on his mahjong den and recalled how he had fought to secure its territory.
• A subordinate told Heizai Jie that his men had spotted the attacker leaving a house and had recorded the address.
• Heizai Jie armed himself with brush-rest forks and ordered his brothers to gather and go to the man's home.

Heizai Jie led a violent raid on the house where Zhang Yuliang’s men and Pan Yunming were working, then learned that Dai Feng had gone to Tai Wo Street. Meanwhile, Song Tianyao crossed the harbor with Xianyu Shuan after ordering Gao Lao Cheng to have the police raid Zhang Yuliang’s penicillin-packaging factory.

• Zhang Yuliang left the house early, leaving Pan Yunming to sort through documents.
• Heizai Jie and more than twenty Wo Shing Yee men stormed the house, wounded its occupants, and set the hall and its contents on fire.
• Heizai Jie attacked a man from Boss Du’s residence and ordered his men to burn that house as well.
• Pan Yunming told Heizai Jie that Dai Feng had gone to Tai Wo Street in Wan Chai, and a wounded young man warned that the attack would bring trouble.
• Song Tianyao sat on the cross-harbor ferry with Xianyu Shuan after sending him to tell Gao Lao Cheng to arrange a police raid on Zhang Yuliang’s packaging factory.

Song Tianyao tried to pressure the Zhang family into negotiating without provoking a deadly fight, then returned to Tai Wo Street to give his mother money. There, four cleaver-wielding men ambushed him, and Xianyu Shuan retaliated with a lit bottle of kerosene.

• Song Tianyao judged that the factory raid was only a warning to the Zhang family and hoped they would meet Young Master Shun at the Dulles Hotel to negotiate.
• Song Tianyao returned to Tai Wo Street with Xianyu Shuan and Scribe Hui, gave Scribe Hui a hundred dollars, and dismissed their talk of protection.
• Song Tianyao, Xianyu Shuan, and Scribe Hui found Tai Wo Street eerily empty before two taxis blocked their way and four men attacked with cleavers.
• Song Tianyao threw a pot of boiling herbal tea at the attackers and ran, while Xianyu Shuan ducked aside and let them pass.
• Xianyu Shuan grabbed two bottles of kerosene, lit one with an oil lamp, and threw it toward the attackers chasing Song Tianyao.

Xianyu Shuan and Song Tianyao fought off Dai Feng’s men with flaming kerosene, but Dai Feng killed Xianyu Shuan and moved to attack Song Tianyao. Chen Tai’s arrival interrupted him, and the story shifted back to Chen Tai’s decision to seek help from Bo Cong.

• Xianyu Shuan threw flaming kerosene bottles at Dai Feng’s four men while Song Tianyao and Scribe Hui joined the fight; Song wounded one attacker with a watermelon knife.
• Dai Feng seized Xianyu Shuan’s lit bottle and oil lamp, kicked him down, and set him on fire.
• Song Tianyao cursed Dai Feng and vowed to kill him, but a broad-backed man arrived with several others and invoked Chen Tai.
• After telling Song Tianyao what he had chosen to do, Chen Tai went to the Mei Yin Guild Hall instead of asking Gao Lao Cheng for help.
• Chen Tai met Bo Cong, who had led Harmony Heroes men to the Golden Triangle and proposed buying the opium grown there.

Bo Cong took Chen Tai into Harmony Heroes and backed him as he quickly established a fearsome reputation in Sai Wan. When Chen Tai arrived in Wan Chai to help Song Tianyao's family, he found Song Tianyao confronting Dai Feng and stepped in to face him.

• Bo Cong recounted how he had built Harmony Heroes' opium business and decided Chen Tai was the loyal lieutenant he had been seeking.
• Bo Cong welcomed Chen Tai into Harmony Heroes with a banquet, money, a home, and shares in two opium dens.
• Chen Tai defeated five Red Poles in two days, establishing his name and securing payment from opium dens that owed Bo Cong money.
• Song Chunren found Chen Tai's family in Sai Wan, and Chen Tai hurried with his men to Wan Chai to help Zhao Meizhen guard the treasure box.
• Chen Tai arrived as Song Tianyao faced Dai Feng, challenged Dai Feng, and sent two of his men to escort Song Tianyao away while he stayed to fight.