Chapter Summaries

Li Ye and Wen Leyu spotted Bian Jingjing and Sun Xianjin growing closer after Sun Xianjin received a place to study at Moscow University. After hearing an intimate encounter from outside the Lone Army Literary Society, Wen Leyu became wary of being alone with Li Ye, and he reassured her that he would wait until graduation.

• Li Ye and Wen Leyu discussed Yu Lichen’s disappearance after his deception by Wang Zekun was exposed.
• Li Ye and Wen Leyu saw Bian Jingjing wearing high heels and holding Sun Xianjin’s arm, and Li Ye linked her change in behavior to Sun Xianjin’s upcoming studies abroad.
• Bian Jingjing led Sun Xianjin into the Lone Army Literary Society, and Li Ye quietly took Wen Leyu away after they heard intimate sounds from inside.
• Wen Leyu changed their lunch plans and avoided quiet, secluded paths, leaving Li Ye confused by her sudden distance.
• Wen Leyu admitted that hearing the sounds had made her worry Li Ye might become like Sun Xianjin, and Li Ye promised to wait until graduation before pursuing greater intimacy.

Li Ye helped Sun Xianjin and Bian Jingjing’s families settle their engagement, then arranged an opportunity for his Fenghua Apparel contact to explore trade across the northern border. He recruited Jin Peng to lead a scouting party to Russia, where Jin Peng eagerly accepted the risks.

• Sun Xianjin told Li Ye that both families were coming to the capital to discuss his relationship with Bian Jingjing, and Li Ye agreed to attend as their matchmaker.
• Li Ye brought the families together, and Bian Jingjing accepted Sun Xianjin’s grandmother’s gold bracelet as a gift while promising to visit her in Black Province.
• Sun Maolin gave Li Ye gifts and explained his family’s border-trade connections, so Li Ye asked him to help a Fenghua Apparel seller test the Russian market.
• Li Ye told Jin Peng to choose someone to scout business opportunities in Russia, but Jin Peng volunteered to lead the trip himself.
• Li Ye told Jin Peng to take twenty people with combat experience because the venture was risky, and Jin Peng welcomed the danger.

Wang Jianqiang hosted his relatives at his capital courtyard before they were to propose to the Huang family, but his elders criticized him for spending money on himself and refusing their requests. After Wang Jianqiang confronted them over his family’s past treatment of him, his parents sided with the elders, and Wang Dasheng intervened to keep the engagement plans from being derailed.

• Wang Jianqiang brought his relatives to his courtyard, where they admired his spacious home and furnishings and learned that he had made a success of himself.
• Wang Dasheng praised Wang Jianqiang and explained why Li Zhongfa had been invited to serve as matchmaker.
• Third Uncle, Fourth Granduncle, and Fifth Uncle criticized Wang Jianqiang for owning expensive appliances while refusing to lend money or find a relative a job.
• Wang Jianqiang reminded the elders that he had rebuilt his family home, helped Wang Dayong marry, and sent Fan Chunhua money each month.
• Wang Daguang and Fan Chunhua sided with the elders and accused Wang Jianqiang of disrespecting them and hiding money.
• Wang Dasheng rebuked the relatives and urged Wang Jianqiang not to worry that they would spoil his engagement plans.

Wang Jianqiang hosted his relatives in the capital but refused to let them exploit his success or move in with him. His uncles plotted to demand favors while helping with his engagement, only to learn it had already happened and find themselves sent home without food or money.

• Wang Jianqiang fed his uncles and arranged hotel rooms, while Second Master Wang recognized that they could no longer push him around.
• Wang Dasheng scolded Wang Daguang and Fan Chunhua for failing to defend Wang Jianqiang and warned them against moving to the capital to live with him.
• Wang Jianqiang's uncles plotted to ask him for jobs and other favors while helping arrange his engagement.
• After waiting all day at the hotel, the uncles learned from Second Master Wang that Wang Jianqiang's engagement had already taken place.
• Second Master Wang discovered that the uncles had neither food coupons nor money, and led them toward the train station to return home hungry.

Wang Jianqiang hosted Huang Suwen’s relatives at his courtyard and defended his decision to keep some Wang relatives from the engagement banquet. Li Zhongfa recognized how much Wang Jianqiang had changed, leaving his parents puzzled by his praise.

• Huang Suwen’s relatives inspected Wang Jianqiang’s spacious courtyard and became pleased with the match.
• Wang Daguang and Fan Chunhua worried that Wang Jianqiang’s uninvited relatives would cause trouble, but he said he had planned for their late arrival.
• Wang Jianqiang told his parents he would support them but would not let them burden him with endless obligations to his relatives.
• Li Zhongfa challenged Wang Daguang and Fan Chunhua to put their son before relatives who had done little to help them.
• Li Zhongfa learned that Wang Jianqiang had studied diligently and had strategically given clothes and future job promises to selected relatives.
• Li Zhongfa praised Wang Jianqiang for having made something of himself, while his parents wondered what he meant.

Li Zhongfa learned that Nakamura Naoto had gone missing and worried Li Ye might be implicated because of their past clashes. He Xue’s loose remark about Li Ye earned her a brutal beating from Master Duo, who planned to send her abroad, but she insisted on staying with him.

• Li Yue cried because she missed her grandmother, and Li Zhongfa promised to invite Wu Juying to the capital.
• Jiang Hong told Li Zhongfa that Nakamura Naoto was missing and that the police might question Li Ye after an instructor said Li Ye had been at the training class.
• Li Ye recounted his past disputes with Nakamura Naoto, while Li Zhongfa decided to accompany him to the school the next day.
• He Xue enjoyed teaching her class, then went with Master Duo to his apartment.
• Master Duo beat He Xue for talking about Li Ye and offered to send her overseas, but she said she wanted to stay by his side.

Li Ye and his grandfather attended a public security inquiry about Nakamura Naoto’s disappearance, where Nakamura Hironao’s interpreter tried to treat Li Ye as a suspect and pressure the authorities. After the inquiry ended without serious questioning, Li Zhongfa explained that the case officers and Capital University were not treating the matter as urgent because it was unclear whether Nakamura had disappeared in the capital.

• Li Ye and Li Zhongfa arrived at Capital University’s security office, where two public security officers questioned Li Ye in the presence of Nakamura Hironao and his interpreter.
• Li Ye rebuked the interpreter for trying to interfere in a domestic investigation, then answered the officers’ questions about his past encounters with Nakamura Naoto.
• The investigator asked whether Li Zhongfa’s wartime service and Li Ye’s alleged hostility toward Japanese people made them suspicious, and Li Zhongfa challenged the interpreter’s reasoning.
• The officers ended the inquiry after about ten minutes, while Nakamura Hironao apologized to Li Zhongfa and asked everyone to help find his son.
• After they left the university, Li Zhongfa told Li Ye that the authorities did not consider the case urgent because Nakamura might have disappeared in Peng City rather than the capital.

After Li Ye and Li Zhongfa returned to Zaojunmiao, Old Song came to apologize for causing trouble and announced that he planned to take his business to Japan. Li Ye later asked his mother, Fu Guiru, to set up a team to watch Yokohama Nakamura Corporation because they had provoked him.

• Li Zhongfa questioned Jiang Hong about whether Old Song had caused trouble for Li Ye, then learned Old Song had already been released.
• Li Ye met Old Song, who apologized to Li Zhongfa for mishandling things and causing trouble for the Top Scholar.
• Old Song said he planned to take his business overseas, choosing Japan because he wanted to make the Japanese pay for their past crimes.
• Old Song demonstrated that he had learned Japanese, while Li Zhongfa warned him about going to Japan alone.
• Li Ye spoke with Fu Guiru about their investments, then asked her to form a team to monitor Yokohama Nakamura Corporation.

Fu Guiru agreed to pursue an acquisition of Nakamura Corporation after learning that its president blamed Li Ye for Nakamura Naoto’s disappearance and that Naoto had pursued Xiao Yu. Meanwhile, Nakamura Hironao learned that the antiques he sought had been confiscated, leaving him and his secretary wondering whether Naoto had fled with Ai Zhixin and the money.

• Li Ye told Fu Guiru that Nakamura Hironao suspected him of involvement in Naoto’s disappearance and urged her to acquire Nakamura Corporation.
• Fu Guiru initially worried about the cost, but she changed her mind after Li Ye revealed that Naoto had pursued Xiao Yu.
• Nakamura Kenshou scolded Hironao over Zhong Ai Machinery Company’s losses, the missing antiques, and Naoto’s disappearance, then gave him one final chance.
• Hironao learned that Nakamura Kenshou had sent him to the Lighthouse and suspected Qiming might be involved in Naoto’s disappearance.
• Hironao’s secretary brought news that Guan Cihui and Guan Ciying had been identified as cultural relic smugglers, meaning the antiques had been confiscated.
• Hironao’s secretary asked whether Naoto had fled with Ai Zhixin and the money, then wondered whether they should flee too.

Master Duo took charge of Old Song’s Capital City business and learned that He Xue’s past involvement in Li Ye’s breakup had unexpectedly helped her. At Beijing University, Li Ye and Sun Xianjin handed out tickets for their new film while Li Ye reflected on his dormmates’ hopes for love.

• Old Song and Tan Min visited Duoxing and gave him sole responsibility for managing their Capital City business, while Old Song warned him about He Xue’s grudge against Li Ye.
• Duoxing confronted He Xue about her role in Lu Jingyao’s breakup with Li Ye, warned her not to provoke powerful people, and learned she had urged Lu Jingyao to send Li Ye 45 yuan.
• At Beijing University, Li Ye and Sun Xianjin distributed tickets for their film Lone Army Gazing Homeward and joked with their dormmates about finding girlfriends.
• Li Ye encouraged Wu Runfu, Chen Sihai, and the others not to give up on love, while reflecting on how young men’s romantic ideals could fade with experience.

Li Ye’s promotional short helped Lone Army Gazing Homeward become a huge hit, drawing enthusiastic audiences in China and Nanyang. Chang’an Film Studio’s crew asked whether the film could win an Oscar, and Li Ye said it had a chance but that success would not be easy.

• Wu Runfu, Chen Sihai, and the other roommates took female classmates to the movies, but the girls sat together while Li Ye and Sun Xianjin advised the roommates to keep pursuing them.
• Audiences watched a grand music short about the Tang Dynasty before Lone Army Gazing Homeward, and Wen Leyu praised Li Ye for insisting on its production.
• The audience applauded the film, and Wen Leyu tried to buy tickets to see its costumes again, but the theater was sold out.
• Lone Army Gazing Homeward became a major hit, including in Singapore and Malaysia, and Director Xiong brought gifts and newspaper reviews to Li Ye.
• Director Xiong asked whether the film could compete for an Oscar, and Li Ye said it had a chance but winning would be difficult.

Li Ye learned that his influence over casting had made him a target of caution, while directors from Chang'an Film Studio and Capital City Film Studio asked to adapt one of his novels. The chapter ended with Li Ye telling them that choosing whether to film Deserter in the Flames of War was not up to him.

• Pan Hong asked Li Ye for feedback on her interpretation of Tan Qi, but Director Xiong stopped him from giving an opinion.
• Director Xiong warned Li Ye that his recommendations carried weight and urged him to avoid commenting on Pan Hong's casting.
• Li Ye discussed Pan Hong's divorce from Director Mi and the rumors surrounding her, while Director Xiong said several directors would soon consult him about casting.
• Representatives from Chang'an Film Studio and Capital City Film Studio asked Li Ye to adapt one of his novels for film.
• Li Ye guessed they meant Undercover, but they said they wanted to film Deserter in the Flames of War, and he replied that the decision was not his to make.

Li Ye considered whether Capital City Film Studio should adapt Deserter in the Flames of War and asked Wen Leyu's family to check the relevant officials' views. At a family dinner, Pan Xiaoying hinted that the Computer Institute planned to abandon Li Ye and his collaborators, but Teacher Ke's response left Pan Xiaoying feeling less welcome than Li Ye.

• Director Xiao urged Li Ye to provide a script soon so Capital City Film Studio could begin filming Deserter in the Flames of War, and Li Ye said he would consider it.
• Li Ye asked Wen Leyu to have her family check whether the adaptation would be acceptable, and Wen Leyu explained that the studio was responding to recent promotions among influential officials.
• A week later, Li Ye cooked at the Wen family home while Pan Xiaoying asked him to teach Wen Guohua to cook and then warned that the Computer Institute planned to dump his group.
• Li Ye suspected Pan Xiaoying was trying to provoke a discussion about Ning Pingping, but Teacher Ke's remarks about everyone helping with family work implicitly rebuked Pan Xiaoying.

Li Ye secured family support for the program-controlled switch dispute and discussed his screenplay plans, then met Great God Ni with Hong Kong computer materials and raised the possibility that Postal and Telecommunications Factory No. 4 had taken his research. Great God Ni denied knowing of the project, but Li Ye’s question about a leak left him sweating.

• Pan Xiaoying admitted she knew Li Ye had connected the parties behind the program-controlled switch project and promised to help block others from taking advantage of him.
• Teacher Ke told Li Ye that the screenplay for Deserter in the Flames of War would follow the novel closely and asked whether he wanted a career in the Ministry of Culture, but Li Ye said he preferred economics and manufacturing.
• Wen Leyu drove Li Ye home and told him Pan Xiaoying would help because the switch project’s credit was valuable and the Wen family expected her to support them.
• Li Ye arranged to meet Great God Ni and brought him a stack of recent computer journals from Hong Kong Island.
• Li Ye asked Great God Ni about Postal and Telecommunications Factory No. 4 developing a domestic program-controlled switch, then suggested Ni’s research might have been leaked, making Ni break into a sweat.

Great God Ni confronted Liu Lianxiang over his plan to seize the Hong Kong investors’ program-controlled switch research, and tried to protect their agreement. Liu remained determined to block the deal, leaving Great God Ni questioning whether the mainland’s way of doing things could help technology develop.

• Great God Ni assured Li Ye that the institute’s research had not been leaked and said its final tests were imminent, while Li Ye told him the Hong Kong investors would inspect the work soon.
• Great God Ni arrived at the institute and found Liu Lianxiang with two outsiders, the prototype samples dismantled, and the experimental data missing from its cabinet.
• Liu Lianxiang admitted he wanted to commission another unit to manufacture and sell the switch, while Great God Ni warned that the research belonged to the Hong Kong side under their contract.
• Great God Ni revealed that he had altered the samples so nobody else could restore them, and Liu learned the Hong Kong team would arrive the next day to inspect progress.
• Liu accused Great God Ni of siding with the Hong Kong investors and threatened that the postal and telecommunications department would not buy their switches or let the wager bonus go through.

Great God Ni watched Manager Liu present the program-controlled switch to factory representatives, only for Director Pan and a Hong Kong delegation to arrive and expose a competing development claim. Pan Xiaoying directed Liu to discuss everything beyond technical matters with the Hong Kong side, leaving Liu convinced that Great God Ni had betrayed him.

• Great God Ni recalled how colleagues had begun treating him as an obstacle after Manager Liu promised them a lucrative path to wealth.
• Manager Liu demonstrated the prototype to Director Jiao and factory representatives, boasting that it met international standards and could win an award.
• A colleague announced that Director Pan would visit with the Hong Kong delegation, surprising both Liu Lianxiang and Director Jiao.
• Director Pan arrived with Veronica and Li Ye, praised the unit's achievement, and asked Liu Lianxiang how its switch compared with Postal and Telecommunications Factory No. 4's.
• After Director Pan left, Pan Xiaoying told Liu Lianxiang that her group handled only technical matters and that he should discuss everything else with the Hong Kong side.
• Liu Lianxiang accused Great God Ni of stabbing him in the back.

After the Hong Kong team approved the switchboard for market testing, Pan Xiaoying and Veronica completed the data handover and left Liu Lianxiang’s banquet invitation unanswered. Li Ye’s effort to raise Great God Ni’s standing made Liu suspect the two were aligned, while Pan Xiaoying offered to move Ni to a Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications enterprise so Li Ye could arrange a joint venture.

• Pan Xiaoying’s pilot team, Great God Ni’s researchers, and the Hong Kong crew verified the product and concluded it was ready for market testing.
• Veronica demanded the experimental data, and Liu Lianxiang completed the handover while Pan Xiaoying and Veronica declined his banquet invitation.
• Liu Lianxiang called for a summary meeting and questioned Great God Ni about Li Ye’s apparent effort to promote him.
• Pan Xiaoying took Li Ye to a Western restaurant, where she pressed him about helping Great God Ni and warned that Liu could use his control of the funds to constrain the engineer.
• Pan Xiaoying offered to transfer Great God Ni to a weaker-performing enterprise so Li Ye could arrange foreign investment, but Li Ye doubted he would have any real say in the resulting joint venture.

Li Ye and Wen Leyu debated how to structure a venture with Pan Xiaoying, then brought the proposal to Teacher Ke. After Uncle Peng praised Li Ye’s script, he questioned his ties to Pei Wencong, and Teacher Ke explained Li Ye’s foreign-currency earnings and plans to invest them in the mainland.

• Pan Xiaoying offered to partner with Li Ye and promised to keep other family members from interfering, while Li Ye said he would consult the Hong Kong side.
• Wen Leyu objected that Pan Xiaoying would gain credit without sharing the investment risk and insisted that Teacher Ke should decide the terms.
• Li Ye explained that Hong Kong capital had helped the telecommunications project move quickly by bringing foreign currency into the mainland, and he agreed that Teacher Ke should make the decision.
• Li Ye and Wen Leyu went to the COFCO Compound to tell Teacher Ke about Pan Xiaoying’s proposal, but Teacher Ke was away delivering Li Ye’s script for Deserter in the Flames of War.
• Uncle Peng praised Li Ye’s script and asked Teacher Ke about Li Ye’s relationship with Pei Wencong, prompting her to explain Li Ye’s past foreign-currency donations and his plan to reinvest future profits in mainland manufacturing.

Teacher Ke told Uncle Peng about Li Ye’s plan to reinvest profits in the mainland for twenty years, winning his approval, then discussed Li Ye’s future path and his optimism about the economy with the Wen family. After hearing about Pan Xiaoying’s proposal for a telecommunications joint venture, Teacher Ke considered how it might serve both Li Ye’s business and Pan Xiaoying’s career.

• Teacher Ke explained Li Ye’s twenty-year investment agreement and his ambition to take mainland enterprises overseas afterward, and Uncle Peng praised Li Ye and approved of his vision.
• Teacher Ke worried about whether Li Ye should follow a bureaucratic career path or a freer business path as she left Uncle Peng’s home.
• Teacher Ke returned home, joined Li Ye and the Wen family for drinks, and recounted Uncle Peng’s praise.
• Li Ye told the family he expected the mainland to become the center of global economic development over the next fifty years.
• Wen Leyu raised Pan Xiaoying’s proposal for a joint venture with units in the Postal and Telecommunications System, and Li Ye warned that its leadership could make the partnership difficult.
• Teacher Ke concluded that Pan Xiaoying likely sought both business results and a route to promotion, and hinted that Li Ye could combine the Qi Sect and Sword Sect approaches.

Li Ye helped Pan Xiaoying and Yang Suiyan negotiate a potential joint venture with Veronica, who offered at least five million US dollars pending an inspection and requested skilled workers for a factory in Pengcheng. Meanwhile, Great God Ni learned that his technical team had received only equal 220 RMB payouts instead of the overtime pay he had promised, leaving him to confront a dispute over egalitarian pay.

• Pan Xiaoying told Li Ye that Veronica wanted to discuss a joint venture, and she agreed to handle the negotiations herself.
• Pan Xiaoying brought Factory 506 director Yang Suiyan to meet Veronica at the Beijing Hotel.
• Veronica expressed interest in investing at least five million US dollars in Factory 506 and asked Yang Suiyan to recruit skilled workers for the Pengcheng factory.
• Yang Suiyan agreed to provide up to two hundred workers if the investment went ahead.
• Great God Ni returned to his company with watermelons and found his technical team angry over their 220 RMB payouts.
• Xiao Zheng told Great God Ni that Manager Liu had distributed equal payments instead of the promised overtime pay, and Great God Ni questioned why egalitarianism had overridden their agreement.