Chapter Summaries

Lu Jingyao negotiated with Sun Zhuolin to secure support for her handicraft project and Gao Xiaoyan’s study placement in Britain. After Sun agreed to help with the paperwork, he and Lu Tao insulted Li Ye and urged her to find someone better, and Lu Jingyao crushed her glass in anger.

• Sun Zhuolin criticized stubborn young people and implied that Lu Jingyao should listen to his advice as she sought approval for Gao Xiaoyan’s study placement.
• Lu Jingyao offered to add fifty thousand pounds sterling to the project and proposed sending a second person to Britain to verify Walls Company’s strength.
• Sun Zhuolin accepted her proposal, promised to help settle the mother and child’s household registration matters, and praised her.
• Sun Zhuolin told Lu Jingyao that the Li family had intercepted the instant noodle factory investment and said Li Ye was not worth entrusting herself to.
• Lu Tao encouraged Lu Jingyao to find someone better than Li Ye, and Lu Jingyao crushed her wineglass in her hand.

At a family banquet, Lu Jingyao watched Sun Zhuolin and Lu Zixue belittle Li Yue’s business while she considered the company’s potential. Outside Qingshui Restaurant, Pei Wencong revealed Lu Jingyao’s connection to Li Ye’s work, prompting Li Yue to angrily grab Li Ye by the ear.

• Lu Jingyao smashed a cup after Sixth Uncle Lu Tao brought up finding her a foreign boyfriend, then quietly gathered the pieces.
• Sun Zhuolin and Lu Zixue disparaged Li Yue’s business while Lu Jingyao recognized the sales network’s potential and Gao Xiaoyan shrank back after Lu Zixue glared at her.
• Sun Zhuolin left the restaurant without confronting Li Zhongfa, and Lu Jingyao laughed at his attempt to act superior.
• Pei Wencong greeted Lu Jingyao outside Qingshui Restaurant and explained that he had met her through Li Ye’s work as Jonina Walls’s translator.
• Li Yue learned that Lu Jingyao had worked on secondary translations and seized Li Ye by the ear, demanding to know what he was trying to do.

Li Yue accused Lu Jingyao of accepting Li Ye’s help while looking down on him, and Li Ye clarified that he had not arranged for Lu Jingyao to work with Jonina. Lu Jingyao left to call someone and prove her claims about the novel, while her father urged her to stop pursuing the matter.

• Li Yue confronted Li Ye and accused him of supporting Lu Jingyao, including paying her through Jonina’s translation work.
• Li Yue berated Lu Jingyao for relying on Li Ye’s help while claiming independence, leaving Lu Jingyao pale and unable to answer.
• Li Ye told Li Yue he had not known Lu Jingyao worked for Jonina, and Pei Wencong confirmed that Li Ye had been surprised when Jonina introduced her.
• Li Zhongfa ended the confrontation and brought Li Ye and Pei Wencong inside to eat.
• Lu Jingyao insisted that A Song of Ice and Fire showed Teacher Ke’s writing habits and decided to call someone to prove it, despite her father’s warning that Ke Zhiyu had already distanced herself from their family.

Lu Jingyao called Liu Muhan to ask whether Li Ye had written A Song of Ice and Fire, and Liu Muhan concluded that he had helped create it with an elder. Liu Muhan urged Lu Jingyao not to give up her work managing Jonina, and Lu Jingyao left the post office in the rain still weighing her choices.

• Lu Jingyao contacted Liu Muhan, who had recently started working at the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, and explained that she had returned to China to handle paperwork for her handicrafts factory.
• Lu Jingyao asked Liu Muhan whether Li Ye had written A Song of Ice and Fire, since Li Ye had neither admitted nor denied it.
• Liu Muhan reasoned that Li Ye and Lu Jingyao's elder had likely collaborated, with Li Ye writing a Chinese draft and the elder translating it for Western readers.
• Liu Muhan reminded Lu Jingyao that her work managing Jonina was independent of Li Ye and encouraged her to keep the opportunity and invest in the mainland.
• Lu Jingyao admitted she could not easily give up her current life, then walked out into the torrential rain.

After Li Ye picked up Li Juan from her final college entrance exam, he returned home to find Aunt Li Mingyue and cousin Cui Aiguo waiting. Li Mingyue asked the family to intervene in Cui Aiguo's job assignment, leaving Li Ye to hear her compare the county Fertilizer Factory unfavorably with other workplaces.

• Li Ye listened to parents worry about university admissions as he waited for Li Juan to finish her exam.
• Li Juan said she expected to score at least eighty on the exam, and Li Ye drove her home through the rain.
• Li Ying warned Li Ye that Grandma Wu Juying and Li Kaijian were angry and might punish him, but Aunt Li Mingyue's arrival stopped him from leaving.
• Li Mingyue complained that Cui Aiguo had been assigned to the county Fertilizer Factory after graduating from junior college and demanded that Grandpa Li Zhongfa help him.
• Li Kaijian defended the factory, but Li Mingyue argued that it offered little future compared with the rapid promotion of Xiao Liu.

Li Mingyue pressed Li Zhongfa to use his connections to secure a better job for Cui Aiguo, while Li Ye made sure his cousin would not be assigned to his own factory. Li Zhongfa agreed to handle a transfer to the Grain Bureau, leaving Cui Aiguo grateful and privately convinced he had outplayed Li Ye.

• Li Kaijian claimed he might become deputy factory director, but Li Mingyue challenged his prospects and Li Zhongfa defended Aiguo’s qualifications for the Fertilizer Factory.
• Li Mingyue tried to make Cui Aiguo kneel and kowtow to Li Ye, but Li Ye dodged and Li Zhongfa told her not to play clever.
• Li Zhongfa rejected using Xiao Yue’s boyfriend or Li Ye’s girlfriend to arrange a job, and Li Ye objected when Li Mingyue proposed the Grain Bureau.
• Li Ye said the Grain Bureau was a good unit, and Li Zhongfa agreed to take responsibility for Cui Aiguo’s transfer there without promising an outcome.
• Li Mingyue urged Cui Aiguo to thank Li Zhongfa and Li Ye, and Cui Aiguo thanked them while privately believing Li Ye was easy to manipulate.

Li Mingyue complained that college graduates had become worthless and mocked the younger girls’ chances of getting into university, but Li Ye challenged her claims and Li Kaijian revealed the girls’ strong mock-exam scores. The chapter ended with Li Mingyue stunned by how well Li Juan and Zhao Meiwen had done.

• Li Kaijian vented to Han Chunmei about Li Zhongfa agreeing to help Li Mingyue’s son, Li Aiguo, transfer jobs, while Li Juan repeated Li Mingyue’s insult about her father.
• Li Mingxiang arrived with her family, and the relatives gathered for a meal that left Li Mingyue complaining about the soup dishes.
• Li Mingyue lamented that college students had become worthless and asked whether Zhao Meiwen and Li Juan would end up working in workshops.
• Li Ye explained that job assignments depended on students’ abilities, schools, and luck, and cited classmates who had found positions in the capital.
• Li Mingyue mocked Zhao Meiwen’s chances at Capital Medical University, then learned that Li Juan had scored 556 and Zhao Meiwen had scored above 520 on their mock exams.

At a family dinner, Li Ye challenged his relatives for expecting his help while refusing to trust his judgment, then explained why the county Fertilizer Factory might have a better future than the Grain Bureau. His grandfather recognized that Li Ye might be considering a joint venture with the factory, and Li Ye questioned whether his father could manage it.

• Li Mingyue criticized Li Juan and Zhao Meiwen's exam plans and complained that Li Ye had not helped her son Aiguo get into a university in the capital.
• Li Ye argued that Aiguo would not have trusted his advice and demonstrated that his relatives still doubted him by predicting the Fertilizer Factory could rival the Grain Bureau.
• Li Ye told his family that his Older Sister had returned to the capital, while Li Mingyue urged Li Kaijian to leave the Fertilizer Factory and go into business.
• After the guests left, Li Kaijian asked whether Li Ye's prediction about the Fertilizer Factory was based on research, and Li Ye explained the changing outlook for grain policy and the factory's long-term demand for fertilizer.
• Li Zhongfa realized Li Ye might want to form a joint venture with the county Fertilizer Factory, and Li Ye asked whether Li Kaijian had the ability to run a major enterprise.

Li Ye admitted that he was no manager but explained how he could direct capable subordinates, then returned to the capital after helping Li Juan learn she had topped the county exam rankings. He persuaded Li Yue to take the sales manager role at Pengcheng Factory Seven, leaving her to accept the family business’s preference for relatives unless they were incompetent.

• Li Ye told Li Kaijian that he lacked enterprise management experience but could set goals and hire people capable of carrying them out.
• Li Ye promised Wen Leyu he would return to the capital soon, then learned from Principal Chang that Li Juan had scored 606 and ranked first.
• Principal Chang asked Li Ye and Li Juan to give a study presentation, but Li Ye refused and told Li Juan she would have to speak on her own.
• Li Ye drove back to the capital with Li Dayong and explained to Li Yue why she should become sales manager instead of Zou Zhiguo or Ma Qianshan.
• Li Ye told Li Yue that the family would favor relatives unless they were complete incompetents, and Li Yue stopped resisting the appointment.

Li Ye and Wen Leyu traveled to Beijing International Airport to join the delegation heading to a Japanese film festival. After team leader Zhou Ziyuan criticized late arrivals and declared that nobody would receive special treatment, Li Ye openly said he insisted on it.

• Wen Guohua warned Li Ye not to mistreat Wen Leyu before they left for Japan, and Li Ye promised to keep her safe.
• Li Ye picked up Wang Jianqiang, who asked him to try to get a signed Momoe Yamaguchi poster for Huang Gang.
• Li Ye and Wen Leyu reached the airport after the delegation had gathered, and Director Xiong hurried them into the departure hall.
• Zhou Ziyuan introduced himself as the delegation's team leader and questioned Wen Leyu's place in the group before explaining strict rules for discipline and collective conduct.
• Zhou Ziyuan criticized people who made others wait and insisted that nobody would receive special treatment; Li Ye replied that he insisted on special treatment.

Li Ye traveled to Tokyo with the exhibition delegation, where his connections secured him and Wen Leyu private transport and VIP accommodations. Old Xie realized Li Ye had joined the delegation mainly to take Wen Leyu sightseeing, with the group giving her parents reassurance.

• Old Xie watched Li Ye for signs of challenging Zhou Ziyuan, but Li Ye followed the delegation’s rules during the flight and at the airport.
• Li Ye greeted Aqiang, Pei Wenhui, Fu Yiruo, and Amin when they arrived to receive the delegation, then continued with the group after Zhou Ziyuan warned him not to leave.
• Outside the airport, Pei Wenhui and Fu Yiruo put Li Ye and Wen Leyu in a sedan, while the rest of the delegation rode in a coach.
• At the hotel, Zhou Ziyuan objected that Li Ye and Wen Leyu had private suites, and Amin explained that Li Ye’s friendship with her boss had led them to upgrade the group’s hotel.
• Old Xie understood that Li Ye had joined the delegation to take Wen Leyu sightseeing, since her parents would not have let her travel without the group.

After the delegation arrived in Hong Kong, Zhou Ziyuan questioned Li Ye’s special treatment, but Old Xie explained Li Ye’s importance to the film industry. As Li Ye prepared to dine with Wen Leyu, Fu Guiru revealed she wanted to meet her, and she shared her favorable first impressions of Wen Leyu.

• Zhou Ziyuan complained that Li Ye was receiving special treatment, and Old Xie explained that Li Ye’s work and connections had helped secure the delegation’s unusually generous accommodations.
• Fu Yiruo told Li Ye that their mother, Fu Guiru, was staying next door and wanted to meet Wen Leyu over dinner.
• Wen Leyu hurried to choose an outfit after Li Ye told her that Fu Guiru would be joining them.
• Li Ye advised Fu Guiru to change out of her deliberately old-fashioned outfit before meeting Wen Leyu.
• Fu Guiru told Li Ye she had observed Wen Leyu helping and caring for him, and said she believed Wen Leyu was considerate and someone he could rely on.

Fu Guiru met Wen Leyu and was reassured by how much she cared for Li Ye, then joined the family for a meal with Yang Yumin and his colleagues. Fu Guiru examined Yang Yumin as a possible match for Fu Yiruo, while his roommate Xiao Ma began to suspect the family’s relationships were unusual.

• At Li Ye’s insistence, Fu Guiru changed into a plain dress, and Wen Leyu greeted her in a simple outfit.
• Fu Guiru took Wen Leyu’s hand and said Li Ye’s praise had put her at ease, then urged Wen Leyu to eat more.
• Fu Guiru asked Li Ye to identify Fu Yiruo’s boyfriend, and Wen Leyu explained that introducing Yang Yumin separately would not disrupt the tour group.
• When Yang Yumin came over with his roommate Xiao Ma, Fu Guiru scrutinized him, while Fu Yiruo told Wen Leyu that their family had high standards for looks.
• Li Ye introduced Yang Yumin and Fu Guiru, and Yang Yumin explained that Xiao Ma was a translator who had studied in a Russian-Japanese department.
• As Yang Yumin chatted, Xiao Ma wondered why Wen Leyu called Fu Guiru “Auntie” and why Fu Guiru looked at Yang Yumin so strangely.

Li Ye and his family discussed Fu Guiru’s uneasy relationship with Li Yue’s life and partner, Yang Yumin, before a confrontation over an alleged reporting rule at the restaurant. Yang Yumin publicly challenged Team Leader Zhou, and Fu Guiru began to see him more favorably as the story ended.

• Yang Yumin left Fu Guiru’s table early, and Li Ye teased his mother for making him feel interrogated.
• Fu Guiru defended her right to judge her daughters’ partners, while Li Ye argued that family approval could make married life happier.
• Li Ye and Fu Guiru finished dinner and passed the table where Yang Yumin was dining with Old Shao and Team Leader Zhou.
• Zhou Ziyuan told Li Ye to report his dinner with the two women, but Wen Leyu challenged him to produce a written rule.
• Yang Yumin defended Li Ye and Wen Leyu, citing Li Ye’s rejected study-abroad opportunities and warning that Zhou’s conduct could harm the delegation’s image.
• Fu Guiru remembered how unwritten rules had once pushed her away from her family, and Yang Yumin’s support made him more pleasing to her.

Fu Guiru resolved the conflict with Team Leader Zhou and advised Li Ye to protect Wen Leyu when trouble arose. The next morning, Li Ye and Wen Leyu traveled with the delegation, where Chu Yunling approached Li Ye about exchanging foreign currency and carrying goods, and Wen Leyu and Li Ye suspected she and Xiao Ma had an improper connection.

• Fu Guiru introduced herself to Team Leader Zhou and led Li Ye, Wen Leyu, and Fu Yiruo away after the film delegation's leaders smoothed over the confrontation.
• Fu Guiru told Li Ye to stand up for Wen Leyu in future disputes, then gave Wen Leyu and Fu Yiruo gifts.
• Fu Yiruo teased Li Ye about sneaking into Wen Leyu's room, and Wen Leyu locked herself inside.
• Li Ye and Wen Leyu rode the delegation bus together, where Chu Yunling asked Li Ye about exchanging foreign currency and carrying goods back from Japan.
• Li Ye told Chu Yunling he had a girlfriend, and Wen Leyu and Li Ye exchanged a look suggesting Chu Yunling and Xiao Ma had an improper relationship.

Li Ye and the mainland delegation reached the Tokyo Film Festival after a long traffic jam, where gossip spread about his girlfriend controlling his money. Li Ye chose to leave the official group to stay with Wen Leyu, but Liao Min’s schedule revealed that Japanese media and film companies were chiefly interested in Li Ye, stirring resentment among the other delegates.

• The delegation’s bus crawled through Tokyo traffic as its members admired the city, while Team Leader Zhou reminded them to mind their conduct.
• Chu Yunling chatted with several men about their futures, and Wen Leyu fell asleep beside Li Ye.
• After the delegation arrived, Li Ye learned that people had been gossiping about his supposedly money-grubbing girlfriend, and Wen Leyu told him she was willing to refuse requests for money on his behalf.
• The delegation split into three groups, but Li Ye left the official group to join Wen Leyu’s sightseeing group instead.
• Liao Min presented Zhou Ziyuan with an exchange schedule featuring interviews and invitations for Li Ye, prompting dismay among the film studio delegates.

Li Ye attended the film festival with Wen Leyu and their group, where a Japanese talent scout tried to recruit him and two of the women. The group drove off the scout and later sent away girls seeking Li Ye’s contact information.

• Li Ye thanked Amin for handling his exchange plans, and Amin was delighted that he thought highly of her.
• Pei Wenhui and Fu Yiruo introduced Kyojo Miyuko as the group’s guide and interpreter, and she explained that she remembered Li Ye from Peking University.
• Li Ye and the others chose to watch Typhoon Club after spotting Miura Tomokazu in its cast, and Kyojo Miyuko said Momoe Yamaguchi would not attend.
• Wamura Hachiro approached the group at a café and praised Li Ye, Fu Yiruo, and Wen Leyu as having potential for film and television.
• Wen Leyu summoned bodyguards to escort Wamura away, and Fu Yiruo and Pei Wenhui later drove off girls asking for Li Ye’s contact information.

At a screening of Typhoon Club, Li Ye and the mainland exhibition delegation learned about the Japanese idea of having four different boyfriends, including a destined boyfriend. Li Ye defended his own four-in-one appeal and praised Wen Leyu as his ideal match, leaving her holding his hand more tightly.

• Several Japanese girls laughed at Li Ye and asked for his contact information, while Fu Yiruo, Wen Leyu, and Pei Wenhui grew angry.
• At the Typhoon Club screening, Old Bear and the delegation asked why Japanese girls kept laughing at Li Ye, and Matsushita Sonoko and Kyoto Yumiko explained the four-boyfriend saying.
• The delegation members condemned the idea, while Chu Yunling suggested that women divided their expectations among four men because no man could meet them all.
• Chu Yunling pointed to Li Ye as an example of a handsome, rich, devoted man, and Li Ye replied that women seeking such a partner should also bring appealing qualities.
• Li Ye called Wen Leyu beautiful and talented and described them as a match made of gold and jade, prompting laughter from the delegation as Wen Leyu clasped his hand more tightly.

Li Ye attended a Japanese film festival and cultural exhibition, where the success of Chinese historical goods delighted the mainland delegation. He reunited with Old Song, who denied that his young companion was his wife and insisted he would never remarry.

• Li Ye watched "Typhoon Club" with Wen Leyu, who stopped him from looking at a revealing scene and pinched his wrist when he teased her.
• Team Leader Zhou confirmed Li Ye would attend a cultural exchange event showcasing "Lone Army Gazing Homeward" and Chinese ancient culture.
• Japanese visitors eagerly ordered expensive armor, weapons, and court garments, prompting Director Xiong to consider expanding the joint factory.
• Li Ye spotted Old Song at the exhibition with a young woman and went aside to confront him when he approached.
• Old Song claimed the young woman was his disciple and assistant, then insisted his late wife was the only woman he would marry and that he would never dishonor their ancestors.

Li Ye and Old Song discovered that Japanese military-history activists were disrupting the Tang cultural exhibition and attacking the historical accuracy of Lone Army Gazing Homeward and its armor displays. The dispute escalated as the activists used the film’s dramatized combat scenes to claim the exhibition was fake, leaving the delegation struggling to defend its work.

• Li Ye agreed to Old Song’s proposal that Old Song receive a larger share of the Tang Dynasty Cultural Society.
• Old Song recognized a group of Japanese visitors as likely troublemakers when they entered the exhibition.
• Gao Qiaohéjiè and his associates accused the delegation of falsifying Tang military history, displaying counterfeit armor, and carrying out cultural aggression.
• Old Song told Li Ye that the group opposed Tang cultural influence and had lost business to mainland armor sales.
• Gao challenged the heavy Mingguang Armor and cited the film’s action scenes to argue that its history was fabricated, while reporters photographed the confrontation.
• Old Xie explained that the film used artistic presentation, but Gao twisted his words into an admission that the history was fake.