Chapter Summaries

Lin Qi and Mr. Wo Delike discussed how to handle Nagaril’s growing resistance groups, with Lin Qi arguing that Natives should be empowered to deal with them rather than provoking widespread hatred. Lin Qi asked Mr. Wo Delike to help persuade the United Development Company’s Board of Directors to preserve his approach.

• Mr. Wo Delike told Lin Qi that unrest had subsided in the cities, but resistance members had fled to remote areas and gathered into stronger groups.
• Mr. Wo Delike explained that his military adviser recommended expelling the resistance members instead of eliminating them, partly to avoid damaging the company’s reputation.
• Lin Qi argued that the Federal people should divide the Natives and have them find and fight the resistance groups themselves.
• Mr. Wo Delike warned that arming Natives could let weapons turn against the Federal people and destabilize Nagaril.
• Lin Qi said Nagaril’s people were its true wealth and urged Mr. Wo Delike to oppose the Board of Directors if it chose a more destructive policy.

Lin Qi secured Mr. Wo Delike’s support for his plan to export Nagaril laborers, with a year to prove the business could succeed. He proposed sending the workers to the Amelia Region for Gefra employers, then discussed the coming elections and the consortium’s hopes for the president’s victory.

• Lin Qi explained that factions within the United Development Company disagreed over whether to cultivate relations with the Nagaril natives or exploit them through coercion, and warned that the board might soon approve harsher measures.
• Mr. Wo Delike agreed to support Lin Qi’s approach for a year, while warning that Lin Qi needed to produce convincing results before the board lost patience.
• Lin Qi told Mr. Wo Delike that the Gefra people would pay for Nagaril laborers, and Mr. Wo Delike recognized that Lin Qi planned to send them to the Amelia Region.
• Mr. Wo Delike saw how Nagaril workers could help the Gefra people stabilize the Amelia Region and weaken the Resistance, making the proposal profitable and politically useful.
• Lin Qi and Mr. Wo Delike discussed the State Election and presidential race, and Lin Qi praised the prospects of the current president’s victory while concealing his own view.

After Lin Qi rejected Sai Weiruila, Mr. Wo Delike explained to his wife why he feared letting an outstanding man marry their daughter and disrupt his business empire. Lin Qi’s fortune made him a media sensation, and he prepared to appear live on the provocative talk show Oula Ninety Minutes.

• Mr. Wo Delike comforted Sai Weiruila after Lin Qi left, but she said she was upset that outstanding men avoided her while opportunists pursued her for her family’s wealth.
• Mr. Wo Delike told his wife that Lin Qi’s faction could displace their trusted people and threaten the family empire, so he had wanted Sai Weiruila to marry a less forceful man.
• The next day, newspapers publicized Lin Qi’s ten-billion-Galil fortune, and media outlets competed to invite him onto their programs.
• Lin Qi chose several interviews, including Tidal Wave and Oula Ninety Minutes, and arrived at the live talk show’s studio shortly before it began.
• The program’s Director warned Lin Qi that there would be no script or teleprompter and advised him not to take the host’s provocations personally.

Lin Qi appeared on Oula’s show, where she tried to provoke him into damaging his public image. He turned her tactics against her, publicly accusing her of narcissism and asking whether someone close to her had molested her.

• Oula chose Lin Qi as a guest, expecting to provoke him and boost her show’s ratings, while the Director warned Lin Qi about her.
• Lin Qi thanked the Director and said he was not worried, then arrived at the crowded studio and greeted the audience.
• Oula asked whether Lin Qi thought she was pretty and suggested he was a “Problem Boy” who liked dating older people.
• Lin Qi accused Oula of misleading the audience and said that although she looked pretty, her soul disgusted him.
• Oula challenged Lin Qi again, and he labeled her behavior Narcissistic Personality Cognitive Disorder before asking whether she had been molested when she was young.

Congressman Oula’s father ordered the production team to steer her away from provoking Lin Qi, but Oula’s painful childhood memories and anger led her to ignore him. She attacked Lin Qi over his public-school background and alleged relationships, leaving him to answer her challenge.

• Oula’s father, a powerful Congressman on the Appropriations Committee, watched the program and told the production team to have her ask ordinary questions.
• Lin Qi had learned that Oula’s uncle had been heavily punished for violating Federal Law, and his remarks brought back Oula’s frightening childhood memories.
• Oula accused Lin Qi of attacking her viciously and mocked his public-school education and alleged high-school relationships.
• The production team’s Director showed Oula a prompt card relaying her father’s request to change the subject, but Lin Qi noticed it too.
• Oula ignored the prompt and asked Lin Qi whether her claims about his background were wrong, while the studio watched him consider his response.

Lin Qi turned Oula’s attack on his poor upbringing into a defense of ordinary people, forcing her to apologize and shifting the interview in his favor. As the program ended after a calmer discussion of his life, Lin Qi asked Oula where her hair clip was.

• Lin Qi used his relaxed manner and questions about Oula’s privileged upbringing to draw her into discussing her background.
• Lin Qi contrasted Oula’s elite education with his own difficult childhood and challenged her to say which of them had failed.
• Lin Qi urged viewers from poor backgrounds not to give up on themselves, then accused Oula of arrogantly judging ordinary people by her family’s standards.
• The audience demanded an apology, and Oula apologized before deciding to make her questions gentler.
• Oula and Lin Qi continued the interview peacefully as he shared stories about his upbringing, romantic life, and business ventures.
• As the program was about to end, Lin Qi asked Oula where her hair clip was.

Lin Qi exposed Oula's hidden emotional weakness after defeating her on television, and the episode's success led to two rebroadcasts. Meanwhile, a farmer living alone on a Western ranch was killed by two men who arrived in a car.

• Lin Qi explained that Oula's habit of smoothing her hair revealed her attachment to a hidden hair clip and the painful memories it represented.
• Oula roared at Lin Qi and hurried out of the studio, while Lin Qi reflected on what he had learned from a psychologist.
• The Television Station arranged two rebroadcasts after viewers demanded another airing of Oula's defeat.
• A farmer on a remote Western ranch welcomed two men he believed had come to bring him money and asked about their car.
• One of the men attacked the farmer and stabbed him in the throat.

Oula’s father ordered her to suspend her show and blamed her for her uncle’s death, while a hidden Little Pink Rabbit hair clip remained in her home. Meanwhile, Lin Qi searched for a personal assistant and interviewed Helen, ending by testing her judgment.

• Two men killed the farmer, destroyed his home in a fire, and left his body among the ruins.
• Oula’s father told her that her show would be suspended and warned that her uncle had died because of her, threatening her and her younger brother if she disobeyed.
• A faded Little Pink Rabbit hair clip sat hidden in a compartment beneath Oula’s bed.
• Lin Qi sought a personal assistant and rejected applicants he considered disloyal or unsuitable.
• Helen interviewed for the position, and Lin Qi questioned what qualified her despite her ordinary background and limited experience.

Lin Qi interviewed Helen for his service team, and her meeting-recording skills and massage earned her a place near the top of his shortlist. She left without knowing whether she had the job and returned home to find a second-hand goods company paying her family for their belongings.

• Lin Qi asked Helen why he should hire her, and she described her shorthand, meeting-minute, event-organizing, and work skills.
• When Lin Qi doubted that Helen had been a high school cheerleader, she removed her glasses and let down her hair before giving him a massage.
• Lin Qi decided Helen was among his top applicants, told her to wait for his decision, and agreed with Sergeant that they should find female bodyguards.
• Helen returned home and saw workers from a Second-hand Goods Recycling Company loading items while her father received an envelope of money.

Helen told her struggling family that Lin Qi had praised her interview, then faced mounting pressure to secure a job for their sake. After Lin Qi’s residence turned her away, she returned home expecting to disappoint them, only to find him eating with her family.

• Helen told her father about interviewing at Lin Qi’s company, and her family celebrated with a special dinner.
• Helen’s younger sister asked whether she would get the job, and Helen promised that she would.
• Helen visited Lin Qi’s residence the next morning, but the security guard said Lin Qi would not see her.
• Helen spent the day searching for work, then returned home expecting to tell her family she had failed.
• Helen found Lin Qi at her family’s table, eating Beef Ribs, and greeted him tearfully.

Lin Qi visited Helen’s family, learned about her sister’s condition, and offered Helen the job she desperately needed, along with an advance on her wages. After dinner, Helen invited him to try kissing her, saying she had brushed her teeth and eaten no garlic.

• Lin Qi praised Helen’s mother’s cooking and asked about Helen’s sister’s unusual illness.
• Helen nervously asked whether she had gotten the job, and Lin Qi confirmed he had chosen her because she needed it most.
• Helen grew emotional and moved closer to Lin Qi, but he teased her about having garlic on her breath before explaining why he had hired her.
• Lin Qi gave Helen’s family an advance on her wages, and they shared a relieved, generous dinner together.
• After her parents took Helen’s younger sister to rest, Helen asked Lin Qi if he wanted to try kissing her, explaining that she had brushed her teeth.

Helen reflected on her work as Lin Qi’s life assistant while he gave Tidal Wave an interview about Nagaril and the Federation’s economic recovery. After the interview, Lin Qi prepared to leave Bu Peien for the governor’s victory celebration.

• Helen valued her life-assistant job and understood that Lin Qi paid her well to support her family and sick younger sister.
• Lin Qi told Tidal Wave’s Editor-in-Chief that people waiting for opportunity should go to Nagaril and seek it themselves.
• Lin Qi argued that passively complaining was worse than having the courage to challenge him and try to change one’s life.
• After the interview, Helen handed Lin Qi coffee and brushed his suit while he asked whether they could leave Bu Peien.
• Helen eagerly agreed as Lin Qi prepared to attend the governor’s celebratory banquet after the uncontested election victory.

At the governor’s victory celebration, Lin Qi learned that the state planned to pursue economic opportunities abroad by sending officials and business owners to Nagaril. The chapter ended with Lin Qi agreeing to arrange a formal invitation to make the trip appear to be Nagaril’s initiative.

• Helen admired the lavish courtyard as guests watched the State Election count and the Chief Justice announced the governor’s reelection.
• The governor celebrated with his supporters and received a congratulatory call from the President, while Lin Qi watched with Adelaide.
• The governor thanked Lin Qi for his support and asked him to help receive state officials and business owners visiting Nagaril the following month.
• Adelaide told Lin Qi that more companies had gone bankrupt and the governor wanted to seek opportunities abroad, but public suspicion made a direct trip politically risky.
• Lin Qi agreed to arrange an invitation from Nagaril, and asked whether it should come from the provincial government or the royal family.

Lin Qi urged the Governor to support using Nagaril workers to cut costs and create jobs for Federal citizens abroad, and the Governor asked what it would take to make the plan happen. In Nagaril, a worker protested falling wages, but the accountant claimed the pay had stayed the same because the exchange rate had changed.

• The Governor asked Lin Qi whether Nagaril workers could be brought into the Federation, and Lin Qi warned that replacing Federal workers could provoke labor unrest.
• Lin Qi proposed sending skilled Federal workers to Nagaril and pairing them with Nagaril laborers to take on work around the world.
• The Governor asked how to make Lin Qi's plan happen, and Lin Qi told him to support him unconditionally.
• A Nagaril construction worker challenged the accountant after his daily payment fell from 121 Galil to 78 Galil, drawing a crowd of workers.
• Local overseers scattered the crowd with clubs, and the accountant blamed the reduced Galil payment on a changed exchange rate while claiming workers' wages had not changed.

As the Galil appreciated, Nagaril workers discovered that their unchanged Federal Sol wages bought less locally, while merchants fired and blacklisted those who challenged the pay conversion. Confused and angry, the short young man agreed to organize a nonviolent demand for an explanation, though Federation gunmen made the protest dangerous.

• A young worker exchanged his Galils for one Federal Sol, then was fired and blacklisted after protesting the wage conversion.
• The accountant described the workers as dangerous, while similar pay disputes across Nagaril led to violence and deaths blamed on workers in official reports.
• The Galil’s appreciation enriched Federation merchants and Nagaril rulers, while ordinary workers’ purchasing power fell and foreign-currency traders approached people outside banks.
• A short young man and other members of his group discussed why the Galil’s appreciation had not benefited workers, and an impulsive cadre urged them to make a scene.
• The short young man agreed to organize an action demanding an explanation and a solution, and stressed that they should avoid violence because Federation guards would shoot.

The Old King grew alarmed as the Federation drove Galil’s value up, Nagaril’s elites moved assets abroad, and demonstrations gathered, while he struggled to contain the Federation’s expanding influence. Lin Qi learned that protests had erupted and then joined Mayor Landon, Ferral, Mark, and other officials to discuss the transfer of power in Sabine City.

• The Old King reflected on Nagaril’s dependence on foreign trade and industry and began to despair over the Federation’s unpredictable tactics.
• As Galil appreciated, Provincial Governors, royal relatives, and other elites rushed to transfer their assets overseas, and the Old King ordered officials to keep unrest from escalating.
• The Old King recalled that he had supported the Nagaril Youth Party, led by his favored son, and had hoped its changing platform would help unify Nagaril under Federation-backed reforms.
• Demonstrations outside the square grew louder as the Old King struggled to find a way to restrain the Federation.
• Three days later, Lin Qi read a letter reporting mass demonstrations in Nagaril and blamed the unrest on falling earnings and organizers from the Nagaril Youth Party and the Federation.
• Lin Qi returned to a meeting where Mayor Landon, Ferral, Mark, and other officials discussed transferring power as Landon prepared to leave Sabine City and pursue a national parliamentary seat.

Lin Qi helped Aldrich find work and continued discussing Mayor Landon's transition from power with Landon, Ferral, and the local merchants. After Landon departed, Ferral faced the prospect of becoming mayor and asked Lin Qi whether their plans were safe.

• Lin Qi gave Aldrich a message for the Green Brothers and told them to find him a job.
• Mayor Landon and Ferral assured merchants that City Hall's support for the food factory would continue, prompting them to compete to buy it.
• Mark sold nearly all the assets under his control for around two million as Mayor Landon's era in Sabine City ended.
• Mayor Landon said he would leave some money with Mark, and Lin Qi promised to arrange work for him in Nagaril.
• Ferral admitted that power was intoxicating and asked Lin Qi what they should do next.
• Lin Qi proposed acquiring factories to create four or five hundred jobs and assured Ferral that their plan followed the law.

Lin Qi acquired struggling businesses from indebted owners while Ferral became Sabine City's interim mayor. Afterward, Lin Qi explained to Helen that the banks would not rush him to repay the companies’ debts, and he planned to strip the businesses of their value before bankrupting them.

• Ferral swore an oath on television and announced that he had become Sabine City's interim mayor until the next election.
• Jonathan and the other indebted business owners signed over their companies to Lin Qi in exchange for small checks and assistance to start businesses in Nagaril.
• Lin Qi celebrated the completed acquisitions with champagne beneath the television broadcast of Ferral's announcement.
• Helen asked Lin Qi whether he feared the banks would demand repayment for the companies' debts, and Lin Qi explained that the banks would prefer to keep collecting interest from him.
• Lin Qi revealed that he planned to drain the companies' value, split them up, and bankrupt them without repaying the loans.

Lin Qi explained to Sabine City's business leaders that he planned to restart seized factories and profit by exporting their goods, especially to Nagaril. He left them considering the possibilities of a vast overseas market while Ferral's new administration prepared to put impoverished citizens to work.

• A court-authorized liquidation stripped the Old Gentleman of his factory, and appraisers valued his stored raw materials as production waste.
• Ferral promised on television to hire people from impoverished families for Lin Qi's factories, and Lin Qi said production would resume by the third week of the month.
• At Ferral's celebration ceremony, Lin Qi told skeptical merchants that he was calculating how much profit the factories could make, not whether they would lose money.
• Lin Qi argued that exporting goods could avoid domestic losses and earn tax rebates or subsidies.
• Lin Qi urged merchants to cultivate Nagaril's market of two hundred million people, which he said could generate billions of dollars in sales.

At Ferral’s mayoral celebration, guests watched a bankrupt businessman die by suicide, while a rooftop witness who had threatened Lin Qi fled and became a murder suspect. By dawn, newly hired workers proudly used permits to enter factories, showing how badly the economic crisis had changed their lives.

• A bankrupt businessman jumped to his death outside the Sabine Hotel, and Lin Qi recalled a factory owner who had refused to sell him a factory.
• Lin Qi and Ferral discussed how businesses depended on connections, wealth, and surviving the economic downturn.
• The Old Gentleman abandoned his own plan to jump after witnessing the death, then lied to police about being on the rooftop.
• A police officer noticed dust and a stone on the Old Gentleman’s knees and ordered someone to follow him as a murder suspect.
• Ferral’s guests resumed their celebration while newly hired workers lined up at factories with permits issued by City Hall and the Labor Union.