Chapter Summaries

Gu Zheng arrived at Cat-Ear Alley and found Ma Pingping and two men bound and beaten after Song Ning escaped their scheme. Song Ning explained what happened and identified Ma Pingping, then told Gu Zheng she suspected the man who grabbed her was from his Military District.

• Gu Zheng and Station Chief Wang went to Cat-Ear Alley, where Mao Yindi blocked the police from removing the people involved in the alleged assault.
• Gu Zheng found Ma Pingping and two men bound in a house; an officer explained that Ma Pingping accused Song Ning of beating her while the men claimed she had seduced them.
• Gu Zheng left Han Xiao to assist Station Chief Wang and drove to Song Ning's home, where he embraced her and checked that she was unharmed.
• Song Ning recounted how she had beaten and tied up the men and Ma Pingping before escaping through a back window.
• Song Ning recognized Ma Pingping as the woman who had shopped with Zhou Yunzhi and told Gu Zheng she suspected her kidnapper was from his Military District.

Song Ning identified the attacker as professionally trained, while Gu Zheng investigated the conspiracy and suspected Zhou Yunzhi. Song Ning discovered her news-forecasting ability reached only a few days ahead, then asked the newly returned Yu Zhengyang about flying to Flower City.

• Song Ning declined Gu Zheng's offer of personal protection, and Gu Zheng investigated the assault, learning witnesses said Ma Pingping had willingly approached and led the two men to the room.
• Ma Weiguo hurried to the hospital after Gu Zheng warned that Ma Pingping needed to confess who had ordered the incident, or she would be treated as its organizer.
• Gu Zheng increased security around He Biao and He Kui, planned surprise training exercises to find the injured soldier, and ordered Zhou Yunzhi brought back from her performance tour for questioning.
• Han Xiao told Gu Zheng that many soldiers had crushes on Zhou Yunzhi, prompting Gu Zheng to criticize their taste and call for renewed ideological education.
• Song Ning learned that her ability could reveal related news only about three days into the future and worried she lacked time to act on an opportunity involving Flower City.
• Yu Zhengyang returned late at night, and Song Ning asked whether it was easy to buy a plane ticket from Rong City to Flower City.

Song Ning and Yu Zhengyang prepared to leave Rong City for Flower City while Gu Zheng arranged their flight and briefed them on the kidnapping case. Gu Zheng saw them off with his contact numbers, and Song Ning agreed to call him after arriving, setting up an unexpected revelation.

• Song Ning confirmed Yu Zhengyang had settled matters at home, and they arrived at the Military District at daybreak to ask Gu Zheng for plane tickets to Flower City.
• Gu Zheng arranged tickets for a ten-twenty flight, and Song Ning said their trip might last over two weeks.
• Han Xiao reported that Ma Pingping denied arranging the kidnapping, while Gu Zheng ordered Zhou Yunzhi and the two men kept under close guard and warned that the training march would proceed.
• Song Ning suspected Ma Weiguo was protecting someone involved in the kidnapping, possibly because he knew the identity of the man who had grabbed her.
• Song Ning declined Han Xiao's offer to arrange an escort, and Gu Zheng drove her and Yu Zhengyang to the airport.
• Gu Zheng gave Song Ning his contact numbers and asked her to call even if nothing happened; she agreed, though he did not know she would call after landing with astonishing news.

Song Ning remembered that Du Mei had helped with the kidnapping and told Gu Zheng about her connection to a man serving in his Military District. In Flower City, Song Ning and Yu Zhengyang searched for overseas Chinese businessman Zhou Xingwang, and the chapter ended as the Friendship Store manager called him to verify Song Ning’s claim.

• Song Ning recalled Du Mei’s name after seeing a fountain pen on the plane and called Gu Zheng with details linking Du Mei to Du Zhiguo, who served in Gu Zheng’s Military District.
• Gu Zheng promised to investigate and urged Song Ning to stay safe.
• Song Ning and Yu Zhengyang arrived in Flower City to find Zhou Xingwang, an overseas Chinese businessman whose reported suicide had followed repeated failed attempts to find his family.
• Song Ning used her English and claimed to be Zhou Xingwang’s interpreter to get herself and Yu Zhengyang into the Friendship Store without the required identification.
• Song Ning selected clothes for both of them, then asked to pay in renminbi because they lacked foreign exchange certificates.
• The store manager called Zhou Xingwang to verify Song Ning’s identity.

Song Ning bought nearly five hundred thousand yuan in overseas remittance certificates from Zhou Xingwang for her hundred and fifty thousand yuan, promising to help him find his family after she dealt with the certificates. The certificates had only three days before they expired, and Yu Zhengyang worried she would not be able to use them in time.

• Song Ning convinced the Friendship Store manager to let her take the goods and privately buy foreign exchange certificates at twice their face value.
• Song Ning and Yu Zhengyang dressed in their new clothes and went to the Oriental Hotel to meet Zhou Xingwang.
• Song Ning told Zhou Xingwang that his younger brother and parents were alive in Flower City and offered to buy his nearly five hundred thousand yuan in expiring remittance certificates.
• Zhou Xingwang agreed to sell the certificates to Song Ning for her hundred and fifty thousand yuan and arranged a temporary interpreter ID for her.
• Song Ning and Zhou Xingwang went to the bank to exchange the money for the certificates, and Song Ning suggested Zhou Xingwang walk along the Flower River to find his family.
• Back in their room, Yu Zhengyang questioned whether Song Ning could use all the certificates before they expired.

Song Ning went to the Three Great Yuan Restaurant to find Master Luo and warn him that his wife and son were in danger. Master Luo let her into his private room, where she began asking about their route to the restaurant.

• Song Ning and Yu Zhengyang stopped in Flower City instead of heading straight to Harbor City, and Song Ning learned from a local eatery owner that Master Luo kept a private room at the Three Great Yuan Restaurant.
• Song Ning paid a hostess to learn that Master Luo was in Ten Thousand Blessings Hall, then warned his men that his wife and son were in danger.
• Uncle Fu brought Song Ning into the private room, where she identified Master Luo and asked whether his wife and son would travel along Taipei Road and cross Three Bays Bridge.

Song Ning warned Limping Luo that his wife and son were in danger, and the explosion at Three Bays Bridge proved her right. In return, Limping Luo offered her passage and help reaching Harbor City, but Song Ning hesitated over whether to take his men.

• Song Ning urged Limping Luo to reroute his wife and son and secretly send another car over Three Bays Bridge to verify her warning.
• Limping Luo learned that the car on the original route had exploded, while his wife and son arrived safely by the alternate route.
• Limping Luo thanked Song Ning and agreed to arrange boat tickets to Harbor City and lend her as many men as she needed.
• Song Ning told Limping Luo she did not know who had targeted his family, and he resolved to investigate people close to him.
• Uncle Fu brought Song Ning to choose from rooms full of bodyguards, but she worried that Limping Luo still suspected her and wondered whether to take any men.

Song Ning selected A Yuan from Limping Luo’s bodyguards and revealed that she knew his identity as Dong Yuan, a relative of Lei Ming’s undercover in Flower City. With A Qing and A Zhi joining them, she left for Shekou Pier with Yu Zhengyang and their bags, preparing to cross illegally to Harbor City.

• Song Ning chose the reluctant A Yuan from the bodyguards, recognizing him as the young Dong Yuan, and told him she knew who he was.
• Dong Yuan agreed to accompany Song Ning and selected A Qing and A Zhi to go with them.
• Song Ning reunited with Yu Zhengyang at the restaurant, paid the bill, and had the group collect their bags.
• A Qing drove Song Ning, Yu Zhengyang, Dong Yuan, A Qing, and A Zhi out of Flower City toward Shekou Pier to cross to Harbor City.

Song Ning and A-Yuan crossed into Harbor City and searched for electronics factory owner Huang Yongfu, hoping to buy his surplus stock and save him from ruin. They found the Yongxing factory besieged by workers demanding unpaid wages, but Huang was nowhere to be seen.

• Song Ning revealed that she knew A-Yuan's personal history and confirmed he was searching for his trafficked younger brother, Dong Cheng, promising to help after their deal.
• Song Ning, A-Yuan, and the others crossed by boat to Xingjie, drove overnight to Kowloon, and checked into a luxury hotel.
• Song Ning found Huang Yongfu's number in a business directory, but the factory contact refused to help her reach him.
• Song Ning led the group to Yongxing Electronics Factory, where angry workers demanded their wages and the people inside said Huang was absent.
• Song Ning explained that Huang had a large stockpile of unsold electronics and was in danger of suicide, then focused on finding where he was hiding.

Song Ning rallied unpaid factory workers to search for Boss Huang Yongfu, then followed a lead to his apartment building. She and A Yuan found him sitting on the rooftop edge, and Song Ning cautiously tried to get his attention.

• A Yuan learned that the workers guarding the factory gates did not know Boss Huang’s address, so Song Ning urged the crowd to find him at home.
• A worker with dyed blond hair said he knew where Huang Yongfu lived, and Song Ning’s group drove there with workers following in two trucks.
• Song Ning and A Yuan searched apartments 703 and 803, finding 803 empty and in disarray.
• Song Ning answered a ringing phone and heard a woman angrily telling someone to divorce her and stop dragging her family into his troubles.
• Song Ning and A Yuan searched the roof, found a middle-aged man sitting over the edge, and Song Ning cautiously asked if he was Boss Huang.

Song Ning promised to buy Huang Yongfu’s goods and helped A Yuan save him after he slipped from a rooftop ledge. Huang Yongfu renewed his resolve to face his debts, and Song Ning offered to buy the factory’s entire stock, with the final payment due a week later.

• Song Ning offered to buy five hundred thousand worth of Huang Yongfu’s goods, persuading him to stand up and come back from the ledge.
• Huang Yongfu slipped off the rooftop, but A Yuan caught his hand while Song Ning secured A Yuan to a steel pipe with her belt, and they pulled Huang Yongfu to safety.
• Huang Yongfu thanked Song Ning and A Yuan, vowed not to give up, and promised his workers he would pay their wages once he sold the stock.
• Huang Yongfu led Song Ning to the factory, where she inspected the inventory and found nearly seven hundred thousand worth of unsold goods.
• Song Ning offered to buy all the goods and asked Huang Yongfu to let her pay the remaining two hundred thousand a week later.

Song Ning used Overseas Chinese Remittance Coupons to buy Huang Yongfu’s factory inventory and help restart his business, then took her companions to dinner before their return trip. At the restaurant, she stood up to an arrogant Young Master Hu, who left threatening revenge.

• Song Ning paid Huang Yongfu for seven hundred thousand yuan worth of goods, and he promised to deliver the remaining shipments to Shen City and resume paying his workers.
• Song Ning and her companions went to a restaurant, where she discreetly made sure A Yuan avoided seafood because of his allergy.
• Young Master Hu demanded that Song Ning’s table leave immediately, insulting them as mainlanders when she refused to give up their seats.
• Song Ning bent Young Master Hu’s finger when he pointed at her, and Yu Zhengyang and the other men rose to back her up.
• Young Master Hu retreated and threatened them, while the manager warned Song Ning that he held grudges.

After Young Master Hu’s men slashed their tires, Song Ning and her bodyguards beat back two groups of attackers and continued toward Xingjie Pier. They arrived late at night to catch a boat back to Shekou, but something unexpected happened before it arrived.

• Song Ning discovered that Young Master Hu’s men had slashed all four tires, then she and her bodyguards defeated eight attackers and took one of their cars.
• Young Master Hu blocked the road toward Xingjie with more than twenty men, but he retreated into his car when Song Ning charged at him.
• Song Ning and the three bodyguards defeated the men, and she had one of them move the blocking cars so they could continue.
• Song Ning and her companions reached Xingjie Pier at half past ten, where something unexpected happened as they waited for the boat to Shekou.

Song Ning and her companions hid near the smuggling dock as an unusually large police operation disrupted their escape. A desperate criminal took Song Ning hostage, but police gunfire brought him down, leaving her safe in A Yuan’s arms.

• A Qing led Song Ning and the others to a farmhouse after police sirens and searchlights interrupted their planned boat departure.
• Song Ning heard someone enter the courtyard, but a powerful criminal broke into her room and held a knife to her neck.
• The criminal demanded a speedboat and threatened to kill Song Ning, prompting A Yuan to negotiate with him and the police.
• Police surrounded the farmhouse, prepared a speedboat, and withdrew their cordon when the criminal demanded space to leave.
• Song Ning ducked in the courtyard as two shots rang out, and the criminal collapsed after his dagger fell away.
• A Yuan caught Song Ning as the police rushed back into the courtyard.

After surviving a hostage situation in Harbor City, Song Ning and her companions were cleared by the police and escorted to a ship bound for Flower City Port. There, she called Gu Zheng to arrange a conversation with Lu Changqing and revealed that she had taken a blue teardrop-shaped badge she suspected was the “Blue Tears” he was searching for.

• Song Ning and A Yuan gave statements to the police, who verified their identities and issued them temporary permits after their documents were stolen.
• A plainclothes officer questioned Song Ning about lowering her head in the courtyard, but she claimed she had been terrified and exhausted, and he let her go.
• The police escorted Song Ning and her companions to the pier, where they boarded a ship to Flower City Port.
• Song Ning asked A Yuan to take the others to a restaurant, then used a telephone at the port administration office to call Gu Zheng.
• Song Ning asked Gu Zheng to arrange a call with Lu Changqing within an hour, then examined the blue teardrop-shaped badge she had taken from the dead robber and decided to keep it until she could confirm its connection to Blue Tears.

Song Ning called Lu Changqing to ask whether the blue, teardrop-shaped badge she had seen was Blue Tears, but he refused to confirm anything and warned her not to investigate. She then described the badge to Gu Zheng, who recognized its significance and asked for the three-digit number hidden inside; Song Ning found 055.

• Song Ning called Lu Changqing and asked whether Blue Tears was a badge, but he warned her that it was top secret and urged her not to speculate.
• Lu Changqing asked Song Ning when she would return, and she ended the call after insisting she had been trying to help her grandfather.
• Gu Zheng grew jealous and upset after Song Ning called Lu Changqing from his office and hung up without speaking to him.
• Song Ning called Gu Zheng again and described a crystal-clear blue badge shaped like a teardrop that she had with her.
• Gu Zheng told Song Ning to check the badge for a three-digit number, and she reported that it read 055.

Song Ning secured military protection and went to Flower City's Gao Di Street to negotiate exclusive distribution for her Hong Kong electronics with Deng Yixing. Deng questioned the appeal of her offer, and Song Ning showed him a better price list for orders over one hundred thousand.

• Gu Zheng identified Song Ning's Blue Shield and urgently arranged security, while Song Ning told A Yuan and the others to wait near the docks.
• Two soldiers from the South Military District met Song Ning and Yu Zhengyang and drove them to Gao Di Street.
• Song Ning found Deng Yixing's shop and proposed that he become the exclusive distributor for her brand's televisions and tape recorders.
• Deng reviewed Song Ning's certificates and price list but said the deal did not appeal to him at the quoted prices.
• Song Ning explained that the first list applied only to orders exceeding one hundred thousand and handed Deng a second price list.

Song Ning persuaded Deng Yixing to buy Yongxing electronics by presenting competitive prices, product samples, and news of Chen Yawen’s upcoming endorsement. Deng agreed to become the mainland exclusive distributor, and Huang Yongfu planned to meet him the next day to finalize the contract.

• Song Ning showed Deng Yixing Yongxing’s product information, tested samples with him, and offered increasingly favorable price lists for larger orders.
• Song Ning told Deng that beauty queen Chen Yawen would soon endorse Yongxing, explaining that the campaign could boost demand.
• Deng decided to take all the stock he could handle and asked for the fourth price list, which Song Ning provided.
• Deng agreed to become Yongxing’s exclusive mainland distributor, subject to a formal contract and coordination between the endorsement and stock distribution.
• Song Ning called Huang Yongfu, who agreed to visit Deng the next day to discuss the distribution agreement.
• Deng learned Song Ning was only a one-time middleman and praised her for helping both the manufacturer and his business.

Song Ning finalized a large deal with Deng Yixing and told Yu Zhengyang they could make a substantial profit. Gu Zheng arrived, identified the badge Song Ning found as belonging to a missing Blue Shield comrade, and left reassured that Song Ning’s engagement to Lu Changqing had been called off.

• Deng Yixing signed a contract to buy Song Ning’s goods in three batches and pay her as each batch arrived.
• Song Ning told Yu Zhengyang they expected to profit at least three hundred thousand yuan from the deal, and said they had more plans for the money.
• Gu Zheng arrived, noticed Song Ning’s neck wound, and asked her to show him the badge she had found.
• Gu Zheng identified the badge as Blue Shield number 055 and asked Song Ning to explain how she had found it.
• Song Ning agreed to leave the badge with Gu Zheng, and he arranged for his own security detail to protect her.
• Gu Zheng asked whether Song Ning had contacted Lu Changqing about their engagement, and Song Ning said it had been called off; Gu Zheng said he was relieved he still had a chance to compete for her.

Song Ning navigated Gu Zheng’s advances and then went with her companions to Flower City Port to collect Yongxing’s first shipment. There, she helped Huang Yongfu review his distribution contract and asked whether he knew the domineering Young Master Hu.

• Gu Zheng hugged Song Ning, asked her to consider him if she ever wanted a relationship, and left when his team called him away.
• The next morning, Chen Liang and Han Xiao brought Song Ning breakfast and changed her dressing before accompanying her and Yu Zhengyang to the port.
• At the docks, Song Ning introduced her Flower City friends to A Yuan, A Qing, and A Zhong, whose military backgrounds led them to scrutinize one another.
• Song Ning and the others inspected Yongxing’s shipment, and Deng Yixing’s people hauled the goods away.
• Huang Yongfu asked Song Ning to review his exclusive distribution contract, and she advised him to make the partnership mutually beneficial.
• Song Ning asked Huang Yongfu whether he knew the domineering Young Master Hu she had encountered in Tsim Sha Kok.