Chapter Summaries

Song Ning arranged help for Dong Yuan to find his kidnapped younger brother, confirmed the first shipment payment had arrived, and learned that Du Zhiguo had drowned after disappearing. She wondered whether someone else had been behind Du Zhiguo.

• Huang Yongfu warned Song Ning that Hu Yuankun was ruthless and involved in smuggling and human trafficking, then left with Deng Yixing's people.
• Dong Yuan told Song Ning that his search for his younger brother at the docks had turned up nothing, and Chen Liang offered to check the port authorities and police station.
• Song Ning bought Yu Zhengyang a large selection of architecture books and hinted that he might not be returning with her in a few days.
• Song Ning checked that the first shipment payment had arrived in full and asked Chen Liang and Han Xiao about Du Zhiguo.
• Han Xiao told Song Ning that Du Zhiguo had been found drowned in uniform with his military medals pinned to his chest, and Song Ning asked whether someone else had been behind him.

Song Ning deduced that Du Zhiguo’s kidnapping had a hidden purpose, then learned Mr. Zhou had reunited with his family. After helping Dong Yuan search an intercepted labor-trafficking ship for his son, she heard that a boy called A Cheng had been taken off the ship before it sailed.

• Song Ning reasoned that the meticulous kidnapper had deliberately set events in motion and likely died after she recognized Du Mei, and Chen Liang said her deductions were close to the truth.
• At the Oriental Hotel, Song Ning learned that Mr. Zhou had found his family and smiled with relief.
• After hearing that the coast guard had intercepted a ship trafficking laborers, Song Ning went with Chen Liang and Han Xiao to find Dong Yuan and search for his son, Dong Cheng.
• Dong Yuan searched the detained laborers at Shekou Port but did not find Dong Cheng.
• Song Ning questioned two teenage laborers, who recalled a businessman taking two boys off the ship, including one called A Cheng.

Song Ning and her companions learned that Hu Yuankai had taken two laborers, and Dong Yuan decided to investigate the lead in Harbor City alone. Back in Flower City, Song Ning found a newspaper report showing that Boss Zhou had reunited with his family, and wondered whether Dong Cheng's fate might change too.

• Song Ning, Chen Liang, Han Xiao, and Dong Yuan questioned the border defense brigade, where an officer identified Hu Yuankun as the smuggling gang's boss and said his younger brother had taken two laborers.
• Song Ning recognized Hu Yuankai as the Young Master they had encountered, while the officers confirmed the captured gang members had no names or destination for the laborers.
• Dong Yuan chose to travel to Harbor City to investigate through Limping Luo's connections, and Song Ning accepted that he should go alone.
• Han Xiao questioned Song Ning about her connection to Dong Yuan on the drive back to Flower City, and she told him Dong Yuan was trustworthy and connected to the North China Military District.
• Song Ning bought several days' newspapers and found a report that Boss Zhou had reunited with his younger brother, making her wonder whether Dong Cheng's fate would also change.

Song Ning worried that her actions might have changed Dong Yuan’s fate and used newspaper stories to connect Hu Yuankai’s missing boys to the Qian family. She persuaded Chen Liang and Han Xiao to accompany her around Harbor City, though she insisted she only wanted to shop.

• Song Ning recalled that Dong Yuan had found Dong Cheng at a dock in her previous life and feared her interference had put Dong Yuan at risk.
• Song Ning read gossip reports and suspected Hu Yuankai had taken the two boys for Qian Zeshi, whose family worked closely with Hu Yuankun’s Kuntai Group.
• Song Ning asked Chen Liang and Han Xiao to take her around Harbor City, and Han Xiao warned her against getting involved in Dong Yuan’s covert investigation.
• Song Ning reassured them that she only wanted to shop and offered to buy clothes for them and their boss.
• Song Ning dressed up in her new outfit and left the hotel with Chen Liang and Han Xiao, while Han Xiao praised her and talked about their single boss.

Song Ning took Han Xiao and Chen Liang shopping in Kowloon, claiming she wanted to buy clothes for her boss. Gu Zheng arrived and played along as her darling, and she bought him seven outfits, leaving their flirtatious act on display in the boutique.

• Song Ning reached Kowloon with Han Xiao and Chen Liang and announced that they were going shopping at Harbor City Mall.
• Song Ning had Han Xiao and Chen Liang model menswear while she searched for clothes she liked.
• When the staff brought out an expensive handmade suit, Gu Zheng arrived and offered to try it on himself.
• Gu Zheng modeled the suit for Song Ning, who praised it and decided to buy it for him.
• Song Ning selected seven outfits for Gu Zheng and joked that she would support him and not let him go without.

Song Ning used a clothing shop to contact Li Lingshan and arrange a plan to catch Li Lingshan's husband with two underage boys, who might be the boys Hu Yuankai took from the boat. She and Gu Zheng went to wait at a nearby cha chaan teng, where he continued flirting instead of leaving for his assignment.

• Gu Zheng embraced Song Ning and told her he would do whatever she wanted, while the shop staff and bodyguards reacted to their apparent relationship.
• Song Ning asked to charge the clothes to Li Lingshan's account, then used the shop manager's phone to summon Li Lingshan and offer evidence that her husband was cheating with men.
• Song Ning paid for the clothes with cash and told Gu Zheng and the bodyguards that Li Lingshan's husband would take two underage boys to his Mid-Levels villa that night.
• Gu Zheng said the boys might be connected to Hu Yuankai and Black Bear, arranged for Hong Kong police to increase patrols, and warned Song Ning to identify the boys without exposing herself.
• Song Ning, Gu Zheng, and the bodyguards went to a cha chaan teng to wait for Li Lingshan, while Gu Zheng insisted on staying to share a meal with Song Ning.

Song Ning gained Li Lingshan’s trust and arranged to help her catch Third Young Master Qian with two underage boys at a Mid-Levels villa. Song Ning and her companions went to a nearby party to observe the villa, where a servant reported that something had happened outside.

• Song Ning met Li Lingshan at a restaurant and convinced her she could help expose Third Young Master Qian’s infidelity and abuse.
• Gu Zheng pretended to be Song Ning’s devoted kept man, kissing her to reassure Li Lingshan, then teased Song Ning before leaving.
• Song Ning and Li Lingshan agreed on a plan to gather evidence against Third Young Master Qian.
• Song Ning, Han Xiao, and Chen Liang checked into a hotel, then went to a party in the Mid-Levels Villa District to watch the Qian Family’s villa.
• After ten, a servant told the hostess that something seemed to have happened outside.

Song Ning and Li Lingshan exposed Qian Zeshi’s abuse of two kidnapped boys, and the Police took the group in after hearing the boys might have been trafficked. Song Ning arranged for Dong Cheng’s rescue to reach Dong Yuan, who was trapped in a Tongda Group office building as police sirens sounded.

• Chen Liang set a rubbish bin on fire while Han Xiao entered the Qian Family villa, drawing Li Lingshan and the gathering’s guests away from the party.
• Li Lingshan led the crowd into a bedroom, where they found Qian Zeshi poised to assault two teenage boys, and her media friends photographed the scandal.
• Han Xiao and Chen Liang freed the boys, and Song Ning learned that one was Dong Cheng, Dong Yuan’s younger brother.
• Song Ning told the Police that the boys were minors who had been bound for Nanyang as laborers, prompting officers to take everyone to the Police Station.
• Song Ning sent Chen Liang with Dong Cheng to give a statement and asked him to notify Gu Zheng so Dong Yuan could learn his brother had been rescued.
• Dong Yuan searched a safe in an old Tongda Group office building with Hu Yuankun’s men when police sirens began wailing downstairs.

Dong Yuan tried to crack a safe in the Tongda Group’s old office building to gain leverage and find Dong Cheng, while Gu Zheng led a police raid against Black Bear’s gang. Gu Zheng recognized his skilled opponent’s mainland accent and suspected he was Dong Yuan, who begged to be released so he could finish something important.

• Dong Yuan stayed behind to open the safe while the other bodyguards fled as police approached.
• Gu Zheng led the armed raid, pursuing the gang while secretly searching for clues about 055 and the Blue Shield.
• Gu Zheng and the Harbor City Police fought their way through the building and arrested the gangsters on the sixth floor.
• Gu Zheng entered a dark office, fought a skilled attacker, and noticed that his moves resembled Song Ning’s.
• The attacker begged Gu Zheng to let him go, and Gu Zheng quietly asked if he was Dong Yuan.

Gu Zheng let Dong Yuan leave the Tongda Group office without questioning him while the Harbor City police retrieved the safe’s contents. After Dong Yuan learned that Song Ning had rescued Dong Cheng, Gu Zheng confronted him about a seal he had thrown and asked to see what he had taken.

• Gu Zheng told the Harbor City police that someone had jumped from the office window, and they opened the safe and collected its contents.
• Yang Qi’s men recognized that Dong Yuan was not one of their team but kept quiet as they escorted him back to the Special Case Group’s base.
• Gu Zheng introduced himself to Dong Yuan and let him wait without asking about his connection to Song Ning or his presence at the office.
• Yang Qi reported that Song Ning’s plan had succeeded and Dong Cheng had been safely rescued, relieving Dong Yuan.
• Gu Zheng showed Dong Yuan the seal he had found and inferred that Dong Yuan had taken something from the safe to use against Qian Zeshi and the Qian Family.
• Dong Yuan remained silent and asked Gu Zheng for his military rank and position.

Gu Zheng and Dong Yuan joined forces after discovering a Blue Shield linked to the missing Special-Grade Researchers, while Song Ning was dragged by Li Lingshan to Balai Nightclub to celebrate her freedom. The chapter left Song Ning inside the nightclub and Han Xiao worried that Li Lingshan would order men for her.

• Gu Zheng revealed that he led the Dawn Project, and Dong Yuan showed him Blue Shield 072, which Gu Zheng connected to the missing researchers’ Blue Shields 055 and 072.
• Gu Zheng asked Dong Yuan to assist the Harbor City team while he sought authorization from his superiors, then asked him to report what he had found at Hu Yuankun’s place.
• Li Lingshan clung to Song Ning and sobbed over her marriage to Qian Zeshi before celebrating that he had finally gotten what was coming to him.
• Li Lingshan insisted on celebrating that night and took Song Ning to Balai Nightclub, with Han Xiao driving them there.
• Li Lingshan declared that she would order Song Ning the most expensive men, leaving Han Xiao uneasy as he waited in the lounge.

Song Ning accompanied Li Lingshan to a nightclub, where Li booked its top-ranked male attendants to celebrate her pending divorce. Song Ning spotted a K tattoo on A Pu’s collarbone and later saw a conspicuously large man in a passing group, before the manager announced that an important guest had claimed the attendants.

• Li Lingshan paid the nightclub manager to bring in its highest-ranked male attendants and said she wanted to celebrate leaving Third Master Qian.
• Li Lingshan danced with A Bin while Song Ning watched the attendants and pretended to sip her drink.
• Song Ning chose A Pu, noticed a K tattoo on his collarbone, and asked him about it, but he said stories cost extra.
• Song Ning left the private room to use the restroom and passed a group led by a very large, kindly-faced man.
• The manager rushed in and told Li Lingshan that an important guest had demanded the attendants’ service.

Song Ning took the drunk Li Lingshan to a room, then agreed to book the injured A Pu and brought him back to her hotel. Han Xiao saw them enter Song Ning’s room and wrongly concluded she had hired A Pu for the night, leaving him distressed that their boss had no right to object.

• Song Ning confirmed Li Lingshan wanted A Bin to stay with her, then took Li to a room after the manager called A Bin away.
• After settling Li Lingshan in bed, Song Ning found A Pu injured in the stairwell and agreed to book his remaining hours so he could escape the guests tormenting him.
• Song Ning told the manager to put A Pu’s booking on Li Lingshan’s tab and asked Han Xiao to bring the car around.
• Song Ning helped A Pu into the car and took him to her hotel room while Han Xiao watched and misunderstood her intentions.
• Han Xiao decided he could not tell their boss and lamented that the boss had no standing to object.

Song Ning treated A Pu’s whip wounds in their hotel room, then agreed to join him on a secret romantic outing. After they slipped away in Li Lingshan’s red sedan, Han Xiao followed and Gu Zheng arrived, finding a sketch of a koi in Song Ning’s room.

• Song Ning brought A Pu to her hotel room and cleaned the whip wounds covering his body.
• A Pu told Song Ning he had chosen her because he liked her at first sight and invited her to share a romantic, thrilling adventure; she agreed.
• Han Xiao reported Song Ning’s situation to Gu Zheng, who ordered him not to interfere and said he would come immediately.
• Song Ning sent Han Xiao to buy breakfast, then left with A Pu through the hotel’s back door in Li Lingshan’s red sedan; Han Xiao followed them by taxi.
• Gu Zheng arrived at the hotel, ordered a search for the red sedan, and found a sketch of a koi on the bedside table in Song Ning’s room.

Song Ning spent the day with A Pu as he took her to romantic spots around Harbor City, but she turned his attempt to overpower her at a hotel into an ambush. She incapacitated and restrained him with silver needles, while Gu Zheng arranged reinforcements after learning her location.

• Gu Zheng reflected on how Song Ning’s discoveries had advanced the spy investigations and ordered reinforcements to hurry to her location.
• A Pu took Song Ning to a food stall, an amusement park, and a revolving restaurant, culminating in a Ferris wheel proposal with a rose.
• A Pu brought Song Ning to a hotel suite and tried to seduce and pin her down.
• Fireworks and piercing whistles outside startled A Pu, and Song Ning used silver needles to paralyze him.
• Song Ning searched the suite, found ropes and handcuffs, and bound A Pu before the needles wore off.

Song Ning deduced that A Pu was using her to monitor whether his Via Harbor base had been exposed, and she agreed to accompany him as a bargaining chip. Gu Zheng and the others rescued her, uncovered the base, and returned her to the hotel, where she faced stricter supervision.

• Song Ning explained that A Pu had targeted her after learning about the mainland forces and Harbor City police operation, and deduced that his base was near Via Harbor.
• Gu Zheng burst in with Han Xiao and the others, who seized A Pu, while Gu Zheng checked Song Ning for injuries and repeatedly washed the places she had touched him.
• Gu Zheng told Song Ning that her movements had helped them narrow down the search to an old shipyard in Via Harbor, where Yang Qi and the Harbor City police were making arrests.
• Song Ning asked Gu Zheng to investigate the influential man who had visited the nightclub, and he agreed to look into him.
• Chen Liang told Song Ning that Dong Cheng had been handed over to border defense personnel in Shen City, and Gu Zheng instructed Chen Liang and Han Xiao to keep her safe before leaving.

Song Ning returned to Flower City, then took Yu Zhengyang and her companions to a construction planning symposium in Shen City. There, she told Fucheng Commune Secretary Wu that she wanted to lease the commune’s farmland rather than take land offered by the city.

• Song Ning left Li Lingshan in the hotel parking lot after hearing that the Qian Family was in trouble and promised to treat her as a friend if they met again.
• Song Ning returned to Flower City, checked on Yu Zhengyang, and invited him to join her at a formal event in Shen City.
• Song Ning checked her bank balance and found that Deng Yixing had deposited the full 1.06 million payment for the goods.
• Song Ning attended Shen City’s construction planning symposium at Fucheng Commune and told Secretary Wu she wanted to lease the commune’s farmland for a partnership.

Song Ning negotiated to lease a large tract of farmland from Fucheng Commune and waited while officials measured and priced it. Secretary Wu offered the 680-mu plot at a rounded rate of 800 yuan per mu, and Song Ning had not yet answered whether she accepted.

• Song Ning told Secretary Wu she wanted to lease farmland and marked a large area on the commune map near Luo River Village and Xiangxi Village.
• Secretary Wu agreed to measure the land and calculate a rental rate while Song Ning and her companions rested and ate lunch.
• Han Xiao teased Song Ning about her lack of interest in his boss, while Yu Zhengyang considered staying to farm the land and wondered whether Chen Yuting would join him.
• Secretary Wu returned with documents showing the tract covered 680 mu, including rice paddies, wasteland, and river flats.
• Secretary Wu offered Song Ning a rounded rental rate of 800 yuan per mu and asked whether she found it acceptable.

Song Ning secured a fifteen-year lease on 680 mu of land in Fucheng Commune for 700 yuan per mu, intending to sell it within six months because it lay on the site of future port development. The next day, she brought Yu Zhengyang to Shen City and hinted that she wanted him to stay there on his own for a while.

• Song Ning negotiated a 700-yuan-per-mu price, a three-year tax exemption, and immediate signing, then signed a fifteen-year lease for 680 mu under the name Zhengyang Construction Co., Ltd.
• Song Ning paid 476,000 yuan for the first year's rent and explored the land, recognizing it as the future site of Luohe Port and valuable real estate.
• Yu Zhengyang worried about the rent and asked why Song Ning had used his future company's name, and she told him she planned to sell the land within six months.
• Song Ning asked Yu Zhengyang what he thought of his construction books and promised to take him somewhere the next day.
• Song Ning asked Yu Zhengyang if he would stay in Shen City alone for a while, told him to bring his luggage, and set off with him and the others.

Song Ning brought Yu Zhengyang to the state-owned construction company in Shen City so he could learn about building work. After Yu Zhengyang struggled to read a professional drawing, he spotted two possible problems on it, leaving David curious.

• Song Ning showed Manager Lin her land lease and asked to have Yu Zhengyang observe and learn at the construction company.
• David questioned Yu Zhengyang about his education and experience, then offered to assess him by asking him to explain a building drawing.
• Yu Zhengyang studied the drawing but had to ask Song Ning what the fire escape symbol meant.
• Yu Zhengyang told David that the drawing might have problems in two places.