Recaps

Su Can urged Zhao Hao to build Shangmai into a digital music industry leader by investing in emerging music copyrights and preparing for mobile ringback tones. After dinner, Su Can and Nie Xiao exchanged phone numbers, and he left to meet Tang Wu.

• Su Can explained why traditional album sales frustrated consumers and argued that Shangmai should adapt its business to customers’ habits.
• Su Can told Zhao Hao he believed in his abilities and wanted Shangmai to become the mainland music industry’s leader, moving Zhao Hao and Zhang Lin with his confidence.
• Su Can urged Zhao Hao to buy valuable traditional and digital copyrights while they were cheap, especially in anticipation of mobile ringback tone services.
• Zhao Hao worried that acquiring over half of the valuable copyrights would leave Shangmai unable to use them, and Su Can told him to prepare to build a digital music empire.
• After dinner, Nie Xiao exchanged phone numbers with Su Can and asked whether Tang Wu’s message was from his girlfriend; Su Can confirmed it before riding away on his bicycle.

Su Can read about Su Licheng’s sweeping personnel reshuffle at Big Banyan Construction and reassured Tang Wu that his father could handle the backlash. Tang Wu affirmed her trust in Su Can, and the couple shared a kiss on the plane.

• Su Can read a newspaper report describing Su Licheng’s centralization of authority and major personnel changes at Big Banyan Construction.
• Su Can reflected that Su Licheng had spent time building support before moving against lingering resistance within the company.
• Tang Wu asked Su Can whether the reshuffle might cause problems, and he said his father’s actions served the company’s goals.
• Tang Wu told Su Can that she trusted him and recalled how their relationship had changed her outlook on the future.
• Su Can asked Tang Wu to move closer, and she kissed him before returning to her seat.

Su Can returned to Rongcheng for summer break, enjoyed settling back into family life, and reflected on how his relationship with Tang Wu and his own life had changed. He also considered Su Licheng’s efforts to restructure Big Banyan Construction, whose strong performance had given him room to push through reforms.

• Su Can came home to find changes around the house, caught up with Zeng Ke, and thought about his year with Tang Wu and how quickly his life had changed.
• Residents of the compound welcomed Su Can warmly, and visitors soon crowded the family home with gifts and business matters for Su Licheng.
• Tong Jianjun praised Su Can at a welcome meal, then agreed with Su Licheng that Big Banyan Construction’s changes needed to proceed gradually.
• Su Can rested at home, spoke with Tang Wu by phone, and decided to delay visits to Shushan and Dunhuang.
• Su Can recalled his conversation with Su Licheng about consolidating control, delegating operational authority, and restructuring Big Banyan Construction.
• Su Can reviewed the group’s rising contracts, output, and profits, which strengthened Su Licheng’s case for reform and Wang Bu’s position against critics.

Su Can spent the holidays with his parents as Su Licheng discussed the sweeping reforms he had made at Big Banyan Construction and invited Su Can and Zeng Ke to the provincial outstanding entrepreneur selection. At the Shangri-La Hotel, Su Can and Guo Xiaozhong arrived amid prominent business families, while uncertainty remained over whether Su Licheng’s reforms would cost him a place on the list.

• Su Licheng asked Su Can to spend more time at home during the holidays, and invited him and Zeng Ke to the entrepreneur selection banquet.
• Su Can praised Su Licheng’s performance-based reforms at Big Banyan Construction, and Su Licheng said Yu Zechao and Uncle Jin had helped refine the plan.
• Su Can and Zeng Ke rode to the Shangri-La Hotel with Guo Xiaozhong, who had recently reconnected with Zhao Xin, Yang Zhao, and other children of Head Office employees.
• At the hotel, Guo Xiaozhong felt self-conscious after a young man mocked his clothes, and Su Can reassured him as they observed the gathering of prominent families.
• Guo Xiaozhong asked whether Su Licheng could become Xichuan Province’s calling card, while Su Can wondered whether the backlash against his father’s reforms would keep him off the selection list.

Su Can asked Wang Bu whether Su Licheng had a good chance of being selected as an outstanding provincial entrepreneur, and learned the odds were only fifty-fifty because of political resistance. At the ceremony, Su Can met his father’s old army friend Zhao Qiao, whose unusually respectful greeting drew the attention of the younger guests.

• Wang Bu told Su Can that Dunhuang Mall and his other achievements could qualify him to represent Rongcheng’s entrepreneurs, though Facebook Chinese was headquartered elsewhere.
• Su Can asked Wang Bu about Su Licheng’s selection prospects, and Wang Bu said the chances were fifty-fifty because of factional opposition and the backlash over changes at Big Banyan Construction.
• Su Can and Su Licheng entered the awards hall, where Su Licheng introduced his son to Zhao Qiao and Zhang, former army friends.
• Zhao Qiao warmly told Su Can that he had long admired him, startling the nearby young men and women.

Su Can attended Xichuan’s outstanding entrepreneur ceremony with his father, Su Licheng, and watched the entrepreneurs and their families size one another up. After turning down Wen Lu and Xu Hu’s invitation to a luxury road trip, Su Can settled in with Guo Xiaozhong and Zeng Ke as the ceremony began.

• Zhao Qiao greeted Su Can and praised the younger generation before explaining that the entrepreneur awards considered more than company size.
• The attendees learned that Su Licheng led Big Banyan Construction, and they crowded around him with congratulations and business cards.
• Su Can and Guo Xiaozhong met Wen Lu, Xia Zhiming, Yang Lei, Zhong Yuan, Liu Xinming, and Xu Hu, the children of prominent entrepreneurs.
• Wen Lu and Xu Hu invited Su Can on a road trip with luxury cars, hot springs, and a football match, but he declined by joking that he rode a Giant A125.
• Guo Xiaozhong regretted missing the trip, and Su Can offered to take him to hot springs another time as Governor Wu Jianguo opened the ceremony.

Su Can watched the provincial entrepreneur awards, where Big Banyan Construction was unexpectedly omitted from the winners, apparently because Vice Governor Jiang Guotiao had intervened. After the news spread, Su Can accepted the setback and reflected that neither his father nor he could control every outcome.

• Su Can watched the final voting and announcement while considering Wang Bu’s influence over the evaluation committee.
• Governor Wu Jianguo announced the award recipients, and Big Banyan Construction was left off the list.
• Wang Bu suspected Jiang Guotiao had deliberately excluded Big Banyan Construction to demonstrate his power.
• Su Can and the Big Banyan Construction party left the event, while Xia Zhiming and her friends mocked Su Can over the omission.
• Newspapers reported the winners and Big Banyan Construction’s failure to receive an award, and Su Can accepted the disappointment as one setback beyond his control.

Tang Wu visited Su Can at home after sensing he was in a bad mood, and they spent the day together in the family’s empty house. After their intimacy, Tang Wu told him he had a duty not to make her unhappy, and Su Can playfully suggested they continue.

• Tang Wu called Su Can, learned he was in a bad mood, and decided to visit him at home.
• Su Can met Tang Wu at the compound entrance, and she joined him as he carried groceries back to his home.
• Neighbors and company employees watched Su Can and Tang Wu walk hand in hand through the compound.
• Su Can showed Tang Wu around, and they prepared and ate lunch together.
• Su Can carried Tang Wu to the sofa and then to the bedroom, where they became intimate.
• Tang Wu told Su Can that his bad mood affected her too and that he must not make her unhappy, and Su Can teased her about continuing their intimacy.

Liu Rui and his roommate rushed to the Guangjingtai Hotel to see Chongfan’s players, but Liu Rui’s failed motorcycle brakes sent them crashing into Yi Lihuan’s Lamborghini. In Rongcheng, Su Can visited Dunhuang’s newly opened Zongguang Store with Wang Yue and unexpectedly ran into veteran employee Du Dawei.

• Liu Rui and his roommates joined crowds of Chongfan fans gathering outside the Guangjingtai Hotel to catch a glimpse of the team and get autographs.
• Yi Lihuan arrived at the hotel in his Lamborghini with actress Guo Xiaofu, then waited in his car as fans blocked the way out.
• After Little Six called him back to the hotel, Liu Rui found his motorcycle brakes had failed and crashed into the Lamborghini’s rear engine cover.
• Su Can met Wang Yue at the newly opened Zongguang Store and discussed his review of Dunhuang’s business documents.
• Su Can recognized Du Dawei, Dunhuang’s longtime security employee and department head, when he saw him at the store.

Su Can inspected Dunhuang’s Zongguang Store and advised its executives to build customer traffic and market share through mass-market pricing and stronger supplier relationships. He left Wang Yue impressed by his confidence as he explained that Dunhuang needed the store to earn fifteen million yuan in profit because he was short on cash.

• Su Can met Du Dawei and learned that former soldiers Sun Bing and Li Jun had joined Dunhuang’s security team.
• Wang Yue gathered the Zongguang Store’s senior staff for an impromptu meeting after Su Can arrived.
• Su Can urged the executives to lower target profit margins, strengthen mass-market appeal, and improve supplier partnerships to grow traffic and market share.
• Su Can proposed using strong sales to major suppliers such as BELLE to pressure competitors, and the executives applauded his advice.
• Wang Yue ate with Su Can and asked about his Shanghai investments; Su Can said the companies he had chosen would become industry leaders and explained that he needed Dunhuang to make fifteen million yuan in profit.

Lin Zouwen, Lu Nannan, and Li Pengyu arrived in Rongcheng but got lost after Lu Nannan raced a local taxi driver, so Su Can guided them to the military district. Their reunion led to talk of Lin Luoran and Su Can’s growing business, leaving Su Can thinking through his ventures and expecting to live comfortably this year.

• Lin Zouwen, Li Pengyu, and Lu Nannan got lost in Rongcheng, and Lu Nannan challenged a taxi driver to a race that left them stranded in an unfamiliar neighborhood.
• Lin Zouwen called Su Can for help, and Su Can arrived to meet Li Pengyu and Lu Nannan.
• Lu Nannan teased Su Can about Lin Luoran, while Lin Zouwen asked Su Can to keep their relationship secret from Wang Weiwei and his little sister.
• Su Can guided the three men to the Rongcheng Military District and learned about Li Pengyu’s family ties to the Lin family and Lu Nannan’s history with Lin Zouwen.
• Lin Zouwen praised Su Can’s Facebook venture, and Su Can revealed that preparations for its Chinese version were underway in Shanghai.
• Su Can considered the expected earnings from his businesses and concluded that, even after investing in Facebook Chinese, he would live well that year.

Su Can reunited with old classmates and learned that his reputation at Nanjing University had spread widely, while Lu Nannan reflected on his constrained life. Lin Zouwen told Su Can that Lin Luoran’s actions had fueled gossip about their relationship and suggested she might have stayed in Xiahai because of him.

• Li Pengyu, Lu Nannan, Su Can, Lin Zouwen, and Guo Xiaozhong went drinking at Aile, where they met Zhao Yu, an old classmate of Su Can and Guo Xiaozhong.
• Zhao Yu told the group that classmates had discussed Su Can’s exploits at Nanjing University, including his public debates and notoriety among students.
• Lu Nannan admitted that he envied Su Can’s life, and Zhao Yu lifted the mood by singing at the bar.
• Lin Zouwen warned Su Can that people in their circle were gossiping because Lin Luoran had sent Li Luo to Shanghai and was thought to have acted for Su Can’s sake.
• Lin Zouwen recalled that Lin Luoran had proposed staying in Xiahai and wondered whether she had stayed there because of Su Can.

Su Can explained why Lin Luoran had stayed in Xiahai, while Lin Zouwen and his friends joked about competing for her. After the gathering, Lu Nannan and Li Pengyu entrusted Su Can with money to invest, but Lu Nannan still regarded him as a rival for Lin Luoran.

• Su Can told Lin Zouwen that Lin Luoran had stayed in Xiahai for the quiet school days, not for his sake.
• Lin Zouwen, Lu Nannan, and Li Pengyu joked about pursuing Lin Luoran, and Su Can denied having anything between them.
• Su Can offered Lu Nannan and Li Pengyu the chance to invest in his business in exchange for equity and dividends.
• Lu Nannan offered his marriage savings, and Li Pengyu offered two hundred thousand, with both accepting the risk of gains or losses.
• As they parted, Lu Nannan thanked Su Can but said he still considered him an enemy over Lin Luoran.

After returning to Rongcheng, Lin Luoran and Wang Weiwei reunited with Su Can and their friends while Wang Bu opposed Guo Jiangtiao’s plan to reduce state-owned holdings in major provincial enterprises. Guo’s policy moved ahead despite Wang Bu’s objections, and the chapter ended with news that Liu Rui had recovered from a traffic accident and was coming to Rongcheng with Xue Yiyang.

• Lin Luoran and Wang Weiwei returned to Rongcheng and reunited with Su Can, Lin Zouwen, Li Pengyu, and Lu Nannan, who jokingly asked Lin Luoran to consider marrying him.
• Guo Jiangtiao argued at a Provincial Party Committee seminar for reducing state-owned holdings in major enterprises, while Wang Bu warned that rapid changes could destabilize Big Banyan Construction.
• The Provincial Party Committee issued policies to implement the reduction of state-owned shareholdings and appointed Guo Jiangtiao to lead a working group.
• Su Licheng told Wang Bu that the new policies could disrupt Big Banyan Construction, and Wang Bu relayed Su Can’s concerns about speculation in the stock market.
• Su Can and his friends learned that Liu Rui had been hospitalized after a traffic accident but had since been discharged and was traveling to Rongcheng with Xue Yiyang.

Yi Jiashun tried to turn Guo Jiangtiao against Wang Bu and Big Banyan Construction, while Su Can welcomed Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui to Rongcheng and heard how Liu Rui’s faulty brakes had led to a crash and a beating. With friends gathering in the city, Su Can suggested that they visit the hot springs in Xiling.

• At the development-zone ceremony, Yi Jiashun warned Guo Jiangtiao about Wang Bu and Su Licheng, and Guo vowed to challenge any group protecting its interests.
• On the plane, Yi Jiashun hoped Guo Jiangtiao would bring down Su Licheng and weaken Wang Bu’s influence.
• Su Can waited at Rongcheng North Railway Station and welcomed Xue Yiyang and bruised Liu Rui, who came to stay at his home.
• Liu Rui explained that worn brake pads had caused him to crash his secondhand Antelope into Yi Lihuan’s Lamborghini, after which Yi’s group beat him.
• Su Can told Liu Rui to get better brake pads and suggested to Lin Luoran that their friends go to the hot springs in Xiling.

Su Can and his friends traveled to Xiling Snow Mountain for a hot-spring outing and checked into the Scandina Hotel, where a much larger gathering was celebrating Yi Lihuan’s birthday. At the gathering, Yi Lihuan’s friends joked about his recent collision with students, while Guo Xiaofu criticized him and his companions for fighting.

• Su Can’s group met near Wang Weiwei’s home, ate lunch, and drove toward Xiling Snow Mountain, with Sun Bing saying that Su Can had reserved rooms at the Scandina Hotel.
• Su Can’s group arrived at the hotel, where luxury cars and a crowd of business figures, football players, and entertainers had gathered for Yi Lihuan’s birthday.
• Yang Wenbo and others teased Yi Lihuan about the motorcycle collision and the fight with students from Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
• Guo Xiaofu rebuked Yi Lihuan and his companions for fighting over the collision and for assuming that their status and influence would let them resolve anything.

Su Can’s group arrived at the Scandinavia Hotel for a snowy mountain getaway and discovered that Yi Lihuan was hosting a birthday party there. The chapter ended with Su Can making an execution gesture at Yi Lihuan, who recognized him as the person who had crashed into his car and threatened him.

• Lin Luoran admired the snowy mountain hotel as Su Can’s group checked into a villa.
• Lin Zouwen learned that Yi Lihuan of Zhongfan Group was celebrating his birthday at the hotel, unsettling Liu Rui and Xue Yiyang.
• Lin Luoran flirted with Su Can, while Lu Nannan complained that she favored him.
• Su Can’s group entered the restaurant, where Liu Rui spotted Yi Lihuan and tension rose between them.
• Su Can pointed an execution gesture at Yi Lihuan, who recognized him and said he was asking for death.

After hearing how Yi Lihuan’s crowd planned to retaliate, Wen Lu and the others worried that Su Can had provoked people too powerful to challenge. Liu Rui urged Su Can and his friends to let the earlier car crash and fight go, but the chapter ended with them still weighing whether to accept the loss.

• Yi Lihuan’s companions boasted that they could bring in local muscle and punish Su Can and his group for provoking him.
• Wen Lu warned Xu Hu, Xia Zhiming, Yang Lei, and the others that Yi Lihuan’s circle had powerful connections, while they speculated about intervening.
• Guo Xiaofu and other guests treated the looming confrontation as entertainment and expected Yi Lihuan’s side to prevail.
• Liu Rui recounted the car crash and subsequent fight to Su Can and the others, then insisted that the matter was over.
• Lu Nannan agreed that Liu Rui should accept the loss and encouraged everyone to continue enjoying the hot springs.

Su Can and his friends returned from the snowy mountain to find Yi Lihuan had brought men to confront them at the hotel. When the attackers started a fight, Su Can’s group quickly overpowered them, and Lu Nannan held Yi Lihuan at gunpoint, leaving the room in a tense standoff.

• Su Can and his friends spent the afternoon sledding and snowmobiling before returning to the villa hotel.
• Wen Lu warned Su Can that Yi Lihuan’s people had arrived, but Su Can went inside with his group to face them.
• Yi Lihuan taunted Su Can and Liu Rui and ordered his men to deal with them.
• Xiang Chenggong struck Sun Bing with a beer bottle, but Sun Bing retaliated and knocked him unconscious.
• Li Pengyu and Li Jun fought off several attackers while Lu Nannan grabbed Yi Lihuan and pointed a pistol at his forehead.

Su Can and his companions confronted Yi Lihuan and his allies at the Snow Mountain Hot Spring resort after Yi threatened them over a car accident. They humiliated Yi and Xiang Chenggong, then Su Can told Yi that if he wanted to continue the dispute, he should send someone from his father’s generation because Yi was not qualified.

• Yi Lihuan drew on his family’s wealth and influence as he tried to intimidate Su Can’s group, while Lu Nannan held a pistol to his forehead.
• Xiang Chenggong urged Yi to call their bluff, but Su Can stopped Lu Nannan from escalating and slapped Xiang Chenggong for provoking the confrontation.
• Lu Nannan dragged Yi outside and threw him into an icy spring, and Lin Zouwen likewise threw Xiang Chenggong into the water.
• Yi climbed out and threatened to kill them, but Lu Nannan slapped him and promised to continue the fight if Yi wanted it.
• Su Can reminded Yi that the original dispute was over his friend hitting Yi’s car, then told him to send his father or another elder if he refused to let the matter end.

After the Xiling Snow Mountain confrontation, Su Can’s group escaped police roadblocks and returned to Rongcheng, while Yi Lihuan’s father learned who had humiliated his son and considered retaliation. Su Can discussed Facebook’s growth with Mark Zack as the story ended with Wan Gui warning Yi Jiashun that attacking Su Licheng’s family could cost him someone of his own.

• Su Can’s group left the villa after Lu Nannan gave their wealthy opponents the middle finger, and they drove toward Rongcheng as their friends recognized Su Can’s new authority.
• Lin Luoran teased Su Can in the minivan, but their joking ended when police cars appeared at the expressway entrance.
• Tao Xingjian stopped Su Can’s vehicles, learned who was inside, returned their documents, and let them continue through the checkpoint.
• Two days later, Su Can and Mark Zack discussed Facebook’s rapid growth and the ambition to build an online community like a country.
• Yi Jiashun scolded Yi Lihuan for calling Zhang Bin and causing trouble, then learned that Su Can and Wang Weiwei had opposed him.
• Yi Jiashun considered harming Wang Bu’s and Su Licheng’s families, and Wan Gui warned that such retaliation could cost Yi Jiashun one of his own people.

Su Can encouraged Liu Rui and Xue Yiyang to pursue viable university business projects, promising to fund their first ventures. Later, his family hosted Wang Bu’s household for dinner, where Lin Luoran identified the orchid she had once given Su Can as a rare Heavenly Escape Lotus.

• At dinner, Liu Rui and Xue Yiyang shared their business ambitions with Su Can, who reviewed their plans and promised to fund projects they proved viable.
• Su Can gave Liu Rui and Xue Yiyang empty bank cards and promised to transfer two hundred thousand into each account if they developed projects the following academic year.
• Su Can’s family invited Wang Bu’s family to dinner, and Lin Luoran and Lin Zouwen joined them.
• Lin Luoran recognized the orchid she had given Su Can as a child as Heavenly Escape Lotus, while Zhang Qing recognized the rare variety.

Su Licheng and Wang Bu discussed how the Provincial Government’s state-owned share reduction directive had battered Big Banyan Construction’s stock and threatened Su Licheng’s position. Su Can criticized the policy’s market-pricing provision, while the province’s political struggle continued toward a larger national upheaval.

• Su Licheng told Wang Bu that Big Banyan Construction’s share price had fallen nearly twenty percent and asked whether provincial officials planned to replace the group’s leadership.
• Wang Bu explained that Guo Jiangtiao, Lu Guizhong, and Huang Siyong had secured strong support for the directive, and promised to seek city-level preferential policies for Big Banyan Construction.
• Su Can considered how the political pressure could end Su Licheng’s career and recognized that Wang Bu was also weighing his own political interests.
• Su Can argued that reducing state-owned shares was necessary but criticized the policy for treating tradable share prices as a fair market price for nontradable state-owned shares.
• Wang Bu and Su Licheng continued their discussion in the study as the national stock market crisis and the province’s political contest gathered force.

Su Can and Lin Zouwen discussed the political and industrial conflict unfolding around Wang Bu and Su Licheng in Rongcheng. The chapter left their side facing a high-stakes struggle against Guo Jiangtiao and Yi Jiashun, where defeat could end Su Licheng’s career and cripple Wang Bu’s authority.

• Su Can reflected on how Wang Bu’s control over appointments and city resources placed him at the center of Rongcheng’s political conflicts.
• The chapter described how Darong Construction Group supported Rongcheng’s key industries and helped the city compete with powerful developers and outside interests.
• Lin Zouwen asked whether the events on Xiling Snow Mountain had caused the preparations between Wang Bu and Su Licheng, and Su Can said they had only lit a fuse.
• Su Can explained that Wang Bu was contending with deputy secretary Guo Jiangtiao, while Su Licheng was opposing Yi Jiashun and Zhongfan Group’s bid to displace Big Banyan Construction.
• The chapter established that defeat would end Su Licheng’s political career and seriously weaken Wang Bu’s influence.

Lin Luoran remembered how her university fame and admirers contrasted with her private longing for Su Can, then openly defended her choice of him to a powerful Beijing friend. Meanwhile, Yi Jiashun advanced a major energy pipeline project to gain political leverage against Su Licheng and Wang Bu, and Guo Jiangtiao reacted angrily to reports that Wang Bu’s son had attacked Yi.

• Lin Luoran recalled the men who pursued her at Shanghai International Studies University and how she punished the forum administrator who had shared her personal information.
• Lin Luoran secretly revisited photographs and letters featuring Su Can, then told an online friend she was at Su Can’s house and had chosen him despite the likely backlash.
• Wang Qiqi and Lin Zouwen failed to hear from Li Pengyu or Lu Nannan and returned home without discovering why Su Can owned a telescope.
• Yi Jiashun gathered provincial officials to push Three Gorges Energy’s Southwest China resource corridor forward and planned to use the project to counter Su Licheng and Wang Bu.
• Guo Jiangtiao heard Yi Jiashun’s account of the snow-mountain incident, grew more hostile toward Wang Bu, and condemned the son Wang Bu had raised.