Chapter Summaries

Su Can returned to Rongcheng with Tang Wu, reunited with his parents, and showed them the documents for his magazine business. As family and company acquaintances grew eager to meet him, he faced a busy homecoming filled with calls and invitations.

• Tang Wu and Su Can arrived in Rongcheng after a long flight delay, and Tang Wu's father drove them to Su Can's residential compound.
• Su Can reunited with Su Licheng, who explained how his role at Big Banyan Construction and his driver Wang Zhuo's prospects had changed.
• Su Can returned home, where Zeng Ke welcomed him with food and questions, and Su Licheng asked about his magazine.
• Su Can showed his parents the magazine's registration and tax documents, dispelling their doubts about his business.
• Zeng Qu anming arranged a family banquet, while Yin Shuying told Zeng Ke that people wanted to meet Su Can and were considering setting him up with a young woman.
• Su Can fielded calls from Wang Yue, Lin Guangdong, and others as his mother discussed his growing reputation with his aunt.

At a family dinner hosted by Zeng Qu anming, Su Can met Lu Zhonghua and gained useful advice about policies affecting his magazine. The gathering was interrupted by the arrival of two men in a Ferrari, one of whom recognized Zeng Qu anming’s car and reacted darkly to his name.

• Zeng Qu anming hosted a banquet at the Ginkgo Restaurant, where Su Can arrived after speaking with Tang Wu.
• Zeng Qu anming introduced Su Can to Lu Zhonghua, a Municipal Press and Publication Bureau director, and Lu discussed regulatory issues with him.
• Lu Zhonghua left before dinner, and government officials began stopping by the restaurant to see Zeng Qu anming.
• Zeng Qu anming’s family began their meal after Yin Shuying urged everyone to start eating.
• Two men arrived in a silver-white Ferrari; the older man recognized Zeng Qu anming’s Buick, and the younger man responded grimly to his name.

Tao Chuhong, heir to the Nanning Group, targeted Zeng Qu anming over his opposition to the group’s Fuhe Road land deal. He confronted Zeng at a family dinner and hinted that someone had damaged a Buick belonging to Zeng’s commission, leaving the room stunned and angry.

• Liu Ping explained that Zeng Qu anming’s commission had challenged the Land Reserve Center’s forced demolition and its commercial land deal, which supported the Nanning Group’s expansion.
• Tao Chuhong blamed Zeng for obstructing his family’s plans and suggested stopping to meet him.
• At dinner, Zeng Qu anming told his family that the land deal used equity transfers to evade taxes and hand public land to the Nanning Group for profit.
• Liu Ping arrived at the restaurant with Tao Chuhong and introduced him to Zeng Qu anming.
• Tao Chuhong shook Zeng’s hand and asked whether the Buick with a sun-cracked window downstairs belonged to his commission, provoking the gathering.

Tao Chuhong smashed Zeng Qu anming’s car during a politically charged dinner, and the incident spread through Rongcheng’s official circles as a warning against Zeng’s investigation of the Land Reserve Center. As pressure mounted on Zeng and Su Licheng’s business interests, Su Can’s family stood by one another, and Su Can learned that Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, and Lin Luoran had returned to Rongcheng.

• Tao Chuhong announced that Zeng Qu anming’s car window had been smashed, then left after exchanging polite but hostile remarks with Zeng and Su Licheng.
• Zeng Qu anming’s family saw the shattered window, and Su Licheng had him leave before the incident drew further attention at the restaurant.
• News of the car-smashing spread through Rongcheng’s official circles, where people viewed it as a warning tied to Zeng Qu anming’s conflict with the Land Reserve Center.
• At home, Zeng Ke condemned Tao Chuhong while Su Licheng discussed Tao Changping’s opposition to Big Banyan Construction’s planned stake in Sichuan Airlines, and Su Can encouraged his father.
• Reports circulated that Zhang Zhaowei had submitted accusations against Zeng Qu anming to the higher-level Supervisory Department, while the Discipline Inspection and Procuratorial Department had not acted.
• Su Can received a call saying Wang Weiwei and Lin Zouwen had returned to Rongcheng with Lin Luoran.

Su Can studied business and considered how the political dispute involving Zeng Qu anming and the Tao family might unfold, while reflecting on his own limits in influencing it. When Lin Zouwen and Lin Luoran returned to Rongcheng, Lin Luoran avoided meeting Su Can and privately dwelled on their missed chances and her jealousy over his relationship with Tang Wu.

• Su Can spent his time at home studying economics and organizing business documents instead of joining his friends' gatherings.
• Su Can reviewed the Nanning Group and considered how Wang Bu might manage the Development and Planning Commission's dispute with Tao Changping's interests.
• Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, and Lin Luoran arrived in Rongcheng after spending time in Beijing.
• Lin Luoran stopped Lin Zouwen from telling Su Can she was there, and Lin Zouwen declined Su Can's invitation to meet.
• Lin Luoran recalled seeing Liu Xiaojing with Su Can and imagined how their lives might have differed if past events had gone another way.
• Lin Luoran resolved to make Su Can regret overlooking her and to leave him with a lasting impression.

Wang Weiwei and Lin Zouwen declined Lu Peng’s dinner invitation and later visited Su Can, while Lin Luoran went on outings around Rongcheng with Tao Chuhong. The chapter left Wang Weiwei urging Su Can to attend a gathering on the fifth, where he might have a chance to address the distance between himself and Lin Luoran.

• Lu Peng called Wang Weiwei to invite him and his friends to dinner, but Wang Weiwei turned him down because Lin Luoran did not want to go.
• Lin Luoran rejected Wang Weiwei’s complaints about her invitations and left to join Tao Chuhong’s outing around Rongcheng.
• Tao Chuhong led a convoy of off-road vehicles to local attractions, while Lin Luoran kept her distance from him and took photographs.
• Wang Weiwei and Lin Zouwen visited Su Can’s home and discussed Lin Luoran avoiding him, though they did not know the full story behind their misunderstanding.
• Wang Weiwei invited Su Can to a gathering on the fifth with Zhang Feifei, Zhang Xian, Zhuang Zhiyu, and their friends.

In February 2002, Zhan Hua offered Facebook sixteen million dollars for a twenty-five percent stake, but Su Can rejected the terms and demanded only five percent. Su Can then asked Zack to present the same terms to American investors, prepared to wait rather than give up more equity.

• Zhan Hua called Su Can after investigating Facebook and proposed investing sixteen million dollars for a twenty-five percent stake.
• Su Can refused Zhan Hua’s offer and countered that sixteen million dollars would buy only five percent of Facebook.
• Zhan Hua questioned whether American VCs would accept Su Can’s terms and suggested discussing the matter in person.
• Su Can asked Zack to present the stringent terms to Sequoia Capital and other American investors.
• Zack was excited by the possibility of becoming multimillionaires but worried that venture capitalists would reject the deal, while Su Can said they should trust his judgment.

Zhan Hua planned to use Sean Parker to influence Mark Zuckerberg and force Su Can to accept his investment, while Su Can spent the winter holidays in Rongcheng amid family business and New Year preparations. The chapter ended with Su Can looking ahead to his gathering with friends and wondering whether he would see Lin Luoran.

• Zhan Hua decided to recruit Sean Parker as a go-between to persuade Mark Zuckerberg to accept his investment offer and undermine Su Can’s control.
• Zhan Hua ordered Ye Shuiquan to arrange a trip to San Francisco after the New Year and to deal with Pei Fengshan.
• Su Can returned to Rongcheng for the winter holidays as Zeng He and Su Licheng prepared their businesses and workers for the Spring Festival.
• Su Can saw Old Master Xu at a company gala, where Xu Zheng encouraged him to keep going and later discussed business matters with Su Licheng.
• Su Can followed news about the Beijing Olympics and Yao Ming while thinking about the growth of his American internet venture.
• Su Can anticipated his February 5 gathering with Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, and the others, and wondered if Lin Luoran would be there.

Tang Wu helped Su Can choose clothes before he went to meet Wang Weiwei and their circle at a prestigious restaurant near Rongcheng University. As Su Can approached the gathering, a young woman in a luxury car dismissed him as belonging to a different world, while her companion described the powerful guests expected that night.

• Tang Wu met Su Can at his residential complex and took him shopping for clothes before his gathering with Wang Weiwei and the others.
• Tang Wu explained that she would not attend because she had her own plans and wanted Su Can to choose his own path.
• Su Can arrived near Guojin Road and watched a line of luxury cars head toward the restaurant hosting the gathering.
• A woman in a BMW exchanged looks with Su Can, then teased him with a glance as the car drove away.
• The woman's companion told her that Tao Chuhong and Municipal Party Committee Secretary Wang Bu's son would attend, and urged her to drink if he asked.

Su Can arrived at No. 19 Guojin Road to meet Wang Weiwei and the others, hoping to mend things with Lin Luoran. As Lin Luoran approached with Tao Chuhong’s ostentatious motorcade following her, the gathering was left stunned, and Lin Zouwen revealed that she was his sister.

• Su Can joined Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, and Zeng Zhiyuan at No. 19 Guojin Road, where friends and acquaintances gathered around them.
• Zhuang Zhiyu and Zhang Xian arrived and told Su Can that students at Nanjing University had heard of him.
• Wang Weiwei told Su Can that Lin Luoran had gone shopping with Zhang Feifei and was expected to join them.
• Tao Chuhong appeared with a motorcade of luxury cars and offered Lin Luoran a ride, but she refused and continued walking while the cars followed.
• Lin Luoran smiled when she spotted Su Can and the others, and Lin Zouwen told a man who had praised her that she was his sister.

Lin Luoran joined Su Can, Wang Weiwei, and their friends at a gathering, bringing gifts for everyone except Su Can and teasing him about it. After Tao Chuhong arrived and greeted Wang Weiwei, Su Can inspected Tao’s Ferrari before rejoining the group, who went up to the hotel’s Fifth Floor leisure lounge.

• Lin Luoran handed out gifts to Lin Zouwen, Wang Weiwei, Zhuang Zhiyu, and Zhang Xian, then told Su Can she had found nothing suitable for him.
• Tao Chuhong arrived and greeted Wang Weiwei, pressing him to have a drink after he had turned down earlier invitations.
• Su Can went outside to watch a valet park Tao Chuhong’s Ferrari 360, then returned after Lin Zouwen called him.
• Lin Luoran teased Su Can in the elevator, and Su Can answered with a joke that made the others laugh.
• Su Can, Lin Luoran, Wang Weiwei, and their companions entered the Fifth Floor leisure lounge, where about thirty guests had gathered.

At a crowded Rongcheng gathering, Su Can drew attention through his friendship with Wang Weiwei and challenged Tao Chuhong to a dice-and-drinking contest. Tao lost, finished two beers, and threw a case out the window, where it crashed into a Ferrari 360 Modena.

• Lu Peng greeted Su Can, and the guests learned about Su Can's reputation and his connection to Wang Weiwei.
• Tao Chuhong hinted that he had spent time alone with Lin Luoran, but Lin Zouwen clarified that they had traveled with a group.
• Tao Chuhong and Lin Zouwen began a dice-and-drinking contest, and Su Can stepped in to challenge Tao to a higher-stakes round.
• Su Can added a rule that the loser had to drink two beers and throw the empty bottles out the window within a minute; Tao accepted and lost the dice roll.
• Tao drank both beers and hurled the case out the window, smashing it into a Ferrari 360 Modena below.

Su Can revealed that Tao Chuhong had smashed the car belonging to Su Can’s eldest uncle, Zeng Qu anming, and baited Tao Chuhong into throwing a crate of beer bottles onto his own car. As Tao Chuhong stormed off after Lin Luoran punched him, he left with his friends, furious and humiliated.

• After a crate of beer Tao Chuhong threw from the fifth floor smashed a car, he blamed Su Can for the idea.
• Su Can asked Tao Chuhong whether he had smashed Zeng Qu anming’s car at the Ginkgo Hotel, then revealed that Zeng Qu anming was his eldest uncle.
• Tao Chuhong mocked Su Can and challenged him to smash his car, but Su Can said Tao Chuhong had beaten him to it.
• Hotel staff told Tao Chuhong that the wrecked car was his own, and he realized Su Can had maneuvered him into destroying it.
• Tao Chuhong threatened Su Can, and Lin Luoran punched him before Wang Qiqi and Lin Zouwen stepped in to protect her.
• Tao Chuhong left with his cronies, while Su Can and his friends watched the convoy drive away.

After the confrontation with Tao Chuhong, Su Can discussed the incident with Wang Weiwei, Lin Zouwen, and Lin Luoran outside Rongcheng Garden, then urged Wang Weiwei to help expose the Development and Planning Commission case. Lin Luoran gave Su Can a Christmas present, and he split the chocolate with her before leaving.

• Su Can thanked Wang Weiwei and Lin Zouwen for backing him, while Lin Luoran insisted she had acted because Tao Chuhong annoyed her.
• Su Can explained that he had planned to smash Tao Chuhong's Ferrari regardless of the dice result, and Lin Zouwen praised his decisiveness.
• Wang Weiwei warned that Tao Chuhong would not let the humiliation go, and Su Can said they needed to bring the Development and Planning Commission case into the open.
• After Wang Weiwei and Lin Zouwen left, Lin Luoran asked Su Can about his promised Christmas present and gave him a box of chocolate.
• Su Can broke the chocolate in half and gave one half to Lin Luoran, who pocketed it as he left in a taxi.

During Spring Festival, Su Can’s family gathered at Zeng Na’s home, where rumors about his clash with Tao Chuhong made Zou Xiaoqiang wary of him. In a private discussion, Zeng Qu anming explained how Wang Bu’s interpretation of government meeting minutes undermined Tao Changping’s position and blocked Nanning Group’s Fuhe project, while Su Can wondered how much his father understood about his hidden involvement.

• Su Can helped Zeng Ke and Zeng Na prepare for the family’s lively Spring Festival gathering at Zeng Na’s apartment.
• Zou Xiaoqiang heard that Zeng Yuan’s cousin was Su Can, recognized the name from rumors about the incident at No. 19 Guojin Road, and hurried away.
• Zeng Qu anming and Su Licheng discussed the coming trial and how Wang Bu had ruled that Tao Changping’s approval could not justify the Fuhe Road work.
• Zeng Qu anming reprimanded Su Can for getting involved and smashing a car, while Su Can insisted Tao Chuhong had caused the damage himself.
• Zeng Qu anming explained that Minute No. 178 undermined Tao Changping’s defense and prevented Nanning Group’s expansion into Fuhe District.
• Su Licheng suggested Wang Bu was acting to apply political pressure, and Su Can privately wondered how much his father knew and accepted.

At a New Year's Eve dinner, Su Can urged his father, Su Licheng, to narrow Big Banyan Construction's focus to real estate, prompting Su Licheng to consider the human cost of restructuring. Watching fireworks afterward, Su Can realized his advice could repeat the painful fate of Engineering Division Four and wondered whether he was doing the right thing.

• Zeng Qu anming discussed Big Banyan Construction's sprawling business and the challenges facing Su Licheng as its general manager.
• Su Can advised Su Licheng to cut peripheral businesses and concentrate Big Banyan Construction's resources on real estate.
• Su Licheng warned that the strategy would displace businesses and affect many employees, and Su Can argued that adapting to the market could protect them.
• Su Licheng acknowledged that Su Can had grown up.
• Su Can realized that restructuring could harm Engineering Division Four and families including those of Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui, then questioned his choices as fireworks filled the sky.
• Tang Wu sent Su Can a New Year's greeting, and Su Can replied before shedding tears.

On New Year’s Day, Su Can climbed Qingshan with his family while discussing Dunhuang’s new store and charity projects with Wang Yue. On the mountain, Tao Changping and Tao Chuhong encountered Zeng Qu anming’s group but chose to leave rather than meet them, and the story ended with officials wondering what the encounter would mean.

• Su Can received Wang Yue’s call about signing the proposal for Dunhuang’s second Rongcheng store and attending its charity events, but he told her to represent him.
• Su Can’s family climbed Qingshan, where Zeng Qu anming and Su Licheng accepted Director Wang’s invitation to rest at Suqing Courtyard.
• Tao Changping and Tao Chuhong arrived at the tea garden while discussing the Nanning Group’s proposed investment in Sichuan Airlines.
• After learning Zeng Qu anming and Director Wang were inside, Tao Changping turned away without meeting them.
• A deputy secretary-general later told Zeng Qu anming’s group that Tao Changping had left the mountain, prompting speculation about the significance of his avoidance.

During a hike with Zeng Na and Zhao Xiaolu, Su Can met their friends Chen Kefan, Ning Jiaojiao, and Yue Min, who planned to go out together. When Chen Kefan learned Su Can’s identity, he recognized him as the man who had outmaneuvered Tao Chuhong, and the group’s attitude toward him changed.

• Zhao Xiaolu reflected on her close friendship with Zeng Na and became curious about Su Can and his clash with Tao Chuhong.
• After the hike, Chen Kefan, Ning Jiaojiao, and Yue Min arrived to take Zeng Na and Zhao Xiaolu out for the evening.
• Chen Kefan flaunted his allowance and his friendship with the son of the National Security Bureau director, while Ning Jiaojiao showed interest in Su Can.
• Ning Jiaojiao invited Su Can to ride with them, but he introduced himself and declined, telling Zeng Na to come home early.
• Chen Kefan recognized Su Can’s name and realized he was the person who had made Tao Chuhong suffer; he quickly softened his manner and tried to arrange a future meeting.
• Su Can remained detached, and Ning Jiaojiao regretted that they had not persuaded him to join them.

Su Can worried that Facebook cofounder Zack was pursuing an undisclosed plan and reflected on the uncertainty of the company’s future. After Tang Wu helped him regain his resolve, Zhan Hua’s manager called with news that Zack had accepted another venture capital firm’s proposal, prompting Zhan Hua to summon Su Can to the United States.

• Su Can declined Chen Kefan’s invitation and worried that Tao Changping’s restraint might conceal plans to undermine his family’s position in Rongcheng.
• Su Can found Zack’s message about entering a contest and challenged him to explain his intentions instead of offering a surprise.
• Su Can considered the risks of seeking Zhan Hua’s proposed investment of sixteen million for a five-percent stake in Facebook.
• Tang Wu encouraged Su Can to act without knowing what would happen, and he teased her over the phone before she refused his requests.
• Zhan Hua’s manager told Su Can that Zack had accepted another venture capital firm’s proposal and urged him to travel to the United States as soon as possible.

Su Can flew from Shanghai to San Francisco to handle trouble with his American website partner and met Song Zhen on the plane. After refusing a man’s attempt to buy his seat, Su Can spoke with Song Zhen, who saw through his remark about the view.

• Su Can left Rongcheng for the United States, while Su Licheng helped arrange his passport and Zeng Ke reluctantly watched him go.
• At Pudong Airport, Su Can noticed Song Zhen and mistook her companion’s approach for harassment before realizing they knew each other.
• The companion offered Su Can Ray-Ban sunglasses to trade seats, but Su Can refused and stayed beside Song Zhen.
• After the plane took off, Song Zhen thanked Su Can and pointed out that he had seemed to value her looks over the sunglasses.