Chapter Summaries

Fujita announced that headquarters had ordered Fukugen Hirao to transfer to Quanzhou and Takahashi Naoki to take command of operations in Jinling. In Shanghai, Chen Fan agreed to find work for Brother Bao and his men after they fled a violent feud with Old Qiu.

• Fujita ordered Fukugen Hirao to report to Quanzhou as chief of the Special Higher Police's Coded Telegram Section.
• Fujita ordered Takahashi Naoki to Jinling as captain of its Special Higher Police Operations Team, and Takahashi accepted despite his concerns.
• At the Chen Trading Company, Chen Fan reviewed new supplies and described his plans for hiring staff.
• Brother Bao asked Chen Fan to take in his men after a fight with Old Qiu left casualties and drove them from the French Concession.
• Chen Fan gave Brother Bao money to help his men and offered them work guarding his warehouse.

Chen Fan recruited staff for his trading company and went to inspect a warehouse near Huishan Wharf, where he witnessed the arrival of Fujiwara Kyoka, the new chief of the Shanghai Tokkō's Cipher Section. Fujiwara put off reporting for duty until the next morning and drove away to attend to private matters, leaving Fujita Susumu visibly shaken.

• Chen Fan recruited ten shop assistants, hired a manager and accountant, and divided the sales staff into three groups.
• Cao Bin found a three-thousand-square-meter warehouse near Huishan Wharf, and Chen Fan visited it with Brother Bao and the others.
• Fujita Susumu waited at the wharf for the Sensan Maru and criticized Fujiwara Kyoka before she arrived.
• Fujiwara Kyoka disembarked with two Black Dragon Society guards and asked Fujita Susumu for a report on the Cipher Section.
• Fujiwara Kyoka declined to return to the Tokkō, said she would report the next morning, and left in Fujita's car.

Chen Fan rented a warehouse near Huishan Wharf and went to Shengping Theatre to settle accounts with Old Knife Handle. Old Knife Handle introduced him to the Kunqu performer Jin Xiangyu, who had been waiting to meet him.

• Fujiwara Kyoka mistook Chen Fan, seen in the distance, for her fiancé Suzuki Kyoichi, then dismissed the sight as a hallucination and drove on.
• Chen Fan rented Boss Zhu's warehouse for ninety-five silver dollars a month and paid six months' rent upfront.
• Chen Fan instructed Brother Bao and his men to tidy the warehouse, then went to Shengping Theatre to settle accounts with Old Knife Handle.
• Old Knife Handle welcomed Chen Fan and explained that he had expected him to come because Chen Fan had been spending heavily on his new business.
• Old Knife Handle introduced Jin Xiangyu to Chen Fan, and she told him she had been waiting to meet him.

Chen Fan collected his share from Old Knife Handle and spent the night with Jin Xiangyu, while the two men’s apparent business meeting concealed a test of strength. The next morning, Jin Xiangyu learned that Old Knife Handle needed their shipment sold within half a month, and he revealed that he had chosen Chen Fan because he saw him as a greedy, expendable target.

• Chen Fan restrained Jin Xiangyu’s hand as she offered him liquor, showing that his strength surpassed hers.
• Old Knife Handle settled the shipment’s accounts, saying it had sold for 24,600 and handing Chen Fan his 5,720 share.
• Jin Xiangyu invited Chen Fan upstairs, and he stayed with her through the night.
• The next morning, Old Knife Handle asked Jin Xiangyu how quickly she could sell the tusi’s goods, and she warned that moving the shipment within half a month risked drawing attention from Shanghai’s other powers.
• Jin Xiangyu asked why Old Knife Handle had chosen Chen Fan, and he said Chen Fan’s greed and willingness to risk his life made him a suitable target.

Chen Fan asked Cao Bin to find him a capable helper and learned that Old Knife Handle's gift of Jin Xiangyu might be part of a plot tied to his father's arrest. Cao Bin brought him to meet Long Wu, a woman from the fallen Four Seas Gang, where she was fighting three men outside an old warehouse.

• Chen Fan told Cao Bin he suspected Old Knife Handle had arranged Jin Xiangyu to manipulate him and might have been involved in his father's arrest.
• Chen Fan refused Cao Bin's offer to kill Old Knife Handle, saying he wanted to uncover the truth without acting rashly.
• Cao Bin recommended Long Wu, a skilled fighter and capable manager whose brother Long Si was imprisoned and whose gang had been scattered.
• After searching for more than two hours, Cao Bin took Chen Fan to an old grain warehouse in Hongkou to find Long Wu.
• Three armed men charged the warehouse, and Long Wu darted out to kick the leading man before Chen Fan realized she was a woman.

Long Wu defeated the three men sent after her and learned they had been dispatched by Hong Laoliu, one of Boss Jin’s men. After meeting Chen Fan and Cao Bin, she agreed to join Chen Fan in exchange for ten large gold bars, which he promised to provide the next morning.

• Long Wu shot and killed the three attackers after forcing their leader to reveal that Hong Laoliu had sent them.
• Chen Fan and Cao Bin emerged from hiding, and Cao Bin introduced Chen Fan to Long Wu.
• Chen Fan questioned Long Wu for killing her attackers, and she challenged his understanding of justice.
• Chen Fan offered Long Wu a place with him, and she demanded ten large gold bars.
• Chen Fan agreed to pay Long Wu and gave her his trading firm’s address to collect the gold the next morning.

Chen Fan opened the Chen Trading Company and welcomed Long Wu and her newly freed brother, Long Si. Long Si asked why Chen Fan had rescued him and admitted he had little hope of rebuilding the Four Seas Gang, but Chen Fan urged him to rely on his brains.

• Chen Fan handed Long Wu the gold bars, then spent several days preparing the trading company for its opening.
• Chen Fan opened the Chen Trading Company with a busy celebration attended by business friends and workers.
• Long Wu arrived with Long Si, whom Chen Fan had paid ten large gold bars to free from captivity.
• Chen Fan brought Long Si to his office, where Long Si asked what Chen Fan wanted from him in return for the rescue.
• Long Si said he had lost the Four Seas Gang and asked Chen Fan to protect Long Wu if he died.
• Chen Fan asked whether Long Si wanted to reclaim what he had lost and told him to use his brains.

Chen Fan learned that the young visitor Lin Su was a highly trained operative with ties to both the Fuxing Society and the Chinese Red Party. Lin Su, assigned to investigate the failed 11:19 Case, left the trading house after observing Chen Fan.

• Chen Fan asked Long Si whether he wanted to regain his lost power, then offered him shelter at his warehouse near Huishan Wharf.
• Long Wu warned Chen Fan that a young woman in the store was an exceptionally skilled gun expert because she controlled her breathing and barely made a sound.
• Chen Fan checked the system and identified the visitor as Lin Su, codename Autumn Cicada, an operative of the Fuxing Society and the Chinese Red Party.
• Chen Fan approached Lin Su, offered her tea, and noticed a faint scar on her left middle finger.
• Lin Su watched Chen Fan while considering her orders to investigate the failed 11:19 Case, then set down her cup and left the trading house.

Jin Xiangyu visited Chen Fan’s trading firm and offered him five thousand silver dollars to move a secret shipment through Shiliupu Wharf. Chen Fan accepted the job, though Jin Xiangyu did not reveal what the goods were.

• Chen Fan returned to the trading firm on the fifth day of the New Year and found Long Wu handling his office work.
• Jin Xiangyu arrived and teased Long Wu before Chen Fan brought her into his office.
• Jin Xiangyu asked Chen Fan to move an undisclosed shipment through Shiliupu Wharf, saying her usual contacts had backed out.
• Chen Fan initially refused, but Jin Xiangyu offered five thousand silver dollars for the job.
• Chen Fan accepted Jin Xiangyu’s offer, and she left after again commenting that Long Wu should join her opera troupe.

Chen Fan told Cao Bin that Jin Xiangyu’s suspicious shipment likely involved the Green Gang and connected Old Knife Handle to the betrayal that led to his father’s arrest. He left Cao Bin with his plan to take over Old Knife Handle’s entire operation.

• Chen Fan slipped away from the trading company and went to Shiliupu Wharf to tell Cao Bin about Jin Xiangyu’s offer to move a shipment for five thousand silver dollars.
• Chen Fan and Cao Bin suspected the shipment was a trap and reasoned that the Green Gang had helped keep its details secret.
• Chen Fan linked Old Knife Handle to the Green Gang and concluded that someone had betrayed his father three years earlier.
• Cao Bin tried to rush off and kill Liu Laoliu, but Chen Fan urged him to think beyond revenge.
• Chen Fan told Cao Bin he wanted everything Old Knife Handle had and proposed that they take control of the operation together.

Chen Fan planned to seize Old Knife Handle's operation and sought intelligence on him, while Old Knife Handle revealed that he intended to use Chen Fan as a diversion for a shipment. Jin Xiangyu objected when she realized Chen Fan could implicate her to Zhang Xiaolin.

• Chen Fan asked Cao Bin to find an informant to investigate Old Knife Handle before they seized his operation.
• Jin Xiangyu reported that Chen Fan had accepted the deposit on condition that he controlled how matters were handled at the docks.
• Jin Xiangyu pressed Old Knife Handle to explain how he would move the shipment without losing it to rival powers.
• Old Knife Handle revealed that he had used Chen Zhongming's sales to conceal a larger trade and then made him take the fall.
• Old Knife Handle planned to split the shipment between two docks and have Zhang Xiaolin's men catch Chen Fan's side while his own goods were unloaded elsewhere.
• Jin Xiangyu objected because Chen Fan could identify the shipment as hers and leave her answerable to Zhang Xiaolin.

Chen Fan learned that Jin Xiangyu’s shipment was tied to Old Knife Handle’s arms dealings and suspected Rui Qingrong was helping him operate in the French Concession. He realized Old Knife Handle meant to use him as a scapegoat, but planned to seize the goods instead.

• Jin Xiangyu sent Chen Fan a letter arranging a meeting at berth seven at Shiliupu Wharf the following night.
• Cao Bin told Chen Fan that southwest chieftains had sent arms through Shanghai using boats belonging to the Joyful Harvest Year and Hall Full of Joy theater troupes, and that another shipment was expected.
• Cao Bin reported that three years earlier, Rui Qingrong had taken opera performer Yue Jialing as his mistress after she performed at the Nanjing Grand Theatre.
• Chen Fan reasoned that Old Knife Handle had used Yue Jialing to recruit Rui Qingrong and intended to frame Chen Fan for the shipment.
• Chen Fan told Cao Bin to find a cargo boat so they could seize the goods, while he handled the other preparations.

Chen Fan took control of a cargo boat meant to make him a fall guy and diverted it to a hidden wharf in Yangshupu. He swapped its opium cargo for other crates and left the skipper unsure what would happen next.

• Chen Fan arrived at Shiliupu Wharf with Brother Bao's men and ordered Agen and the other cargo escorts off the boat.
• Chen Fan took command of the boat and forced the skipper at gunpoint to steer into the Yangshupu Waterway instead of Dongjiadu.
• Chen Fan's men uncovered opium hidden beneath salt in the crates and exchanged the boat's entire cargo at a small wharf.
• Chen Fan reassured the frightened skipper about his family, then told him to report everything he had seen if asked.

Zhang Xiaolin ordered his men to intercept an opium shipment, but Chen Fan’s decoy freighter passed inspection while Brother Bao and Long Si seized the real cargo. Brother Bao demanded two hundred thousand from its owner and gave Old Knife Handle’s men until three in the morning to pay.

• Zhang Xiaolin learned that a shipment was expected through Dongjiadu and ordered his men to seize it and question those responsible.
• Wei San’s men stopped Chen Fan’s freighter, searched its cargo, and let it pass after finding only tea bricks and tung oil.
• Old Knife Handle’s watchers saw the freighter sail away and sent a man to report the unexpected outcome.
• Long Si and Brother Bao’s men overpowered the smugglers at Warehouse Three on Shiliupu Wharf and took the opium shipment.
• Brother Bao told Agen to demand two hundred thousand from the shipment’s owner by three in the morning, then introduced himself as Brother Bao-the Bao in brutal.

Old Knife Handle learned that Chen Fan had stolen his Bazi goods and demanded two hundred thousand through a fighter calling himself Brother Bao. Realizing Chen Fan had backup, Old Knife Handle sent A Xiang to fetch Boss Jin and seek Fourth Master Rui’s fighters.

• Old Knife Handle waited at Shengping Theatre for news of Zhang Xiaolin’s men stopping the cargo boat, but Agen arrived bloodied and reported that Warehouse Three had been looted.
• Agen said Brother Bao had taken all the goods and demanded two hundred thousand, threatening to burn the shipment if Old Knife Handle did not pay.
• Lai Houzi reported that Chen Fan had switched the cargo in the Yangshupu waterway, so the boat that passed Dongjiadu carried no goods.
• Old Knife Handle concluded Chen Fan had found backup and ordered Agen to tell A Xiang to fetch Boss Jin and contact Fourth Master Rui.
• A Xiang warned Old Knife Handle that involving Fourth Master Rui’s men could expose the Bazi goods, but Old Knife Handle insisted that recovering the shipment came first.

Old Knife Handle led A Xiang and a large force to the Chen warehouse to seize the shipment and demand compensation from Chen Fan. As Old Knife Handle threatened him with dozens of armed men, A Xiang turned on him and held a knife to his neck.

• Old Knife Handle and his men waited near the Chen warehouse until A Xiang arrived with fighters sent by Fourth Master.
• Old Knife Handle's men broke into the warehouse and found Chen Fan, Long Si, Brother Bao, and their men waiting in defensive positions.
• Old Knife Handle demanded the return of the two-hundred-thousand-dollar shipment and offered to settle for fifty thousand, while Chen Fan accused him of betraying Chen Laosan.
• Old Knife Handle threatened to kill Chen Fan and revealed that he had brought seventy or eighty men and weapons.
• A Xiang pressed a short blade to Old Knife Handle's neck, shocking everyone as Old Knife Handle demanded to know why his longtime subordinate had betrayed him.

Chen Fan helped A Xiang turn against Old Knife Handle, who was killed and whose death was disguised as a romantic elopement. Chen Fan then faced the threat of Rui Qingrong, Boss Du’s powerful confidant, and wondered how to proceed.

• A Xiang confronted Old Knife Handle over decades of unpaid labor and resentment, and Chen Fan persuaded him that Old Knife Handle had exploited him.
• Cao Bin revealed that Old Knife Handle’s supposed men were actually Chen Fan’s allies, leaving Old Knife Handle with no support.
• A Xiang refused Old Knife Handle’s offer of money and agreed to take over Shengping Theatre after Old Knife Handle’s death.
• Chen Fan ordered A Xiang to kill Old Knife Handle and arranged a false story that he had eloped with Jin Xiangyu.
• Rumors about Old Knife Handle and Jin Xiangyu spread through Shanghai, while Chen Fan worried about confronting Rui Qingrong.

Chen Fan sought a secret arms supply to protect himself from Rui Qingrong and asked Yamada Ryosuke to arrange a meeting. Yoshino Tomokazu consulted his uncle about Chen Fan as a possible business partner, and Yoshino Takehiko questioned whether the information about Chen Fan was true.

• Chen Fan decided that he needed a secret arms channel and sent word to Yamada Ryosuke through A Xiang and Fatty Wu's cousin, Translator Liu.
• Yamada Ryosuke told Yoshino Tomokazu that Chen Fan had requested a meeting and argued that Chen Fan could be a valuable connection.
• Yoshino Tomokazu chose to consult his uncle, Yoshino Takehiko, before deciding whether to work with Chen Fan.
• Yoshino Tomokazu described Chen Fan's background and abilities, and Yoshino Takehiko asked whether he could be sure the information was true.

Chen Fan hosted Yamada and his companions at Inoue Cuisine, using drinks and hired hostesses to build a relaxed atmosphere before discussing business. As the gathering grew rowdy, a drunken Yamada left the room to check on Chen Fan’s hostess.

• Yoshino Takehiko urged Yoshino Tomokazu to meet the person he was interested in before the opportunity passed, and Tomokazu left after sensing his uncle’s concern.
• Chen Fan received Yamada’s invitation through his assistant Hyoda Isamu and went to Inoue Cuisine with dried seafood as a gift for Inoue Shinichi.
• Inoue Shinichi arranged the Pine Room and hostesses from the Cherry Blossom Dance Hall at Chen Fan’s request.
• Yamada arrived with Major Yoshino and Shimura, and Chen Fan welcomed them into the private room for drinks and entertainment.
• As the guests drank and the atmosphere loosened, Yamada noticed Chen Fan had no hostess and drunkenly went to look for one.

Chen Fan spent the night drinking with Fujiwara Kyoka, unaware of her high rank until Inoue Kazuhiko arrived and she identified herself as chief of the Tokkō Cipher Section. Her revelation left Yamada, Yoshino, and Shimura sobered and stunned.

• Yamada brought Fujiwara Kyoka to Chen Fan, mistaking her for a drinking companion, and Chen Fan apologized for the mix-up.
• Fujiwara Kyoka drank with Chen Fan, asked about his age and name, and said she felt they had met before.
• Fujiwara Kyoka drank heavily and kept Chen Fan from discussing business with Yamada that night.
• Inoue Kazuhiko arrived, recognized Fujiwara Kyoka, and reacted in shock when she drank with Chen Fan.
• Fujiwara Kyoka announced that she was chief of the Tokkō Cipher Section, an honorary imperial colonel, and a senior official in the Empress's Household.