In the 1990s, as China’s reform and opening-up gathered pace, a passionate young man named A Bin, driven by his journalistic ideals, fought to make a place for himself in the news industry and change his fate. Short in stature but ambitious, he rose from obscurity to modest fame. By chance, he met A Lan, a country girl determined to join the middle class, and the two hit it off.
Amid the opportunities and temptations of the era, they moved from journalism into business, exploiting loopholes in government policy and leveraging their connections to amass wealth at a breakneck pace. Power and greed gradually consumed their original ideals, and their crimes piled up like a snowball. From commercial bribery to the illegal transfer of assets, they went further and further down the road to lawlessness.
