Synopsis of The Schemer: Shanghai 1936
An agent who never carries a gun uses his mind to turn a city upside down.
Autumn, 1936. The French Concession in Shanghai. After his fiancée is brutally murdered by Japanese ronin, renowned doctor Cheng Wangshu sees the law turn a deaf ear. He wipes away his tears, picks up a scalpel, and carries out a private act of revenge disguised as a perfect medical accident. “Old Huo,” a chief of the Special Branch, comes to see him. “Take revenge openly and you'll die. Do it in secret and you can live. You're a born schemer.”
From then on, an invisible ghost haunts Shanghai. He squints, smiles listlessly, and always seems a beat behind. No one suspects that this “nice guy” is playing a grand game: using the Japanese to eliminate collaborators, swapping labels on biological warfare supplies so the enemy blows itself up, and infiltrating Unit 76 for three years while causing the agency to lose more than thirty men. His weapons aren't guns or artillery, but calculation, patience, and psychological manipulation precise to the millisecond.
From revenge for love to plotting for his country, Cheng Wangshu turns “scheming” into an art and a creed amid the maze of the concessions, the crisis of an isolated city, and the hell of occupation. On May 27, 1949, the red flag rises over the Bund. He puts aside his schemes and returns to the operating table. Daybreak comes, and the schemer retires after accomplishing his mission. Yet the man who used his wits to kindle a glimmer of light in the darkest of times remains etched in the city's memory forever.
He is no hero, but a survivor. He never charged into battle, yet overturned countless games. This is the story of a sly genius who used his mind to win a war.
