Eight poor young men swore brotherhood on an iron bridge, promising to share every hardship. Their eldest, Lu Zheng, spent two years in prison. When he got out, he found his brothers couldn't even hold on to a single street. He led them in wresting the Blue Sea Nightclub from the Chengnan Gang, then kicked open the gates to the North Street territory.
The first volume is about sticking together and fighting for a share. United as one, the eight of them take turf and seize the docks from Han Bao, winning one battle after another. The night they set off fireworks on the iron bridge, they all thought better days had finally come.
The second volume is about splitting up and falling out. Once there was money to go around, the question of how to divide it became a problem. Lu Zheng wanted to go straight, while his second-in-command, Chen Mo, felt he was getting too small a share. With the ledger spread out on the rooftop, Chen Mo said, “For twenty years, you've been the boss, and I've been second. I'll always be second.” He had been holding those words in for twenty years. From that day on, the brothers were no longer brothers.
The third volume is a bloody battle at the docks. Chen Mo goes his own way, and both sides fight over the New Harbor docks. Lao Mao dies in the chaos, and Lu Zheng changes. From then on, he cares only about profit, not loyalty.
The fourth volume is about settling old scores. Chen Mo exposes Zhang Lei's embezzlement from twenty years ago, then hands the police evidence of Lu Zheng's shady dealings, hoping to use the law as a weapon. The two men share their last three cigarettes on the iron bridge. When the smoke is gone, so are they. Lu Zheng personally sends Chen Mo to prison, then stands alone on the bridge, facing Ningjiang, and says, “We'll be brothers until the day we die.” In the end, the hardest thing to guard against isn't an enemy's knife. It's the heart of someone by your side.
