The Struggle for Supremacy in Republican China

In the eighth year of the Republic, Lu Ziyue returns from France with his life barely intact. He comes back to Tianjin to collect his wages, only to stumble upon his own memorial service. Onstage, Mr. Meng is in tears, recounting how he risked his life to save him. When Lu Ziyue finishes listening, he claps twice. "Let's not rush to mourn me. First, let's settle my wages." A native of Zouping, Shandong, he studied for a few years and trained in boxing for a few more. The artillery fire of the European War taught him foreign languages, car repair, and how to use a gun. Now he has barely a few coins in his pocket, but he is bolder than before he went abroad. He wants to collect his wages, go home to see his mother, then build a fortune no one can take from him. Who could have guessed that he would go from the docks of Tianjin to banquets attended by the elite of Beijing and Shanghai, then from the world of business into the crossfire of warlord armies? He has made money, held office, won the hearts of beautiful women, and even faced off with sworn brothers who drew their guns on him. Over the course of half a lifetime, he has climbed high and fallen back into the dust again and again. The young man once listed among the dead insists on making something of his life in this world.