Chapter 1

From the 2000s onward, the national crackdown on gangs and organized crime intensified.

The powerful patrons sheltering criminal organizations began falling, one after another. Every so often, another would be sent to prison.

To survive, many gangs changed the way they operated.

They amassed their initial capital through crime, then used that money to move into conventional businesses.

Hotels, restaurants, building materials, used cars... Their influence reached into every industry.

Real estate was growing fastest in those years, and it attracted the most of them.

Xincheng Group, where I worked, was one property company that had successfully made that transition.

I became Huang Xincheng’s driver and bodyguard in 2005. I handled quite a few matters for him.

Later, he became a celebrated businessman. I, too, was handsomely rewarded.

Late at night, when I remember everything we did over the years...

It all comes back, one incident after another, as vividly as ever.

I know I was wrong.

But I was powerless. All I could do was go on making one mistake after another.

...

Huang Xincheng was one of the city’s crime bosses. At his peak, he controlled a fifth of its underground economy.

Had he not started later than his rivals, that figure might have been higher.

...

In 2007, things grew tense in the city. A great many people were thrown into prison.

That was the year Mr. Huang decided to go legitimate.

He sold off his illegal operations, pooled the proceeds, and set up a company in the booming property industry.

That company became Xincheng Group.

With his particular methods and network of connections, he turned Xincheng into a rising star in the city’s property market in just six years.

He kept bidding for land and piling on leverage, seizing most of the market in a remarkably short time.

His expansion was too rapid, his methods too aggressive. He encroached on other people’s interests, and rival developers resented him bitterly.

They joined forces to bring Xincheng down.

That was how everything that followed began.

...

On the evening of April 2, 2013, an official named Meng from the construction department invited Mr. Huang to dinner.

I stood guard outside, so I don’t know what they discussed at the table. All I know is that afterward, driving Mr. Huang home, I saw his face in the rearview mirror. He looked terrible.

I asked what was wrong.

For years, Official Meng had been quietly embezzling public funds. He had concealed it under various pretexts and never been caught. Recently, though, someone outside the system had reported him. His superiors were preparing to send investigators.

He was scrambling to put things right. He had already raised every yuan he could, but it wasn’t enough.

Calling on all the help he had given Mr. Huang over the years, he demanded twenty million yuan.

Ten million to cover the hole in the accounts. Another ten million to grease the right palms.

Xincheng had little cash left at the time. Even so, considering Official Meng’s immense value to the group, Mr. Huang decided to pay.

At first, I thought the twenty million was what had upset him.

“It’s not the money,” he said. “I know Meng. He’s spent decades in officialdom. He covers his tracks. Even people inside the system couldn’t get anything on him, yet some outsider reports him? It has to be those developers. They’re jealous of Xincheng’s profits, so they’re going after my money tree!”

I thought he had a point. Those bosses had to be involved.

But things had reached a stage where the group could hardly afford to make more trouble.

We thought that once we gave Official Meng the money and helped him through the crisis, that would be the end of it.

We had no idea they had laid a whole series of traps.

...

A month later, I arrived early one morning to pick up Mr. Huang and found him raging through his house, smashing things.

Hearing the commotion, I went inside. Golf club in hand, he had all but destroyed the living room.

When he saw me, he tossed the club aside and picked up his coat from the sofa.

“The office.”

He headed for the door.

I hurried after him to get the car.

On the way, I asked cautiously, “What happened, Mr. Huang?”

He took a deep breath and forced his emotions down.

“Bank Manager Li says we’re overleveraged. Too risky. He’s refused the loan.”

“Couldn’t you try another bank? There’s no need to smash everything.”

“I’ve contacted the others. Same line from every one of them. In plain language, they won’t lend.”

After a few seconds of silence, I asked, “What will you do?”

Mr. Huang closed his eyes, frowned, and drew another deep breath.

“Go back to the office first. This is when we need money most. If the banks won’t lend, there are other places. Underground banks. Private lenders. If necessary, we’ll raise funds ourselves. With all that land in my hands, I refuse to believe no one will lend me money.”

He thought a little longer.

“Find out who those bank managers have been meeting lately. Report back to me.”

...

Bank managers were already people whose movements attracted attention. Plenty of others knew where they went.

Find someone close to them, offer a small gift, and it was easy enough to get a rough outline of their recent schedules.

Then narrow it down to certain places—restaurants, teahouses, clubs—and check the surveillance footage. That would show where they had been and whom they had met.

I spent a week investigating seven bank managers. They had recently been very close to rival property companies, meeting them repeatedly within a short period.

When I reported this to Mr. Huang, he flew into a rage.

“Fuck! I knew it! Those bastards are coming after me! First they get my patron in trouble and drain my cash. Then they make the banks cut off my loans. They know I can’t take on any more leverage. They’re trying to finish me!”

As I said, Xincheng had grown so quickly because Mr. Huang liked to borrow money to buy land, then mortgage that land for more loans, repeating the cycle again and again.

The fatal weakness was the enormous risk. Once the flow of funds broke, the whole leveraged structure would collapse.

“Have you managed to borrow anything?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“No. Not a cent. Those dogs want me dead.”

I said nothing. This was beyond anything I could help with.

He paced around the office, then stopped at the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Looking out over the city, he said, “Get all the senior executives in here. Emergency meeting.”

I nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

I had taken two steps when he called me back.

“Wait.”

“Anything else?”

“Bring Xu Min too. Tell him to attend.”

I nodded and went to work.

...

Xu Min was a lawyer Mr. Huang had sponsored.

He came from the north. Years earlier, he had fled south to escape something.

Down on his luck, he had worked as a bartender in Mr. Huang’s bar. Mr. Huang helped him change his household registration and paid for him to attend university.

After graduation, Mr. Huang gave him money to open a practice: Zhongzheng Law Firm.

At first, its offices were in the group’s building. Only after it grew did it move out.

What outsiders didn’t know was that Xincheng had no legal department.

Zhongzheng Law Firm was its legal department.

...

I drove downtown and picked Xu Min up outside his office building.

On the way, he asked what had happened.

I gave him the outline.

His face darkened.

I asked what was wrong.

“If Xincheng collapses... the people Mr. Huang crossed won’t spare us.”

I agreed completely. In those years of fighting over land, what hadn’t we done?

If Xincheng really fell, we might die without anyone ever knowing how.

Xu Min thought for a long time, his expression growing grimmer. Then he suddenly drew a deep breath.

“Have you thought of something?” I asked.

“A last resort... But not yet. Let’s see if anyone at the meeting has a better idea. If there really is no other way, I’ll speak.”

“All right.”

...