Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

In the early morning, the mist on the mountain road had not yet completely dissipated, and glistening dewdrops clung to the lawn of the Lu family manor. Lu Chen pushed open the door to the second-floor nursery, a brightly lit room that had been lavishly renovated.

"Waaah—"

Two extremely faint, yet alert, growls echoed inside the room.

Sunlight streamed through the semi-transparent white gauze curtains, dappling the wool rug beside the cradle. Two well-proportioned, muscular hamsters lay on either side of Lu Qian's cradle. They had been resting with their eyes closed, but the moment the door hinges turned, all four ears perked up almost simultaneously, and their two pairs of wild-looking eyes stared intently at the crack in the door.

When they recognized Lu Chen as the newcomer, the two large dogs, each capable of snapping an adult's throat in an instant, finally suppressed their murderous intent. They obediently lowered their front paws, their large tails gently swishing on the wooden floor with muffled "pat-pat" sounds, while they whimpered happily. However, fearing they might disturb Lu Qian's rest, they kept their voices very low.

Since the two little guys, Cola and Sprite, showed that protective spirit because of Ruan Mei's pregnancy, Lu Chen spent a lot of money to hire dog trainers from Europe to give them a complete set of the most professional guard dog training.

With their specially formulated nutrition, Coca-Cola and Sprite are no longer just ordinary pets—they are the innermost "bodyguards" of the Lu family.

Since Lu Qian's birth, these two spirit dogs seemed to sense some kind of bloodline inheritance, and consciously took over the last line of security for their young master. They could accurately identify which were the nurses responsible for personal care, which were the servants responsible for cleaning the perimeter, and which were the relatives who could hold their young master. If any unfamiliar scent or unauthorized person attempted to cross that invisible red line, these two seemingly docile dogs would instantly transform into the most ruthless hunters.

Lu Chen stepped forward, bent down and rubbed Cola's thick forehead, then patted Sprite's back.

"Take good care of her, she's the apple of our eye right now."

As if understanding their owner's expectations, the two dogs whimpered and rested their chins on their paws again, their eyes never leaving the little one in the cradle who was sucking his fingers and sleeping soundly.

Lu Chen stood by the cradle for a while, looking at Lu Qian's chubby little face, a surge of warmth welling up in his heart. However, the moment he turned and walked out of the room, that hawk-like sharpness returned to his brow.

He took the trench coat from Tian Yangsheng downstairs and got straight into the black Rolls-Royce.

"Go to Kowloon, to the distillery headquarters."

……

Kowloon, an area surrounded by barbed wire and abandoned shipping containers.

On the surface, this is Jiahe Security's warehouse, but in reality, it is the command center of Lu Chen's underground empire—the "Drinkhouse".

The air here is filled with a faint, treated smell of gunpowder, and the numerous closed-circuit surveillance cameras all around are like the eyes of death.

"Boss."

Fourth Brother, the man once known for his loyalty in "The Killer," but now the most powerful intelligence chief in Lu Chen's hands, stood quietly at the door of the operations room. He was still wearing that faded dark gray jacket, but his eyes held a coldness honed by the passage of time.

"Let's go inside and talk." Lu Chen strode in and sat down directly at the huge conference table, which was made from a single piece of cast iron.

"Boss, here's what you wanted. All the 'secrets' of the Madden family over the past few decades are here." Fourth Brother respectfully handed over a sealed black file.

The distillery is no longer a small operation. Thanks to Lu Chen's continuous investment and Fourth Brother's meticulous management, it has become a dominant force in Asia's underworld and a well-known name globally. Since Lu Chen requested the collection of information on the Madden family, the entire distillery has been operating at full capacity, compiling a complete set of data in just one week.

Lu Chen sat down in the large leather swivel chair, casually lit a cigar, and the deep blue smoke slowly rose under the monitor's glow.

He opened the top-secret document concerning John Madden, the de facto head of Wheelock and Company, and his family members. Originally, Lu Chen only intended to find some business loopholes or scandals involving the private lives of some old aristocrats. However, when he turned to page seventeen, Lu Chen's fingers suddenly stopped.

That was intelligence about John Madden's only son, William Madden, a young man who graduated from Wharton School of the US and has just joined the upper echelons of Wheelock.

The photo shows a well-mannered young Caucasian man wearing wire-rimmed glasses. He is standing at a high-end racecourse in Central, chatting and laughing with a young Chinese man in a well-tailored suit.

"William Madden," Lu Chen said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "John Madden's eldest son, a top student at Wharton Business School. And the one next to him... isn't that Ni Yongxiao?"

"Boss, you have a good memory. It's the second young master of the Ni family." Fourth Brother lit a cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke.

The records clearly show that William Madden had a close personal relationship with his classmate, Ni Yongxiao, who is now the successor of the Ni family, during his studies in the United States. The two not only frequented high-end private clubs together, but also had secret overlaps in funds in several large-scale financial derivatives transactions.

Lu Chen flipped through the files, his gaze lingering on a set of bank transaction data.

"William's personal account has been receiving over five million US dollars in unexplained funds every month, all transferred from shell companies in the Cayman Islands. Wheelock's cash flow is about to dry up; where does this third-generation scion get so much pocket money?"

Fourth Brother sneered and pointed to several port locations on the map: "Intelligence analysts speculate that William used his authority in Wheelock's management to open up a 'legitimate shipping route' for Ni Yongxiao. This money is the kickback Ni Yongxiao gave him."

To tell this story, we have to go back to the death of Wang Bao more than half a year ago. Ever since Lu Chen personally ordered the distillery to kill Wang Bao, most of the Bao-character gang's territory became a vacuum, except for a few streets that Ah Hua had occupied in advance. The Wo Luen Shing and the Number Gang went to war directly for control of the territory, and the two sides fought fiercely, causing a great uproar in the city. At the height of the conflict, thousands of gangsters were seen clashing in the streets with weapons, and the police even ran out of tear gas.

Ultimately, the Number Gang, with its strong sense of righteousness, deep-rooted foundation, and numerical advantage, emerged victorious in this resource restructuring and successfully took over most of Wang Bao's estate.

However, just as Ni Kun, one of the three giants of the Number Gang, was preparing to hold a grand banquet at a restaurant to celebrate, an accident occurred.

A motorcyclist wearing a full-face helmet drove against traffic in full view of onlookers, pulled out a pistol, and fired three shots, each hitting a target. Ni Kun didn't even leave a word before dying on the way to the hospital.

Rumors swirled and spread, with everyone speculating that the Wo Luen Shing Society was responsible for the fatal attack. Terrified, the then-leader of the Wo Luen Shing Society, Chick, issued a statement overnight denying the allegations. To prove their innocence, the Wo Luen Shing Society even offered a reward of HK$500,000 for the capture of the assassin. The matter quickly became the talk of the town.

But the mysterious killer seems to have vanished into thin air, and there has been no news of him since.

With Ni Kun's death, the "Four Great Vajras" under the Ni family—Han Chen, Hei Gui, Wen Zheng, and Guo Hua—these old foxes all harbored ulterior motives, planning to take advantage of the Ni family's leaderlessness to break away and even divide up the Ni family's drug share.

Just when the Ni family was teetering on the brink of collapse, Ni Yongxiao returned.

This Wharton graduate, who wore gold-rimmed glasses, appeared refined and had never been involved in underworld business, displayed a ruthless and intimidating approach that chilled the entire island of Hong Kong.

Without using a single sword or gun, he subdued the four powerful figures with a simple "family dinner," relying on his precise grasp of their weaknesses and his extreme verbal pressure, employing both soft and hard tactics.

"After Ni Yongxiao returned to the country, he knew that the police were watching him and that Wo Shing was also looking for trouble, so he abandoned the low-level drug trafficking route of smuggling through fishing boats and unloading in Saigon. He took a high-end route that no one would have thought of - containerized transportation."

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, his fingers tapping lightly on the table: "William Madden holds the control over Wheelock's ocean liners. You mean, they used Wheelock's giant cruise ships to smuggle dirty goods domestically, and even globally, through hidden compartments in the containers?"

"That's right." Fourth Brother's expression turned solemn. "Customs simply can't detect this method. A single container can hold tens of thousands of tons of drugs. As long as William tampers with the shipping schedule, these boxes full of drugs can pass through Wheelock's private terminal without anyone noticing. John Madden is likely unaware of this. William is using his position to earn 'settlement fees' for immigration and the University of Massachusetts."

Lu Chen slammed the file shut with a loud "bang".

"The entire Wind Chaser team is mobilized. I need irrefutable evidence. I need the bill of lading signed by William himself, and the recording of him and Ni Yongxiao dividing the spoils. I need not only evidence that Wheelock was involved in drug trafficking, but also irrefutable evidence that William himself was implicated."

Lu Chen stood up, looked at the gloomy sky outside the window, and said with an air of domineering control, "Since John refuses to hand over his shares, I'll clean house for him."

……

Three days later, the sun was setting.

The Governor's residence on Upper Albert Drive appeared particularly solemn and elegant tonight.

This was a charity dinner ostensibly to raise funds for "starving children in Africa." In Hong Kong, such banquets are often the highest-level exchanges of power, where deals worth tens or even hundreds of millions are agreed upon amidst the clinking of glasses and the smoke of cigars.

As the most sought-after business leader in Hong Kong today, Lu Chen was naturally seated at the head table.

Governor Sir Edward Youde was very cooperative tonight. After introducing the charitable contributions of Golden Harvest International to several socialites, he very naturally led over a tall, middle-aged white man with an unyielding anxiety in his expression.

"Mr. Lu, let me introduce you to Sir John Madden, Chairman of Wheelock & Co.," Youde said, winking at Lu Chen with a look of relief that came from completing a task.

"I've heard so much about you, Mr. Lu," John Madden said, extending his hand with a somewhat stiff smile. "The achievements of Golden Harvest International in the fields of luxury goods, technology, and media put us old-fashioned trading companies to shame."

"Sir Madden, you're too kind." Lu Chen clinked glasses with him, his tone calm and profound. "Wheelock has been established in Hong Kong for a century. Its shipping and real estate foundation is what I truly admire. To be honest, I have always hoped that Golden Harvest and Wheelock could have a deeper 'blood fusion'."

Upon hearing this, John Madden's thick eyebrows twitched slightly. He certainly knew what Lu Chen meant. Rumors circulated that Lu Chen had already acquired the 40% stake held by the Zhang Yuliang family, and that Lu Chen was now the most ruthless and hungry wolf at the gates of Wheelock.

Then, Lu Chen proposed a premium price, hoping to acquire John's 20% stake in Wheelock.

“I’ve heard of Mr. Lu’s wealth. Admittedly, the shipping situation is indeed not good right now, and the Madden family is indeed facing some liquidity pressures,” John Madden put down his wine glass, shaking his head vigorously, his tone revealing the last stubbornness of an English aristocrat. “However, Wheelock is the glory of three generations of the Madden family, the legacy left by my grandfather during that great age of exploration. Even if I were so poor now that I had to sleep in a park in Central, I would never sell my last 20 percent stake.”

"Oh?" Lu Chen listened quietly to John's high-sounding statement, a playful smile curving his lips. "I didn't expect Mr. John to be so persistent."

But is it really as he said?

Lu Chen knew very well that there was nothing in this world that couldn't be sold, only prices that couldn't be paid, or rather—it wasn't time to sell yet.

The Chinese often say that "wealth doesn't last three generations," and this saying also applies to the increasingly dwindling Anssa people.

John Madden's business acumen was far inferior to that of his father and grandfather. Over the past decade, the Madden family's assets had shrunk dramatically due to the shipping industry's decline caused by reckless expansion. More importantly, with the commencement of negotiations, John had keenly sensed the changing future of this land.

He had long wanted to liquidate his assets, take a huge sum of money back to London, and continue his aristocratic life on the banks of the Thames.

His current refusal is nothing more than an attempt to wait for a higher price, taking advantage of Lu Chen's determination to acquire Wheelock and squeeze out a few hundred million Hong Kong dollars more in premium.

So Lu Chen slowly took out a very thin, earth-yellow kraft paper document bag from the inside pocket of his suit.

"Sir Madden, there's an old Chinese saying: 'If a son is not taught, it is the father's fault.' Your persistence in upholding your ancestors' legacy is truly moving. However, I think that while you are remembering your grandfather, perhaps you should also pay more attention to your successors."

Lu Chen handed over the file folder, his eyes flashing with a cold, razor-sharp light: "There's some information here about Mr. William Madden's 'entrepreneurship.' I think you'd better find a quiet corner and look at it by yourself."

John Madden took the file bag with suspicion. At first, he didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just some gossip Lu Chen had gathered about William having women on either side of him at nightclubs.

But when he walked to the window, away from the crowd, and pulled out the first photo, he froze.

In the photo, William is in a warehouse in Tsim Sha Tsui, personally inspecting a container whose inner compartment has been pried open, revealing blocks of white powder sealed in plastic. Sitting opposite William is none other than Ni Yongxiao, the current kingpin of Hong Kong Island's drug market.

Next came the top-secret shipping bill of lading personally signed by William, along with several detailed records of drug money transfers to William's private accounts, down to the cent.

"My God..."

John Madden felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, and his breathing instantly became heavy and labored. His originally pale face turned a sickly purplish-red.

As a veteran capitalist who has been immersed in the Hong Kong business world for decades, he knew all too well what these photos meant.

This isn't a simple violation; it's drug trafficking!

In Hong Kong, or even in an international court, this alone would be enough to condemn William Madden to a life of imprisonment. More devastatingly, once this news got out, Wheelock & Co.'s century-old, painstakingly built reputation would vanish instantly. All banks would recall their loans in that instant, and all partners would avoid them like the plague.

That wouldn't be bankruptcy; it would be a complete execution of reputation and property.

John Madden shoved the file back into his pocket with trembling hands. He turned around, his eyes no longer showing any of the arrogance and stubbornness from before, but instead filled with a death-defying terror.

He walked through the group of celebrities chatting and laughing, almost rushing up to Youde and Lu Chen.

"Your Excellency... I'm sorry, I suddenly feel unwell." John Madden's voice trembled as he looked at Lu Chen, his tone almost pleading. "Mr. Lu, could you... could you give me ten minutes? I'd like to speak with you privately, in that lounge."

Although Yud didn't know what was in the file folder, as a political animal, he sensed the dying wails of his prey. So he glanced at John Madden with pity and waved to the waiter in the distance.

"Go ahead, John. Young people always have their own unique way of communicating."

……

The Governor's Mansion, a side hall filled with portraits of members of the royal family.

The heavy mahogany door was closed, shutting out the noise from outside.

John Madden slumped against the wall like a deflated balloon as he entered. He stared intently at Lu Chen, his voice hoarse: "Where did you get these things...? How authentic are they?"

"Authenticity? You don't need to doubt that," Lu Chen said casually, sitting on a leather sofa and picking up an exquisite porcelain balance scale from the table. "Sir Madden, your son's time with Ni Yongxiao wasn't just a reunion of old classmates. Over the past eight months, he has used Wheelock's five cruise ships to transport more than a ton of high-purity heroin."

William took 15 percent of the profits. He thought he was being discreet, that the Madden family was the law on this sea. Unfortunately, he forgot that heaven sees what man does.

Lu Chen's words were completely flat, yet they made John Madden feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"Mr. Lu... what do you want?" John Madden gripped his collar tightly. "William is still a child. He's just been instigated by that Ni Yongxiao. He doesn't understand the consequences of these things..."

"He doesn't understand? A Wharton graduate, how could he not know that drug trafficking is a serious crime?" Lu Chen sneered, his tone suddenly turning fierce. "Sir Madden, stop putting on this show of paternal love in front of me. If these photos appear on ATV's morning news headlines tomorrow, you know the consequences. Wheelock's share price will instantly plummet below one Hong Kong dollar, and the port will be seized by the police. At that time, the billions in breach of contract penalties and legal compensation will be enough to squeeze every last drop out of your Madden family. Your shareholders and partners in London will kick you out of Wheelock like you're being torn to shreds."

"And William, he'll spend the rest of his life in Stanley Prison, or... he'll 'accidentally' die in his cell one night, you know what I mean?"

Cold sweat trickled down John Madden's forehead and into the collar of his tuxedo, and he almost lost his balance.

"I understand... I'll sell!" John Madden closed his eyes, as if he had aged twenty years in an instant. "I'll sell all twenty percent of my shares to Golden Harvest International."

Lu Chen stood up, walked up to him, lowered his voice, and his tone revealed a sense of satisfaction after closing the net:

"Very well. However, Sir Madden, your son's 'special behavior' has brought significant potential reputational risks to Wheelock. Therefore, the original market valuation is no longer appropriate. I'll offer 90%, cash only."

"Ninety percent?" John Madden looked up abruptly, a hint of resentment flashing in his eyes. That meant he was going to lose hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars for no reason.

"You can refuse." Lu Chen straightened his cuffs, making a move to leave. "You can keep those shares and go to hell with your son. I guarantee that by tomorrow morning, this information will not only be in the police station, but also on the desks of relevant departments in the mainland. You should know that the attitude towards drugs in the north is not as 'gentlemanly' as our Governor Youde."

"No! I'll sign!" John Madden practically screamed; he was completely devastated.

"A smart choice." Lu Chen's calm smile returned. "Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, Jiahe International's legal team will bring the contract to your office. I hope to see Mr. William Madden also present, as a 'witness to history,' personally signing his name."

……

After the banquet, Hong Kong was ablaze with lights at midnight.

Lu Chen got back into the Rolls-Royce, the neon lights outside the window constantly changing, reflecting on his calm face.

"Boss, did John Madden spit it out?" Tian Yangsheng asked in a low voice from the front row.

"He had no choice. The old man is stubborn, but he's more afraid of having no descendants than of so-called ancestral property." Lu Chen closed his eyes, feeling the rhythm of the vehicle's movement.

"Wheelton is basically secured. Once the contract is signed tomorrow, Golden Harvest International will officially become one of the four major trading companies. From now on, the shipping rules in this area will be dictated by the Chinese."

Lu Chen suddenly opened his eyes, a fierce killing intent flashing in them.

"However, before we enjoy the victory, we still need to clean up the termites in our house... Ni Yongxiao is indeed quite capable, but he made a fatal mistake. In Hong Kong, he can seize territory and double-cross others, but he should never have sold this kind of bloody poison on this land."

Although Lu Chen admired Ni Yongxiao while watching the movie, it didn't mean he would turn a blind eye to such drug dealers in real life.

"Boss, what do you mean?" Tian Yangsheng gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"Give them a lesson," Lu Chen said calmly, issuing a death sentence to the Ni family. "Make a good plan, starting with Ni Yongxiao, and cutting off all those dirty claws... I don't want to see some drug dealers so arrogant."

"clear."

The wheels rolled forward, heading towards the top of Victoria Peak.

That night, Wheelock changed hands, marking the official collapse of the Angsah Group's century-old commercial dominance on Hong Kong Island. For some underworld figures who were trying to profit from the chaos, their deepest nightmare had only just begun.

The autumn wind of 1983 suddenly turned as sharp as a knife that night.