Episode 2
First Aired 2024.3.21
Summary
Wei Ruolai completes his exam, with all parts calculated correctly. He then escaped the burning building, helping others out but stayed back to fight the fire in order to protect Bank property. Shen Tunan is unhappy with the performance of all the candidates except him. Wei Ruolai is called in for an interview.
In the course of the interview, Wei Ruolai impresses Shen Tunan with his grasp of the purpose of a central bank. He says his strengths are calculation and memorisation. Shen Tunan gives him a memory test, on which he overachieves. They get down to talking about salary, and it seems that the job is all but a given when Huang Congyun appears with a dossier, telling Shen Tunan that there is a problem with Wei Ruolai's background: he comes from Jiangxi, which is communist heartland. Shen Tunan apologises to Wei Ruolai, and dismisses him.
Returning to Qibao street despondently, Wei Ruolai is comforted and encouraged by his neighbours. Yi Zhi gives him some advice: "They wouldn't hire you because you aren't a big enough asset to them. If you are truly a valuable asset, your resume and connections wouldn't matter at all. Even if you are a grenade they'd still grit their teeth and hold you in their hands." Wei Ruolai determines to become valuable to Shen Tunan. He searches articles and revisits the Stock exchange, analysing the situation.
Meanwhile, Xu Nao is telegraphing Jiangxi, and in Jiangxi, Lei Ming is handing off gold to a Wei Ruochuan, telling him to save their eight comrades.
Shen Tunan holds a grand cocktail party at his house for Christmas. Wei Ruolai talks his way inside. At the beginning of the night, a corrupt officer of the Central Bank is arrested. Then Shen Jinzhen comes down to play piano. Wei Ruolai recognises her, and when given the opportunity he grabs her and asks her to do him a favour, and pass a message to the host of the party, Shen Tunan.
Wei Ruolai and Shen Tunan end up in Tunan's office, with Ruolai explaining what he has deduced about Tunan's plans. Shen Tunan explodes, doubting that Ruolai could have thought it out himself, accuses him of stealing government secrets and pulls a gun on him.
Timed Run down
1:34 picking back up in the exam room of the Central Bank
2:13 Fire! Run! Fire!
2:58 Wei Ruolai finishes his paper and leaves (WRL Look 1)
3:07 STN's office. STN speaks angrily with Chief Deng about the candidates. (STN Look 2)
3:34 cut to candidates panicking in the face of the fire
3:47 cut back to STN's office. STN "I was testing their intelligence, courage and willpower, as well as their abilities to analyze the environment, and make judgements, plus their reverse thinking skills."
4:10 cut back to the fire, and WRL.
5:03 cut back to STN's office
5:10 cut back to the fire, and WRL helping other candidates, and carrying an elderly worker out of danger
5:57 cut back to STN's office
6:00 cut back to WRL fighting the fire, then succumbing to smoke.
6:27 cut back to STN's office
6:44 cut back to WRL: "Didn't you say there were documents inside? If they were destroyed the Central Bank would suffer huge losses, right?"
6:50 cut back to STN's office
7:16 mention of Nanjing. WRL: "The Central Bank hires based on the candidates' abilities instead of their social backgrounds."
7:24 WRL bids Huang Congyun to bring candidate 47 for a private interview.
7:30 Huang Congyun walks WRL to STN's office.
7:50 WRL enters office.
8:51 WRL: "In prosperous times, (the Central Bank) should be a mudloach, as it acts as the cenralmacroeconomic regulator and controller, designing the most reasonable financial policies to safeguard the national economy. ... In chaotic times, the Central Bank would be a snakehead fish. It'd first secure its own survival and strength. After all, the private sector wouldn't cover military spending. The country can't make other plans unless it wins whatever war it is in."
9:30 WRL introduces himself. Wei Ruolai. 23 years old. Graduate of the extension school of Lixin Accounting Institute. His strengths are calculating and his good memory.
9:43 WRL gives him a memorization test. He overachieves.
12:09 STN asks WRL what he expects for salary.
13:55 Huang Congyun arrives with bad news: a problem with WRL's background.
14:18 STN: Where are you originally from?
WRL: I'm from Ji'an, Jiangxi.
14:32 STN: You have an elder brother, right?
WRL: Yes. He left home three years ago.
14:40 Chief Deng: It was the 16th year since the republic of China was established. That's when our party had a thorough purge.
15:20 STN: Wei Ruolai, I'm sorry. Congyun, show him out.
15:50 door closes. Chief Deng and STN discuss WRL
16:35 WRL makes his way out of the Central Bank. Stands looking back at it. Maudlin violin music. He sits down on the curb. People pass to and fro.
17:44 Qibao St. A-Wen arrives with his rickshaw and orders food.
18:01 WRL appears WRL Look 1a, despondant. The tall bald man is also there (do we ever learn his name?) A-Wen pulls over WRL to eat with him. He asks how the interview went. He tries to comfort WRL by bad mouthing the Central Bank.
19:02 WRL: The Central Bank is the best of all banks. There's no place better than that.
19:11 Aunt Zhou and Yi Zhi the old chessmaster appear, and come over to speak to WRL.
19:44 Yi Zhi : Two or three years ago, I could make not only the Central Bank, but also the HSBC hire him by saying just one sentence!
20:34 WRL stands up to leave, Yi Zhi follows him to talk.
20:59 Yi Zhi: You're wrong. They wouldn't hire you because you aren't a big enough asset to them. If you are truly a valuable asset, your resume and connections wouldn't matter at all. Even if you are a grenade they'd still grit their teeth and hold you in their hands.
21:46 WRL enters his bedroom. Takes off overcoat. WRL Look 1. View of the scrap book wall.
22:46 An article is blown off the wall and lands right in front of WRL. [Shen Tunan accepts an interview with The Bankers' Weekly]
23:02 Flashback to the interview
23:19 STN: Is now a prosperous time or a chaotic time?
23:23 WRL starts hurriedly working through the articles, and newspapers he has kept, a number of which are about STN personally.
24:32 WRL arrives at the Stock Exchange (WRL Look 1). Zhang Mingquan is coming down the stairs, pleading with another man (Li) to tell him if someone is shorting the Imperial Bank. Agent Liu appears, calling for security, who throw Zhang Mingquan out.
24:59 WRL approaches the pit, sees the chaos.
25:29 "Kunpeng Industries is buying 100,000 shares of the Imperial Bank."
25:56 The bell rings, marking th eend of the day's trading.
26:13 WRL (thoughts) :Kunpeng is a big soaring bird in ancient Chinese myths. It flies to the south with ambition. That's the origin of the name "Tunan."
26:21 Xu Nao opperating a morse code radio telegraph, Red army officers recieving the messages (numbers).
26:53 card Jiangxi
27:01 first view of [Intro scroll: A staffer at Jiangxi Workers & Farmers Bank, Lei Ming], showing a suitcase full of gold ingots to (first appearance of) Wei Ruochuan, telling him to take the gold and save their eight comrades.
27:11 wall portraits: Lenin on left, Marx on right.
27:12 Shen mansion at night, all lit up, a party is happening.
27:24 Internal Shen mansion, recieving line. STN Look 3. First appearance of Shen TaiTai, i.e Su Cishu. Huang Congyuan behind them.
27:34 First appearance of Chief Kang Shaojie, with Lin Qiaosong on his heels, arriving at the party.
27:38 introduction scroll [Chief of the Military Law Department of the Shanghai Garrison Command, Kang Shaojie]. ***Su Cishu rollingher eyes at Chief Kang!!!***
27:46 Kang: He did hire some members of the Green Gang to install a bomb in the car.
Cu Sishu: What bomb?
28:00 Three men at a table inside toast each other. Deputy Director Gao (first appearance) [Intro scroll: Deputy director of the Central Bank's Administration of Foreign Exchange, Gao Feng] , Zhang Mingquan [Intro scroll: President of the Imperial Bank of China, Zhang Mingquan], Yu Shiqing (first appearance) [Intro scroll: President of the Commercial Association of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Yu Shiqing.]
28:54 Yu Shiqing: You don't have to be so pessimistic about the outcome. The big sister is behind us. What are you afraid of? Can that clown Shen Tunan be a big threat to us? Not a chance.
29:13 Outside the Shen mansion again. WRL appears (WRL Look 1.) He talks his way past the attendants.
30:42 WRL enters via the kitchen, smiling, snaffles something to eat.
30:58 enters the ballroom. Party in full swing. Waiters with santa hats (!!!) Cloth covered trays of glasses. WRL snipes a champagne flute.
31:11 Huang Congyun tells STN that the guests have nearly all arrived. Su Cishu goes away upstairs.
31:43 STN stops the musicians and gets up to make a speech. "Today is Christmas..."
32:54 Gao Feng is arrested at Chief Kang's order.
33:18 Gao Feng: You can't take me away! I'm the deputy director of the Central Bank's Administration of Foreign Exchange! I'm working for Mr Kong!
33:47 Su Cishu upstairs helping Shen Jinzhen dress (SJZ Look 3)
33:50 FIRST APPEARANCE Shen Yu-er! Su Cishu persuades SJZ to go downstairs to the party.
34:38 at the party WRL looks on from the back while STN drinks and smiles
34:51 SJZ is introduced as a mystery guest here to play
35:00 SJZ descends the stairs to applause. WRL recognises her, and overhears people speaking about her : "I heard she had a personal concert in Berlin. There was a full audience."
35:44 SJZ begins to play (Harlem Stride) WRL is watching from the wings on one side. Lin Qiaosong reappears on the other side wing and smiles to see her.
36:17 Kang Shaojie tells Lin Qiaosong to leave. SJZ plays on.
36:47 outside, Lin Qiaosong appears
36:54 Wen Biao joins him. Lin Qiaosong tells Wen Biao they have to work hard, kill all the communists, and return to Nanjing.
37:21 Back inside SJZ finishes up her piece to applause. The party recommences.
38:04 SJZ approaches Xu Nao. They talk about her dress. WRL approaches from behind.
38:35 Just as SJZ is heading back upstairs, WRL grabs her and pulls her into an alcove. They speak. WRL tells her he's looking for STN. "Didn't you say you owed me a favour last time? You can repay it now. May I trouble you to give him a message?
39:33 WRL, sitting in a private room a little apart from the party with (first appearance!Introduction scroll; A patriotic banker, Jiang Jinglan).
40:03 A knock on the door. Huang Congyun opens the door, ushers SJZ in. SJZ apologizes to "uncle Jiang" with a cutesy voice, and steals STN away.
40:24 SJZ: Someone asked me to tell you that he had solved a riddle about you. ::whispers:: Kunpeng Industries."
40:36 Shot reverses to show WRL standing outside the door.
40:41 STN's office, WRL Look 1 and STN Look 3 enter. STN sits at his desk, tells WRL he has five minutes. WRL: Mr Shen, you're planning to spend a month using 15 transaction accounts associated with Kunpeng industries to attack the Imperial Bank of China, Huaxin Bank, Xingxia Bank, and Dongsheng Bank, until they fall into the clutches of the Central Bank. The Imperial Bank of China is just your first prey. ... The Central Bank was founded not long ago, with not much capital. When Chairman Chiang had a meeting with you, he said he hoped that in three years the Central Bank could become as rich in funding as the major traditional banks like the Bank of Communcations and the Bank of China. So, next, according to your plan, you'll gradually take over those four private banks. When that comes true the Central Bank will be strong enough in funding to support a financial reform.
41:42 STN: Who told you that?
41:47 SJZ in her room, flashback to being passed a tiny message earlier. Opens message to read.
41:55 v/o: The organization has decided to eliminate a crooked man named Gu Lun instantly. He's in Room 503 of Astor House Hotel.
41:59 SJZ lights a match to destroy message.
42:12 STN: Quit lying to me!
WRL: Mr Shen, I did figure it out by myself. As you know, as long as transactions happen, there'll be traces left. With the help of the information I got earlier, it wouldn't be hard to make these deductions.
STN: I still contend what you said is impossible. In the exchange there are hundreds of listed companies, and loads of information about transactions. everything may change at any time. Individuals can hardly keep track of every activity. When there are covert and simultaneous changes in numerous accounts, it would be impossible for anyone to discover the secrets within. How did you reach your findings?
WRL: Mr Shen, you've read my resume. Would you say the resources I have and my social background could give me access to the Central Bank's classified information? All my conclusions are based on my own analysis.
STN: That's impossible!
42:47 STN pulls hand gun out of the top drawer, slams it down on the desk top.
STN: You're suspected of stealing government secrets. Are you gonna turn yourself in to the Investigation and Arrest Unit, or do you want me to escort you out?
Dramatis Personae
(* marks first appearance)
Wei Ruolai
Shen Jinzhen
Shen Tunan
Aunt Zhuo [minor]
Huang Congyun [minor]
*Kang Shaojie
*Lei Ming [minor]
Lin Qiaosong
*Su Cishu
Wen Biao [minor]
Wen Youtian [minor]
Xu Nuo
*Yu Shiqing
*Zhang Mingquan
Agent Liu [minor]
Deng Ze
*Gao Feng
*Jiang Jinlan
*Shen Yu'er
Yi Zhi
*Bald Qibao St neighbour [minor]
Li? at stock exchange [minor]