Episode Summary
In this episode, drug lord Lu Shaohua, living under an alias, deepens his relationship with a mute girl he rescued, even buying her a house. Simultaneously, a police team led by Lin Qiangfeng identifies him and closes in. A series of cascading accidents, starting with a broken factory pipe and a stolen briefcase containing a meth sample, leads a local villager, Hu Guangping, to discover Lu's operation. The police raid one of the dealers selling Hu's stolen sample, while Hu himself is accidentally killed at the factory by Lu's men. Faced with exposure, Lu Shaohua orders the disposal of the body and plans to sell his remaining drug supply immediately.
Spoiler Alert
"The Narcotic Operation" Episode 19: Spoilers Ahead
Two years ago, Lu Shaohua fled to Lüteng City with his associates, Wang Lin and Qiu Laibao. Under the alias Li Senmu, he established the Zhengxing Health Products Factory, a front for his secret drug manufacturing and trafficking operation. The episode opens on Wang Lin's birthday, with him and Qiu Laibao celebrating at a dance hall. Lu Shaohua even arranges for a cake to be delivered.
The crowded hall becomes the scene of a petty theft when someone steals Lu Shaohua's phone. A mute girl alerts him, allowing him to catch the thief and retrieve his phone. As he's leaving with his friends, he remembers the girl and, feeling something is amiss, searches for her. He finds her being beaten in the back alley and immediately intervenes to save her. This marks the beginning of their acquaintance.
Lu Shaohua starts driving the girl home regularly but is only ever allowed to drop her off downstairs. His curiosity piqued, he feigns needing the restroom to follow her inside. He discovers her landlord has cut off her water and electricity for overdue rent and has forbidden her from bringing anyone home. In a grand gesture, Lu Shaohua not only pays her back rent but buys the entire house from the landlord.
Meanwhile, the police are closing in. Officer Fu Li spots a news article about a man named Li Senmu who was injured in a heroic act and recognizes him as Lu Shaohua. After her colleague Yang Wei confirms it, he reports the finding to their superior, Lin Qiangfeng. Lin Qiangfeng, along with his elite "Three Musketeers" team and Fu Li's senior officer, travels to Lüteng City to investigate. They learn that "Li Senmu" is being cared for at the hospital by a deaf-mute girl, and the two appear to be as close as a couple.
Back at the factory, trouble is brewing. A broken sewage pipe, chewed through by rats, leaks toxic waste into a nearby villager's fishpond, killing all the fish. The villager, Hu Guangping, rallies others to protest at the factory. The local police director, Cai, and an environmental official, Section Chief Liu, arrive to mediate. Lu Shaohua agrees to compensate the villagers for their losses. He then turns his attention to Section Chief Liu, giving him a tour of the "onion essence" production line and taking him out for lunch.
During the commotion, Hu Guangping steals a briefcase from a car. Inside, he finds a bag of crystalline particles, which he mistakes for the factory's "onion essence," and gives it to his wife to use in her cooking. The briefcase also contains Qiu Laibao's ID, a personal letter, and a large set of keys. After his wife cooks with the crystals, both she and Hu Guangping experience violent, erratic episodes, terrifying their neighbors. The crystals were, in fact, methamphetamine.
The police investigation in Lüteng City, led by Lin Qiangfeng and assisted by local captain Jiang Huai, zeroes in on Li Senmu. They learn from a doctor that he has high blood sugar but secretly eats a sugary pastry called Daxia Su, a detail that confirms for Lin Qiangfeng that he is indeed Lu Shaohua.
Hu Guangping, seeking to profit from his find, takes the remaining crystals to a local dealer named Gou Ge (Brother Dog). Gou Ge instantly recognizes it as high-purity meth. After trying it, he has a wild reaction and, upon sobering up, gives Hu Guangping all his money, demanding more. The police, through their own network, track a user back to Gou Ge's den. When they raid the location, a crazed Gou Ge falls out of a window onto their car, barking like a dog. Inside, they find six other users in similar states of psychosis.
Unaware of the raid, Lu Shaohua has just produced a new batch of 90% pure meth. Wanting to move beyond small-time dealers, he asks an associate, Jin Yongxiang, for an introduction to a major trafficker known as Brother K. To keep officials off his back, Lu Shaohua takes Section Chief Liu to the dance hall, plying him with alcohol and women until he passes out. While driving the official home, Qiu Laibao makes a horrifying discovery: his briefcase, containing the new meth sample and the factory keys, is missing. He and Wang Lin race back to the factory.
They are too late. Hu Guangping has already used the stolen keys to enter the lab, where he discovers boxes of drugs labeled as "onion essence." Overjoyed, he is caught off guard by the arrival of Wang Lin and Qiu Laibao. A chase ensues, and in his panic, Hu Guangping falls from an upper floor of the building to his death.
When Lu Shaohua arrives, he quickly deduces that Hu Guangping knew the truth about the factory. He orders an immediate shutdown and makes plans to sell off the remaining product as quickly as possible. He tasks Wang Lin and Qiu Laibao with disposing of Hu Guangping's body.
In the final scenes, Lu Shaohua is shown to have opened a lottery shop for the mute girl he rescued. He goes to pick her up late at night after the day's chaotic events.
