Summary

The Prologue opens as a monster rises from the bloody Huangpu River in Shanghai. The morals of the decade are described as loose and toxic, but Shanghai stands tall. Two men of the Scarlet Gang emerge from a brothel. They do not notice their rivals - the White Flowers - right away and a policeman intervenes before they fight. It is revealed that the two factions split loyalties between the Cais and the Montagovs as they see a monster. One Scarlet man manages to escape as the others die.

Chapter 1 opens in September of 1926 in a Scarlet Gang burlesque club during the mid-autumn festival. Juliette Cai looks over the club as her cousin, a dancer named Rosalind, approaches. Juliette has returned to Shanghai after four years away and feels that everything has changed. She then meets with a merchant named Walter as...