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I have divided the summary into 4 parts, themed in my own little
way.
Part I: Luk Hoi & Lok Chung Hing
1945. Hong Kong has just been liberated from Japan. Everyone
is after this one man who helped Japanese kill Hong Kong civilians.
The man escapes to one club, where he knows he would be protected
by the triads. But one of the angry men steps up and shoots the
guy to death.
Luk Hoi (Kenneth) later has to settle this matter because
the angry man was from his side, and the guy he shot was from
the opposing triad. Luk Hoi decides to reconcile with the opposing
triad, but as a price of reconciliation, the angry man kills himself
because that is what the opposing triad wanted.
Lok Chung Hing (Chow Yun Fat) is a successful man in Hong
Kong who owns many businesses such as clubs, banks, casinos,
etc. His background is mafia organization. Luk Hoi is his sworn
older brother, who is like the closest henchman he has.
Lok Chung Hing has 3 children: Hong Gwan (Eddie), Lok
Chun Wah (Poon Wung Bun), and Wan Chi (Chan On Ying).
Hong Gwan is his adopted son. Lok Chung Hing trusts Hong Gwan
to handle all the business that goes about within his triad. His
own son, Chun Wah, is jealous of Hong Gwan because his father
seems to favor Hong Gwan over him.
Lok Chung Hing's wife is always ill and bedridden, because she
is afraid of losing her husband and children. And the reminiscing
begins---
---- 1918. Chung Hing and Luk Hoi were starting out with much
difficulties in Hong Kong. The girl Luk Hoi was betrothed to comes
to Hong Kong from her hometown. Busy with work and other things,
Luk Hoi ignores his girlfriend, and she eventually falls in love
with Chung Hing. When they announce their marriage to Luk Hoi,
he gets extremely upset and beats Chung Hing, but when there is
no retaliation, Luk Hoi forgives him and wishes the two happiness.----
Since then, Luk Hoi had been single, even though he claimed a
son named Siu Ming from a prostitute a few years ago. It has been
20 years, and Luk Hoi gradually feels the need to become 'independent,'
free from Chung Hing's shadow. He starts building resentment towards
Chung Hing, because Chung Hing is rather successful while he is
still working for him.
Then comes Ng Yat Tin (Dai Chi Wai) into the scene. He
is a greedy and conniving man. He works for a triad master from
Shanghai, named Tang Pui Yau (Lau Siu Ming). Yat Tin likes
to make trouble everywhere he goes, but with Tang Pui Yau's background,
he gets away every time. Yat Tin promises Luk Hoi to help him.
Luk Hoi's goal is to separate from Chung Hing, but in order to
do that, he needs money and physical help, which Yat Tin would
provide.
One day, Hong Gwan is chasing after a man that he is ordered
to kill. The man escapes into some church, and Hong Gwan follows
him. In the church, he sees a girl praying. When Hong Gwan discovers
the man and shoots him, the girl is frightened by the way he is
holding his gun.
Some time later, Hong Gwan meets the girl again in the streets
and decides to befriend her. Her name is Mei (Mimi).
Hong Gwan is particularly close to two poor boys who work at
the port, named Lam Chiu (Sean) and Ah Kuen
(Lui Fong). They are all like brothers - Hong Gwan is the Big
Fool, Chun Wah is the Second Fool, Lam Chiu is the Third Fool
and Ah Kuen is the Fourth Fool. Ah Kuen's nickname is also 'Shrimp
eyes' because his eyes are so small and narrow. :)
Lam Chiu and Ah Kuen coincidentally saved this prostitute one
night, who is really really old. Her name is Bak Fu Yung
(Bak Yan), who was a famous gal once upon a time in Shanghai.
Bak Fu Yung treats Lam Chiu and Ah Kuen like her little brothers,
and they all get very close.
Bak Fu Yung turns out to be the former lover or Tang Pui Yau.
In fact, he came to Hong Kong in hopes to find her. They meet
again, with the help of Yat Tin. Tang Pui Yau tells Bak Fu Yung
to be a madam of the saloon he owns. Lam Chiu and Ah Kuen are
of course the dedicated visitors because there are a lot of pretty
girls in that saloon.
The particular girl they like is Siu Lan Fong. She is also liked
by the man who sells sesame soup in front of the saloon. His name
is actually Sesame Soup.
Luk Hoi on the other hand, is continuing with his plan to first
get rid of Chung Hing so he can take over. With the help of Yat
Tin, he succeeds in taking away massive amount of Japanese weapons
that Chung Hing was about to claim. Chung Hing, as smart as he
is, starts to get suspicious of people around him as to why his
plan got revealed. He has 3 doubts in mind: Hong Gwan, Luk Hoi,
and Ah Piu (he is a cop). He first tests Hong Gwan by trying to
kill him. When Hong Gwan finds out, he feels angry and confronts
Chung Hing. Chung Hing then tells Hong Gwan that he should not
trust anyone, including his own family. But Hong Gwan says, "I
won't trust anyone but you, Father."
So Chung Hing is now doubting Luk Hoi, as much as he doesn't
want to because they are sworn brothers. With careful planning,
Luk Hoi succeeds in injuring Chung Hing.
Chung Hing, thus, is hospitalized. At the hospital, Chung Hing
meets a young and charming nurse, who turns out to be Mei. She
is a nurse practitioner and he immediately is captured by her
beauty and young charm, unaware of the fact that his adopted son
is also interested in her.
Luk Hoi sends Chun Wah (Chung Hing's real son) out to the sea
to deliver some stuff, thus getting rid of all the relative connections
Chung Hing has. He sees this as a perfect chance to take over,
because Hong Gwan is busy dating Mei and Chun Wah is away, and
Chung Hing is hospitalized.
A while later, the whole plan gets revealed and Chung Hing knows
for sure that Luk Hoi was the traitor who put him in danger. On
the night of the final plan, Luk Hoi is supposed to kill Chung
Hing, while Yat Tin attacks one of the clubs. But when Yat Tin
goes to the club with his men, he is involved in a killing spree
because Chung Hing had already told the men there to kill Yat
Tin. So Yat Tin now thinks Luk Hoi turned back on his plan and
tried to get him killed.
When Luk Hoi comes to the hospital to shoot Chung Hing, he doesn't
see anyone, but rather, he is cornered by Chung Hing and his men.
Chung Hing confronts him and asks him why he would do such a terrible
thing, but Luk Hoi is not willing to compromise. Chung Hing tells
him that since Hong Gwan is holding his son (Siu Ming) as a hostage
right now, he has no choice but to surrender. Chung Hing sets
him free, but he calls Hong Gwan in and says that even though
he can forgive Luk Hoi for betraying him, he cannot forgive him
for betraying the clan.
Upon receiving Chung Hing's order, Hong Gwan goes after Luk Hoi
and tries to kill him, but right before he is about to get shot,
Luk Hoi yells to Hong Gwan, "Ask your dad who killed your
real father." Startled by this, Hong Gwan hesitates to kill
him and decides to set him free because after all, he was practically
raised by Luk Hoi. Hong Gwan tells him to go far, far away with
his son.
Luk Hoi escapes but he is met by Yat Tin, who thinks Luk Hoi
betrayed him. Yat Tin shoots him and when Hong Gwan witnesses
this, he swears to himself that he would kill Yat Tin later. Hong
Gwan ends up throwing his knife at Yat Tin, which injures Yat
Tin's hand. Yat Tin is now crippled, unable to use his right hand
to shoot guns. He then hides into Sesame Soup's house to get help.
Yat Tin realizes that Sesame Soup could be of great asset because
he can shoot very well. Yat Tin asks him to be his henchman, by
trying to get him together with Siu Lan Fong, the club girl that
he likes.
Ng Yat Tin, because he is being targeted by Hong Gwan for killing
Luk Hoi, asks his boss Tang Pui Yau for help. Tang Pui Yau introduces
Yat Tin to a man named Mr. Porter. Because Mr. Porter is a powerful
man as well, Hong Gwan can no longer chase Yat Tin. But Hong Gwan
and Chung Hing end up driving Mr. Porter out of Hong Kong because
he raped and almost killed one of the saloon girls, who happened
to be Siu Lan Fong. Bak Fu Yung, who was in charge of the saloon,
is very shocked and saddened by this.
After all this ordeal, Tang Pui Yau and Bak Fu Yung decide that
they no longer like Hong Kong and wish to return to Shanghai,
their hometown. So they both leave Hong Kong, which means Yat
Tin now has no authority over him and can do whatever he wants.
Part II: The Foursome - Hong Gwan, Chun Wah, Lam Chiu, Ah
Kuen
The Second Fool, Chun Wah, is not very friendly towards Hong
Gwan at this point. He even talks back to his father, Chung Hing,
because he seems to favor Hong Gwan a lot. Chung Hing has to tell
him that the reason he likes to let Hong Gwan handle everything
is because he doesn't want his real son to get hurt. After all,
what kind of father would want their real son to be in danger
all the time from shooting people?
One day, Lam Chiu and Ah Kuen go to Macao in order to deliver
some merchandise (they do a port business). They are enjoying
themselves at a club and are noticed by the ambitious woman lord
of Macao who just lost her husband, Lee Si Ho. Si Ho is very
interested in Lam Chiu for his innocent looks and mild stupidity.
Si Ho gets into trouble because she has a will of her husband
that she is to be the one to take over all of the businesses in
Macao, but there are others who oppose her power, saying they
cannot accept a woman as their leader. Lam Chiu and Ah Kuen end
up saving her from this trouble, with the help of Hong Gwan who
happened to be visiting Macao at the time.
Chun Wah befriends the daughter of a powerful man in Hong Kong,
known to be Count Tsang. The daughter is Tsang Simone, a bratty
and rude young lady. But Chun Wah falls for her liveliness and
cute actions.
Hong Gwan is at his peak dating Mei, but she starts to wonder
why he always carries a gun and kills people. On top of that,
the two lovers have an intruder, Wan Chi, who happens to be Hong
Gwan's younger sister. Wan Chi also has a crush on Hong Gwan (since
they are not blood-related) and doesn't like the fact that he
is dating someone else, so at every opportunity, she tries to
separate them. She meets Mei one day and tells her to ask Hong
Gwan what kind of 'work' he does. So Mei asks Hong Gwan whether
he is a mafia or not, and unable to deny the fact, Hong Gwan only
tells her that he is not a bad person.
Knowing this, Mei wants Hong Gwan to get out of the dark world.
And she doesn't like the fact that he always breaks his promise
when they're supposed to be on a date. One day, Mei calls Chung
Hing out and asks him about Hong Gwan. They are at her church
and out of nowhere, a hitman comes in and tries to kill Chung
Hing, but Mei is shot in her arm instead. Hong Gwan comes in afterwards
and goes after the killer, while Chung Hing transports Mei to
a hospital.
Hong Gwan now has mixed feelings about Chung Hing because it
is very obvious that Chung Hing likes Mei. Hong Gwan goes to the
hospital to visit Mei but he decides not to when he sees Chung
Hing coming with a bouquet of flowers as well. Very disappointed
by Hong Gwan for not visiting her, Mei decides to go on a short
day trip with Chung Hing. Hong Gwan finds out about this and gets
really jealous and mad.
The next morning, Chung Hing comes back home and his wife discovers
a glove in the car, apparently belonging to Mei. She thinks that
her husband is having an affair and goes to the hospital to confront
Mei, but she denies it and tells her to ask Hong Gwan about their
relationship because she is in fact, in love with Hong Gwan.
When Hong Gwan hears about this from his mother, he squeals in
delight and meets Mei that night. It was funny while he was waiting
for her arrival, because he was envisioning her in a wedding dress
(silly Eddie :P). But she snaps at him because he never keeps
his promise. But the two end up making up, as they know for sure
that they love each other.
Yat Tin boldly approaches Chung Hing, saying that he would like
to partner up for a business. Chung Hing turns it down, telling
Yat Tin that seeing his face is rather disgusting. Yat Tin is
greatly offended by this, and Chun Wah is not happy that his father
turned down such great opportunity. Seeing this as a chance, Yat
Tin decides to attract Chun Wah first.
What Yat Tin does is getting closer to Simone, knowing that
Chun Wah likes her, in order to strike some jealousy here. Yat
Tin wants to distribute drugs (heroin) in Hong Kong, because he
foresees that it will be a great hit in the next decade or so.
But the rule of Chung Hing's clan is that he doesn't sell drugs
in his area. Yat Tin knows this and he uses Chun Wah to be able
to sell drugs. Yat Tin underhandedly uses tricks to get Chun Wah
addicted to heroin first, and threatens Chun Wah to step up to
the clan masters at their meeting and announce that Chung Hing
officially allowed them to sell drugs. Chun Wah, because he is
afraid of his father finding out, agrees to Yat Tin's terms and
announces to the clan masters that they now officially can sell
heroin.
Chung Hing does find out and gets pissed off as hell. He ties
Chun Wah to his bed in order to free him from the addiction and
is very angry at Yat Tin for ruining his son like this. He orders
Hong Gwan to kill the lords who accepted Yat Tin's terms of drug
distribution, but Hong Gwan strongly opposes, because he doesn't
want to kill anyone anymore on behalf of Mei's wish. Chung Hing
shows him that in order to survive in this kind of world, every
enemy has to be killed. Hong Gwan is very sick and tired of all
the killing spree and decides to leave the underworld. He announces
to Chung Hing that from that point on, he has nothing to do with
the Lok family.
Yat Tin sees through this trouble Hong Gwan is having with Chung
Hing, and decides to split them up completely because he thinks
that without Hong Gwan, Chung Hing is a clawless tiger. Hong Gwan
goes to live at Luk Hoi's old house, with Siu Ming (Luk Hoi's
little son) and Mei. But he falls into Yat Tin's trap and goes
to a club to meet Yat Tin. Yat Tin takes a snapshot of Hong Gwan
shooting one of his men, and threatens him to turn his back against
Chung Hing. Not wanting to go to jail, Hong Gwan agrees halfheartedly.
But Hong Gwan's intentions were not to betray Chung Hing, but
Yat Tin sets all of them up so it looks as if Hong Gwan in fact
did betray Chung Hing.
Hong Gwan, angry and frustrated at the fact that Chung Hing wouldn't
trust him, manages to persuade Chung Hing that even though he
left the clan, he is not a traitor. Chung Hing finally is convinced
but by that time, it is too late to save Hong Gwan from going
to jail because Yat Tin has many copies of the picture that he
took of Hong Gwan shooting a person.
Hence, Hong Gwan ends up in jail. Chun Wah is now engaged to
Simone and the engagement party is to be held at the Lok house.
Chung Hing gets Ah Piu (the cop) to bail Hong Gwan out for this
occasion. Hong Gwan goes home and talks to his mother, and asks
her how his real parents died. His mother tells him everything
regarding this matter, and Hong Gwan finds out that his parents'
deaths were due to Chung Hing's betrayal.
Feeling a need for a compensation, Hong Gwan decides that he
doesn't want to go back to jail after hearing this. He asks Chun
Wah to help him to escape. Chun Wah agrees, and confesses to Hong
Gwan that he always thought of him as a brother. Hong Gwan tells
Mei if she wants to leave together with him to another place,
and Mei gladly agrees.
On the engagement day, Chun Wah sneaks Hong Gwan out in his car.
But they are stopped by the cops and Chun Wah forces Hong Gwan
to escape, while he stalls. Chun Wah foolishly fires at the cops,
which led them to fire back at him. He got shot many times and
discovered by Ah Piu who came after him. But it was too late to
save him, so Chun Wah dies.
Worried about Chun Wah's well-being, Hong Gwan didn't go to meet
Mei as he promised. Instead, he showed up the next day in front
of her and asked her about Chun Wah, and she later reported to
him that Chun Wah died. Hong Gwan feels guilty and saddened by
this, and tells Mei that he cannot leave with her. Mei is very
mad about this and Hong Gwan tells her that he no longer loves
her (which was all a lie). So they break up temporarily at this
stage.
Chung Hing is now out to kill Hong Gwan because his real son
died. But on the day of the funeral, Hong Gwan voluntarily walks
in, ready to be handcuffed by Ah Piu. So Hong Gwan ends up in
jail once again.
Yat Tin bribes the higher officials in the police department
to send Hong Gwan to another cell, where all the prisoners are
to be banished from Hong Kong for their political crimes. If no
country wants to accept them, they are thrown into the sea for sharks
to eat. So Hong Gwan is sent there, and without knowing what's
going on, he is thrown into the sea.
Lam Chiu, Ah Kuen, and Mei all come one night to the prison to
rescue Hong Gwan but realize that Hong Gwan had been sent off
to the wrong place. Mei is mad at Chung Hing for doing such a
horrible thing to his adopted son, but Chung Hing obviously doesn't
know what she's talking about. A moment later, it dawns on him
that Yat Tin had something to do with this.
So the whole Lok family sets up a grave of Hong Gwan next to
Chun Wah's, thinking that Hong Gwan is dead.
III. In Macao & Ng Yat Tin's Death
Hong Gwan actually survives and escapes from being eaten by sharks,
but he is captured by sea pirates with another one of his inmates.
He is dragged to some island and he meets a painter there who
was kidnapped by the leader of the pirates. She sacrifices herself
to get Hong Gwan and his inmate out of the island, but in the
process, she is killed and so is the inmate.
After Hong Gwan safely escapes from the island, he goes to Macao
upon the will of the artist lady because her boyfriend lives there.
He then meets Lam Chiu and Ah Kuen, who happen to own a casino
in Macao, thanks to Lee Si Ho. Si Ho has been attracted to Lam
Chiu's young charm from the first time she met him, and she is
determined to have him. Lam Chiu was actually brought to Macao
by her on his wedding day.
Lam Chiu wants Hong Gwan to stay in Macao because he wants Hong
Gwan to help him out in his casino. Hong Gwan does so, and asks
Lam Chiu on his way to Hong Kong to deliver his letter to Mei.
But afraid of Hong Gwan going back to Hong Kong to be with Mei,
Lam Chiu deliberately doesn't deliver the letter. Hong Gwan waits
for Mei to come see him in Macao but when she doesn't, he goes
to Hong Kong himself and finally meets her again. He finds out
that Lam Chiu intentionally didn't give her the letter, so he
gets mad. Lam Chiu tells him that he did so because he needed
him, so they reconcile because after all, they are like 'brothers.'
Mei and Hong Gwan come to Macao and are having a lovely and dandy
time. At the same time, Ng Yat Tin (yes, he is still around!)
and Simone, who were engaged just 3 months after Chun Wah's
death, come traveling to Macao. Yat Tin sees Hong Gwan and orders
his hitman (cameo appearance made by Francis Ng) to kill them.
But the hitman fails repeatedly.
Lam Chiu and one of the old lords that used to help Si Ho in
her casino often clash and Lam Chiu is not very happy with him.
So he tries to kill him and after a few tries, he eventually succeeds.
So the other lords are greatly displeased with Lam Chiu. Yat Tin,
in the midst of this chaos, tries to kill Lam Chiu because he
doesn't like him either. So when Hong Gwan and Mei are on a date,
he sets up a trap and almost gets him killed, but Ah Kuen runs
to Hong Gwan in time so he goes to save Lam Chiu. Mei is disappointed
that he is still in the triad business so she leaves him that
night, back to Hong Kong.
Lam Chiu, by this time, has already dumped his half-married wife
and marries Lee Si Ho, withstanding all the oppositions from
the old lords. But he tells Si Ho that he wants a good wife,
not the one that does all the business, so now he's in charge
of everything in Macao.
Hong Gwan is now ruined because his love left him. Mei visits
his 'fake' grave and talks to herself, but is overheard by Wan
Chi who happened to be there at that time. Wan Chi demands Mei
to tell her where Hong Gwan is if he's alive. She then goes to
Macao to see him, and is ecstatic about the fact that he is still
alive. Hong Gwan, that night gets incredibly drunk, saddened by
the news that Wan Chi told him, that Mei decided to forget him.
He mistakes Wan Chi for Mei and sleeps with her that night. So
the next morning, he is freaked out by what he did but tells her
that he will be responsible for everything.
Chung Hing, upon hearing that Hong Gwan is still alive, comes
to Macao. He hears from Ah Kuen (who has a crush on Wan Chi) about
what Hong Gwan did to his daughter, gets extremely mad and ready
to beat the living shit out of Hong Gwan, and drags his daughter
back to Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, Ng Yat Tin kidnaps Chung Hing so he can take over
Hong Kong. The Lok family figures that no one can settle this
matter except for Hong Gwan, so they call him back to Hong Kong
from Macao. Chung Hing is eventually rescued and Yat Tin is now
being chased after by everyone. After this ordeal, Chung Hing's
wife gets extremely weak and eventually dies.
Hong Gwan doesn't want to get married to Wan Chi, and sensing
this, Ah Kuen offers to marry her, even promising to take care
of her baby like a real father. And she agrees. But later, she
changes her mind again and wants to marry Hong Gwan because she
loves him, thus greatly hurting Ah Kuen's feelings. Hong Gwan
is sad that he hurt Mei's feelings when she found out about what
he did to Wan Chi, but he tells her that he loves her still. Mei
works at some cafe as a pianist, as Hong Gwan visits her every
single day and just sits there.
Chung Hing and Hong Gwan both go after Yat Tin, because Chung
Hing thinks that it's Yat Tin's fault that his wife died so fast.
Yat Tin is eventually captured and is offered to commit suicide,
so he does, leaving his wife Simone (they got married some time
back) and his unborn child.
IV. Lam Chiu Turns Evil
Count Tsang (Simone's father) thinks Hong Gwan is a fine young
guy with potential so he gives him a position of a bank owner.
Hong Gwan, no longer wanting to work in a triad, accepts this
new position.
Lam Chiu comes to Hong Kong, suddenly becomes really ambitious,
hoping to take over Hong Kong and be a new lord because he doesn't
like to be in puny Macao. He hires 4 people to be his 'crew,'
(one of them being Bobby Au Yeung). In order to carry out his
plan, he needs money so he robs a bank, which just happens to
be the one Hong Gwan owns. When Hong Gwan finds this out, he is
so upset that he tells Lam Chiu that they're no longer brothers.
Wan Chi is convinced that Hong Gwan totally doesn't want her
because he loves Mei dearly. At last, she asks Ah Kuen AGAIN to
marry her, and with no special objections, they are set to be
wed. Hong Gwan now feels free and wants to go to America and offers
Mei to come with him, but she turns him down. So he heads to America
all by himself.
On Wan Chi & Ah Kuen's wedding day, Lam Chiu plans to kill
Chung Hing (the only way to become the lord in Hong Kong), which
ruins the wedding and injures Ah Kuen who is oblivious that his
'good brother' Lam Chiu would do such a thing. Mei leads Chung
Hing to a hideout because she knows the church (the wedding place)
so well. They eventually escape from Lam Chiu's hands and stay
at Count Tsang's house because they know Lam Chiu can't mess with
such an influential man. Now all they need is Hong Gwan back in
Hong Kong, but there is not a way to get him because he is in
America, wanting to start anew.
Mei is inspired to go see Hong Gwan when she receives a postcard
from him. In San Francisco, they confirm their love for each other.
But the next day, Mei is killed by a hitman who came to murder
Hong Gwan upon Lam Chiu's order. Before she dies, she tells Hong
Gwan not to kill people anymore.
Upset and saddened by Mei's death, Hong Gwan comes to Hong Kong
and confronts Lam Chiu. Taken aback by his charisma, Lam Chiu
can't kill him immediately but he warns him that they are no longer
brothers and that he will kill him next time.
Chung Hing and Hong Gwan bribe the 4 men that work for Lam Chiu,
to betray him once. So Lam Chiu is trapped and is cornered to
some alley, where Chung Hing and Hong Gwan are waiting with their
machine guns. Lam Chiu then realizes that he has been betrayed
and shoots one of the 4 men who led him to the alley.
Ah Kuen doesn't want Hong Gwan to kill Lam Chiu because he was
closer to him than anyone else. So he runs over to the scene where
Lam Chiu is about to get killed. He stops the fight but the man
that Lam Chiu shot isn't dead and aims for Lam Chiu. Ah Kuen pushes
Lam Chiu out of the way and gets shot instead, and after he tells
Lam Chiu that he won't let him get killed no matter what, he dies.
Right when Chung Hing and Hong Gwan are about to shoot Lam Chiu,
Lee Si Ho surrounds them and threatens them to let him go. She
came over from Macao to save Lam Chiu, and informs him that he
has been deceived and that Hong Kong is still his. On their way
to Macao, Lam Chiu decides that he wants to stay in Hong Kong
so he pushes Si Ho off the boat and turns his way back. But Chung
Hing and Hong Gwan had already set the bombs on the boat so when
they come after him and shoot him, the boat explodes.
The last scene is where Chung Hing and Hong Gwan are just floating
around the ocean, reciting some poems that represent how they
feel.
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