by Qiu Xiaolong
“It’s also a gesture of political correctness. There was the legendary sign outside the park, back in the twenties, that read ‘No Chinese or dogs.’ Of course, some scholars claim that the sign never existed, that it was a story made up by the Party authorities after 1949.”
“Well, the line between truth and fiction is always being constructed and deconstructed by the people in power. Whether or not Gu believes in the authenticity of the sign, I don’t know, but the controversy about it has helped the business. The restaurant is very expensive, which is symbolic of China’s new wealth. Of course, it is open to Westerners, too, as long as they are willing to pay the prices. In fact, I’ve heard that quite a number of Western businessmen make a point of inviting their Chinese partners to dine here.”
She looked at the menu and the prices, which were shocking, even after Chen’s warning.
“Don’t worry about it,” Chen said. “We don’t have to order a lot, and Gu won’t charge me those prices. I just wanted a quiet place to talk to you.”
She had no idea what he wanted to talk to her about, and she was debating with herself whether she should say something first. She had rehearsed a speech, but she hadn’t worked up the confidence to deliver it.
“So, do you know a lot of Big Bucks, Chen?”
“Not a lot, but in today’s society, even a cop can hardly accomplish anything without connections.”
“Do you know Xiang Buqun of Purple City Group?”
“Xiang Buqun—isn’t he the head of a large property group? I think I met him at the opening ceremony of the New World Project. Maybe on some other occasions as well. Why do you ask?”
“I want to talk to you,” she said with difficulty, “about something I might not have told you. I’ve been seeing Xiang Haiping, Xiang Buqun’s son, for quite a while. Last month he went to Shenzhen on business, but now he’s back, and he’s proposed to me.”
“Xiang Haiping, the successor to the group?”
“Possibly the successor,” she said in a low voice. She couldn’t look him in the eye, but she caught sight of something indecipherable in his expression. Whatever it was, it wasn’t the reaction she’d anticipated.
Before either of them could say anything further, Gu burst into the room. He was wearing a pair of rimless glasses, a light-colored wool suit, and a scarlet silk tie. A dapper man, though short in stature, he looked expansive.
“It’s the first time you’ve come here, Chief Inspector Chen. I’m honored to have you here,” he said, his glance taking Lianping in with unconcealed approval. “And Lianping is here with you today. I’m really honored to have both of you here.”
She’d met Gu at some business conferences, though they were barely nodding acquaintances. As the chairman of the New World Group, Gu kept a low profile and had declined her request for an interview.
“We needed a quiet place, so I thought of you,” Chen said. “But you’ll have to treat me as you would an ordinary customer, Mr. Gu.”
“How can you say that, Chief Inspector Chen? You’ve finally accepted the invitation to my restaurant that I extended a long time ago. No, there’s no way I can allow you to back out. Besides, you don’t want me to lose face in front of a beauty like Lianping?”
“So you’re buddies,” she observed, not knowing what else to say.
“Let me tell you something about him, Lianping,” Gu said with a serious air. “Do you know how New World became so successful?”
It was obvious that Gu was in no hurry to leave them alone, and she felt somehow relieved. It might be just as well that there was another person with them in the private room doing the talking. She had already said what she had to say.
“How?” she asked.
“It was all due to a crucial loan made at the very beginning of New World, which was possible only because of Chen’s superb translation of the business plan for the project. That translation was so difficult. A lot of the business terms didn’t even exist in the Chinese language then. The translation had to convey the meaning textually as well as contextually. When the American venture capitalist read the business plan in English and learned that it had been translated by a high-ranking Shanghai police officer, he was so impressed that he immediately approved the loan.”
The American might not have been impressed by Chen’s command of English so much as he was by Gu’s connection to “a high-ranking Shanghai police officer.” For this sort of shikumen redevelopment project, right in the center of the city, official connections might have been the most crucial factor for it to succeed. The American probably knew that as well as she did.
“I begged him to help with the translation,” Gu went on. “I even mentioned a bonus in the event the loan was approved. Naturally, I had to keep my word, but he wouldn’t listen. When New World went public, I had no choice but to invest the bonus I’d promised in the shares of the IPO for him. It wasn’t a large bonus, just about ten thousand shares.”
She did a quick calculation in her mind. As a finance journalist, she happened to be familiar with the stock. After repeated stock splits, at least four or five of them by now, and at the present share price of over eighty yuan, that could add up to a sizable fortune.
But why was Gu telling her all this? It seemed so unlike the shrewd businessman she’d known him to be. Then she realized what was happening. Gu must have assumed he knew what was going on: a prominent Party cadre had brought a young girl to a private room in a fancy restaurant. So what could Gu do to help Chen out in this imagined romantic scenario? He was trying to make Chen seem even more of a catch, if possible, in her eyes—not only a rising Party official with a great future, but a Big Buck too.
“Cut it out, Gu. Don’t talk about business in the company of a finance journalist. Someday, she might write about my shady dealings with Big Bucks like you,” Chen said with a laugh. “For the record, I never agreed to any such bonus. For that translation, which was only about twenty pages in all, you paid me more than I could have made for translating twenty books. That was more than enough.”
“No. It was far from enough for such a successful project,” Gu insisted, waving his hand emphatically. He turned his attention to Lianping. “In today’s society, an incorruptible police officer is almost an endangered species. I admire him not for his position, but for all the things he’s done for the country. An ordinary businessman like me has to consider himself extremely lucky to have a friend like Chief Inspector Chen.”
“If I write a biography of Chen someday,” she said with a smile, “I’ll definitely include that part, Mr. Gu.”
“Please do, Lianping. You would be a fantastic biographer, providing all the intimate details. So let me share one more thing I’ve just learned about our chief inspector. His mother was in the hospital last month.”
“East China.”
“Yes. It’s a special yet expensive hospital. A number of the nutritional supplements necessary for her recovery are pricey and aren’t covered by medical insurance. They cost way too much for a cop like him to afford, so I left a gift card for her at the hospital. For once, the gift card wasn’t returned to me but instead it was cashed. The store manager contacted me to verify the name of the woman who cashed it in. It wasn’t his mother, but the widow of Chen’s colleague. So what could I say?”
“Come now. You’re painting a portrait of me as some kind of selfless model Communist, like Comrade Lei Feng. It was a gift card of such a large sum, my mother wanted me to give it back to you,” Chen said. “Detective Wei died in an accident last week, and his family needed help badly. So, on the spur of the moment, I gave your gift card to his inconsolable widow. It was your good deed, not mine. Good deeds will not go unrewarded, as my mother always says.”
Chen hadn’t told Lianping anything about it, but once he mentioned Wei’s widow, she remembered the incident.
“His mother is a wonderful woman,” Gu said. “You’ve met her, haven’t you?”
“No, I only met Chief Inspector Chen a c
ouple of weeks ago.”
“For a woman of her age, she embodies Buddhist enlightenment. She believes in karma, and so do I,” Gu said, changing the subject unexpectedly. “Indeed, karma is seen everywhere in the world of red dust.”
“Yes?” she asked. The abrupt turn in the conversation mystified her.
“This morning I ran into Old Xiang of the Purple City Group, which is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. He was hitting me up for an emergency loan. Only a few people know anything about it right now, so don’t write about it in your newspaper, Lianping. But did you know how the Purple City got its start? By selling fake medicine.”
Then it dawned on her. As a well-connected businessman, Gu might have heard something about Xiang and her. It wasn’t the sort of information she’d expect Gu to share, but with Chen hovering in the background, she understood what Gu was doing. Did Chen realize the purpose of Gu’s revelation? Probably. It wasn’t as if the chief inspector needed that kind of help, but Gu must have seen it as another opportunity to do a favor for Chen.
She was then seized by a sense of foreboding. Xiang might not have told her everything. His marriage proposal had come out of the blue. She now wondered about it. Could his family’s troubled business be the reason why he rushed to propose? Once their company filed for bankruptcy, Xiang knew he’d never be able to win her hand.
If this was the case, she should try to learn more from Gu. Gu, however, was already bowing out of the room.
“Sorry, I’m always garrulous when I’m around Chen. I just let myself get carried away. I have to go to a business meeting now, so I’ll leave the two of you alone. Would you like me to send up any special dishes?”
“I have only one request, Gu,” Chen said. “Don’t have a waitress hover outside or check on us frequently.”
“Of course. How about I have some appetizers brought in first, along with a bottle of French champagne? Then, whenever you’re ready, let the waitress know. She won’t do anything until you signal her.”
“That’s fantastic. Thank you for everything.”
TWENTY-FIVE
FINALLY, THE TWO OF them were left alone, and the silence hung in the room like bubbles in chilled champagne. Chen shifted slightly and looked out the window at the promenade of multicolored flagstones, a long curved walkway above the shimmering water. After a minute, he turned back to face Lianping and break the silence between them.
“I’m sorry about Gu’s interruption. Sometimes he’s impossible, talking up a storm like that. But this was one place where I could be sure we’d have privacy.”
“You don’t have to apologize. Gu is an important businessman. He’s declined my requests for an interview in the past, so I appreciate the opportunity to meet him again.” She added, “I don’t think he’ll decline when I ask again, seeing as I’m a friend of Chief Inspector Chen.”
“It’s ironic, isn’t it? Chief Inspector Chen’s close connections to Big Bucks,” Chen said with a wry smile. “In case you write about it one day, let me make sure you have the real story. It’s true that Gu asked me to translate the business plan for the company, New World, and he paid me generously for it. But other than that, don’t listen to him.”
“Still, he believes that he’s obligated to you.”
“That’s possible, but at the same time that I helped him, he also helped me in my work. His help was particularly valuable in a serial killer investigation.”
“So you’re buddies, each helping the other.”
“Whatever you say, Lianping,” he said, raising his teacup. “Apart from Gu’s interruption, I also want to apologize for not keeping my word.”
“What do you mean?” She stared at him in confusion.
“In Shaoxing, I promised to take you on a black-awning boat excursion in the mist-enveloped canal, like Lu Xun described in one of his short stories. I’m sorry I failed to do so.”
“That’s not something you have to apologize for.”
“When Gu burst into the room, you were mentioning Xiang’s proposal to you. Congratulations! I wish you all the best, Lianping.” He paused, eyeing the ring on her finger, and then went on, “That afternoon in Shaoxing, I thought I might have the opportunity to enjoy sitting under a black awning with you sometime in the future, but now it’s no longer possible. I meant it when I invited you that afternoon, until we were interrupted by that unexpected phone call. Remember?”
“It was from a doctor at East China Hospital, as I recall. You told me that your mother had been admitted there.”
“Yes, but at that time she had already been discharged. That phone call was about me.”
“About you?” She added in haste, “It’s nothing serious, is it, Chen?”
“No, I’m fine. It wasn’t about my health. You know the kind of people who stay at that hospital, don’t you? The patients are usually high-ranking cadres, with the occasional Big Bucks. There are special wards reserved exclusively for top Party cadres. My mother was a rare exception, due to my personal connection to a doctor—let’s call him Dr. H—whom I happen to know from years ago.”
“I know it’s a high-cadre hospital. Several months ago, I tried to interview somebody there, but I wasn’t even allowed to get a foot in the door. Why? A top Party leader from Beijing was staying there that day.”
“Well, the morning of the phone call, Dr. H entered a special ward where Qiangyu was staying while the doctors were conducting a routine checkup—”
“Qiangyu—the first Party secretary of Shanghai?”
“Yes. Dr. H was about to start the procedure, when Qiangyu got a phone call and went out to the balcony to talk. While he was waiting, Dr. H couldn’t help casting a curious glance around, and he noticed a page spread out by the fax machine. To his astonishment, Dr. H saw my name on the page and, believe it or not, he took a picture of that fax with his cell phone.”
“What? The doctor took such a risk for you?”
“The chain of misplaced yin and yang causality can be long indeed. Dr. H believed he owed me a big favor, but that’s another story. Anyway, the fax turned out to be a proposal made by Qiangyu to remove me from my position at the Shanghai Police Bureau and to reassign me to be the National People’s Congress’s spokesman in Beijing. It would be a drastic change, though I hear that the Congress’s spokesman position carries with it the same Party cadre rank.”
“But why reassign you?”
“According to the page, Qiangyu was recommending me because of my unorthodox image and my ability to speak English. At the same time, he considered my performance in the police bureau to be innovative, yet not always in step with the political emphasis of the Party authorities. Needless to say, the transfer could be only the first step. What might follow is anybody’s guess.
“At least, that’s what Dr. H told me on the phone that afternoon.”
Lianping was at a loss for an appropriate response.
An ominous silence ensued. They could hear the water lapping against the bank outside, the screeching of white gulls hovering around the ships, and the blaring of a siren cutting through the dusk.
“In reality, this new position would be decorative at best,” Chen finally went on. “No one will pay any real attention to it. As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. From there, it’ll be easy for them to make me disappear completely. Such a scenario is nothing new. After getting the phone call from Dr. H that afternoon, I was reminded of a proverb: ‘When a clay Buddha statue sails across the river, it can hardly protect itself.’ So, I thought, what would be the point of dragging someone else into the muddy water with me?”
She looked up at him and said, “That’s why you suddenly wanted to go to the festival dinner instead?”
“Yes, I thought I’d better put in an appearance there, as a way of showing that I was in Shaoxing for the festival.”
“But you’ve been doing an excellent job, Chen. In fact, you were assigned to the case because of your extraordinary work—”
“It
’s all because of the case.”
“How?”
“I haven’t discussed the details of the case with you, Lianping, because it’s so complicated. To begin with, the elements in the case lead off in too many possible directions. For that matter, there were too many investigators working on the case—Jiang for the city government, Liu for the city Party Discipline Committee, Sheng for Internal Security, and then the team of the Central Party Discipline Committee from Beijing, not to mention Detective Wei and me, representing the police bureau. Each of these investigators was approaching the case from his own perspective, and with his own agenda.”
“You’re right about that. Just this morning I heard stories about the possible mission of the Beijing team. But that’s probably old news to you. Please go on.”
“We can exchange notes about the Beijing team later. Regarding the Zhou case, when Wei and I first took over, I was reluctant. After all, it wasn’t unimaginable for someone in Zhou’s situation to commit suicide. Bringing me on as a special consultant might be nothing more than a political show or, as Detective Yu put it, an endorsement of the inevitable conclusion that it was suicide. For Jiang, Zhou’s shuanggui and Zhou’s death were clearly cause and effect. Detective Wei, however, didn’t think so, and he undertook his investigation in all seriousness. Wei suggested various theories about Zhou’s death as well as suspects who might have decided to bring Zhou down. It seemed to me, however, that none of them had sufficient motive to murder him in a well-guarded hotel like Moller. I have to emphasize one thing: while I was assigned to the case as a consultant, Wei did most of the work.
“Then, in the middle of his investigation, Wei died in a ‘traffic accident.’ This immediately raised the question whether or not Wei’s death was related to Zhou’s.”
“So you came to visit me at Wenhui,” she said quietly, “because of the investigation?”
“I’m a cop,” he said, avoiding her question. “I came there to check out the scene, and I wanted to talk to someone familiar with the area. What you told me while we were at the Wenhui café really helped. At that intersection, according to your analysis, it’s not likely that a parked car would go from a full stop to running him down at high speed by accident. It wouldn’t be advisable, however, for me to discuss it with you at length. I hope you understand.”
