Qiu Xiaolong - Shanghai Redemption

“Some wives know better than to bother if their husbands just have fun on the sly. As a proverb in Dream of the Red Chamber goes, ‘What cats are not keen on stealing fish?’ What those wives can’t stomach, however, are ernai-secondary concubines. If the husband is keeping a mistress with her own upscale apartment, paying for her expenses and all the luxuries on the side, well, that is too much. For cases like this, we have to go out of the way-”

“For wives to fight ernai?”

“Sometimes. Though it’s not just the out-of-favor wives who hire us: the ernai come to us for help, too. Unlike concubines in the pre-1949 era, Socialism with Chinese characteristics doesn’t acknowledge the existence of ernai or grant them any status. Once their men find younger, prettier replacement ernai, they will lose everything. To survive, they have to fight back by any means possible, even threatening and blackmailing their former lovers. That can be very effective, since official propaganda invariably portrays Party cadres as Communist saints. If photos and details were posted online, proving that a cadre kept a spicy ernai, that official would be removed from office, even disavowed.”

“I could work as a private investigator too!” Chen interjected.

“It’s a lot like those old detective movies from the thirties. The one difference is that you don’t have to carry around a bulky camera. You can take all the pictures you need with a light cell phone, all the while mumbling into it on and on, pretending to talk to someone. That way you don’t attract attention from anyone. Still, sometimes you have to wait patiently for hours, even days. And you have to know where to wait.”

“Where?”

“If the target is in one of the well-guarded apartment complexes, it’s useless to wait outside. You’re not going to be able to get inside, much less stand outside the bedroom door, waiting-”

“Hold on, Old Hunter. What if the cheating spouse is a Party official, but the fee is too good to decline?”

“Well, there might still be some room to maneuver.”

“How so?”

“In my day, the newspapers used to portray the Party cadres as good and honest with only the rare exception of a few rotten eggs. People believed that then, as did I. But now? There’s another saying in Dream of the Red Chamber : ‘Except for a couple of stone lions crouching in front of the mansion, nobody is clean.’”

“Another old saying that goes right to the point.”

“You know only too well all the propaganda regarding our Party officials and their role-model lives. But what are they really up to in their secret lives? Little secretaries, ernai, concubines, three-accompanying girls, and whatnot.” Old Hunter paused, breathing into his mug, creating a series of expanding ripples on the surface of the tea, before he went on. “Some of the wronged wives or deserted ernai are so desperate for revenge, they don’t care how much it will cost. So our agency may occasionally accept some of them as clients. After all, there are many roads leading to Beijing. In such a case, we obtain evidence for them only on the condition that they agree to strict confidentiality. They even have to sign documents agreeing never to name the source.”

“But if the evidence goes public, wouldn’t the source eventually be identified?”

“You’ve investigated cases involving crowd-sourced Internet searches. Once the basic evidence is online, others see it and jump in, adding more information and pictures, until the evidence becomes overwhelming. Ultimately, the government has no choice but to investigate officially. A shrewd wife, however, wouldn’t necessarily put the evidence online immediately. She’d use it as a bargaining chip first. Her husband would know all too well that once it’s on the Internet, his political career is finished.

“To protect our agency, we usually keep a backup copy of the agreement stored in a secure place. If something happens to one or both of us, then the signed agreement will appear online as well,” Old Hunter said. He heaved a sigh, then changed the subject. “Now, you don’t go to the Three-Treasure Temple without praying for something. What’s on your mind, Chief Inspector? You don’t have to mince words like a singer in Suzhou opera.”

“Oh? Now I’ve become a Suzhou opera singer too?” Chen said good-naturedly.

Chen proceeded to tell Old Hunter about his being removed from the police department and about his “promotion,” and then about the events at the nightclub. He finished up by saying that he wasn’t entirely sure he was the intended target of the raid.

“I’m glad you came to me today,” Old Hunter said. “Yu hadn’t told me that this was going on at the bureau. But whatever new position they’ve moved you to, you’re still a high-ranking Party cadre.”

“But what will happen next? That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Soon I might have to start working as a private investigator, just like you.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that, but what went on at the nightclub does worry me, Chief Inspector. Sorry, I should call you Director.”

“I wish I could tell you more about the raid, but that’s all I know right now. There’s another proverb you like to quote: ‘A desperately sick man will seek help from any doctor.’ Not that you aren’t a really good one.”

“You remember Pan Ming-” Old Hunter asked, looking up from his cup, “the former propaganda minister of the city?”

“Yes, he came to my mind as well. As I remember it, he got into political trouble in 1989 and was removed from his powerful position. He was then caught at a massage parlor and charged with an illegal sex act. That destroyed him publicly and ruined any possibility of his staging a comeback.”

“Exactly. You know the story, so I don’t have to say any more,” Old Hunter said. “Now, in my current job, I’m no stranger to nightclubs. I will go there and find out the information you need. You couldn’t find anyone more experienced for a job like that.”

“No, I don’t want you to go to the Heavenly World, Old Hunter. I thought about directly approaching Tang, the police officer I recognized in the raid, but that may alert the snakes.”

“You’re right to be cautious. But I can approach him for you. Tang is getting close to retirement age, and I know how to talk to him.”

“All right, but remember-you can’t be too careful.”

“I don’t think people will pay much attention to an old man like me. What could be suspicious about a retiree talking to a former colleague? But what’s your own next step, Chief Inspector?”

“I’m going to go to Suzhou to oversee the renovation of my father’s grave,” Chen said, with a wry smile. “I may even visit a Suzhou opera house, if I can find one.”

“It’s a good idea for you to lie low for a while. You can always come back to Shanghai as need be.”

“Yes, I can do that.” Chen added, as if in afterthought, “I’m also going to double-check some of the latest cases assigned to the Special Case Squad, particularly the cases that were sent to me just before I was transferred to this new job.”

“That’s right. Someone might have been determined to keep you from checking into a particular case.”

“The day my new position was announced, I happened to have with me electronic copies of the files on the dead pig case, and a case involving Shang’s son. But the other few case files are still at the bureau. I’ll go back to my old office in the police bureau in a day or two and pick them up.”

“I’ve heard about the dead pig scandal. It made a laughingstock of the Shanghai government. Thousands and thousands of dead pigs came floating down the Huangpu River in a scene imaginable only in Journey to the West . Living people and dead pigs both enjoying the same river, and the city government subsequently declaring that the river’s water quality is perfectly fine. What an absurd joke! But how did that come to be a case for your squad?”