Qiu Xiaolong - Enigma of China

“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 couple 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.”

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.”