Qiu Xiaolong - Death of a Red Heroine

A young, fine-featured waitress appeared immediately, slender and light-footed, in a shining scarlet silk Qi skirt with its long slits revealing her olive-colored thighs. She led the way to a table in the corner.

He ordered chicken noodles with plenty of chopped green onion. She decided on a side dish of fried eel with plain noodles. She also had a bottle of Lao Mountain spring water. She slipped her blazer from her shoulders, put it on the chair back, and unbuttoned the collar button of her silk blouse.

There was no ring on her left hand, he observed.

“Thank you so much,” he said.

He did not open the list in his hand. Enough time for him to read it in the library. Instead, he put it down and patted her hand across the table.

“You know who Wu Xiaoming is,” she said, without taking back her hand.

“Yes, I do.”

“And you’re still going on with the investigation.”

“I’m a cop, aren’t I?”

“An impossibly romantic cop who believes in justice,” she said. “You cannot be too careful with this case.”

“I’ll be careful,” he said. “You’re concerned for me, I know.”

Her eyes met his, not denying his message.

At that hour, they were the only customers, sitting in the corner as if enclosed in a capsule of privacy.

“They should have put candles on the table,” she said, “to match your mood.”

“What about dinner at my place tomorrow night?” he said. “I’ll have candles.”

“A dinner to celebrate your enrollment in the seminar?”

“No, that’s in October.”

“Well-a lot of people may wonder what our chief inspector is doing-over a candlelit dinner.”

She was right, he admitted to himself. An affair with her was not in his best interest at the moment.

“What’s the point of being a chief inspector,” he said, “if I cannot have a candlelit dinner with a friend?”

“But you have a most promising career, Comrade Chief Inspector. Not everybody has your opportunity.”

“I’ll try to be discreet.”

“Coming to a restaurant in a bureau Mercedes,” she said, “is not the best way of exercising discretion, I’m afraid.”

The arrival of the noodles forestalled any reply he was going to make.

The noodles were as good as he had remembered. The green onion in the soup smelled wonderful. She liked it too, wiping the sweat from her brow with a pink paper napkin.

Afterward, he bought a pack of Kents at the counter.

“Not for me,” he said to her.

He handed the cigarettes to Little Zhou.

“Thanks, but you don’t have to, Comrade Chief Inspector,” Little Zhou said. “By the way, Superintendent Zhao is going to retire toward the end of year. Haven’t you heard?”

“No, but thanks for your information.”

In the backseat, they were sitting close to each other. Feeling her nearness, he was content with a light brushing of her shoulder as the car bumped along. They did not talk much. She let him take her hand. The car passed the black dome of the new city stadium, then swung around Peace Park. Little Zhou explained why he had to make such a detour. Several streets had just been declared one-way.

It would take them much longer to get there, but Chief Inspector Chen had no cause for complaint.

But she was already telling Little Zhou to pull up. In front of them was the separator factory, about which she was going to write a report.

“Thank you,” she said, “for the lift.”

“Thank you,” he said, “for the opportunity of giving you a lift.”

When he got back to the library, it was already three thirty. He sent Little Zhou back to the bureau. He had no idea how long it would take him to work on the new list.

An impressive list it was, including most of the influential journals and newspapers, containing detailed information with dates and page numbers. In addition, it noted a number of awards Wu had won.

The late afternoon research was much more effective. Three hours of reading produced quite a revelation. Wu Xiaoming was apparently a productive photographer who had published widely, from the top magazines to the second or even the third-class ones. Wu’s photographs also showed a broad range of subjects, but could be classified into two major categories.

The first was the political. With his family background, Wu had obtained access to a number of powerful people who had no objection to seeing the publication of their pictures, which could be symbolic of their stay in power, and, in turn, contribute to Wu’s career.

The second consisted of what might be called the artistic, which showed remarkable professional expertise. One feature in this category was Wu’s characteristic arrangement: a group of pictures with the same subject taken from different perspectives. Wu seemed to enjoy producing so-called “subject sequences.”

A group of Guan’s pictures in the Xingming Evening Post, for instance, could be seen as such a thematic sequence. These were pictures of Guan at work, at meetings, and at home. There was one of her cooking in the kitchen. Wearing an embroidered apron around her waist and scarlet slippers, Guan was frying fish, with beads of sweat visible on her brow. The kitchen apparently was somebody else’s: bright, spacious, sporting a dainty half round window above the sink. The picture focused on the soft, feminine side of a national model worker, balancing the other pictures in the group.

Most of Wu Xiaoming’s subjects were also well known in their respective fields. Chen particularly liked the group of Huang Xiaobai, a celebrated calligrapher. The pictures showed Huang in the act of brush-penning the different strokes in the formation of the Chinese character cheng -a horizontal stroke, a dot, a slant stroke, a vertical stroke-as if each stroke represented a different phase in his life, culminating in the character meaning “truthful.”

What came as a surprise was a sequence about Jiang Weihe, an emerging young artist, whom Chen had met on several occasions. In one of the photographs Jiang was working on a statue. Wearing short overalls, standing bare legged, she was absorbed in the effect. The statue portrayed a nude photographer, having nothing but a camera held in front of him, focusing at her. The title was “Creation.” The composition was original.

In addition to these pictures, there were also some pieces for fashion magazines. Most of the subjects were young beautiful girls. Semi-nude or even nude photos were no longer censored in China, but still they were controversial. Chen was surprised at Wu’s extraordinary journey into the field.

In a small provincial magazine called Flower City, Chen saw a sleeping nude on her side. Melting into the background of the white sheet and white wall was her soft body with all its soft curves. A black mole on the back of her neck was the only accent, enhancing the effect. Somehow the woman in the picture struck him as familiar, though he could not see her face. Then he remembered. Frowning, he put down the magazine.

Chen had not finished his research at the library’s closing time. He borrowed the copy of Flower City. The librarian was gracious, offering to put all the other magazines on hold, so that Chen could resume his work without waiting the next day. He thanked her, wondering if he could afford to spend another day in the library. Besides, he found it hard to concentrate there. Something subtle in the atmosphere disturbed him. Or in his subconscious? Chief Inspector Chen did not want to analyze himself-not in the middle of the case.

It could be the first important breakthrough in the investigation, but he was not lighthearted. Wu Xiaoming’s involvement was leading to something more than Chen had expected.

It meant a confrontation with Wu.