Qiu Xiaolong - Red Mandarin Dress

“So where shall I start?” she said, looking up at him.

“From the beginning,” he said, “from your first meeting.”

“It was about three years ago,” she said. “I was a college student then, in my third year, when Jia came to give a talk about career choice. I was impressed. Several months later, I had an opportunity for a modeling career, so I went to consult with him. To be fair, I was the one that took the initiative, but he sent me flowers after my first performance. So we started going out. He was a broad-minded man, caring little about the gossip concerning my profession.”

“What kind of man did you find him-not just as a lover?”

“A good man: intelligent, honest, and successful too.”

“Did he talk to you about his life?”

“No, not really. His parents passed away during the Cultural Revolution and his childhood was not a happy one.”

“Did he ever show you pictures of his parents? Say, his mother, who was quite beautiful?”

“No. He never even talked about her, but I knew he came from an illustrious family. I brought up the subject once, and he was surprisingly upset. So I never touched on the topic again.”

“Did he often lose his self-control?”

“No, nothing like that. He could occasionally lose his temper, but for a busy attorney, it’s understandable.”

“Did he talk to you about his pressures or problems?”

“In today’s society, who isn’t under pressure? No, he didn’t talk about it, but I could sense it. He handled controversial cases, you know. I saw several psychology books in his office. Possibly in an effort to find ways to release stress. From time to time, he would appear absentminded, as if suddenly thinking of a case, even during our closest moments.”

“Did you notice any other symptoms?”

“Symptoms-of what?” she said. “Well, he didn’t sleep well, if you want to count that as a symptom of something.”

“Now, in your intimate moments, did you notice anything unusual about him?”

“Can you try to be a bit more specific, Chief Inspector Chen?”

“For instance, did he ever want you to dress in a special way?”

“Not really. Off the runway, I didn’t want to dress like a model, and he showed no objection to that. He bought some clothes for me. Expensive, elegant, but not too fashionable. Which is his taste, I think. Once, he wanted me to go barefoot in a park like a country girl and a small rock cut my foot. He never asked me to repeat the experience.”

“What about any special dress-say, a mandarin dress?”

“Mandarin dress? Not everyone can wear one well. I’m too tall and skinny. I explained that to him, so he didn’t insist on it.”

“Now a more personal question, Xia. Any deviance or problem in his sex life?”

“What do you mean?” She stared at him. “Is that supposed to be the reason we broke up?”

“I’m asking you this question, Xia, because it’s relevant to our investigation.”

No immediate response. A shrewd businesswoman, she knew how important it was to maintain connections with a senior police officer, especially when such a case loomed in the background. She propped herself up with a couple of pillows and picked out a cigarette.

“That’s something to talk about in a private room,” she resumed with a wry smile. “Do you want to know how we parted?”

“Yes,” he said, lighting the cigarette for her.

“People talked a lot about our relationship, but in reality, it didn’t go that far. In a restaurant or a café, he would let me hold his hand, and that’s about the extent of the intimacy between us. Believe it or not, he never kissed me properly, just a peck on the forehead or something like it. About a year ago, there was a fashion show at the Thousand Island Lake, close to the Yellow Mountains, where he happened to have a meeting the same week. So I arranged for us to check into the same mountain hotel. At night, I walked into his room, where we embraced and kissed like real lovers for the first time. Perhaps because of the height, about one thousand feet above sea level, you know, we felt above and beyond the earth-so lost in passion, like in the waves of white clouds outside the hotel window. But of all a sudden, he disengaged himself, saying that he couldn’t. What a disaster! The next morning we left the hotel, a shadow between us. That’s how we parted.”

“That could be very important to our work. Thank you so much, Xia,” he said. “But I still have more questions for you.”

“Yes?”

“In the mountains, he couldn’t, or he wouldn’t?”

“He couldn’t. He would have checked into the hotel without having any thoughts about it.”

“I think you’re right. So it’s a physical problem.”

“Yes, he sort of acknowledged it, but he wouldn’t listen to me about seeing a doctor.” She said after a pause, “He had a lot of books in his office, as I mentioned, some on sexology and pathology too. He might have tried to help himself.”

“I see. Have you kept in touch with him?”

“I didn’t really resent him. He couldn’t help it. After we broke up, he still sent me flowers from time to time. On the opening of the bathhouse too. So when I read about the housing development case, I sneaked into his office one evening.”

“Did he arrange the meeting?”

“No, I didn’t even call beforehand, because he had told me that his phone line might be tapped.”

“You can’t be too careful,” Chen said, “but he might not have been in the office, and people could have seen you going there.”

“He usually works late. When we were still seeing each other, I went to his office a lot. He gave me a key to his office’s side door. So it’s not easy for other people to see. Neither of us was interested in publicity.”

“How does it work? I mean going through the side door.”

“He bought his office, a large suite for himself, when the building was still under construction. Those buildings built in the late eighties don’t have a proper garage. An office unit usually gets a parking spot or two in the back of the building. As his office suite is on the corner, there’s a space at the side, sort of an enclave, between the outside wall and his suite, enough for an additional car. He had a side door installed so he can walk out of his office and almost directly into his car.”

“Hold on, Xia. You mean no one can see him moving out of the office into his car?”

“If his car is parked there, yes. Though he has a reserved parking space in the back as well. Occasionally he has important visitors who don’t want to be seen visiting him, so instead of using the front entrance, they park by the side door. I think that’s what he told me. Anyway, he gave me keys to the side door so I could get in that way. No one could really see me, especially late in the evening-”

“I see. When did you meet with him about the housing development case?”

“About a month ago.”

“So you had something important to tell him.”

“To be frank, I have some official connections of my own. They threw out hints about the complications of the case. About a power struggle not only in Shanghai, but in Beijing too. Whatever the result, it won’t do him any good.”

“Yes, I have heard that too. What did he say to you?”

“He told me not to worry. Somebody in Beijing had contacted him, assuring him of an open and fair trial for the case. He didn’t go into details, but he urged me not to contact him anymore.”

“Did you ask him why?”

“Yes, I did. He wasn’t specific, but he said it wasn’t just because of the case-the housing development case.”

“Did you notice anything else unusual about him?”

“He seemed to be even more restless than before. Something heavy on his mind. When I left his office, he hugged me and recited an odd quote from a Tang dynasty poem: ‘Oh, if we could have met before I was married.’ ”