‘For a special favor of a hacking job?’

‘No worry about the devilish details, my Chief Inspector Chen. Suffice it to say that all the cogwheels for today’s society are oiled with the exchange of favors. Back to the backyard. There are so many articles online about the importance of organic food, I planted some of her favorite vegetables there. No chemical fertilizer or weed killer.’

‘What a filial son!’

‘I also learned there’s something else especially beneficial to a patient in recovery like my mother. The wild turtle. It’s all yin, natural yin in the light of the traditional Chinese yin/yang medical theory. And she happens to like the turtle soup. So I dug out a small pond in the backyard and started to raise the wild turtle and fish in it.’

‘Wild turtles can be quite expensive in the market, I know, but I don’t think you have to worry about money.’

‘Well, the turtles in the market are claimed to be wild, but it’s an open secret that they are fed with antibiotics and hormones. In contrast, I stock the pond with nothing but the good and natural feed. I cannot vouch for their “miraculous effect” like in some articles, but my mother has been doing fine for a woman of her age, especially after a large operation. It is not necessarily just because of the organic turtle or vegetables, but they may have helped a little.’

‘You’re talking like a Suzhou opera singer today, Melong, full of suspenseful turns and digressions. But what led you to this restaurant here?’

‘I’m coming to it, Chief Inspector Chen. You know I’m no chef. No way for me to prepare a live turtle that bites like crazy. So Chang, the owner of this restaurant, offered to prepare them along with other dishes for me. In return, he gets from me the “authentic” wild turtle. They became a well-known special for the restaurant.’

‘And also quite a profitable sideline for you, Melong.’

‘After selling the website to the Party authorities, I’ve washed my hands of my hacking business, as I told them – unless they want me to, you know that. I don’t have to really worry about money, but making a little more now and then won’t hurt. Also a good idea to let people know I’m busy with something – hacking a turtle’s head.’

‘You don’t have to tell me a Liu Bei-like story in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, about your being a meticulous, law-abiding man with no secret work going on. It’s none of my business whether you’re hacking a turtle’s head or something else. But given your once status in the field, you may be able to find out something for me—’

Their talk was interrupted by Chang’s reappearance with a silver tray holding several dishes: cold tofu mixed with wild shepherd’s purse blossom, white shrimp in saltwater, fried carp head, slices of thousand-year egg in soy sauce seasoned with minced tender ginger.

‘All organic,’ Chang said, smiling a proud smile before withdrawing and closing the door behind him.