‘You’re mentioning that again, Melong, but the air pollution is a serious problem to our people.’

‘Yes, the Party government has been declaring for years that the people’s right to live should be far more important than the human rights as advocated in the West. But what about the rights to have the clean air, the unpolluted water, the healthy food? You must have heard stories of high-ranking Party officials having for themselves the special water and food supply that’s not contaminated. And imported fresh air machines installed everywhere within the Forbidden City.’

‘Not just within the Forbidden City. Wherever they go, the fresh air machines will be installed into their hotel rooms, too. I had a talk with Comrade Party Secretary Zhao at the Hyatt Hotel just the other day. I know.’

Melong eyed him questioningly, refraining from raising a question about it.

Chen moved on with the necessary background information for Melong, who listened attentively, not interrupting him a single time.

When Chen was nearly done, Chang came in with the special dishes in addition to a bottle of Maotai brewed in the early sixties.

Melong raised the cup with an exaggerated ‘Wow,’ and Chen readily joined him.

Indeed it was a lavish banquet. The fish immersed in Shaoxing wine tasted tender and delicious. The monstrous turtle steamed with Jinhua ham and rock sugar in a bamboo steamer was finished in the midst of Chen’s delighted exclamations. Whether it was because of the psychological effect produced by Melong’s elaboration about the organic food or not, it was a palatable surprise.

‘Don’t worry, Chief Inspector Chen,’ Melong said with a flushed face when ready to leave. ‘You know you can count on me.’

In the growing dusk, Detective Yu was walking out of the hospital with heavy steps, taking a deep breath, when his cellphone started to ring. It was Peiqin.

‘Anything new?’

‘I’ve just learned something from Shanghai Number One People’s Hospital where Peng, the first victim of the serial murder case, worked as a night caregiver.’

‘Yes?’

‘Not only was it confirmed that the yellowish mask came from the very hospital, but also that there’s a patient who died there, exactly seven days prior to Peng’s death.’

‘Really! But what connects the two?’

‘What connects the two dots, to use Inspector Chen’s words,’ Yu said, unwilling to withhold the credit, ‘may be the very point the murderer tried to make.’

‘I’m so confused. Please explain. After all, I’m a cop’s wife, not a cop.’

So Yu told her briefly about the discussion he had had with Chen in the New World, and then about the subsequent visit to the hospital.

‘Seven days before Peng’s death, a female patient named Shen died in the hospital. Quite young. Only in her early thirties. No medical dispute whatsoever. When she was admitted into the hospital, she was diagnosed with lung cancer of the fourth stage. She and her husband Lou knew her days were numbered. Still, the two fought a hard battle to the bitter end.