‘According to the doctors and nurses in the hospital, Lou has been an extraordinary husband who, in spite of his day job, came to the hospital to sit by her bed almost every night for the first month, until he himself collapsed with over-exhaustion. But even then he managed to come to the hospital every morning before going to work, and to stay by her bed at least two or three nights a week. He paid all the hospital bills on time until the last two weeks of her life. It’s not easy, considering the mounting medical expense. No medical dispute whatsoever—’

‘I’m still so confused, Yu.’

‘Yes, there’re a lot of questions unanswered. I think I’m going to Zabei Park neighborhood committee right now.’

‘What for?’

‘Perhaps I’ll be able to answer some of your questions back home. Lou lives close to the park, and the neighborhood committee may be able to tell me a thing or two about him.’

‘But it’s too late. No one will be in the neighborhood office.’

‘I just want to give it a try. Time really matters. You don’t have to wait for me.’

Later that night, still under the influence of Maotai, Chen received another phone call from Ouyang.

Still no news about Qiang yet. People in the association were getting really worried. They’d come up with all sorts of speculations. At the insistence of Qiang’s wife, they contacted the police bureau again regarding the missing persons’ list, but nothing reported so far matched Qiang’s appearance.

Qiang had gotten into trouble not because of anything he had done wrong, Chen contemplated. The only thing possibly suspicious at all on the part of Qiang, as far as Chen could see, was perhaps his talk with Chen at the café instead of in the office.

But their conversation could not have been recorded at the café, with so many people coming and going there and talking to each other or talking on their phones, and with Dvořák’s ‘New World’ playing in the background. If such a talk there had raised the alarm for the people prowling in the dark, it had to be because of Chen.

So Qiang was compelled to come clean to Internal Security because of the inspector. And until Internal Security believed they had got everything out of him about the talk in the café, Qiang had to remain disappeared, drinking one cup of tea after another.

Possibly because of the inspector’s connection with Shanshan as well.

Or possibly even his connection with Zhao?

Zhao was not without his adversaries at the top, Chen knew. But for such a senior Party leader in semi-retirement, it was hardly conceivable for anything to happen to him at this juncture, which could have shattered the ‘political stability’ advocated in the People’s Daily.

Chen drank a large cup of instant coffee, trying to keep himself thinking clearly before composing another text message to Zhao.

‘Managed to sneak into a meeting with Yuan Jing and her associates. She turned out to be someone I met in Wuxi, but long out of touch, she did not recognize me there. They were discussing what they could do for the air pollution, about the responsibility of large companies like Zhonghua Petroleum Company, and about the people who backed them. More to follow tomorrow.’