search from this angle. Before Zhou could come up with an explanation for the cigarettes, another picture popped up. This time he was wearing a Cartier watch. Then, in breathtaking succession, more and more pictures were posted online as irrefutable evidence of Zhou’s decadent lifestyle. Those were shots of the three luxury cars registered in his name-two Mercedes and one BMW-and of his son studying at Eton, a private school in London, and driving an Audi there. There were also more than five properties in the city under his name. Some capable hackers even managed to get hold of copies of the title deeds to his properties. Soon it was impossible for Zhou to defend the wealth he had amassed in the last five or six years.”
“I’m beginning to understand, Peiqin. It was a master stroke, that crowd-sourced search.”
“Yes, it really backed the government into a corner. They knew only too well why Zhou was being targeted. But with so many people protesting, without a legitimate excuse for his sudden wealth, and with the irrefutable evidence of it all, they found it hard to shield him anymore. They realized it was more important to protect the Party’s image, so they put Zhou into shuanggui-over a pack of 95 Supreme Majesty.”
“Thank you so much, Peiqin. You’ve thrown much light on the background of the situation.”
“So it’s a case you’re investigating?”
“No. Not exactly,” Chen said with a wry smile. “Shuanggui is not the territory of the police. It’s believed that Zhou committed suicide while under detention at a hotel. I’m simply serving as a consultant to the team investigating the cause of death.”
“Zhou’s dead?”
“Yes. It will be announced in the newspapers soon.”
“This will cause another storm on the Internet. Suicide while under detention. How will people online react?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“You’ve been talking so much about Internet searches, Peiqin,” Yu said, changing the subject, “but what I’m searching for is the dessert.”
“Sorry, I forgot,” Peiqin said, rising in haste. “A friend from Beijing brought me some green bean-paste cakes, supposedly from Fangshan, the Forbidden City.”
“That restaurant in the North Sea,” Chen said, “on the island where chefs used to prepare all the delicacies for Dowager Empress Cixi toward the end of the Qing dynasty. The name of the restaurant alone, Fangshan, is more than enough to evoke the imperial majesty complex and its privileges from China’s collective unconscious. It’s just like the brand name of 95 Supreme Majesty.”
“Don’t worry, Chief. I’m not a Party official. The green bean cakes are just a gift from an old friend.”
“I know who it is,” Yu said with mock seriousness. “He was a secret admirer of Peiqin from the days when we were educated youths during the Cultural Revolution. He’s not an official, just an ordinary clerk in the Beijing Travel Bureau, otherwise I would be really worried.”
“But I am worried,” Chen said, putting a tiny cake in his mouth. “If the government is anxious to conclude that Zhou’s death was suicide, then why was I chosen to consult on the investigation?”
“You’ve conducted several high-profile anticorruption cases, which a lot of people know,” Peiqin said, putting the remaining green bean-paste cakes into a box for the departing guest. “So if you’re involved, people will believe the official report.”
“Having you on the case is an endorsement of their conclusion,” Yu cut in again.
“Thank you, Peiqin and Yu, for the meal, for the cake, for the lecture about the Internet and crowd-sourcing, and for everything else,” Chen said, rising. “Now I have your endorsement, I think, for what I’m going to do next.”
FIVE
As a special consultant, Chief Inspector Chen wondered about his role in the investigation: what was left for him to do, and what was not. As the old proverb says, there’s no point in or
“I’m beginning to understand, Peiqin. It was a master stroke, that crowd-sourced search.”
“Yes, it really backed the government into a corner. They knew only too well why Zhou was being targeted. But with so many people protesting, without a legitimate excuse for his sudden wealth, and with the irrefutable evidence of it all, they found it hard to shield him anymore. They realized it was more important to protect the Party’s image, so they put Zhou into shuanggui-over a pack of 95 Supreme Majesty.”
“Thank you so much, Peiqin. You’ve thrown much light on the background of the situation.”
“So it’s a case you’re investigating?”
“No. Not exactly,” Chen said with a wry smile. “Shuanggui is not the territory of the police. It’s believed that Zhou committed suicide while under detention at a hotel. I’m simply serving as a consultant to the team investigating the cause of death.”
“Zhou’s dead?”
“Yes. It will be announced in the newspapers soon.”
“This will cause another storm on the Internet. Suicide while under detention. How will people online react?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“You’ve been talking so much about Internet searches, Peiqin,” Yu said, changing the subject, “but what I’m searching for is the dessert.”
“Sorry, I forgot,” Peiqin said, rising in haste. “A friend from Beijing brought me some green bean-paste cakes, supposedly from Fangshan, the Forbidden City.”
“That restaurant in the North Sea,” Chen said, “on the island where chefs used to prepare all the delicacies for Dowager Empress Cixi toward the end of the Qing dynasty. The name of the restaurant alone, Fangshan, is more than enough to evoke the imperial majesty complex and its privileges from China’s collective unconscious. It’s just like the brand name of 95 Supreme Majesty.”
“Don’t worry, Chief. I’m not a Party official. The green bean cakes are just a gift from an old friend.”
“I know who it is,” Yu said with mock seriousness. “He was a secret admirer of Peiqin from the days when we were educated youths during the Cultural Revolution. He’s not an official, just an ordinary clerk in the Beijing Travel Bureau, otherwise I would be really worried.”
“But I am worried,” Chen said, putting a tiny cake in his mouth. “If the government is anxious to conclude that Zhou’s death was suicide, then why was I chosen to consult on the investigation?”
“You’ve conducted several high-profile anticorruption cases, which a lot of people know,” Peiqin said, putting the remaining green bean-paste cakes into a box for the departing guest. “So if you’re involved, people will believe the official report.”
“Having you on the case is an endorsement of their conclusion,” Yu cut in again.
“Thank you, Peiqin and Yu, for the meal, for the cake, for the lecture about the Internet and crowd-sourcing, and for everything else,” Chen said, rising. “Now I have your endorsement, I think, for what I’m going to do next.”
FIVE
As a special consultant, Chief Inspector Chen wondered about his role in the investigation: what was left for him to do, and what was not. As the old proverb says, there’s no point in or
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