Read The Mao Case for Free Online

concerning Mao — the Mao case. If nothing else, the chief inspector might be able
     to gain a better historical perspective through the investigation.
    And it could also keep him busy — preferably too busy to think about his personal crisis.
    He sat back at the table, pulled up a piece of blank paper, jotted
down the ideas that came to mind, and worked on combining them into a feasible plan. In the end, he decided to break his investigation
     into two parts. For the Jiao part, he would cooperate with Internal Security, but for the Mao part, he would go ahead on his
     own.
    He was going to find out, first of all, what material or information could be used against Mao, and he would do this by going
     to the root — the relationship between Mao and Shang. Like the story behind the story in
Cloud and Rain in Shanghai
, it would be an investigation behind the investigation.
    To begin with, he needed a comprehensive grasp of that period of history. An ideal scenario would be to contact the then special
     team from Beijing, but that was practically impossible. It had happened so long ago. And the people concerned would be put
     on alert as soon as he made the request.
    Alternatively, he would contact the author of
Cloud and Rain in Shanghai
, who might not have included in the book all the information available regarding Shang’s death. In the meantime, he would
     also try to obtain a copy of the memoir by Mao’s personal doctor. In addition, he would try to secretly interview the people
     who were close to Qian and Shang.
    Now, how could he possibly accomplish all this by himself? The clock ticked, almost imperceptibly. Chief Inspector Chen, unlike
     the character in a ridiculous fairy tale he had read, did not have three heads and six arms.
    A glance at the clock told him that it was almost two in the morning. He would not be able to fall asleep, not anytime soon.
     So he took a couple of sleeping pills and swallowed them with cold water.
    Lying in bed, he reopened
Cloud and Rain in Shanghai
, turning to the part about the first meeting between Mao and Shang at the China and Russia Palace of Friendship, where the
     melody rippled in the splendid ballroom, Shang’s steps soft as a cloud, light as the rain …
    In about fifteen minutes he felt the pills gradually taking effect. As if surfacing from under waves of drowsiness, a fragment
     of a poem by
Li Shangyin came to mind. Li happened to be Mao’s favorite Tang dynasty poet too.
    Oh, last night’s star, last night’s wind, / west of the painted chamber, east of the cassia hall./ Lacking the soaring wings
     of a colorful phoenix, /our hearts speak through the magic rhinoceros horn …

FOUR
    CHEN WOKE UP WITH a fast-fading dream scene: a young woman in a red mandarin dress emerging out of nowhere, her footstep light as a summer
     rain of grateful tears, a fallen leaf caressing her bangled bare feet, a song coming on like a white cloud, like a light rain,
     but disappearing into a mural in the subway station …
    Disoriented, he slowly managed to bring himself back to the first morning of the Mao Case — a case name he had made up the previous
     night.
    However, his thoughts kept circling around the dream image. Possibly because of Ling, who had worn a similar dress in a different
     color, he recalled, rubbing his temples; or possibly because of Shang, who was wearing one in a black and white picture in
     the book, or possibly because of a serial murder case he had investigated not too long ago —
    But dreams images are irrational
, he thought, when another idea came to him, unexpectedly, like the lady in the red mandarin dress in the dream.

    Swinging out of bed like a sleepwalker, he dialed a number from his address book.
    “Sorry to call you so early in the morning, Mr. Shen.”
    “Oh, Chief Inspector Chen. An old man wakes up early. I’ve been up for a couple of hours. What can I do for you?”
    “Do you happen to know Xie, the owner of Xie Mansion on Shaoxing