A Case of Two Cities

and I can’t let you put down your money for me. For a delegation member, the foreign currency allowance is only a hundred dollars.”
     
    So once more it was Gu “asking a favor of him,” rather than the other way around. The shrewd businessman seemed to have all kinds of pretexts up his sleeve. It was true, however, that in accordance to the government regulation, Chen had only one hundred dollars as his personal allowance. China Bank did not allow people to exchange foreign currency without official permission, and Chen didn’t want to go to the black market for that.
     
    “Whatever you say, Gu. I’ll shoot pictures and keep the receipts for you. Thank you.”
     
    “Don’t mention it,” Gu said. “Oh, please ask about your American friend. What’s her name? She’s beautiful.”
     
    “Catherine Rohn, but I’m not sure I’ll see her.”
     
    “Here’s a small present from me in case you do.” Gu took out a brocade-covered case containing a Chinese brush pen, ink stone, ink stick, and a lion-headed seal chop with a tiny bowl of red seal ink. “She has a passion for Chinese culture, I remember.”
     
    “It’s very considerate of you, Gu,” Chen said. Indeed, Gu could be a man full of surprises, and full of resources too. “Now, there’s another favor I have to ask of you.”
     
    “Anything you say, Chen.’”
     
    “For the next two weeks, my mother will be all alone. She is in poor health, as you know.”
     
    “Yes, you’re right. What about sending White Cloud over? Last time she helped in the hospital. A clever, capable girl.”
     
    Not too long ago, with his mother in the hospital and himself busy with a translation project for Gu, White Cloud had been assigned to him as a free “little secretary.” The old woman had thought highly of her, though he had refrained from telling his mother what a “little secretary” meant in today’s society.
     
    “She’s very nice, but I don’t think my mother likes the idea of having anyone stay in her room. I’ve suggested a temporary maid for her, and she won’t listen.” He added emphatically, “Several robbery cases have occurred in her neighborhood recently.”
     
    “Got it,” Gu responded promptly. “Nothing will happen to her. I give you my word. I know some people both in the black and white ways.”
     
    The black way referred to triad organizations, in contrast to the white way of the government. If it was a matter of a rough neighborhood, Gu’s connection with the black way should be more than enough, and that was probably why Gu gave his word so promptly.
     
    “I don’t know how to thank you enough, Gu.”
     
    “Don’t say that, Chen, if you take me as a friend. With the long, long road, you know a horse.”
     
    What else could Chen say, as a cop, to an entrepreneur with his triad connection?
     
    Afterward, Chen thought it would indeed be helpful to have some extra dollars. Not that he would have a lot to purchase abroad, but there was no telling what he might have to do there.
     
    As for the reunion with his “beautiful American friend,” he was not sure about it. Since their joint investigation in Shanghai, they had hardly kept up a correspondence, except some holiday cards. The contents on the cards could have had been examined by others. Of late, even those cards had become fewer and fewer. But he should have prepared some present for her, like Gu. He recalled her interest in Chinese literature. Then he had an idea. Something really special, he thought.
     
    It was the first time that he felt any sort of eagerness at the thought of the trip.
     
    Water flows in the rippling
    of her eyes. Mountains rise
    in the knitting of her brows.
    So where is a traveler going to visit?
    The enchanting landscape of her eyes and brows.
     
    Whose poem it was, he forgot, whistling in the breeze. Possibly a Tang dynasty poet. Chen thought that he, too, might be able to produce a couple of lines during the trip.
     
    * * * *
     

11
     
     
    I
    N THE MIDST OF his delegation preparations, Chen also managed to find out which hotel Comrade Zhao was staying in. The Western Suburb Hotel.
     
    The day after he had learned about Zhao’s arrival in Shanghai, he had not yet received Zhao’s call. The chief inspector waited until the early afternoon before he dialed the hotel. The operator refused to confirm that Zhao was staying there, much less put him through. It was little wonder with that particular hotel. So Chen decided