A Case of Two Cities

try to expose a couple of red rats, but there are hundreds or thousands of them carrying on under their eyes, and they choose to do nothing. Why? It’s their foundation. How can they do anything to shake their foundation?” Peiqin went on, putting a slice of the egg into Yu’s bowl, “Do you know who’s really behind Xing’s case? Somebody too high, too powerful. That’s why Chen is worried. So what’s the point of dragging you into it?”
     
    “Do you think I have a choice?” Yu said. “He is a good boss. And a good friend too. I can’t stand aside with my arms crossed.”
     
    “He may be an honest cop, but this case involves too high a price tag. As a celebrity cop, he may be able to get away with it. But what about you? It’s not even your case.”
     
    “He’s not required to do anything while he is abroad. But he says he has to, as an investigator, and he needs my help,” Yu said. “There aren’t many cops like him left today. If I don’t help, who will?”
     
    “Sometimes, you talk like your Chief Inspector Chen,” she said, shaking her head. “There must be somebody like Judge Bao, or the grand stage will not attract any audience.”
     
    “I haven’t read many books, Peiqin. There are things I don’t have to do. But if I don’t, I can’t sleep with an easy conscience.” He said after a short pause, “Remember, Chen didn’t have to go out of his way to help us with the apartment, but he did.”
     
    “ Yiqi, the oughtness of the situation. I knew you would come to that. The obligation for you to pay him back,” she said. “Don’t take me wrong, Guangming. As long as you try to stay out of harm’s way, I’m not opposed to your helping him.”
     
    “I will. In fact, I’ll hardly do anything except keep an eye on some people. I am being more than careful. That’s why I want to suggest that you call his mother.”
     
    “I’ll do that. Things may not be so easy for him.” She changed the subject abruptly: “By the way, have you heard about a plan for a high-end commercial complex in our neighborhood? If so, this old shikumen building of ours will be torn down, and as compensation, we may have a brand-new apartment.”
     
    “I think that’s why he insisted on us taking it. He might have used some inside information for us.”
     
    “Yes, he did, and I should say, not for his own benefit. However, what will eventually happen to him? I don’t mean the case, but the way he stays mixed up with those ‘inside people’ and connections?”
     
    “Let’s not worry about things too far in the future,” he said.
     
    “Qinqin is going to an English camp in Hangzhou,” she said, switching to yet another topic. “Three weeks. Possibly a large sum. If we are going to move again, there will be another expense. I’d better put in more time at Old Geng’s, and you have to take good care of yourself.”
     
    Yu did not make an immediate reply as she stood up to clean the table. He helped with a wet mop in his hand.
     
    It was about ten when they went to bed.
     
    “Oh, he wants me to keep this envelope for him,” he said, reclining against a propped pillow. He took out the padded envelope, opened it, and the pictures fell out on the bed.
     
    For the next few minutes, Yu and Peiqin gaped at the lurid photos without uttering a sound.
     
    “It’s An Jiayi,” Peiqin finally said, her hand grasping his on the towel. “They killed her, didn’t they?”
     
    “Chen interviewed her two days before her death.”
     
    “That’s too much.” She suddenly rested her head against his chest. “Why did he give those pictures to you?”
     
    “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think he wants to carry them with him.”
     
    It was probably not true, he knew. And she knew too. Neither of them wanted to discuss it. He caressed her hair in silence.
     
    One of the pictures appeared to be staring back at them. An nestled against a man on the bed, her bare breasts hardly covered by the quilt, her long black hair streaming like a fall.
     
    Yu lost his mood, holding on to Peiqin, feeling her toes pressed against his leg.
     
    That night, he lay awake for a long while. Beside him, she began snoring, lightly, worn out with work and worries.
     
    He tried to think about things he could do for Chen, but without much success. Finally, sleepiness seemed to come over him in a confusion of fragmented images.
     
    Among them, a very blurred image of several crabs bound together