A Loyal Character Dancer

signed crime.
     
    “Now that our mission is completed, we don’t have to worry about those questions,” he said.
     
    “Or answers.” She sensed his reluctance to talk further.
     
    It sounded like a sarcastic reference to the poem read in the Suzhou garden.
     
    He felt her sitting so close, but so far away at the same time.
     
    Chen turned on the car radio. The broadcast was in the local dialect, of which he did not understand a single word.
     
    Presently, the Fujian airport came in view.
     
    As they neared the domestic flights gate, they saw a peddler in Taoist costume displaying his wares on a piece of white cloth spread on the ground. It exhibited an impressive array of herb samples, along with a number of open books, magazines, and pictures, all of them illustrating the beneficial effects of local herbs. The ingenious entrepreneur wore a white beard, an image associated with the legends of a Taoist recluse cultivating herbs in the clouds of the mountains, meditating above the vexing hubbub of the world, and enjoying longevity in harmony with nature.
     
    He spoke a few words to them but neither Catherine nor Chen could understand him. Seeing their puzzlement, he addressed them in Mandarin.
     
    “Look! Fulin cake, the well-known product of Fujian, beneficent to your body system,” the peddler declared. “It contains natural energy, and a lot of ingredients essential to health.”
     
    The Taoist peddler reminded Chen of the Taoist fortuneteller in the Suzhou temple. Ironically, the cryptic poem’s prediction had turned out to be true.
     
    As they walked through the gate, flight information was being broadcast, first in Mandarin, then in Fujian, and finally in English.
     
    Finally, Chen realized something.
     
    Something was terribly wrong.
     
    “Damn!” he cursed, glancing at his watch. It was too late.
     
    “What, Chief Inspector Chen?”
     
    “Nothing,” he said.

Chapter 35
     
     
    T
    he dinner invitation was Detective Yu’s idea. To be exact, however, it was an idea he had gotten from Chief Inspector Chen. Chen had mentioned Inspector Rohn’s interest in visiting a Chinese home, adding it would not be convenient to invite her to a bachelor’s place like his. Chen did not have to say more to his assistant.
     
    The moment he returned, Yu broached the dinner plan to Peiqin. “Inspector Rohn is leaving tomorrow afternoon. So she is available only this evening.”
     
    “You have just come back.” Peiqin handed him a hot towel from a green plastic basin. “It’s such short notice. I don’t have any time to prepare. Especially for an American.”
     
    “But I have invited them already.”
     
    “You could have called me first.” Peiqin poured a cup of jasmine tea for him. “Our room is so small. An American will hardly be able to turn around.”
     
    Yu’s room was on the southern end of the eastern wing, in an apartment which had been assigned to his father, Old Hunter, in the early fifties. Now, forty years later, the four rooms accommodated four families. As a result, each room functioned as a bedroom, dining’ room, living room, and bathroom. Yu’s room, which had once been a dining room, proved particularly inconvenient for entertaining guests. The room next to it, Old Hunter’s, was originally the living room, and had the only door opening into the hall. A visitor had to walk through Old Hunter’s room to reach theirs.
     
    Yu said, “Well, it may not matter that much. She’s studied Chinese. And you know, there may be something between Inspector Rohn and Chief Inspector Chen.”
     
    “Really!” Peiqin’s voice registered instant interest. “But Chen has an HCC girlfriend in Beijing, hasn’t he?”
     
    “I’m not so sure about it—not after Baoshen’s case. Remember Chen’s trip to the Yellow Mountains?”
     
    “You haven’t told me about it. Is it finished between them?”
     
    “It’s complicated. Politics. The conclusion of that case was not pleasant for her father. Chen’s relationship with her is strained, so I’ve heard. Not to mention the fact they live in two different cities.”
     
    “That’s not good. You have been away for a week, and it’s been so hard for me. I don’t see how they can remain in a relationship, separated like that.” Peiqin took the towel from him and touched his unshaved chin. “Why hasn’t Chen been transferred to Beijing?”
     
    “He can be stubborn. About the HCC influence, you know.”
     
    “I