Death of a Red Heroine

meshes, but it lets nothing through.”
    What would be the next step? Whatever Detective Yu was going to do, he had to contact Chief Inspector Chen. It was even more urgent as he was going to be stationed in Jiading County the following week.
    Chen must have discovered something in Guangzhou, and so had he, here in his interviews with Jiang and Ning, along with the newest information he had just gotten from Yang. Only as a team could he and Chen hope to ride out the crisis.
    It was not easy, however, for him to reach Chen. As an escort for the American Writers’ delegation, Chen had to accompany the guests from one place to another. Besides, it was not safe for Yu to call the Jinjiang Hotel where Chen stayed with the American guests.
    A case had already been rigged against Chen, according to Old Hunter. Yu’s movements might be watched as well. Signs of their continuing the investigation would prompt further reaction. It was not that Detective Yu hesitated to take a risk, but they could not afford to make any mistakes.
    There had to be a way to discuss the situation with Chen, a way discreet enough not to arouse any suspicion.
    At the bus stop, several people were lining up along the railing. Yu stood behind them. They were talking excitedly about some new exotic show in the Meixin Theater, but he listened absentmindedly, without really making sense of their conversation.
    His mind was still a blank when he got back home.
    There was no light in his room. He knew it was already past ten o’clock. Qinqin had to get up early for school. Peiqin had had a busy day all alone. At six, he had promised her he would come back immediately. He felt guilty as he closed the door behind him. He was surprised to see Peiqin still awake, waiting for him.
    “Oh, you’re back,” she said, sitting up.
    He slumped onto a bamboo stool to take off his shoes. She came over to him, barefoot. Lightly, she sank to her knees to help, bringing her head to his level.
    “You’ve not had your supper, Yu?” she said. “I’ve kept something for you.”
    It was a steamed rice ball stuffed with minced pork and vegetables.
    She sat with him at the table, watching him in silence.
    “I’m late, Peiqin. I’m sorry.”
    “You don’t have to say that to me. I should not have been so fretful this afternoon.”
    “No, you were right. The rice ball is so good,” he said between the bites. “Where did you get the recipe?”
    “Remember our days in Yunnan? Those Dai girls sang and danced the whole night. When they were hungry, they took rice balls out of their pockets.”
    He remembered, of course. In those long nights of Xishuangbanna, they had watched the Dai girls dancing against the rugged line of the Dai bamboo bungalows, nibbling at their rice balls at the intervals. And they had both thought that the rice balls were a good idea.
    At that instant, holding the rice ball in his hand, Detective Yu had an idea.
    “Have you heard of a Dai-style restaurant at the Jingjiang Hotel?” he asked. “A fabulous one, called the Xishuang Garden.”
    “Yes, the Xishuang Garden,” she said. “I’ve read about it in the newspapers.”
    “What about going to the Xishuang Garden tomorrow evening?”
    “You’re kidding!”
    He experienced a twinge of regret at her surprise. It was the first time he had asked her out for a date since they had Qinqin. Now he was going to do so, but with an ulterior motive.
    “No, I’ve just got an urge to go there. You have no other plans for tomorrow night, have you? So why not go out and have fun?”
    “Do you think we can afford it?”
    “Here are a couple of all-inclusive tickets, covering drinking, dancing and singing-along, or karaoke. You know what it is, so fashionable nowadays. Free tickets.” Yu took the tickets out of his shirt pocket. “A hundred and fifty Yuan for each, if we had to pay out of our own pocket. So it would be a shame not to go.”
    They were the tickets Chen had left for them. Perhaps Chen just did not want to waste the tickets. But perhaps Chen had meant for him to go there.
    “Where did you get the tickets?”
    “Somebody gave them to me.”
    “I’m no dancer,” she said hesitantly. “And I’ve no idea how to karaoke.”
    “It is easy to learn, my wife.”
    “Easy for you to say.” She was not untempted with the prospect of a special night. “We’re already an old husband and wife.”
    “There are older people dancing and singing in People’s Square