Don’t Cry, Tai Lake

smile. The wind was ruffling her shoulder-length hair, as though adding to the temptation.
    Again, he tried to convince himself he didn’t have to be a chief inspector at the moment. He could simply be a man in the company of a woman he cared for.
    A bass sprang out of the algae close to the boat and snapped at something hardly visible in the misty air. The silver scales flashed against the dirty green mess, and the fish plunged back into the water, twisting and swimming away.
    “Thank you, Shanshan. I’ve been enjoying the boat trip—every minute of it,” he said, feeling that the moment was fleeting. But considering her possible involvement in a murder, he had to slow down, he told himself. At least until he could really check it out.
    “Uncle Wang told me a little,” he said, “but I don’t have a clear picture of what happened at your company.”
    “I don’t know what Uncle Wang said,” she said, “but he hardly knows anything. What do you want to know?”
    “Tell me what’s been going on at the company of late, as much as possible.”
    “Why?”
    “For one thing, I’ve been translating mysteries, so I’m naturally interested in a murder case. I may also be able to help a little,” he said, taking her hand on an impulse, “through some connections here.”
    She didn’t take hers away, but she didn’t meet his gaze, looking instead at the green mass that stretched out, almost touching the horizon in the afternoon light.
    “I don’t know where to start, Chen.”
    “For starters, how about the IPO plan for the company? I think you mentioned it. Why should the company go public? I mean, what’s the reason behind it, given that it’s a state-run company? Or what’s the connection to the issue of environmental protection?”
    “I’m no expert on the latest reforms on the ownership system in China,” she started slowly. “For my parents’ generation, there was nothing but state-run companies. Then things began to change with the economic reforms launched by Comrade Deng Xiaoping, and non-state-run companies came to the fore. An increasing number of state-run companies have been falling apart in recent years. They can barely survive in today’s market. So some people proposed a reform in the ownership system. It’s based on the theory that a company can’t succeed unless someone owns it. In other words, with socialism and communism gone to the dogs, everything has to depend on a capitalist interest. So entrepreneurs simply took over a bunch of state-run companies, buying them at an incredible bargain.”
    “Yes, a lot of deals like that were made under the table, I’ve heard,” Chen said. “It has resulted in a huge loss of state property.”
    “However, the situation for our company is different. The ownership system is to be changed, but it is not being purchased by an outside entrepreneur. Rather, the company will become a public one, owned by shareholders. As a consequence, Liu, the company’s general manager, could end up owning millions of shares. He would have been able to buy them at a huge discount—an ‘inside price’—or simply get shares for free through all sorts of tricks—say, setting five cents per share as the inside price for executives like himself, when each share will be immediately worth twenty or thirty yuan once it goes on the market. What’s more, Liu was in a position to purchase shares without paying a single penny from his own pocket. It would have been easy for him to get the money by mortgaging the chemical company.”
    “It’s called catching a white wolf with your bare hands . I read about it somewhere.”
    “You’re not that bookish, are you?” she said, nodding. “In Western countries, it’s a matter of course for the owner to have the largest number of shares, since he started the company. But people like Liu simply happen to be in a position that enables them to turn state property into their personal property, all in the name of economic reform.”
    “Yes, these Communist Party officials turn into billionaires, but at the same time they remain Party officials,” he said, looking up at her. “You’ve made a thorough study of the issue, Shanshan. It’s as if you were teaching a course.”
    “It’s because the IPO plan is somehow related to the pollution problem. That’s why I’ve been paying attention to the so-called reform. A successful IPO depends on having an impressive balance sheet, so for the last half year, Liu has