Don’t Cry, Tai Lake

been dumping industrial waste into the lake like never before. It was a business decision designed to drastically reduce production costs. For his own personal gain, the world itself can go to hell. He was already in his mid-fifties, getting nearer to retirement, so he had to rush the process.”
    Shanshan’s lecture testified to something he’d sensed in her. She wasn’t merely a “flower vase,” a pretty but naïve girl. Things in China were complicated. The reform was, as Deng Xiaoping had said, like wading across the river by stepping on one stone after another. But which stone was next, no one could tell. For instance, the changes in the ownership system were confusing to most people, and some simply didn’t bother to understand.
    Shanshan didn’t have to worry about these things, which weren’t in her field. But apparently she did, studying all the factors that were behind the current environmental problems.
    The pending IPO could actually be another one of the new problems that Comrade Secretary Zhao wanted Chen to pay attention to.
    “Thank you for enlightening me. I’ve finally got some idea of what is going on with the IPO,” Chen said. “Do you think Liu’s death could be connected to it?”
    “That I don’t know.”
    “Another question. You told me that Liu died at his apartment—or, rather, his home office. Can you tell me something about that place?”
    “It’s close. Only a five-minute walk from the company. It’s just another privilege provided to the Party officials. The apartment was assigned him in recognition of his hard work, and it’s in addition to the two-story house he bought with the company housing subsidy. But many people work hard at the factory, and they didn’t get an apartment. Some of them still don’t have even a single room.”
    “He stayed there all by himself?”
    “What do you mean?” she asked, then added without waiting for his answer, “Mi, his ‘little secretary,’ was there with him, of course.”
    “Did he go there a lot?”
    “Perhaps the only one who could really say is his little secretary.”
    “Yes, she would be there to help him with his work, right?”
    “And help with his bed too.”
    “Oh that!”
    He should have guessed. Nowadays a big boss, whether at a private or a state-run company, had to have a “little secretary”—a young girl who accompanied him in the bedroom as well as in the office. It was a sign of his status and, of course, more than that.
    “A little secretary. I see. Do people know about the relationship between Mi and Liu?”
    “Are you from Mars, Chen? That’s how she became his secretary in the first place. What are her qualifications? She had barely graduated from middle school when she was hired. It’s an open secret, but people don’t want to talk about it.”
    “In other words, Mi would know not only about Liu’s whereabouts that night, but a lot more.”
    “As far as I know, if Liu was there for some business reason, she would be the one to make the plans and preparations. If it wasn’t for business, she would be the one to make the bed.”
    This was quite different from Sergeant Huang’s version, according to which Mi didn’t know anything about Liu’s plans that evening and instead had worked late at the office, a fact that had been corroborated by a colleague.
    “That’s right,” he said, aware that it wasn’t easy not to talk like a cop. “But that evening, it could have been something he didn’t want her to know about.”
    “That’s possible. Who can really tell what’s happening between a man and a woman?”
    “He must have paid her a lot.”
    “At the company, her pay was appropriate to her position as a secretary. To give the devil his due, Liu at least tried to keep up appearances.”
    “Well, whatever he was worth, it could have eventually been all hers. For her, it would have been only a matter of time.”
    “She might not have been so sure about that. If a little secretary doesn’t turn into a Mrs. in a year or two, then a little secretary she’ll remain. The boss may have all kinds of reasons to do or not to do something. How much Liu gave her in private was, of course, another story.”
    “That’s a very good point,” he said. “But what about Mrs. Liu? She knew about Liu’s evening plans, right?”
    “I don’t know, but she knew about the little secretary Liu kept there—”
    The sampan swayed and she lurched forward, her hand touching his shoulder for