Red Mandarin Dress

possibly some other remedies, the residents would be satisfied, and some of them might also choose to move back into the area. As for Peng, he should know better than to protest about three years. With his connections, he would be able to get out in a couple of months.
    For all Chen knew, a sort of compromise had been reached between Shanghai and Beijing, and between Jia and the city government. Such a result seemed to be the best Jia could possibly strive for on the residents’ behalf.
    So the trial was nothing but a formality.
    Present in the courtroom was a group of residents from the West-Nine-Block. And an equally large group of journalists, including foreign ones, who must have obtained special permission from the city government to attend.
    Jia sat among the residents in the front row, still in his black suit, his face taut and pale in the light of the courtroom.
    Chen seated himself near the back of the room, rubbing his temples, which were throbbing like they did during acupuncture. He hadn’t even had time to change his clothes after the night-long dinner in the Old Mansion. It might be just as well. Wearing a pair of amber-tinted glasses, he hoped that people wouldn’t recognize him.
    Yu sat beside him, also in plainclothes. He had likewise had a sleepless night. Having obtained the result of the fiber test earlier in the morning, Yu hurried through all the routine preparations for immediate action, but Chen wanted him to wait.
    At Chen’s suggestion, the cops stationed both inside and outside were also in plainclothes. He insisted they take no action until his order. Yu hadn’t told them anything about the other case—the red mandarin dress case.
    And Chen did not know what to tell Yu, either. He decided not to worry about it until after the trial was over. Even then, the practicability of immediate action was still debatable. It would be too dramatic. A possible storm of speculation about political retaliation wouldn’t be in the interest of the Party authorities.
    He started wondering whether he should have come here. In spite of the horrendous crimes, he couldn’t help seeing things from Jia’s perspective. Justice could be a matter of perspectives, as discussed last night. Whatever wrongs Jia had suffered during the Cultural Revolution, however, the killing of the innocent today must be stopped.
    Gang Hua, the defense lawyer for Peng, was standing up for closing statement.
    Gang argued for leniency on the grounds of Peng’s cooperation with the government, his return of the fund, and his ignorance of his employees’ improper behavior. Specifically, Gang made a point about what he defined as the “historical circumstances.”
    “It’s true that Peng got the land at a lower price and planned to sell the apartments at a higher one. But the value of real estate in Shanghai has since jumped. It didn’t happen in his project alone. As for the regulation about the land use, it wasn’t specified at the beginning of the development, nor was the compensation for the residents exactly formulated—there was only a range from the lower to the higher end. To ensure the timely completion of the project, Peng hired a relocation company, whose employees, perhaps too eager to do the job, pushed along without Peng’s knowledge.
    “We understand that some of the residents in the West-Nine-Block suffered inconvenience, even injuries, but in the long run, the housing project is in the interest of the people. How can people live any longer like in the play Seventy-Two Families Living in a Two-Storied Shikumen House ? China has been making tremendous progress in a reform unprecedented in its history. It’s new to everybody. So I am not saying that Peng shouldn’t be responsible for his mistakes in the housing development project, but we have to take into consideration the historical circumstances. In a larger perspective, you have to say that Peng’s business activity contributed to the prosperity of the city. If you go to the West-Nine-Block next year, you will see rows upon rows of new buildings.”
    It was a clever speech, saying what could be said to represent Peng as a businessman who made mistakes, some of them well-meant mistakes, because of “historical circumstances.” The speech didn’t say, of course, what couldn’t be said: that all the corrupt practices occurred through Peng’s connections with Party officials.
    The audience’s reaction seemed to be mixed. Some were whispering among