Red Mandarin Dress

develop.”
    “What kind of a girl did you find her?”
    “A really nice girl. There are not too many left like her nowadays. Not materialistic at all. She could have earned much more at a nightclub, but she would rather earn her honest money at the hotel. I don’t think she took me as a Big Buck. She knew better. And she was so devoted to her sick, paralyzed father too. An extraordinarily filial daughter!”
    “Yes, I’ve heard that. Have you visited her home?”
    “No, she didn’t like the idea. She wanted to keep our relationship a secret.”
    “Because you were staying at the hotel?”
    “You could say that.”
    “But you went out a lot with her. People would have discovered your relationship sooner or later.”
    “Maybe, but we didn’t go out that much. I was busy, flying here and there, and she had to take care of her father.”
    “Now a different question. Did she ever wear a red mandarin dress in your presence?”
    “No. She was not a fashion butterfly. I tried to buy some new clothing for her, but she invariably said no. She had a pajama top made from her mother’s fifteen years ago. No, she did not—” Weng broke off, as if overwhelmed in memories. “The Old Heaven is blind. A girl like her should not have suffered such a string of bad luck, and such an end—”
    The room phone started ringing. Weng snatched it up as if he had been expecting it.
    “Oh, Mr. Newman, about that deal—hold on,” Weng turned around, covering the phone with his hand. “Sorry, it’s an international call. Can we talk another time?”
    “That’s okay,” Yu said, pulling out a business card and adding the cell phone number the bureau had temporarily given him. “You can call me anytime.”
    The visit hadn’t yielded much, but at least he could rule out two possibilities. First, Weng was excluded as a suspect, and more importantly, Jasmine was not an easy-pick-up target engaged in sex business, contrary to Liao’s suspicions.
    Still, he felt he might have missed something in the interview. Though what it was, he couldn’t figure out.

ELEVEN
    AGAIN , PEIQIN WAS TRYING to help in her way.
    She attempted to gather background information about Qiao, the eating girl. Since Peiqin herself worked in a restaurant, she had no trouble getting people to talk about those girls. Chef Pan turned out to be knowledgeable on the subject.
    “Oh, three-accompanying girls—singing, dancing, eating,” Pan started with great gusto over a dish of peanuts flavored with Daitiao seaweed. “Another characteristic of China’s brand of socialism. Socialism still has to provide a cover for everything, like a sign of a sheep’s head, behind which dog or cat meat is selling like crazy. The Party authorities keep saying that there’s no prostitution here, black words on white paper, so there appeared the gray area of three-accompanying girls.”
    “You’ve worked at high-end restaurants,” Peiqin said, pouring him a cup of ginseng tea, a gift from Chief Inspector Chen, “and you surely know a lot.”
    “Confucius says, ‘Enjoyment of delicacy and sex is of human nature.’ In the unprecedented economic reform led by Comrade Deng Xiaoping, what industry has scored the most incredible expansion? The entertainment industry. All the new and fancy restaurants and nightclubs, where Big Bucks and Party cadres are spending money like water. So eating girls appeared as a matter of course.”
    “But how does an eating girl make her money?”
    “For a Big Buck rolling obscenely in money, the company of an attractive girl adds a finishing touch to a perfect night, her nestling against him at the table, putting the delicacies on his plate. It boosts enormously his feeling of power and success, a sensual candle flickering between them. Actually, there are high requirements for the profession. She has to be pretty, and clever too, capable of convincing a Big Buck that he is getting his money’s worth with her company. For her, it’s a free dinner, plus a huge bonus. Through her choice of expensive wine and delicacies, the bill can be staggering, from which ten percent goes to her, not to mention the tip. In addition, she may strike a clandestine deal on the table, or under the table. What happens afterward does not concern the restaurant. So all in all, it’s a sizable income for her.”
    “You have observed well, Pan.”
    “Eating girls won’t come to a shabby place like ours, but they bring profit to a restaurant. We will have