The Mao Case

reopened
Cloud and Rain in Shanghai
, turning to the part about the first meeting between Mao and Shang at the China and Russia Palace of Friendship, where the
     melody rippled in the splendid ballroom, Shang’s steps soft as a cloud, light as the rain …
    In about fifteen minutes he felt the pills gradually taking effect. As if surfacing from under waves of drowsiness, a fragment
     of a poem by
Li Shangyin came to mind. Li happened to be Mao’s favorite Tang dynasty poet too.
    Oh, last night’s star, last night’s wind, / west of the painted chamber, east of the cassia hall./ Lacking the soaring wings
     of a colorful phoenix, /our hearts speak through the magic rhinoceros horn …

FOUR
    CHEN WOKE UP WITH a fast-fading dream scene: a young woman in a red mandarin dress emerging out of nowhere, her footstep light as a summer
     rain of grateful tears, a fallen leaf caressing her bangled bare feet, a song coming on like a white cloud, like a light rain,
     but disappearing into a mural in the subway station …
    Disoriented, he slowly managed to bring himself back to the first morning of the Mao Case — a case name he had made up the previous
     night.
    However, his thoughts kept circling around the dream image. Possibly because of Ling, who had worn a similar dress in a different
     color, he recalled, rubbing his temples; or possibly because of Shang, who was wearing one in a black and white picture in
     the book, or possibly because of a serial murder case he had investigated not too long ago —
    But dreams images are irrational
, he thought, when another idea came to him, unexpectedly, like the lady in the red mandarin dress in the dream.

    Swinging out of bed like a sleepwalker, he dialed a number from his address book.
    “Sorry to call you so early in the morning, Mr. Shen.”
    “Oh, Chief Inspector Chen. An old man wakes up early. I’ve been up for a couple of hours. What can I do for you?”
    “Do you happen to know Xie, the owner of Xie Mansion on Shaoxing Road? You used to live quite close to that neighborhood,
     I remember.”
    “Yes, I know him. Nowadays he’s an authority on the thirties, on the fashion of those years too. He talked to me about it
     two or three weeks ago.”
    “Have you been to his parties?”
    “No, I’m too old for those fashionable parties of his, but I went to his father’s. So he calls me uncle. That was before 1949,
     of course. What do you want with him, Chief Inspector Chen?”
    “So you’re like an uncle to him! That’s great. I’ve been thinking of a book project about old Shanghai. It would be fantastic
     if you would be so kind as to introduce me to him.”
    “Well, the golden and glittering thirties could serve as another myth of the city for the upstarts today. They have to invent
     a tradition to justify their extravagance. But I’ll introduce you to him. No problem.”
    “Thank you so much, Mr. Shen. Oh, by the way, you may tell him that I’m a writer — and an ex-businessman too — with an interest
     in the thirties. Don’t mention that I’m a cop.”
    “What Xie’s really up to, I don’t know,” the old man said hesitantly, “but I think he is harmless.”
    “I’m not going to get him into trouble, Mr. Shen. I give you my word. It’s only because he might not talk freely to a cop.”
    “I trust you, Chief Inspector Chen. I’m giving him a call and write you a letter of introduction too — about the talented writer
     and a good man that I know. Don’t worry. I’ll have the letter sent to you by special delivery.”
    “I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

    “There’s no need.” Shen added with a chuckle, “Just give me a copy of your book when it’s published.”
    As he put the phone back, Chen saw a word on the back of a matchbox on the nightstand —
Poetry
— scribbled in his own sloppy handwriting.
    What could that possibly mean?
    He had gotten sentimental over Li Shangyin’s poem before falling asleep last night, but that was not something worth writing
     down.
    There was a knock on the door. Another special delivery package for the case, he suspected. It was a package, but to his surprise,
     it was postmarked as from abroad — from London. It was from Ling — he guessed she must have mailed it during her honeymoon trip.
     That the couple went abroad was no surprise. The newlyweds were both successful entrepreneurs with HCC background and could
     easily afford the trip.
    He tore open the package to find a large