The Mao Case

been a special
     squad formed at the bureau for the purpose of coping with organized crime in the city. His Special Case Squad’s main responsibility
     was dealing with politically special or sensitive cases. Thanks to his connection to Triad-related people like Gu, Chen had
     been able to keep himself out of troubled water.
    There was no ruling out the possibility of mistaken identity, but he couldn’t count on it.
    And as for an ambush, what would be the purpose? In the Triad tradition, as far as he was able to figure out, an ambush was
     either a warning or a punishment. The iron bars, characteristic of the Triad culture, could have been intended for a nonfatal
     beating, as in a Triad movie he had seen, in which the victim writhed on the ground, beaten and crushed, while the gangsters
     hissed out the message: “If you don’t mend your ways, it will be worse next time.”
    What the thugs said to him, however, pointed to different possibilities.
    “Busybody” probably referred to his getting involved in something the Triad thought he shouldn’t have. Chen had no idea what
     it was. After all, a lot of things the chief inspector had done could have been interpreted that way.
    As for the “toad and swan” metaphor, it had originally been about a man going after an unapproachable woman — usually an ugly
     man or one in inferior position going after a beautiful woman or one in a superior position. So it could have come as a warning
     to him about an impossible relationship.

    There was no woman in Chen’s life, not at the moment. Ironically, Ling could have qualified as a “swan” with her HCC family
     background, but she had just married somebody else.
    As for White Cloud, a young pretty college student who had once worked as his “little secretary,” there had never been anything
     serious between them — at least not on the part of Chen. It made some sense, however, if a jealous lover saw Chen as an insurmountable
     obstacle. It was a remote possibility, but Chen thought he should talk to Gu about it.
    Alternatively, the warning could have come from his mixing with the girls at Xie’s place. Most of them had wealthy and powerful
     men behind them, and one of those men could have become insanely jealous. But he was a newcomer to the circle, a bookish if
     not clownish would-be writer who hadn’t made advances on any of them, not even Jiao. In the mansion, most people could be
     a little flirtatious with one another, dancing and drinking under the somber light, in the lambent music. No one took it seriously —
    “So where are you going, sir?” the driver asked again. “Oh, Fuxing Road,” Chen said, his shoulder hurting terribly. He’d better
     see a doctor. Dr. Xia, having retired from the bureau, was working at a private clinic on Fuxing Road.
    “Then we have to make a detour.”
    “Why?” he asked absentmindedly. “New construction. An expensive apartment complex is going up along Tiantong Road.”
    Another possibility flashed across his mind. The real estate company with connections in the black and white ways. He might
     have been seen as a busybody by them. Those companies had long ears and arms, could have learned of him from their contacts
     in the city government. But what about the “toad and swan” metaphor? That seemed totally unrelated.
    At last, the taxi pulled up in front of the clinic. It was a new white building. Through the door, Chen saw a velvet tapestry
     bearing Mao’s quotation in bold characters:
To serve the people
.
    He was taking out his money to pay the taxi driver when another
idea struck him. Could it have been an attempt to stop him from looking further into the case? In that scenario, possibly
     on the order from another section. Or from Internal Security, who had their own reasons to be furious at him. Or even from
     the Forbidden City. He was actually conducting the investigation as a Mao case, at least partially, a move that could affect
     the legitimacy of the Party. But it was a move known only to Old Hunter and Detective Yu, known only partially —
    “Oh, your receipt,” the taxi driver said with evident concern in his voice. “Are you all right, sir?”
    “I’m fine,” he said, taking the receipt, which showed a large amount. The taxi driver must have been driving him around for
     quite a while before asking him for his destination.
    He moved out of the car groggily, his head aching like the Monkey in
Journey to the West
, wearing a cursed