Chapter 22

Part One: Turbulent Waters of Officialdom. Chapter 22: Zhitong threw a tantrum

Zhang Ke was not concerned about the other cases involving Ding Xiangshan and Jiang Mingcheng. He thought that Zeng Jianhua's supposed case of fleeing with stolen funds would soon become a missing-person case. The four million yuan and more that Jiang Mingcheng accused Zeng Jianhua of taking matched the four million and more he had withdrawn in installments from Xinfeng Group's off-the-books accounts. Zeng Jianhua had probably already been murdered.

There was no telling when they would get Jiang Mingcheng to talk.

Zhang Ke thought, This might turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Tang Xueqian. The provincial Party committee probably feels quite guilty about the injustice he suffered.

As the victim in this case, Tang Xueqian could not, in principle, participate in the Special Investigation Team's work. Nor could he return to Haizhou immediately, before measures were taken against those connected to Ding Xiangshan. His family remained in the Provincial Capital for the time being.

Xu Xueping told him, "Spend a few days looking around the Provincial Capital and get some rest. The Province will assign you a car."

"Thank you, Secretary Xu." Tang Xueqian was in no mood for sightseeing. He would rather stay at Longhua Hotel and watch what became of Ding Xiangshan. "I'm a hopeless Go addict. Whenever I have time on my hands, I itch for a game. Having Zhixing here to keep me company will do." Tang Xueqian turned to ask Chen Xiaosong, "Does the hotel have a Go set?"

"Then I'll stay for lunch. Whichever of you plays better can give me a game." Xu Xueping pointed at Zhang Zhixing. "How good are you?"

In 1994, the Go craze sparked by Nie Weiping and Ma Xiaochun had yet to fade, but Zhang Ke had not known that Xu Xueping also enjoyed the game. Perhaps the craze had already died down by the time he began paying attention to politics.

"Your skill at Go is famous throughout the province, Secretary Xu. I wouldn't dare embarrass myself..." Zhang Zhixing hastily waved his hands. "If you can't find an opponent, let Zhang Ke learn a little from you."

"Oh..." Xu Xueping's interest was piqued, and he told Jin Guohai to fetch a Go set at once. Disregarding his status as deputy chief procurator of the provincial procuratorate, Jin Guohai hurried downstairs at a trot. Before long, he came running back with sweat covering his forehead, carrying two Go sets. He handed one to Tang Xueqian.

"We'll watch Secretary Xu play first." Holding the set, Tang Xueqian stood to one side.

Zhang Ke knew that Xu Xueping was preoccupied with government affairs and had little energy to study Go. He did not deliberately let him win, but of course he could not let him lose too badly either. He put considerable thought into making the game fierce and full of twists, finally winning by two points. Sure enough, Xu Xueping was delighted. "I started learning Go in upper primary school and have played without a break for nearly forty-five years, yet I still lost to Zhang Ke. Look, look, Zhixing has a fine son. If any of you can beat him, let me know..."

Zhang Ke looked up and saw Tang Jing standing beside him, though he had no idea when she had arrived. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Uncle Xu is much better than my dad. Dad even calls himself an amateur third dan, but I have to give him a two-stone handicap. This game with Uncle Xu left me sweating all over. During the endgame, I thought I was going to lose. I nearly resigned. Uncle Xu played a slow move here." Zhang Ke pointed to the lower-right corner of the board. "Were you deliberately letting me win, Uncle Xu?"

"I wouldn't deliberately let you win. I can afford to lose a game. You don't need to give me a way to save face. Here, I really did overlook that," Xu Xueping said with a rare smile. "I'm only about amateur fifth-dan level. It would be a real pity if you didn't become a professional player. Still, it would be an even greater pity if you did."

Hearing Xu Xueping's last remark, Zhang Zhixing was secretly delighted. Wasn't he hinting that little Ke could achieve even more in the future?

No one asked about the traffic accident in Haizhou, and no one would bring it up unprompted. Tang Xueqian found it a little strange to see how close Xu Xueping was to Zhang Zhixing and his son. Although Tang Xueqian was a poor player, he had a good eye for the game. He could see that winning by two points had been far harder for Zhang Ke than winning by twenty. No one here had taught him to do that, yet he had picked up such things on his own, and he was so pleasingly well-spoken too. It really would be a pity for him to become a professional Go player.

During lunch, a phone call for Xu Xueping came through to the Special Investigation Team. When he returned from taking it, his face was dark. No one knew what major incident had occurred this time, and everyone felt uneasy. Xu Xueping held his bowl, his chopsticks stopping in midair. The atmosphere at the table froze.

Xu Xueping's secretary, Li Yijiang, winked at Zhang Ke. Taking the hint, Zhang Ke asked Xu Xueping, "Uncle Xu, has something happened to little Zhitong?"

"Ah..." Xu Xueping sighed, allowing everyone at the table to breathe a sigh of relief. "Zhitong is throwing a tantrum at home. She refuses to eat and has smashed her bowl. She won't speak either, so no one at home knows what she wants..."

"Let me go and see Zhitong..."

"Yes, I was just thinking of asking you to go. Finish your lunch and have Little Li drive you over..."

Zhang Ke rose to his feet. "There's still time to eat once I get to your house, Uncle Xu. Sorry to trouble Uncle Little Li to drive me there on an empty stomach."

"I'll eat at Secretary Xu's house too." Li Yijiang wasted no time either. Leaving the car behind to take Xu Xueping to the provincial Party committee, he borrowed a sedan from the Special Investigation Team and drove Zhang Ke to New Plum Garden.

After Li Yijiang and Zhang Ke left, Xu Xueping shoveled a couple of mouthfuls of rice into his mouth, then set down his bowl and chopsticks. "There's still business at the provincial Party committee. I won't stay with you." Everyone stood and accompanied Xu Xueping downstairs to see him into the car.

Only after the sedan turned away from the hotel's main building and disappeared from view did everyone file back inside. Tang Xueqian asked Zhang Zhixing to stay behind, and the two squatted on the steps to smoke.

Even without Tang Xueqian asking, Zhang Zhixing knew what was on his mind. Zhang Ke's rescue of Xu Xueping's granddaughter was not something to boast about. If word reached Xu Xueping, it would put him off. Of course, there was no need to keep it from Tang Xueqian either.

Zhang Zhixing took the cigarette Tang Xueqian offered him and pulled out a lighter, lighting Tang Xueqian's cigarette first. "Quite a few things have happened in Haizhou lately. Secretary Xu's son was in a traffic accident there..."

"Ah..." Tang Xueqian froze. As the deputy mayor in charge of transportation, he was shocked by such a terrible traffic incident. His lips parted, and he forgot the cigarette between them. It fell onto his linen trousers, burning a tiny hole in them. With no thought to spare for his trousers, Tang Xueqian picked up the cigarette. "When did it happen?"

"Eight days ago. The accident happened on North Street, behind the government residential compound. The vehicle responsible was a dump truck carrying construction waste. The driver was drunk and had been speeding ever since entering the city through Beiguan. That day, workers from Xinguang Paper Mill had gathered at Bell Tower Square, and the city had reassigned more than half the traffic police in the West District to provide support there. They weren't able to prevent the accident in time. Four dead and three injured..."

"That serious?" Tang Xueqian drew a sharp breath. This had been a traffic accident within the city itself. It happened while he was being held in isolation for investigation; otherwise, as the deputy mayor responsible for transportation, he would have been in for trouble. "Were any measures taken afterward?"

Zhang Zhixing shook his head. "I haven't had much access to news in the city lately either. Why don't you call Mayor Zhou and ask? It was also a coincidence, really. Little Ke happened to be on North Street when the accident occurred, and he pulled Secretary Xu's granddaughter out from under the wheels..."

Tang Xueqian was just putting the cigarette he had picked up back into his mouth. His hand stopped at his lips, and he turned to stare at Zhang Zhixing in astonishment. The tip of the cigarette burned his chin. With a shudder, he simply tossed the remaining half down below the steps. "That's fate, too. When we go back this time, we'll have to put some real work into straightening out Haizhou's traffic." He pressed a hand to Zhang Zhixing's shoulder and stood. "I'll have to find a day to play a proper game with that boy of yours. More than ten years have gone by in the blink of an eye, and he's already half grown."

Zhang Zhixing smiled silently, took a hard drag on his cigarette, then tossed the butt away and followed Tang Xueqian into the building.