Chapter 8

Part One: Peril in officialdom. Chapter 8: The funeral in Dong She

Dongshe was a county under Haizhou City, in its northeastern corner, only fifty kilometers from the urban area. In 1994, the provincial road connecting Dongshe and Haizhou had yet to be built, and the drive to Dong She County's seat took over an hour.

His father's older cousin, Zhang Zhiwei, was deputy director of the Dong She County Foreign Economic Bureau and knew quite a bit about recent developments in the city. Before Dad hurried back to their hometown for his uncle's funeral, the relatives there already knew that Tang Xueqian had been placed under investigation in isolation.

Zhang Ke still remembered what returning home had been like that time. Unless something unexpected happens, the same scene will play out again any moment now, won't it?

Once they emerged from the narrow path hemmed in tightly by cornfields, they could see the old family homes in Shuiyuanzi. Apart from the three rooms under Dad's name, which had been left for Grandma to live in, the other uncles had all rebuilt their original homes into small multistory houses. At the southernmost end of the compound stood Zhang Zhiwei's three-story house, with a canopy of waterproof sheeting erected on the concrete yard in front. The funeral procession would take place on the third day after a death, and the Taoist priests and Buddhist monks hired to perform rites would begin on the second day. A group of monks in kasayas sat on a raised platform beneath the canopy, beating gongs and drums, with a large crowd gathered around them. It was exactly as Zhang Ke remembered.

Zhang Ke and Dad stood outside the compound, and many people beneath the canopy spotted them. His older cousin Zhang Yi shouted in delighted surprise, "Uncle, Ke, how come you're here today already..." He rose to run over, but his father, Zhang Zhiwei, held him back. Instead, his younger uncle Zhang Zhifei came running out, took the paper bag of spare clothes from Dad's hand, and led Zhang Zhixing and Zhang Ke under the canopy.

"We only spoke on the phone yesterday. I thought you wouldn't arrive until tomorrow..." Zhang Zhiwei remained comfortably seated, putting on a look of surprise at the sight of Dad. "Zhixing, you're a city official. Since when have you had so much free time?"

According to Haizhou funeral customs, the funeral procession and mourning banquet were held on the third day after a death, and ordinary relatives and friends generally attended on that day. In Zhang Ke's memory, Dad had looked embarrassed at his cousin's sarcastic remark. This time, however, Dad merely smiled faintly. "There's nothing important going on in the city, and I haven't been back to the old family home in ages. I took some leave. I'll stay until after Uncle's seventh-day memorial before going back..."

Zhang Zhiwei merely gave a quiet grunt and turned his face away. Zhang Yi looked thoroughly uncomfortable. He wanted to offer a few words of comfort, but, cowed by his father's authority, he dared not speak out of turn. Zhang Zhifei laughed to ease the awkward silence. "Auntie went to Zhao Hanming's to borrow round tables for tomorrow's meal. She doesn't know you and Ke are coming today. Look at you, you're both covered in sweat. Come enjoy the air conditioning at my place. Stay there tonight, too. I just finished renovating and set aside a room especially, thinking that whenever you came back, I couldn't have you sleeping in the old house..." But no one responded.

Zhang Ke watched the scene replay with cold eyes, as though it were a performance. At any other time, when Dad came home, people outside the family would already have surrounded him to talk. If Dad was standing, Zhang Zhiwei would never have remained seated while speaking to him. Even if Dad did not mind, he would have said, "You're a city official, Cousin. How could I sit while you stand?" Now he all but wished they were strangers. Zhang Zhifei, however, had grown up with Dad and deeply admired his character and learning. Even in the other timeline, after Dad fell from favor, Zhang Zhifei had not let relations between the two families grow cold.

Zhang Zhifei's house was the second in the compound. Years earlier, after graduating from a technical secondary school for construction, he had joined the Dong She County Construction Company. After Dad moved into the city administration, he had put together a crew of his own. By 1994, he was driving a Jetta and counted as someone doing very well for himself in Dong She County.

Zhang Ke followed Dad and Zhang Zhifei to the second-floor guest room and watched his uncle take the clothes out of the paper bag himself and put them in the wardrobe. Still sorting the clothes, his uncle turned to him. "Zhang Ke, Xiaomei's upstairs watching videos. Go play with her..."

Zhang Ke smiled, sat down on the bed, and said with a grin, "What do you need to say to Dad that you have to send me away?"

"You little rascal!" Seeing his uncle reach over to tug his ear, Zhang Ke hurriedly dodged. His uncle must still have thought of him as an ignorant teenager.

"It's fine. Ke knows what he's doing..." Dad said evenly, standing where he was. "He knows everything that's happening now."

"Oh..." Zhang Ke saw the undisguised surprise on his uncle's face and heard him say, "We've all heard about Mayor Tang. Generally speaking, once someone's placed under investigation in isolation, the higher-ups must already have solid evidence. Cousin, do you think there's any chance things could turn around for Mayor Tang?"

"Didn't you just say it yourself? There may be no turning things around." Dad did not commit himself. In a matter like this, unless he found someone genuinely willing to help, the more people who knew, the greater the danger.

"Cousin, Deputy Secretary Lu has had dinner with me a few times. He may still remember what I look like. I don't think you need to wait until after my father's seventh-day memorial. What do you say I go with you to visit Deputy Secretary Lu..."

"If Lu Yiguang already sees me as a traitor, the connection you've worked so hard to establish with him might be ruined..."

"Forget the connection. I'm not in officialdom, after all. Sometimes I can afford to be a little less constrained... If you agree, we can go today. I'll get the gifts ready for you."

This was a conversation Zhang Ke had never known about. He had not expected his uncle to be so eager to help. But if Dad could really bring himself to switch allegiances at a time like this, he would never have needed to return to their hometown. Of course, that had not been the main reason Dad was squeezed out of the municipal government in the other timeline. Everyone else had admitted to giving Tang Xueqian gifts and expressed their willingness to accept criticism and education from the Party organization. Only Dad, when he returned to Haizhou to be questioned by the provincial inspection team, had insisted that his exchanges with Tang Xueqian were ordinary social courtesies: he had given Tang Xueqian gifts, but had also received gifts from him. With that, who anywhere in the municipal government could tolerate him? Dad was too unyielding and refused to compromise himself. Though capable, without powerful backing from above, he would have a hard time surviving in officialdom.

Zhang Ke silently watched Dad's reaction. For his uncle to say all this without having received any information was already exceptionally generous.

Zhang Zhixing fell silent for a moment, then took two steps forward and pressed his hand firmly onto his younger cousin Zhang Zhifei's shoulder. "Zhifei, this isn't as simple as the rumors make it sound. If you really want to help me, could you put your company's business aside for now and run some errands for me for a few days..."

"Is something fishy going on?" Zhang Zhifei asked, somewhat taken aback. "I only have two projects on hand right now. Leaving them alone for ten days or a fortnight won't matter."

"You're always traveling between Haizhou and Dongshe, so you should know quite a lot about what goes on in Haizhou. The Xinfeng Group has had plenty of problems for a long time. Even before Tang Xueqian took charge of its restructuring, the city sent inspection teams into the Xinfeng Group several times, but they never found anything. Tang Xueqian isn't a fool. He hasn't been executive deputy mayor for just a day or two. If he wanted to line his pockets, he wouldn't do it in the murky waters of the Xinfeng Group. Do you understand that?" At this, Zhang Ke no longer had to worry. It seemed that once the connection between Ding Xiangshan and Xu Si had been exposed, Dad had already grasped the key point. He watched Dad fix a piercing gaze on Zhang Zhifei. "I'm so close to Tang Xueqian, yet I noticed nothing. Then suddenly there were rumors everywhere that he'd accepted bribes from Jiang Mingcheng. Isn't that strange?"

"But..." Hearing his older cousin's analysis, Zhang Zhifei could not quite take it in.

"You mean the rumors that Tang Xueqian has a mistress working at the Xinfeng Group?" Zhang Zhixing took out the photographs he had kept close to his body. The first showed Tang Xueqian with Xu Si. "This is the woman people are talking about now, isn't it?" He spread the other three photographs across the desk. "Look at these three. Just yesterday, this woman met Ding Xiangshan at a villa on the northern hill of Xiangshan. The man leaning his head into the car, with his body still outside, is Ding Xiangshan. This red Corolla is the car the Xinfeng Group assigned to this woman..."

"How did you get these pictures?" Both shocked and delighted, Zhang Zhifei picked them up and examined them one by one. "Everyone's saying Jiang Mingcheng passed money to Tang Xueqian through this woman. Looks like there's more to it! How did you get these pictures?"

"Ke took them all. Apart from your sister-in-law, no one else knows."

"You little rascal..." His uncle suddenly seized Zhang Ke's shoulder. Zhang Ke almost suspected he was pinching him on purpose. "What made you think of taking these pictures?"

Zhang Zhifei had started out in construction and had a very strong grip. Zhang Ke jerked his shoulder several times but could not break free.

"I'm ashamed to say it, but after Tang Xueqian was placed under investigation in isolation, I panicked too. Without these photographs Ke took, I wouldn't have been able to piece it all together," Zhang Zhixing explained on his son's behalf. "By chance, Ke had previously seen Ding Xiangshan with this woman. While we were panicking, he actually thought through how everything connected. He waited outside that villa for a whole day and took these three photographs." Zhang Zhixing picked up the photograph of Tang Xueqian and Xu Si. "Ke stole this one from the woman. She has several other photographs like it..."

"You little rascal, you've got what it takes! You'll go far!"

Zhang Zhifei gave Zhang Ke another heavy slap on the shoulder, making him sink halfway down. Grimacing, he said, "How is that praise? You're just taking the chance to hit me!"

"Heh..." Zhang Zhifei chuckled, then asked Zhang Zhixing, "There's one thing I don't understand. Why Ding Xiangshan? He rules Haizhou like an emperor. If he wanted to bring Tang Xueqian down, he could use any number of methods. Why go to such extremes..."

"I hadn't figured that out yesterday, but today I have some idea." Zhang Zhixing picked up the photograph of Ding Xiangshan ducking into the Nissan. "If I said there was nothing wrong with the Xinfeng Group, would you believe me?" Seeing Zhang Zhifei shake his head, he continued, "Right. A lot of people wouldn't. But why did the city send inspection teams several times without finding anything?" He put the photograph of Ding Xiangshan ducking into the Nissan back on the desk, bent his middle finger, and rapped hard on Ding Xiangshan's image. "If the Xinfeng Group's problems involve Ding Xiangshan, everything becomes easy to explain."

"..." Zhang Zhifei's mouth fell open, and he was so astonished that he forgot to close it.

"With Tang Xueqian in charge of restructuring the Xinfeng Group, he was bound to touch on its deeper problems. He may well have uncovered some already, but they haven't yet led him to Ding Xiangshan. Still, Ding Xiangshan has to stop him from digging any further. I heard that at Municipal Standing Committee Meetings, Ding Xiangshan repeatedly said that if the Xinfeng Group's problems remained unclear after such a long investigation, they shouldn't keep dwelling on them. Ensuring the restructuring succeeded was what mattered. You have to understand, once the restructuring goes through, any previous problems at the Xinfeng Group could all be covered up. Tang Xueqian once told me that restructuring had to proceed, but failing to get to the bottom of the outstanding problems would be letting down the country and the Xinfeng Group's several thousand employees..."

Zhang Ke inwardly fumed. Dad had thought everything through, leaving him no chance to play a part at all. After several years steeped in officialdom, Dad had worked out its inner workings too. He simply refused to compromise himself.