Shanghai Redemption by Qiu Xiaolong Page A

expertise for these operations.”
    â€œFor that sort of business, the clients want you to go to these notorious sex-service places and watch, waiting with all the patience you can muster, and from time to time, pretend to enjoy foot-washing or hair-washing like an old idiot. It’s a shame that a retired cop has to resort to such, but to catch those red rats wallowing in money—millions and billions—it’s what you have to do. Naturally, just a picture of the cheater in the company of a girl—with both still dressed, if only barely—may not be enough proof. In those cases, you may have to install a hidden camera to get the photos that are required. We always do a careful risk assessment before taking a job. The fee may not be worth the trouble.
    â€œSome wives know better than to bother if their husbands just have fun on the sly. As a proverb in Dream of the Red Chamber goes, ‘What cats are not keen on stealing fish?’ What those wives can’t stomach, however, are ernai—secondary concubines. If the husband is keeping a mistress with her own upscale apartment, paying for her expenses and all the luxuries on the side, well, that is too much. For cases like this, we have to go out of the way—”
    â€œFor wives to fight ernai?”
    â€œSometimes. Though it’s not just the out-of-favor wives who hire us: the ernai come to us for help, too. Unlike concubines in the pre-1949 era, Socialism with Chinese characteristics doesn’t acknowledge the existence of ernai or grant them any status. Once their men find younger, prettier replacement ernai, they will lose everything. To survive, they have to fight back by any means possible, even threatening and blackmailing their former lovers. That can be very effective, since official propaganda invariably portrays Party cadres as Communist saints. If photos and details were posted online, proving that a cadre kept a spicy ernai, that official would be removed from office, even disavowed.”
    â€œI could work as a private investigator too!” Chen interjected.
    â€œIt’s a lot like those old detective movies from the thirties. The one difference is that you don’t have to carry around a bulky camera. You can take all the pictures you need with a light cell phone, all the while mumbling into it on and on, pretending to talk to someone. That way you don’t attract attention from anyone. Still, sometimes you have to wait patiently for hours, even days. And you have to know where to wait.”
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œIf the target is in one of the well-guarded apartment complexes, it’s useless to wait outside. You’re not going to be able to get inside, much less stand outside the bedroom door, waiting—”
    â€œHold on, Old Hunter. What if the cheating spouse is a Party official, but the fee is too good to decline?”
    â€œWell, there might still be some room to maneuver.”
    â€œHow so?”
    â€œIn my day, the newspapers used to portray the Party cadres as good and honest with only the rare exception of a few rotten eggs. People believed that then, as did I. But now? There’s another saying in Dream of the Red Chamber : ‘Except for a couple of stone lions crouching in front of the mansion, nobody is clean.’”
    â€œAnother old saying that goes right to the point.”
    â€œYou know only too well all the propaganda regarding our Party officials and their role-model lives. But what are they really up to in their secret lives? Little secretaries, ernai, concubines, three-accompanying girls, and whatnot.” Old Hunter paused, breathing into his mug, creating a series of expanding ripples on the surface of the tea, before he went on. “Some of the wronged wives or deserted ernai are so desperate for revenge, they don’t care how much it will cost. So our agency may occasionally accept some of them as clients. After all, there are many roads