“Boss Liang didn’t do it only for me. I know that. If he’d just wanted to avenge me, he had countless opportunities. But he waited until that moment and used Luo Yingqiang’s death to set a trap for you.” Having said this, Sui Zi seemed to let go of his last burden and closed his eyes. “But I’m still grateful to him. He’s the only person who was ever willing to avenge a nobody like me.”
Chen Zheng glanced at the equipment beside the bed. Once Sui Zi had calmed down, he asked, “How did Jin Xiaoquan and Liang Yueze end up trying to kill each other? It was Liang Yueze who ordered you to shoot Jin Xiaoquan, wasn’t it?”
A cold smile touched Sui Zi’s face. “Jin Xiaoquan wanted Boss Liang dead too. He was just one step too slow. They joined forces back then because their interests and goals were the same. To take over Hua Country’s market, Jin Xiaoquan had to get rid of Jin Chiya, who also happened to be Boss Liang’s direct enemy. But their differences grew bigger over the years. Boss Liang wants the whole Heaven-Measuring Ruler destroyed, and Jin Wu dead too. Jin Xiaoquan deals in drugs. They weren’t on the same path anymore. Besides, didn’t Jin Xiaoquan try to frame Boss Liang through Nanfeng Pharmaceuticals?”
Jin Xiaoquan’s escape from the hotel had indeed been a trap laid by Liang Yueze.
There was no way Jin Xiaoquan could break through the police cordon on his own. His best option would’ve been to wait quietly for arrest and look for an opening to escape during the investigation. But Liang Yueze promised to get him safely out of the country, on condition that he temporarily suspend his drug business in Hua Country.
To show his sincerity, Liang Yueze sent several vehicles to escort him. Jin Xiaoquan had little time to consider. Given the choice of leaving quickly or sitting in jail, who wouldn’t take the first? He climbed into the car and watched Liang Yueze’s men fight the police for him, blow up an underpass, and kill officers. He was exhilarated, convinced Liang Yueze truly meant to help him, until police cars finally surrounded him and the fatal bullet came through the night wind.
The bullet struck his heart, but he still had time to wonder what had happened. He must have understood, in unbearable pain, that this was Liang Yueze’s scheme. By then there was nothing he could do.
Chen Zheng nodded. “And Du Fangfei? Given her relationship with Jin Xiaoquan, did she work with Liang Yueze too?”
Sui Zi was exhausted. He ground his teeth. “It was Jin Xiuhe.”
Chen Zheng raised an eyebrow. “Du Fangfei was Jin Xiuhe?”
Sui Zi shook his head. “Du Fangfei is dead. Jin Xiuhe is her daughter with Luo Yingqiang, Du Yuelin.”
That wasn’t quite what Chen Zheng had expected. Liu Xun’s information was that Jin Xiuhe outranked Jin Xiaoquan and was his “older sister.” Chen Zheng had taken that at face value, assuming Jin Xiuhe must be older than Jin Xiaoquan.
“How did Du Fangfei die?” Chen Zheng asked. “Du Yuelin isn’t even thirty yet, is she? And she’d already gotten Jin Xiaoquan under her thumb years ago?”
As Liang Yueze’s confidant, Sui Zi wouldn’t normally know much about Jin Xiaoquan’s side anymore. But he’d regarded Du Fangfei and Du Yuelin as enemies of a sort. If they’d spoken up back then, perhaps Jin Xiaoquan would have helped him kill Luo Yingqiang. He hated and despised the two women and couldn’t understand why, after Luo Yingqiang betrayed them, they would still foolishly regard him as husband and father.
Because of those grievances, he often watched the mother and daughter in secret. He discovered that Du Yuelin was no pushover. In her early years she had curried favor with Jin Xiaoquan, acting almost like his daughter. After Jin Chiya fled back to Country K, Du Yuelin approached him under a new guise. Jin Chiya eventually fell to a woman’s seemingly tender but deadly methods.
Jin Xiaoquan was immensely grateful to Du Yuelin and entrusted her with important matters in his branch. Over several years of transferring power, Du Yuelin rose above Jin Xiaoquan. Rumor even had it that Jin Wu held her in high regard.
Du Fangfei had apparently never approved of Du Yuelin involving herself in the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s struggle for power at the highest levels. As far as she was concerned, having somewhere to live in peace was enough for mother and daughter. But three years ago, Du Fangfei died of illness.
“Was it really just illness?” Chen Zheng wondered aloud.
Sui Zi shrugged. “Only Du Yuelin and Jin Xiaoquan would know. Even Boss Liang didn’t.”
Chen Zheng studied the battered assassin and suddenly realized he’d told them an extraordinary amount. Was he revealing everything simply because he’d been arrested, or did he have another purpose?
“Du Yuelin is young, yet she stepped over Jin Xiaoquan to rise above him. Didn’t Jin Xiaoquan intend to do anything about it?” Chen Zheng asked. “She was in Southeast Asia while he spent years operating in Hua Country. Didn’t he ever plan to cooperate with Liang Yueze to get rid of her?”
Sui Zi laughed. “Officer Chen, you’re thinking too simply.”
“Simply?”
“Why could a young woman like Du Yuelin rise above someone as calculating as Jin Xiaoquan? Because Jin Xiaoquan let her, of course.”
“He did it willingly?” Chen Zheng frowned in thought.
“No one understands better than Jin Xiaoquan how Jin Chiya’s branch collapsed. Hua Country is such a huge market. Whoever gets control of it becomes a target.” Sui Zi explained, “Jin Xiaoquan didn’t want to be the next Jin Chiya. He wanted the market and wanted to spread the danger around, so within the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, the head of his branch was Jin Xiuhe.”
“I see,” Chen Zheng said.
If Sui Zi was telling the truth, Du Yuelin really was an ambitious woman. She craved power and wealth, plucking a crown that didn’t belong to her from Jin Xiaoquan’s shoulders without realizing the road beneath her feet might have been laid by him.
“Du Yuelin was cleverer than Jin Xiaoquan, but not as experienced or cunning,” Sui Zi said, shifting his tone. “That’s what I used to think.”
“Oh?”
“I haven’t seen her in more than two years. She has truly moved ahead of Jin Xiaoquan now. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so easy for me to kill, while she remains unharmed in Southeast Asia.” His expression turned grave. A mix of murderous intent and helplessness appeared in his eyes. “She fed Jin Xiaoquan to Boss Liang, set the entire Heaven-Measuring Ruler against him, and now that Bu fellow is going after Boss Liang too. My guess is they’ve already laid a deadly trap for him in Country M and are just waiting for him to walk into it.”
Chen Zheng finally understood why Sui Zi had told them so much.
The assassin’s cold gaze deepened, carrying a plea rarely seen in his eyes. “I’ve told you everything I know. I have just one request. Bring Boss Liang back alive, out of Du Yuelin’s hands, out of that Bu fellow’s and Jin Wu’s. He… he didn’t set out to become a criminal. The Heaven-Measuring Ruler destroyed his life. He only wanted revenge for the people he loved.”
Chen Zheng was silent for a moment. “Then you know where Liang Yueze is.”
Sui Zi closed his eyes again. “The Heaven-Measuring Ruler moved its base from Country K to Country M long ago. If he wants Jin Wu dead, he has to go to Country M. There are plenty of people there hunting him. Only you can save him.”
“Then why didn’t he take you?”
“I…” Sui Zi faltered. “I had another assignment.”
“Your assignment was to kill Ming Han.” Chen Zheng’s voice chilled.
After several seconds’ silence, Sui Zi said, “That night at the theater in Nanshan City, I saw you rescue him.”
Chen Zheng frowned. “So you were there after all.”
Sui Zi clicked his tongue. “If you were Boss Liang, would you spare your enemy’s child?”
“I was only thinking how utterly loyal you are to Liang Yueze, despite never really understanding him.”
Sui Zi frowned. “What do you mean?”
“According to you, Liang Yueze went to Country M to carry out his final revenge, an undertaking so difficult it might be impossible. But he didn’t bring you. Instead he ordered you to stay here and snipe a police officer.” Chen Zheng said, “He’s already sold you out. Haven’t you realized that?”
Sui Zi was silent for a long time before shaking his head unconcernedly. “I wanted to do it. He gave me dignity and avenged my family. I’d do anything for him, even die.”
Chen Zheng couldn’t help thinking of Sui Ning. He’d never met the scholarly businessman himself, and everyone said he had been gentle and broad-minded. But perhaps there’d been a streak of obsession in Sui Ning’s blood too, passed down to his son. Without the suffering Luo Yingqiang had brought upon them, Sui Zi might have grown into a good person. But life offered no ifs.
“One more question,” Chen Zheng said. “Have you ever met Han Qu?”
Sui Zi looked surprised. “That dirty cop?”
Chen Zheng drew a deep breath. “Yes. That dirty cop.”
“He was almost dead. I was the one who took him away.”
Chen Zheng felt his temples begin to throb and his heartbeat accelerate. “Why? On Liang Yueze’s orders?”
Sui Zi looked vaguely puzzled. “Yes.”
“And then? Did Han Qu stay with you?”
Sui Zi denied it. “I only picked him up. He barely had a heartbeat left. Boss Liang said that if he survived, he should follow Xu Hetang. He’d been a police officer, after all. Keeping him alive might prove useful someday.”
A sudden sense of dread rose in Chen Zheng. “Did Han Qu ever meet you and Liang Yueze? What’s Xu Hetang’s connection to you?”
Perhaps affected by Chen Zheng’s sudden tension, Sui Zi struggled to prop himself up. “I don’t know. His rank only let him deal with Xu Hetang. Xu Hetang… Sister Xu was one of Boss Liang’s people, but she’s also done work for Jin Xiaoquan in recent years.”
“I’ve heard Han Qu is dead,” Chen Zheng said.
Sui Zi’s reaction showed that he knew nothing about it.
“You didn’t know? Lin Dong brought back that information. Your people forced Han Qu to kill him, but Han Qu spared him and was killed by your organization instead.”
Sui Zi’s mouth fell open. He seemed unable to process it. A moment later his eyes widened abruptly. “Han Qu was one of your people?”
“There’s no harm in telling you now. Why would your Boss Liang save someone working for us?”
A storm seemed to break inside Sui Zi. Something in his understanding was slowly shattering and peeling away. He had no answer.
Chen Zheng was no less confused. He merely looked calmer. When Lu Hejing had planted Han Qu inside Qiusai, his gamble had been that Han Qu could use Qiusai to open a door into the Heaven-Measuring Ruler.
Han Qu had opened that door, nearly at the cost of his life. Someone inside the Heaven-Measuring Ruler must have taken away his “corpse.” But neither Chen Zheng, nor Lu Hejing, nor anyone else in the police had imagined that the person orchestrating this was Liang Yueze.
What had Liang Yueze been planning back then? After saving Han Qu, he’d apparently never even appeared before him, if Sui Zi wasn’t lying.
Han Qu had not known how deeply Liang Yueze was involved with the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. That was why none of his intelligence reports had mentioned Yunquan Group.
But had Han Qu really been unaware? It seemed a paradox. If he’d gone deep enough, he would inevitably have discovered something. And only by going deep enough could the events Lin Dong experienced have happened. Not long ago, it was information from Han Qu that had led the Mobile Unit to six sets of human remains hidden in Hutian Hotel.
Han Qu ought to know Liang Yueze’s true nature by now.
If there was no intelligence about Yunquan Group, it was because Han Qu had chosen to withhold it. Chen Zheng didn’t want to question his loyalty, yet more and more clues seemed to point toward one conclusion: Han Qu had taken Liang Yueze’s side.
Chen Zheng shook his head unconsciously. When he looked back at Sui Zi, the man resembled a wanderer abandoned in the rain. He seemed finally to understand why Liang Yueze had left him behind and given him an assignment that appeared important but was actually inconsequential. Liang Yueze already had a new helper and no longer needed him.
“No… impossible.” Sui Zi shook his head slowly. The instruments beside the bed began sounding shrill alarms. Chen Zheng called for the nurses, and Sui Zi was held firmly down on the bed.
The recording of Sui Zi’s statement was played again and again. He’d given the Mobile Unit more information about the Heaven-Measuring Ruler than anyone else so far, but he’d also cast a shadow over their investigation that they couldn’t dispel.
What was Han Qu’s identity now?
Chen Zheng closed the door to Lu Hejing’s office. Lu Hejing stood with his back to him, a frozen image on a monitor behind him. The ashtray on the desk overflowed with cigarette butts and ash. Chen Zheng glanced at his uncle again and silently shook his head.
At the end of the corridor, Ming Han reached a hand out from the shadows cast by the lights. Deep in thought, Chen Zheng paused.
“Still worrying?” Ming Han asked. “Hours in the big meeting, then hours more in smaller ones, and you’re still turning it over? Think it’ll bloom into a flower if you keep at it?”
Chen Zheng knew there was no solution to the mystery of Han Qu, yet he couldn’t help being caught in it. Seeing Ming Han now, he finally felt some of his tension ease. He reached out and caught Ming Han’s sleeve.
“Hm?” Ming Han said.
Chen Zheng had already buried his head against his shoulder. “Don’t move. Let me recover for a minute.”
Ming Han’s eyebrows rose. A moment later, his lips curled in a smile and he wrapped his arms around Chen Zheng, even taking the liberty of cradling the back of his head as though he belonged there. “All right. Your husband is here.”
That “husband” earned Ming Han an uppercut to the ribs. Chen Zheng had clearly held back, but Ming Han yelped, clutched his side, and doubled over in exaggerated pain. “Bro! You’d hit an injured man?”
Chen Zheng caught him by the back of his collar. “Stop shouting. Are you hungry?”
Of course he was. It was almost the following day. Ming Han straightened. “What are we eating?”
“Beef-offal rice noodles. We haven’t eaten at a street stall together yet.”
The late-night beef-offal noodle stall was still bustling. Ming Han ordered two large bowls, both sour and spicy. Chen Zheng fetched a bottle of beer and a bottle of Nutrition Express from the drink refrigerator. When Ming Han returned with some side dishes, Chen Zheng was opening the beer.
“Beer for me, milk drink for you?” Ming Han asked.
Elio’s Notes: Nutrition Express and Wangzai are familiar Chinese packaged milk drinks. The contrast with Chen Zheng’s beer turns into a running joke about who’s injured, who’s being looked after, and who gets to act grown-up.
Chen Zheng set the Nutrition Express in front of him. “You’re injured. Stop getting ideas.”
Watching Chen Zheng pour his beer, Ming Han said, “Out eating with your own man, but still thinking about another man.”
Chen Zheng’s hand stopped, nearly spilling the beer. “What nonsense.”
The beef-offal noodles needed only a quick blanching. The owner brought the bowls over with such a grand flourish it was as though a gust of wind had swept across the table. Ming Han added side dishes to both bowls and, once the disturbance passed, said, “Han Qu.”
Chen Zheng didn’t deny it. He sighed. “Ever since he disappeared, there’s so much he’s done that I can’t understand. I’m finding it harder and harder to be sure where he stands.”
“Then don’t think about it.” Ming Han hadn’t even started on his noodles, yet he’d already eaten all the beef offal in his bowl in a few bites. “Han Qu is like a complicated case.”
“Hm?” Chen Zheng looked up, intrigued by this way of comparing a person to a case.
“Think about it. When we first take on a case, can we tell what the real motive is? Usually we have to go back and forth many times, correcting all sorts of mistakes, before we find the truth,” Ming Han said. “Because we’re missing information. It’s the same with Han Qu. His experiences are the information we lack, so however much we speculate, we won’t find the right answer.”
Chen Zheng listened silently. Ming Han had a point.
“So we might as well put him aside and carry on with what we need to do,” Ming Han continued. “Pretend Han Qu doesn’t exist. When he turns up again, we can put him back into our calculations.”
Chen Zheng drained a glass of beer and nodded, then transferred the beef offal from his own bowl into Ming Han’s. Ming Han was about to speak when Chen Zheng ordered, “Shut up and eat.”
Spring had only just arrived, and the chill lingered. Midnight wind was cold, and the noodle stall was open-air, but even after finishing his noodles Chen Zheng didn’t want to leave. He fetched another beer. A little tipsy now, he wanted to clink glasses with Ming Han’s Nutrition Express.
Ming Han smiled. “Bro, it’s awfully dark out. Dangerous for a boy to get drunk alone outside, you know.”
Chen Zheng narrowed his eyes, their outer corners curving upward in the lamplight as though outlined in ink. “What do you mean, alone? Isn’t my husband right here?”
Ming Han hadn’t expected that. His face lit up and he clinked glasses again. “Having your husband here makes it even more dangerous.”
Chen Zheng shot him a challenging look, but the tipsiness in his eyes robbed the warning of any force.
After the second bottle, Chen Zheng wanted a third. He’d been exhausted lately, his nerves stretched taut, and wanted to let some of it out over this late-night meal. But as soon as he stood, Ming Han caught his wrist and stopped him.
“Just one last bottle!” Chen Zheng said. “I’ll get you a can of Wangzai.”
“I don’t want Wangzai, and you’ve had enough.” Ming Han wrapped an arm around his waist, which was no longer held quite so straight, and breathed softly into his ear. “If Officer Chen gets drunk and makes a scene, what happens to the Mobile Unit’s professional image?”
Chen Zheng frowned and pushed him. “I’ve never made a drunken scene.”
The people at the next table turned to look. Ming Han said, “Bro, they’re laughing at you for making a drunken scene.”
Chen Zheng did care about appearances. He could say anything he liked around Ming Han, but the moment strangers noticed, he quickly straightened up and even his eyes looked clearer.
Ming Han glanced at Chen Zheng’s ears and couldn’t help laughing. Officer Chen’s ears were red.
Ming Han really did fetch a can of Wangzai from the drink refrigerator and pay for it along with the earlier beer and Nutrition Express. Chen Zheng glanced at his hand and gave a disgruntled snort.
It was a rather loud snort. Sober Chen Zheng would never have behaved so childishly.
Ming Han took Chen Zheng’s hand and scratched his palm with his fingers. Chen Zheng instinctively tried to pull free, but Ming Han held on tighter.
Ming Han had only meant to coax another snort from him, but Chen Zheng refused. Once they were in the car, Ming Han finally asked, “Bro, what are you unhappy about?”
Chen Zheng glanced at the can of Wangzai in his hand and said nothing.
“I bought myself Wangzai but didn’t get you another beer?”
Chen Zheng still said nothing.
“But I bought it for you. Too much alcohol upsets your stomach. Have something sweet.” Ming Han placed the can in Chen Zheng’s hands.
That finally satisfied Chen Zheng. He didn’t drink it, merely passed it back and forth between his hands, playing with it.
The car headed home. Chen Zheng hadn’t been very drunk to begin with, and after resting a while his spirits rose again. “I should’ve had one more bottle. Get everything out of my system and fall straight asleep when we got home.”
“Fall straight asleep? Then what about me?” Ming Han smiled suggestively.
Chen Zheng turned his head. “Hm?”
“Does letting off steam only mean drinking beer by the roadside in the middle of the night?” Ming Han asked. “A man with a partner has other ways, doesn’t he?”
Even with his head a little foggy, Chen Zheng understood that. He laughed. “I suppose so.”
Over the next several days, Lu Hejing and the others continued their efforts to secure permission for an overseas operation by the Mobile Unit. They compiled evidence of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler’s crimes inside Hua Country. Surprisingly, the relevant authorities in Country M were highly cooperative, providing intelligence that Liang Yueze might already have entered their territory.
After considering all the circumstances, the higher authorities finally approved the Mobile Unit’s journey to Southeast Asia for a joint operation with local police.
“We should thank Country M’s police this time. Without their willingness to cooperate internationally, even if our superiors had sent us, carrying out the mission would’ve been difficult.” After these formal courtesies, Tang Xiaoli’s expression darkened. “But we must be wary. Country M’s police may be the single biggest variable.”
Chen Zheng instinctively straightened his back.
“Next, Director Lu will give everyone a brief overview of the situation in Country M.” Tang Xiaoli yielded the floor.
An overseas mission was nothing like an operation at home. Understanding the destination and its historical changes was compulsory preparation. Lu Hejing stepped in front of the projector, the cold light making him look like a straight, drawn sword.
“You all know that the Heaven-Measuring Ruler originated in Country K. But over the past ten years or so, perhaps because Country K became less suitable for its development, or because Jin Chiya’s faction gradually collapsed, Southeast Asia has become the organization’s new stronghold. Country M has been affected the most. Its police believe Jin Wu, the head of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, is hiding there.” Lu Hejing opened a series of images: mercenaries active in Country M, gambling dens that had been dismantled, and scenes of extravagant luxury.
Chen Zheng recognized them. They showed Jinsi Island, that paradise of indulgence.
Lu Hejing continued, “The Heaven-Measuring Ruler could put down roots in Country M largely because of the country’s own circumstances. Localized wars broke out across Country M twenty years ago, and the disorder continues to this day. That has provided fertile ground for crime. We believe mercenaries in many parts of Country M are directly linked to the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. They’re trained by the organization and work for it as well as for local armed factions, connecting the Heaven-Measuring Ruler to powerful, influential people there.”
He zoomed in on the map, moving the red dot around Jinsi Island and its surrounding islands. “Relatively speaking, this was among the first areas of Country M to achieve peace. That’s why Yunquan Group considered investing there back then. If the investment had succeeded, the profits would’ve been enormous. Half of the investment in Jinsi Island now comes from within Country M itself. But don’t confuse the peace I’m describing with the peace we know. Jinsi Island and the capital, Jiaoliu City, are merely more stable than the northern areas where fighting still breaks out every day. Drug dealers, armed factions, and arms merchants are everywhere.”
“Country M’s police themselves grew out of wealthy interests and armed factions. In the early days, they and the Heaven-Measuring Ruler used each other. That’s common enough in troubled regions. But as Country M gradually stabilizes and its economy and society develop, new forces have emerged within the police, and the Heaven-Measuring Ruler and other criminal organizations are increasingly seen as obstacles to be eliminated. As far as I know, Country M’s police have dismantled at least three criminal organizations in the past two years. Now they’ve set their sights on the biggest tumor, the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. They want to reclaim what it controls and break free of its influence, but their limited abilities and deep internal divisions have prevented them from doing so.”
Lu Hejing’s expression became stern. “That is the fundamental reason Country M’s police have been so enthusiastic about this international cooperation. They want to use our strength to bring down the Heaven-Measuring Ruler.”