Chapter 5
Edward Quan ·
With arrangements made by Mr. Huang and Xu Min, the case soon ended.
Zhang He received two years in prison.
Zhou Qian was sentenced to death.
In March, Zhou was executed by firing squad. His body went to the funeral home to be cremated.
That day, Mr. Huang told me, “Feng, take his family to collect the ashes tomorrow. Deal with them on the way back.”
“...”
I looked at him and shook my head.
It was the only time I ever refused him.
He frowned and tried to persuade me.
“Feng, I know you don’t want to. You and Zhou had a bond. But it has to be done. He and his wife loved each other. It’s not the sort of relationship money can settle. Money won’t keep her quiet.”
I drew a deep breath.
I had too much to worry about then.
Myself. My family...
In the end, I agreed.
...
March 3, 2015.
I took a few of my men and drove with Xu Min to the funeral home, bringing Zhou Qian’s wife and son to collect his ashes.
They cried as though their hearts were breaking. Xu Min and I followed behind.
When they were about to come out, I took a pair of gloves from my pocket and put them on.
Xu Min saw and hurriedly asked, “Feng, didn’t Mr. Huang promise they’d be safe and well provided for?”
“He did. He’s changed his mind.”
“But...”
“Don’t try to talk me out of it. When they come out, my men will drug them. Drive back to your firm. Leave the rest alone.”
“Feng... have some mercy.”
I turned to him in irritation.
“The unfinished development was your idea. Did you think about mercy when you came up with that?”
He lowered his head.
“I... I didn’t think it would lead to so much.”
I watched Zhou Qian’s wife and son.
“It’s too late for words now. I’ve already arranged it with a brick kiln. The fire burns hot. Their bones will go out with the broken bricks. No one will find them.”
“...”
“What?”
“The boy’s little. He knows nothing. At least spare him.”
“Pull out the weeds by the roots.”
“You have a son too.”
“...”
My son was studying abroad with Mr. Huang’s son.
Did that count as leverage over me?
Thinking of children brought Wang Changping’s daughter to mind.
I still remembered her eyes.
Perhaps it was because of those eyes...
I agreed to Xu Min’s request.
He looked delighted.
“All right. The mother dies. The child lives.”
“Settled.”
“Have you decided what to do with the boy?”
“I’ll send him abroad. Find a family to adopt him.”
I nodded.
...
Some time later, the buildings at New Xincheng were substantially complete.
With Official Meng’s connections, the development quickly entered presales.
Wang Changping remained deeply unsettled.
Zhou Qian’s death and what had happened to his daughter had shaken him badly.
I stood beside him and said nothing.
He asked, “Where’s Zhou Qian’s wife?”
I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to lie.
He seemed to know the answer. He asked something else.
“When this is finished... will you give my daughter back?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
He took a deep breath.
“I don’t want any money anymore. Just don’t hurt her. Make sure she has medicine. I’ll do anything you tell me.”
I remained silent, sick with guilt.
...
In July 2015, presales ended.
More than three hundred million yuan in homebuyers’ payments sat in the escrow account.
Then Mr. Huang and Official Meng quietly arranged for three hundred million to be transferred to New Xincheng Real Estate Co., Ltd.
After that, they used several money-laundering organizations to move more than three hundred million to an overseas account Mr. Huang had designated.
After more than two years, the plan had finally succeeded.
Mr. Huang found someone abroad to send the money into Xincheng Group as an investment. One by one, the group’s encumbered assets were released.
Meanwhile, Xu Min went to the police on Xincheng Group’s behalf.
The report stated:
“Wang Changping, legal representative of Changping Construction, bribed staff at New Xincheng Real Estate and relevant officials to embezzle three hundred million yuan in presale proceeds from the escrow account.”
The police began investigating.
...
That day, Mr. Huang told me, “I planned to send Wang Changping abroad. But he knows about Zhou Qian. I can’t take the risk. Get rid of him.”
I had known this day would come.
“Yes, sir,” was all I said.
Then I asked, “What about the child?”
Mr. Huang hesitated.
I spoke quickly.
“Mr. Huang, I’d like a daughter.”
He thought a little longer.
Perhaps he felt Wang’s daughter was too young to pose a threat.
He agreed.
...
That day, police across the city were searching for Wang Changping.
Nobody knew he was sitting in my car.
I drove him to the harbor.
He didn’t resist. He seemed to have known this day would come eventually.
I told him to get out.
He did.
I told him to follow me.
He did.
I told him to board a boat.
Again, he obeyed.
He made no attempt to fight back.
Perhaps because his daughter was still in Mr. Huang’s hands.
He looked at me.
“After I die... can my daughter live?”
I shook my head.
“What?”
He grew frantic.
“I’ve agreed to die! Why touch my daughter? I’m just a cripple. I can’t fight you people. Please, let her go!”
I shook my head again.
“That’s not what I mean. Mr. Huang told me to kill you, but I don’t want to. I found you a boat that can smuggle you to Malaysia. I can’t get you a passport or documents. Once you’re there, you’ll have to manage on your own. Stay there for now. One day, you and your daughter will see each other again.”
He dropped to his knees and kowtowed to me.
I felt terrible.
...
After I sent him away, his daughter went to live with her paternal grandmother back home.
I sent medicine every month.
The police kept searching for Wang Changping and the stolen money transferred overseas.
I knew they would never find it.
From beginning to end, it had all been a trap laid by Mr. Huang.
That half year was the hardest time of my life.
He had exploited the rules perfectly.
The New Xincheng development had been established jointly by Xincheng Group and Changping Construction.
But New Xincheng Real Estate was a limited-liability company. Xincheng Group’s initial registered contribution was only one million yuan.
In other words, Xincheng Group was liable for only one million of the debt.
One million against three hundred million...
A drop in the ocean.
Xincheng Group walked away untouched.
The buildings on that site became abandoned, unfinished projects.
The buyers never received their apartments, but they still had to make their monthly mortgage payments.
I knew everything.
I didn’t dare say a word.
I knew I was wrong.
But I could no longer turn back.
As I watched buyers lose their homes, their families, their marriages...
I gradually lost my own humanity.
...
Another half year passed.
One day, as I drove, Mr. Huang casually remarked, “Zhang He should be getting out soon.”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
“Kill him.”
“...?”
I looked at him, bewildered.
“Why?”
I didn’t understand.
The plan was over. Xincheng had recovered. Why keep killing?
Mr. Huang no longer looked desperate, as he had two years earlier.
He crossed his legs, gazed out of the window, and spoke lightly.
“Zhang He’s too clever. None of us knows what he’s thinking. Let him live and there’ll be endless trouble. Better to kill him. He has no family left anyway. No one will come looking.”
...
Yes.
I did it.
August 20, 2016.
The day Zhang He left prison.
He came out through the gates, walked straight to the roadside, and hailed a taxi.
Once inside, he said he wanted the funeral home.
I guessed he meant to collect Zhang Ping’s ashes.
I looked up, wiped the rearview mirror, and answered, “All right.”
...
After Zhang He vanished from the world, everything seemed to be over.
Xincheng Group grew and grew.
Mr. Huang bought up the companies that had opposed him. Most of their owners came to unhappy ends.
Before long, Xincheng was the city’s largest developer.
Xu Min and I benefited handsomely.
I lived in something like retirement.
Xu Min gradually disappeared from public view and began traveling.
Xincheng’s later business became increasingly professional. Its buildings were well constructed. It paid every yuan of tax it owed.
...
Sometimes, I remembered Zhang He.
I admired him a little. Mostly, I felt regret.
He was like an egg hurling itself against a rock, with nothing held back.
Remembering the day he died... it was truly terrible.
Until his eyes rolled back, until he stopped breathing, he never gave up trying to leave the world a clue.
But after that day, the taxi was sent to be destroyed.
He left no evidence.