The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon

by Liu Zhenyun

  “You’ve got things turned around.” Cui pointed to Fang and Lu. “Those two and your son have nothing to do with the drive. We’re not going to screw this up over them.”

  “I won’t turn over the drive if they’re not taken care of.” Liu was determined.

  Surprised by his forcefulness, Baldy hesitated. “Give me the drive and we’ll talk about the exchange.”

  “Exchange first, then the drive,” Liu insisted.

  As they began to argue, Fang Junde said to Baldy, “I know where it is.”

  Baldy looked at Fang.

  “You’ll let us go when you find the drive?”

  Cui nodded.

  “He told me on the way back that it’s in a basket of feathers.”

  Baldy told his men to turn over all the baskets. They found no drive after searching through piles of duck feathers. Fang and Cui then knew that Liu had tricked them both. Cui picked up a knife from the chopping board and came up to Liu.

  “Where’s the drive?”

  “I threw it away.” Liu played dumb again. “It looked useless to me.”

  Cui pressed the knife against him, but he didn’t flinch.

  “Go ahead, kill me if you want, but I don’t have it.”

  Putting the knife away, Cui patted Liu on the shoulder.

  “Let’s go see someone, and you’ll sing a different tune.”

  “Who’s that?” Liu gasped.

  36

  Ma Manli

  Ma Manli was strung up in a dark basement room.

  No one had thought of her at first; it was Han Shengli’s idea to catch her in order to find the drive. Han had had nothing to show since coming over to Cao’s side and failing to find Liu after searching for two days. Cao was visibly unhappy when someone intercepted and nabbed Liu after Cao intentionally let him escape. While they were all scratching their heads for a lack of ideas, Han suddenly recalled Manli. Liu did not have the USB drive with him when brought into the shed, which could only mean that he’d left it with someone else. Manli appeared to be that person. Beijing was a big city, but Liu did not have that many places to hide something like a drive. Yang Zhi had searched one of the likeliest places, his room at the site. That left Manli’s hair salon and Lao Gao’s diner, but both places had turned up empty. After Cao’s people caught Liu, Han went over the searches in his head, trying to decide which one, Gao or Manli, had lied to him. Gao had appeared to be telling the truth; his long friendship with Liu told Han that he was not that good an actor. So it had to be Manli, a woman who had gone through a great deal and was no spring chicken.

  Cao had to agree with Han’s analysis; besides, they had to give it a try, so Cao told a deflated Cui to get Manli. They would either find the drive at her place or she’d lead them to Liu Yuejin. Han breathed a sigh of relief when his idea was accepted.

  They seized Manli at one in the morning. Cui drove a canopied truck to the hair salon, where he pried open the window and jumped in. Before she knew what was happening, her mouth was stuffed with a rag and her hands and feet were tied. She was then dragged out of the salon and tossed into the back of the truck. After closing the tailgate, they took her to the basement room. Without a word, they hung her from the heating pipes and beat her before asking about the drive. No matter how they beat her, she insisted she’d never seen the drive, let alone hidden it for Liu. She told them she didn’t even know that Liu had found a purse. Her steadfast denials had nothing to do with her ability to withstand physical abuse; it was simply because, after seeing the drive, she knew she could die if she breathed a word about it.

  So Cui asked her about Liu Yuejin’s whereabouts. As with the drive, she denied everything, saying she hadn’t seen Liu since he lost his pack. After three rounds of beating, they still could not get anything out of her, leading Cui to suspect they’d gotten the wrong person. Since it had been Han’s idea to capture Manli, his screw-up delayed their search for Liu. Cui was about to assault Han when his cell phone rang. It was Liu Yuejin calling from the shed; that saved Han from further abuse.

  Now Cui refused to exchange Fang and Lu for Liu’s son, since he did not want to alert the other parties and complicate the matter even more. They were at an impasse. Instead of beating Liu, Cui took him to the basement room in Fang’s car. Manli had been in bed when Cui’s lackeys grabbed her, so she’d had no time to put anything over her lingerie, which was now in tatters after the beatings. Her face was bloodied and she had bruises all over. Liu was so shocked he dropped to the floor. Manli was trying to say something but, with the rag in her mouth, he couldn’t understand a word. This visit was not meant for them to talk, and Baldy took Liu back to the shed after he had a chance to see what was happening to Manli.

  Cui told Liu that Manli had confessed to seeing the USB drive and had also said Liu had it. They’d taken him to see her so he’d have a chance to change his tune and hand over the drive. If he continued with his antics, they’d hang him up and beat him again, and this time he would not escape. Liu fell for Cui’s trick. Back in the basement, he’d thought Manli was asking him to save her, though in fact she was telling him not to show them the drive. She was telling him she hadn’t confessed and he mustn’t either, or they could end up dead. Since Liu did not understand what she was saying, he told Cui where he’d hidden the drive, more for his son’s sake than for Manli’s. He had to believe Cui now after what he’d seen; besides, even if his son and Manli were safe, he could not take another beating himself.

  37

  Brother Cao

  Liu Yuejin had hidden the USB drive in the seat cushion of the number three tower crane at the construction site. The operator of a crane that could lift material fifty stories had no inkling he was sitting on something so valuable. When they learned the hiding place, Baldy Cui and Fang Junde could not hide their admiration. Han Shengli offered to recover the drive in Fang’s car. It was five in the morning, hours before work resumed at the site; he returned an hour later with the drive. Fang examined it to make sure it fit the description of the version and color he’d been given. Cao came to the shed when he heard the news. Cui could not wait to tell him how the drive was recovered, but Cao stopped him to shake hands with Fang and Lu, before shaking Liu’s hand.

  “Good work.”

  Pointing to Fang and Lu, Liu Yuejin said:

  “Now that you have the drive, Brother Cao, please tell them to let my son go.” He continued, “And the woman from the hair salon.”

  Then he added in a timorous and hesitating voice, “You can’t go back on your word.”

  The last phrase drew a frown from Cao, who hated people going back on their word. Knowing that Cao was piqued, Baldy was about to show Liu his displeasure when Cao stopped him.

  “Do you know what I hope to get out of this?”

  Liu Yuejin considered the question and replied, “Money.”

  “You’re right and you’re wrong.” Cao sighed. “I’d be just another thief if it was only about money. Besides money, I also want to solidify our base.”

  What did that mean? And what was Cao’s base? Liu did not know, but he was not in the least interested in finding out, for he was concerned only about getting his son back. In the meantime, Cao picked up the drive and brought it up close, like reading a mahjong tile.

  “I have to get a good price in order to solidify our base.” He then patted Liu on the shoulder. “I’ll give you your son back once it’s sold.”

  Finally at ease, Liu urged, “Then hurry up and sell it, Brother Cao. Someone else might try to get it if you wait too long.”

  Cao clapped his hands.

  “You’re right. I’ll sell it without delay.”

  Cao had Liu taken to a three-room apartment rented by him and his Tangshan gang. Yang Zhi was there, recovering from the beating.

  After Liu was taken away, Cao got down to business. He could sell the drive to Yan Ge through Han Shengli or to the other party through Fang Junde. Who that other person was Cao neither knew nor cared to k
now; he was simply pleased that Fang had brought them another buyer, making the merchandise much more valuable once a bidding war began.

  First he told Baldy Cui to give Yan a call, since he did not trust Han Shengli, who felt a great loss of face, but did not dare complain. Using Han’s cell, Cui called Yan and said he was Han’s friend and that he had recovered the drive. He asked Yan to name his price. Yan paused momentarily over the new scenario, but quickly deduced that the caller wanted to negotiate a figure on behalf of Han Shengli, to whom Yan had offered twenty thousand as a reward.

  Unsure what Cui was about, Yan told Cui to name his price, which Cui did by asking for five hundred thousand. Now Yan knew that Cui was no small-time crook; he was dealing with an experienced gangster, not a petty thief like Han Shengli. Yan countered with two hundred thousand, knowing he should give Cui the respect he deserved. After a few rounds of back and forth, they settled on three hundred and fifty thousand. Yan could easily afford that, since he’d told Lao Xing he’d pay him two hundred thousand if the USB drive was located in two days.

  The deadline had come and gone, and the price for the drive should have gone up accordingly. However, not knowing who Cui was, he had to be prepared for the possibility that Cui did not have the drive. He was also worried that the other party might want more if he offered too much. To him three hundred and fifty thousand was the right amount, low enough to stop the other party from hoping for more, but high enough to keep him interested.

  The exchange would take place at eleven that night, at the Tiejiangpu traffic circle, five miles west of the Beijing-Kaifeng highway Xihongmen exit. After Cui hung up, Cao let Fang have his cell phone back so he could call Lao Lin. Fang asked Cao his bottom line, to which Cao responded with a finger gesture—seven hundred thousand. Fang protested, saying it was double the earlier amount, unfair even in a bidding war, but that was not meant to save Lin money. Fang was simply afraid that Lin would reject the offer outright and Cao would sell the USB drive to Yan Ge. Lin had offered him eighteen thousand to find it, so he might not want to pay so much for the drive. Fang knew his fate was in Cao’s hands and, as a player in the underworld, was also aware that life and death decisions like this were often made in the blink of an eye.

  “Forget it, then.” Cao knitted his brow.

  Cao’s casual dismissal struck fear in Fang’s heart, prompting him to call Lin right away. When Lin picked up, Fang told him someone else had the USB drive and was asking seven hundred thousand. To his surprise, the amount did not seem to bother Lin.

  “Have you seen it?” Lin asked.

  Fang looked at Cao and then at the drive. “I have.”

  “Is it the real thing?”

  “It was hidden under the operator’s seat of a tower crane. It has to be genuine.”

  “All right then.”

  That sealed the deal, to Fang’s astonishment. Lin had readily agreed to the price not because he was free with his money; in fact, he was more miserly than Yan Ge. He just wanted to get hold of the device before anyone else did. Besides, he’d been instructed by Jia, who had phoned from Europe, to take care of another matter. Once the price was settled, both sides agreed to complete the exchange at one that night at Lao Qi’s Teahouse.

  It was seven in the morning when Lin hung up, so he went straight to work. At noon he went to the bank and withdrew the money, which he put in the trunk of his car. Later that evening, he had a business dinner. At midnight, he drove to Lao Qi’s Teahouse, where he received a phone call as he waited in a private room. After listening to the caller, he went quiet for a moment before saying:

  “All right.”

  38

  Yan Ge

  Yan Ge had asked to have the exchange near the traffic circle. The location, not far from his stud farm, was convenient. Moreover, it was quiet and remote, surrounded by vegetable gardens, with little vehicle traffic at night.

  By ten that night, Yan had Little Bai and others hide in the vegetable field and be ready to intercede if anything went wrong with the exchange. He himself got there at half past ten, but no one showed up. A few cars and trucks came his way, but none of them slowed down. By eleven thirty, still no sign of the other party. He tried calling the person who had contacted him earlier that day, as he’d seen the phone in Han Shengli’s hand at Lao Qi’s Teahouse. But Han’s phone was off. Sensing that something was not right, he waited until twelve and then decided to go see Ren Baoliang, hoping to find the caller through Han. He drove away, too preoccupied to give any thought to Bai and others. His phone rang when he was on Five Ring Road after getting onto the Beijing-Kaifeng Expressway. A pleasant surprise from the caller, he thought, but it was from Bai.

  “Should we continue to wait, Mr. Yan?”

  “No, go on home,” Yan said.

  After hanging up, he thought he should call Ren instead of going to the site, since Ren might not be there that late. But the call went through and Ren was at the site. He told Ren to find Han Shengli so he could locate the other party. When a confused Ren asked who the other party might be, Yan raged at him.

  “Would I have called you if I knew?”

  Yan was too focused on the conversation to notice a Land Rover on the tail of his Mercedes. It was after midnight, a time when Five Ring Road was taken up by semis from the northeast, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Hebei, and Shanxi, since they were not allowed to go through Beijing during daylight hours. They waited outside Five Ring Road till nighttime, when they roared down the road, making it busier than in the daytime. Yan’s car was caught in the flow of traffic. He was still railing at Ren as he neared an overpass, where the Land Rover suddenly sped up, caught up with his car, and rammed into his rear fender. Caught off guard, Yan lost control of the car and slammed into the base of a pylon. His car bounced back, hit a semi loaded with coal from Shanxi, and rolled across the divider, landing in the opposite lane. A truck transporting sheep from Inner Mongolia plowed into Yan’s car and sent it flying off the road and into a tree. It bounced off the tree and came to rest in a roadside ditch, while all around him sheep were falling like rain. Inside the car, Yan was a bloody mess, his head on the steering wheel, twisted to one side. He was dead. His phone, which had fallen under the passenger’s seat, was still on, and Ren’s voice could be heard.

  “What was that? What just happened?”

  Behind the Mercedes on the road, cars and trucks were slamming into each other in both directions, creating a huge pile-up.

  39

  Lao Lin

  It was an easy decision to do business with Lin, who was paying seven hundred thousand. Cao had never gotten that much since starting the duck slaughtering business, ever since changing the shed into a thieves’ den for the Tangshan gang. The decision to send Yang Zhi to steal from the house in Beethoven Villa had been his, but he never expected such a big payoff, as no one would stash that much money in a house. It was not until a severely injured Yang showed up at the shed that he realized the value of the drive. Since the villa fell into his area of control, he reasoned it was within his right to take it from Liu and sell it to the highest bidder. His asking price was accepted. Seven hundred thousand was a lot of money; it would build the foundation of his enterprise and further its growth.

  But money was not the key here; what he wanted was to solidify his base, and for that, he had Yang Zhi, Han Shengli, Fang Junde, and the cook Liu Yuejin to thank. Without them, this new beginning could never have seen the light of day. It was a group effort that helped pave the way for a new state of affairs. The thought so elated Cao that he abruptly recovered from his cold.

  When Fang Junde led Baldy Cui and the others to Lao Qi’s Teahouse, Lin was waiting in a private room, a weighty duffle bag to his side. He said nothing and looked no one in the eye. He merely handed the bag to Fang, who tossed it to Cui, who counted the contents, seven one-hundred-thousand-yuan bundles. After zipping it up, Cui took out the USB drive and handed it to Lin, who took a laptop from another bag, booted it up, inserted the dr
ive, and froze when he clicked on the icon.

  It was blank. Lin’s mind went blank too.

  He was stunned by the blank drive, but, more importantly, earlier he had ordered a traffic accident to kill Yan Ge when he was convinced of the drive’s authenticity from Fang’s assertion that it had to be the real thing. It had been Director Jia’s idea to kill Yan. He had wanted Yan dead since the day the photo was published and Yan revealed the existence of the drive; he had waited so long because Yan had the drive. Jia was not an evil person, nor was he angry at Yan for blackmailing him; he just wanted him gone so he could have a clean break and be spared future troubles. It was like saving someone who has fallen into the water. You have a bamboo pole in hand and try to save the person closest to shore. But if it’s a leaky fishing boat in the middle of the ocean, you don’t lend a helping hand, because the drowning person might drag you into the water, where you’ll drown alongside him. The best course of action is to push his head down and drown him yourself; you rid yourself of a burden and no one will know how the boat sank. Everyone dies sooner or later, so the earlier he died the better for others and the sooner his rebirth. Which was what he’d had in mind when he’d said to Yan at Beidaihe:

  “Everything would be fine if a few people were to die.”

  Of course he meant more than that.

  Lao Lin was against killing Yan at first, but not because he was fond of the real estate tycoon; he was simply wary of worse consequences than an exposé from the drive. It was no small matter to plan someone’s death, after all. Later he consented because of what was on the drive. The video clips showed not only Lin accepting bribes and sleeping with prostitutes, like Jia, but also enjoying his share before Jia did. Lin managed to hide the contents from Jia by focusing the latter’s concerns on the lost drive, even after Yan gave him the laptop along with six USB drives. The lost USB drive had given him the break he needed, but not for long. Yan knew all about his actions through the drive. Lin was worried that Yan might seek revenge when he recovered from his business troubles and repaired his relationship with Jia; Lin would be in serious trouble if Yan told Jia everything. Hence, he decided that Yan must die after the USB drive was recovered. He would destroy all copies, or, better yet, save one in case he needed it as leverage against Jia.