Sweeping Mouse Ridge – Chapter Four : 3

“Boss Zheng, what’s up?” Li Ziyong waved and greeted him.

Hu Yanyun knew the visitor was Zheng Gui, the general manager of Mingyi Public Relations Company.

“Nothing, nothing,” Zheng Gui said as he squeezed in. He was in his forties, not very tall, with a build that looked as if he had lived in a barrel for a long time from the neck down. His cheeks were slightly droopy, and his eyes and eyebags were large, probably from staying up too late, making them somewhat dark. His lips were thick and swollen, and a fawning smile played on his lips.

Li Ziyong introduced, “Boss Zheng, this is my old friend, Hu Yanyun.”

Before Hu Yanyun could even stand up, Zheng Gui had already strode up to him and grasped his hand with his soft, chubby little hand: “Oh my, oh my, I’ve heard so much about you! I’ve read your novels!”

Hu Yanyun was a little embarrassed: “Actually, I’m not the author. Those books were written by a friend of mine based on some of my stories. Of course, the content’s mostly true.”

“Hey, anyway, you’re the best detective in my heart, even better than Sherlock Holmes and Keigo Higashino!” Zheng Gui said.

Hu Yanyun was somewhat amused and exasperated at having these two put together.

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Zheng Gui pulled him into his office, which was much more spacious than the small reception room. The office furniture, all made of rosewood, looked quite antique, but the “displays” on the shelves were rather strange: on the left was a jade Pixiu, on the right a Guan Gong statue carved from ebony, above were round Pu’er tea bricks, and below was a mix of “The Three Body Problem,” “A Brief History of Time,” and “The Analects of Confucius”… Diagonally opposite the desk was a miniature mountain with a waterwheel embedded in it. The waterwheel churned and turned, carrying water up and down with a gurgling sound—presumably a so-called “feng shui wheel.” Below the miniature mountain lay a root-carved solid wood tea table, with varying levels of curved grooves. A three-legged purple clay toad perched on the corner, its gold trim peeling off its back, looking as if it had been bathed for too long and its skin had scabbed off.

Zheng Gui invited him and Li Ziyong to sit on the round wooden stools by the tea table. He boiled water, brewed tea, and arranged the purple clay teacups in a row with tea tongs. He rinsed them with boiling water, then poured two cups of tea from the teapot and served them to Hu Yanyun and Li Ziyong. He chatted with them casually, as if they were old friends who had not seen each other for years: “You don’t know, I’ve been so busy lately. I took on a meeting for a health product company, running around arranging the venue and meeting the guests, and then suddenly this Zhou Liping thing happened. The police called me in and questioned me for a long time, but I really knew nothing about it. They will not get anything out of me!”

“He is, after all, an employee of your company. It’s normal for the police to ask you a few more questions after he committed such a serious crime,” Hu Yanyun said slowly, taking a sip of tea. “However, for Mr. Zheng to keep a serial killer as his driver for so long, this audacity’s truly astounding.”

Zheng Gui smiled wryly. “It was all thanks to Manager Sun of the Yanzhao Hotel’s recommendation. How could I dare to refuse her?”

“Are you talking about Sun Jinghua, the manager of the convention and exhibition department at the Yanzhao Hotel?” Hu Yanyun asked.

“Yes, she’s an old friend of ours. The upcoming meeting of the health product company is also going to be held at the Yanzhao Hotel. From venue fees to all sorts of favors, it all depends on her word.”

“How did Sun Jinghua meet Zhou Liping? Why did she recommend him for a job?”

“Well, I cannot really explain it…” Zheng Gui frowned. “She just told me that someone she knew wanted to change jobs and asked if I had any openings. The fact that she asked me for a favor—how could I not appreciate it?”

“What’s your impression of Zhou Liping during the time he’s been working for you?” Hu Yanyun asked.

“Well, I think he’s a pretty… pretty ‘reliable’ person,” Zheng Gui said cautiously, using the word ‘reliable.’ “He’s usually quiet, but he’s observant and efficient. He’s the kind of person who will not cause trouble when you take him out. Whatever you ask him to do, he can get it done. A few times I drank too much and crawled under the table, only to wake up in bed. My wife said he was the one who brought me home the whole time. I threw up all over him, and he would not even change his clothes; he just went straight home. He keeps all the company cars very well. He learned a lot of skills during his years in prison; not only can he repair cars, but he can fix any electrical appliance in the company in no time. There are a lot of female colleagues in our company, so there’s bound to be some gossip, but Zhou Liping never gets involved… I can not say much else. In all this time, I’ve rarely spoken to him. The only time we had an unpleasant encounter was because Xing Qisheng complained about him to me.”

“I heard it’s because Tongyou Nursery’s kids kept coming to see Zhou Liping, which upset Xing Qisheng?”

“More or less…” Zheng Gui said somewhat evasively, “Xing Qisheng called me in the middle of the night to complain about Zhou Liping. We are from the same company; I couldn’t just ignore it, so I gave Zhou Liping a lecture.”

“You are a PR firm; what kind of sister company are you to Tongyou Nursery?”

Zheng Gui stretched out his chubby little hand, spreading three fingers: “In the end, we, along with Love Hospital and Tongyou Nursery, which are the three branches growing from the trunk of the Love Charity Foundation’s local office, must listen to Chairman Tao Zhouyao and Vice Chairman Xing Qixian in everything. Originally, there were only two branches, Love Hospital and Tongyou Nursery. When I was working on the charity newspaper, I knew both Chairman Tao and Vice Chairman Xing. After the Guo Meimei incident, I quickly went to them and told them that charity work would become more difficult from then on, and that there would inevitably be people watching. Chairman Tao did not care at first, saying that everyone did it this way, but after I explained it to them in detail, she understood saying, ‘Old Zheng, I understand what you mean. What should we do?’ I said, ‘I will set up a PR company, bring all the media under one roof. If something goes wrong, we will be one family, why would we speak differently?’ Chairman Tao said, ‘Okay, Old Zheng, I will listen to you. We will fund a PR company. you’re the most capable, you manage it’… So this Mingyi Public Relations Company, while it looks like mine, actually belongs to Love Charity Foundation.” He suddenly realized he’d gone off topic and quickly added, “So, we are sister companies with Love Hospital and Tongyou Nursery, especially since Xing Qisheng is Vice Chairman Xing’s brother. He complained about Zhou Liping, so I have to give him face, right?”

“Since the company belongs to the Love Charity Foundation, why are you taking on events from health product companies?” Hu Yanyun asked curiously.

“Hey! All in all, the company’s just using the ‘Love Charity Foundation’ name to make it sound good and authoritative; besides, having a charitable background helps with tax breaks.” Zheng Gui chuckled a little sheepishly. “Once the company’s up and running, it needs to make money. A security escort agency cannot just rely on one company, right? A whole bunch of people outside depend on me for their livelihood.”

“Yeah, starting a business is not easy. These days, even having a powerful backer is not always a guarantee of success,” Hu Yanyun said understandingly. “The problem is, you hired Zhou Liping to repay a favor to Sun Jinghua, but what about the others? Aren’t the company’s colleagues nervous and scared knowing he’s a serial killer?”

“When Zhou Liping first came to the company, not many people knew about his past. He always behaved well, so when people heard he’d been to jail for murder, they were tense for a while, but then it all passed. At this age, everyone’s the same. Who hasn’t eaten a dirty bun or done something dirty? Like Xing Yunda, who used to ignore Zhou Liping, now treats him differently!” Zheng Gui patted Li Ziyong on the shoulder. “Besides, there are people like him who specifically came to work because of Zhou Liping!”

Li Ziyong, who had just taken a sip of tea, choked and coughed from the pat. Zheng Gui rubbed his back and laughed, “When you first came, I suspected you were an undercover agent, but you would not admit it.”

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Hu Yanyun smiled: “Xing Yunda is Xing Qisheng’s son, right? What does he think about his father complaining to you about Zhou Liping?”

“Their relationship’s just so-so,” Zheng Gui said. “Xing Qisheng and his wife divorced a long time ago. Xing Yunda was passed around between them, neither wanting to take on a burden, so he doesn’t have much affection for his parents. When he grew up, Xing Qisheng got old and realized it was good to have a son, so he asked me to find Xing Yunda a Vice President position at the company… Come to think of it, in the whole company, it seems like only he and Zhou Liping have some kind of relationship.”

“How so?”

“In the past, Xing Yunda always liked to project the aura of a mafia boss. He’d shave his head, get tattoos, and always carry a knife. At company dinners, he’d brag about who he’d become sworn brother to and how many people he’d killed. The truth was, he’d grown up without parents, lacking a sense of security, and was using this to bolster his courage. Later, he heard that Zhou Liping had actually killed someone, and was a ‘serial killer,’ and he idolized him, insisting on becoming Zhou Liping’s disciple. Of course, Zhou Liping wouldn’t listen, but somehow, their relationship grew closer. Xing Yunda always addressed him as ‘Brother Zhou’—I just wonder what he will think now that he knows ‘Brother Zhou’ killed his father…”

“Yes, the earthworm’s actually a dragon; this ‘mutation’ will definitely elicit different reactions from different people,” Hu Yanyun laughed. “So, Xing Yunda admired Zhou Liping when he learned he’s a ‘serial killer,’ while Xing Qisheng, after learning this, still dared to clash with him and come to you to complain about him. It must have been something quite serious that made him ‘enraged.'”

Zheng Gui picked up the teapot and refilled Hu Yanyun’s cup, the water flowing slowly. “Mr. Hu Yanyun,” he said, “the tea’s full when he’s here, but cold when he’s gone—that’s just how it is. I’m an honest businessman. In the past, doing business was all about building relationships and giving face. If you had the right relationships and gave enough face, everyone could make money together… But now, as you know, many old relationships have ended, and new ones don’t include us anymore. Business is getting harder and harder. Old Xing used to say when he was drunk, ‘These past few years, apart from weddings and funerals, very few things have been able to bring us all together.’ Now that he’s gone, I have to give face to the living, and I have to give face to the dead even more. Don’t you think that makes sense?”

The office was quiet, save for the incessant gurgling of the waterwheel…