Free The Princeling of Nanjing by Ian Hamilton

him last night but it wasn’t appropriate to bring it up.”
    “You saw him last night?”
    “Yes.”
    “Where did you see him? You left Pudong rather late.”
    “I went to his house for a few hours.”
    “Oh.”
    Ava wasn’t sure what emotion she had heard in May’s voice. “May, do you mind if I ask you something very personal?”
    “I don’t think so, but then I haven’t heard the question,” she said carefully.
    “It’s about your business in Wuhan, in Hubei.”
    “Ask away.”
    “Well, I remember you talking more than once about how you handle provincial officials from a remuneration standpoint.”
    “You mean how we don’t handle them?”
    “Yes.”
    “It was Changxing who figured it out. He realized early on that giving them money or direct favours made both sides vulnerable. So he came up with the idea of providing jobs for their relatives. At first it was pretty basic work, but he made sure they were qualified and that they really worked. Then we started adding scholarships for their children — again making sure the kids were smart enough to earn them — and reserving entry-level positions for them when they graduated.”
    “So you never gave money directly to anyone?”
    “Never, and if they asked for it, we didn’t do business with them again.”
    “That’s what I remember you telling me. I just wanted to make sure.”
    “Does this have something to do with Xu?” May asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “I don’t like hearing that.”
    “And I understand why. It isn’t a good situation.”
    “Has he been paying someone?”
    “His business has.”
    “Well, I may not think it’s the wisest policy, but it can be effective. It all depends, of course, on who he’s paying and how much he’s paying and what he’s paying them to do.”
    “Have you heard of the Tsai family?”
    “It’s a common enough name.”
    “This particular Tsai family runs Jiangsu.”
    May caught her breath. She adjusted her sunglasses and took a sip of tea. “I have trouble believing he’s paying them.”
    “Why?”
    “Maybe because I don’t want to believe it.”
    “You think that highly of them?”
    “Not especially, although they’re a prominent family. We were taught about Tsai Da-Xia in school. He was on the Long March and served with Mao and Zhou Enlai in the government. His son has been governor of Jiangsu forever, it seems.”
    “I know about the history, and none of it excludes the possibility that they’re corrupt.”
    “You should be cautious about how you use words like that,” May said with a slight shake of her head. “People in government, especially those in high positions, have to do business with all kinds of people. Maybe they’ve dealt with Xu with the very best intentions.”
    “According to Xu, they’ve been taking money for years and it’s now into the millions every year.”
    “Who’s been taking it?”
    “The family.”
    “Ava, you need to be specific. The governor’s name is Tsai Lian, as I recall. Is the money going to him?”
    “Not directly.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It’s being funnelled through a number of companies that are controlled by his son, Tsai Men, and other family members.”
    “Xu is paying these companies?”
    “Yes.”
    “Under what pretext?”
    “They’re supposedly management and consulting fees. It’s all bogus.”
    “So no services are provided at all?”
    “He gets all the permits and licences he needs, and the authorities turn a blind eye to his illegal factories. He doesn’t have any problems either importing or exporting goods. I guess you’d call all those things services.”
    “So the money goes from Xu’s companies to Men’s?”
    “I think so.”
    “Were contracts signed?”
    “I don’t know,” Ava said, wishing she’d asked Xu that question.
    “Is Tsai Lian directly connected to any of those companies?”
    “Apparently not.”
    “So if there’s any corruption going on, it could be orchestrated by his son