Song Xingzhi lebte während der Regierungszeit von Kaiser Huizong

Kapitel 12

“I also tried to persuade Shen Biyun at the time. She said that she had reached an age where she could do whatever she wanted and that she was entitled to do some outrageous things.”

"That's a really carefree remark," Jian Dongping thought to himself, giving it a silent compliment.

"Does Shen Biyun keep a close eye on Su Zhiwen?" he asked.

“She never cared about him.”

"After they got married, Su Zhiwen stopped working, so where did he get his money for daily expenses? Did Shen Biyun give him pocket money? How much?"

Jian Qiming frowned: "Shen Biyun gives him about 3,000 to 5,000 yuan a month."

"How does Shen Biyun feel about Su Zhiwen? Does she...love him?" Jian Dongping asked, surprised that he would ask such a sentimental question, and felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Of course she...loves him very much." Jian Qiming stared at her with a grin. "She's very good to Su Zhiwen, almost to the point of being meticulous. No matter who Su Zhiwen argues with in this family, she'll always side with him. Of course, this makes her daughters very dissatisfied with Su Zhiwen. He quickly became the target of everyone's anger in the family, just like Zeng Xiaochen before. Except, Su Zhiwen isn't as sharp-tongued as Zeng Xiaochen. He has a very good temper. When others ridicule him, he usually pretends not to hear it or laughs it off. Actually, he's a very charming man." At this point, Jian Qiming seemed to have thought of something and suddenly burst into a mischievous laugh.

Jian Dongping immediately guessed the reason for his father's sly smile. "Yes, he's a charming man, and he lives surrounded by women. Has he been fawning over someone? Or has some woman been flirting with him?" Jian Dongping thought it couldn't possibly be Fang Qi; Fang Qi wouldn't be that bold, and besides, she loved his mother very much. That left only Fang Rouzhi, Zeng Yushan, and Fang Xiaoxi.

Jian Qiming smiled mysteriously at him: "That's hard to say. I can't say anything without evidence."

"Just because we're father and son, can't you give me some unfounded speculation?"

"I'm sorry, we're on different sides now, so I have nothing to say to you." Jian Qiming stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

"Tell me more," he pleaded. "Who does Su Zhiwen have the worst relationship with? And who is he closest to?"

"No comment." Jian Qiming shrugged and spread his hands.

“Hey, we’re father and son,” Jian Dongping said.

“Normally, yes, but I feel like you’re possessed by Ling Ge today. I’d better stay away.” Jian Qiming chuckled.

At this moment, Sister Ping walked in with a proud and confident stride.

"Still not finished eating? You've been eating slower and slower lately!" Sister Ping frowned unhappily as she looked at Jian Dongping's barely touched bowl of porridge.

"That's because it doesn't taste good, Sister Ping. Your cooking skills seem to have deteriorated recently. Shouldn't you take some cooking classes?" This was the first time Jian Dongping had questioned her cooking in all the years she had been in the Jian family, and his tone was quite sharp. She was caught off guard and looked back at Jian Qiming as if asking him, "What's wrong with your son?"

“He’s heartbroken,” Jian Qiming explained briefly.

Ping smiled and nodded, making an "O" shape with her lips.

“Attorney Jian, you need evidence to speak. When did I ever date Ling Ge?!” Jian Dongping immediately jumped up to refute, but unfortunately, the two seemed not to hear his rebuttal at all. Moreover, from then on, they treated him as if he were invisible, chatting amongst themselves and ignoring him completely.

Jian Dongping sighed inwardly, "Xiao Ge, Xiao Ge, you really made me not only miss out on eating mutton but also get covered in mutton odor."

He suddenly wondered if she would forget about their falling out yesterday after she sobered up. He really wanted to call her, but then thought better of it. Since they had broken up, why bother with all that fuss?

Instead of contacting Ling Ge, he should find time to meet with Fang Qi and have a proper talk. He believed that Fang Qi could tell him a lot about the inside story of this lady's house.

Just then, his phone rang. It was a text message, and he was overjoyed. Could it be Xiao Ge? But when he looked down, he found it was an unfamiliar number.

The text message read: "I saw the missing person ad you posted. I know that woman."

7. She is Lily Zhou.

Nina was a stylish, thin girl. In June, she wore a miniskirt and leather boots, and her small face was covered with heavy makeup. Although she dressed quite maturely, Jian Dongping felt that she was just a little girl wearing adult clothes. He doubted whether she was over 18 years old.

"Hey!" She swaggered up to him, raised her chin, and greeted him.

"Hello, Nina, please have a seat," Jian Dongping said politely. After speaking on the phone, they arranged to meet at the tea room.

She sat down opposite him with a cold expression, took out a pack of Moore cigarettes from her shiny red handbag, pulled one out, and lit it. Jian Dongping frowned slightly; he hated the smell of smoke, and he hated women who smoked even more.

"Where shall we begin?" Her tone was cold and sharp.

"You said you know the woman in the missing person poster? Who is she?" Jian Dongping asked directly.

"Her? Isn't that Zhou Lili?" Nina quacked like a duck.

"Zhou Lili?" Another new name appeared. Jian Dongping wondered, "How did you meet her?"

“You know Wangchun Road, right?” Nina raised her chin again, a habitual gesture of hers.

“I know, it’s in the northern part of District D, where it borders District C.” Jian Dongping had a vague impression of that place.

“Yes, right there.” She nodded indifferently. “There’s a ‘Jinsheng Nightclub’ on Wangchun Road. Lili and I sang there together. She sang old songs, and I sang pop songs.”

Jinsheng Nightclub? Jian Dongping felt as if something had pierced his brain.

"Is this how you write 'Jin Sheng' from Jin Sheng Nightclub?" Jian Dongping took out his handheld computer, quickly wrote the two characters "Jin Sheng" on it with an electronic pen, and handed it to Nina to see.

"Hmm, hmm, write it like that. Wow, this thing is so cool!" Nina held Jian Dongping's latest handheld computer, looked it over from left to right, and exclaimed in admiration, finally showing an expression befitting her age.

"When she sang in your area, her name was Zhou Lili?" He let her play with the handheld computer.

"All I know is that she's called Zhou Lili where I'm from, and she specializes in singing Teresa Teng's old songs. I don't know anything else." Nina stared enviously at the handheld computer, but in the end, she returned it to Jian Dongping.

"How did she sing?"

"Not bad. Older men and women like her." Nina smiled, a hint of disdain in her expression.

"Besides performing in nightclubs, do people like you perform anywhere else?"

"I'll go when someone calls me."

"So, what about someone like Zhou Jin, oh no, Lili? Will she participate in other performances?"

"That happened all the time. People would often invite her to New Year's parties or social gatherings, and she would wear a cheongsam and sing Teresa Teng's old songs, which would seduce those old men."

"Are there any high-class occasions for her to attend? Like a fashion show?"

“Yes. I remember she attended some kind of press conference for ‘Memories of Old Shanghai’ or something. They specialize in making cheongsams and asked her to sing. Actually, I went with her. She sang four songs, and I sang two. Damn! She got 2,000, and I only got 300! What a lousy company!” Nina spat indignantly.

Is it Miaolin Company's "Shanghai's Sensual Memories"?

"I don't remember. Who has time to remember a name like that? I sing, he pays me, we're even. What do you say?"

"That was last year, wasn't it?" Jian Dongping recalled that Su Zhiwen had met Shen Biyun at that press conference.

“Last April. Lili had only been in Jinsheng for a short time then.”

"What is Lili's usual appearance fee? I mean for performances elsewhere."

“It’s about 300 yuan per performance. Sometimes a little more.” Nina, her still-developing body leaning back in her chair, smoked a cigarette while glancing sideways at Jian Dongping and asking, “Handsome, let me ask you a question, why are you looking for her? What’s your relationship with her?”

“I am her good friend,” Jian Dongping said sincerely.

“Good friend? How good?” Nina fluttered her false eyelashes as she carefully examined Jian Dongping.

“Very good friends.” Jian Dongping didn’t understand why she was asking this, so he asked, “What’s your relationship with her? You must be her friend too.”

“Say what you will.” Nina’s eyes flickered, she took a deep drag on her cigarette, and then asked in a domineering tone, “How close are you two?”

This question is so direct and reckless, just like Xiao Ge's style, Jian Dongping thought.

"Why are you asking about this?" he asked.

She didn't speak.

Looking at her face, he suddenly realized that perhaps Zhou Jin had left something behind when she left, such as leaving something with someone else, or leaving something with her, or perhaps she had borrowed money and hadn't paid it back... Which one was it?

“She and I are very good friends. Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked politely.

“Okay, you asked me,” she said impatiently, as if she had been waiting for him to ask. “She owes me over eight hundred yuan in total. We agreed to pay it all back after the May Day holiday, but who knew she would just leave without a word, not even coming to work. I’ve called her countless times, but her phone is always off. You’re her friend… what do you think we should do?” Nina crossed her legs, shook her body, and stared at him with a look that seemed to say, “You’ll be sorry.”

As expected, she hasn't paid her debts. Singing income must be quite substantial. Where did Zhou Jin's money go? In any case, it seems she won't talk properly until this debt is settled today.

"How much? I'll pay it for you." Jian Dongping readily took out his wallet from his pocket.

Nina immediately smiled.

“850, oh no, and last time's dinner too, that makes it... 875.” She said, staring intently at the wallet in his hand.

"Looks like your karaoke bar isn't doing too well. How much does Zhou Jin earn there a month?" he said, counting out nine hundred-yuan bills from his wallet and handing them to her. He suddenly thought to himself, "If Ling Ge knew that I was so generously paying off Zhou Jin's debts, I wonder how worried and heartbroken she would be. Okay, today I'll follow your example, Xiao Ge, and I'll keep track of the debts too."

“It’s not much,” he heard Nina reply, her tone much gentler now. “Two or three thousand on good days, a little over a thousand on bad days. That’s about it if we don’t do anything else.” Nina looked down at him as she counted the money.

If we do nothing else? Jian Dongping immediately understood the implied meaning in those words.

"So, did Lili do anything else?" After watching her put away the money, he casually took out the little green ledger from his pocket and a pen. At that moment, he felt incredibly stupid, like a foolish accountant, keeping accounts. Had he ever done anything so stupid in his life?

“She used to go out with guests, but a few months ago, she seemed to have changed her ways and would leave as soon as she finished singing.” Nina gave him a worldly-wise look.

Does she have a boyfriend?

"I don't know. She never mentioned it, but she spends money like crazy, and we've never seen her buy anything expensive or use any drugs, so we guess she's keeping a gigolo." Nina's face showed a disdainful expression. "Spending money on a young man is the dumbest thing. Hey, what are you doing?"

“I’m keeping accounts,” Jian Dongping said. “I’ll keep good records so I can collect the debt from Lili later.”

“You two are really alike. Lily also has a notebook, but I think she just memorizes some random numbers.” Nina shrugged.

"Really?" Jian Dongping's heart skipped a beat. "What does she remember?"

"I saw her reading a book while jotting things down in a notebook. Who knows what she was writing down? She can be a bit eccentric sometimes and doesn't really get along with us. But she's a pretty straightforward person," Nina commented, then suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, right." Nina stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray and took out a wallet from her small red handbag. "I'll give you your change first."

"No need, I'll ask her for it later," he said with a smile.

"You're such a good friend!" Nina laughed, patted his shoulder affectionately, put her wallet back, and took out a small pink makeup bag from it, tossing it to him.

"This is hers too, you can give it to her while you're at it."

This was truly an unexpected bonus. Jian Dongping couldn't help but smile when he saw the small makeup bag. Nina stared at him intently for a moment, then cautiously asked, "Hey, handsome, what's your relationship with her? Are you her...?"

Please, I'm not Zhou Jin's gigolo! Jian Dongping understood the meaning behind her last sentence, couldn't help but look up and give her a cold glance, and said, "Nina, I'm an editor at the magazine. The Lili you mentioned has been writing articles for our magazine. It's the 'Letter' weekly, you know?"

"You mean Lily has been writing articles for you?" Nina was surprised. "No wonder, she's always looking at your newspaper from all angles."

“Yes, she’s been writing for a while now. We’re friends. I’ve been trying to find her because I haven’t heard from her since May Day, and she hasn’t submitted her manuscript.” Jian Dongping wasn’t sure if Nina would understand what he was saying, because Nina’s eyes were clearly confused, so he decided to ask an easier question, “When did she come to your nightclub?”

“She came at the beginning of last year. After New Year’s Day,” Nina answered quickly.

"Has she told you about her past?" Jian Dongping opened his makeup bag and emptied its contents.

Nina must have already seen what was in the makeup bag, so she clearly had no interest whatsoever.

“She didn’t say much, only that she used to sing in small dance halls in other places.” Nina smiled. “Actually, just by looking at her, I knew she had worked in this line of work before, and she was very experienced.”

The contents of the makeup bag were a bit dirty. Jian Dongping stretched out his fingers, trying to overcome his obsession with cleanliness, and carefully examined each of the various trinkets he had poured out of the bag: two lipsticks, an eyeshadow palette, a blush, a pair of false eyelashes, a powder compact, a half-applied lollipop, a ballpoint pen, half a pack of tissues, some melon seed shells, and finally, a key. All the items were stained and dirty, making Jian Dongping reluctant to touch them. Zhou Jin was truly a slovenly person.

"Where is this key from?" he asked her.

"Of course it's the room key. She always keeps a room key in her makeup bag."

"The key is really dirty," he sighed.

“That’s just how she is. Look at this makeup bag, it’s definitely never been washed,” Nina chuckled.