Chen Rou, for her part, had no real interest in meeting Nie Yao. She had seen him far too many times; he was like a colleague or a friend, and she simply felt no spark. However, her interest in Miss Cai had only intensified due to the woman’s increasingly erratic behavior.
As it happened, Secretary An had a good relationship with Bureau Chief Zhao of the Public Security Bureau, making it easy to dig into things. She called Secretary An and asked him to find time to visit the Bureau. She wanted him to look into the records of those who had fled to Hong Kong in the 1950s—specifically those who had absconded with significant assets and carried the surname Cai—and then check the status of their family properties.
Since they had fled with money, the Cai family had likely changed their names, but Cantonese people generally kept their surnames, making them easier to track. She wanted to see exactly how much land that girl’s family had held and whether it was still registered under their names. If the land were truly undergoing redevelopment, and if her parents had realized they were safe and clear, they would likely return to negotiate the demolition and take the money. As far as Chen Rou knew, property belonging to intellectuals who had returned from America was not easy to seize.
Chapter 338