Chapter 7 The Emperor's Relatives

  At the very bottom of the box, there was a stack of folded paper packages. Upon opening it, it read "Showa 15th year China Leiyang County Map" with various annotations, which was a military map of Leiyang County used by Japan during its invasion of China that year.

  When Yu returned the password album to Oshima Michiko, she let out a long sigh and her face, which had turned bright red with shame and excitement, slowly returned to normal.

  "Did Mr. Yamada used to be a soldier?" Yuxin Yuan asked Oshima Michiko.

  ōshima Michiko shook her head: "The chairman never wants to mention past experiences!"

  Yu Xinyuan asked her: "Can I borrow the lighter, the military officer's photo and that map? Maybe it will be useful for cracking the case."

  Oshima Michiko agreed. Ruth wrote the IOU, and Yu Xin Yuan signed his name to it. They bid farewell to Oshima Michiko, who saw them off all the way to the entrance of Building No. 3.

  After going out, Yu Xin made a joke to Ruth and said: "It seems that Miss Daishima is reluctant to part with you, has she taken a liking to you?"

  Rustic and elegant as always, Lü Si became solemn upon hearing this, his face sinking, "Don't spout nonsense!"

  Yu Xin yuan took the three pieces of evidence back to the county public security bureau. As soon as he entered the gate of the public security bureau, Yu Xin yuan felt a bit unusual. The whole bureau was exceptionally busy, not only the criminal investigation and public security departments were busy, but even the personnel from the internal security and internal affairs departments were coming in and out, with an urgent and hurried look.

  "Old Yu!" Suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder from behind, he turned his head to look, and it was actually Li Minzhen, the deputy captain of the Provincial Criminal Investigation Detachment again, which was beyond his expectation.

  "Old Li, when did you come back again?" Yu Xin Yuan looked puzzled.

  "They came early. Not just me, the provincial department head and municipal bureau head all came, the leaders are having a meeting in the county committee conference room. It's said that the victim's family members will be arriving soon." Li Minzhen replied.

  "Isn't it just a Japanese businessman who died? Why make such a big fuss?" Yu Xin asked in confusion.

  Li Minzhen smiled mysteriously at him, pulled him to a more secluded place, and lowered his voice to say: "Do you know who the deceased is? His wife is from the Japanese royal family! The case has shocked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security. The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Vice Minister of Public Security, and the Japanese Ambassador to China have all arrived! Brother, the burden on your shoulders is heavy!" Yu Xin suddenly thought of the chrysanthemum pattern on the lighter he saw that morning, and had an epiphany.

  Yamada Jiro's body has been transferred to the county funeral home. A fleet of over a dozen cars, including many high-end vehicles such as Hondas and Nissans, made their way to the funeral home, causing a stir in this small inland county town where such luxury cars were rarely seen in the early 1980s. Onlookers stopped to watch, pointing and discussing among themselves. Many police officers were stationed along the route to maintain order. Yu Xin Yuan finally understood why the public security bureau had been so busy earlier.

  Seeing such a grand scene, Yu couldn't help but curse: "Such a big show, parading around and showing off, yet still keeping the case confidential? What a load of crap!" He couldn't help but worry about the next steps in the investigation.

  At the entrance of Leijiang County Funeral Home, there were PLA soldiers standing guard. Except for a few high-end cars that could enter, all other vehicles were blocked outside, which was exactly what Xin Yuan had in mind. Throughout the Spring Festival, he had been busy with that corpse, and now he had no interest in that pile of rotten meat anymore. He leaned against the jeep, smoking, thinking: What expression and feeling would Mrs. Yamada have when she saw Mr. Yamada's severed body?

  It wasn't long before the people inside came out. Looking far away, he saw Yamada's family. An old woman wearing a black kimono, presumably the deceased's wife, looked very sad but still calm and composed, with an air of royalty. He also saw Oshima Yoshiko, still wearing that plain white kimono with snowflakes, looking as young and beautiful as ever. But thinking about the photos and pills he had seen that morning, Yūjin suddenly felt a little nauseous.

  Then came the talks between the two sides, with a very heavy atmosphere. A Japanese royal family businessman was killed in China, which is still a shocking event even today in the 21st century, let alone during the initial period of our country's reform and opening up. We were worried that the Japanese side would protest, affecting the next step of Sino-Japanese economic and trade cooperation; we were also worried that the case would evolve into a diplomatic and political incident, having an adverse impact on China's newly started reform and opening up; and we were even more worried that the deceased's family would demand huge compensation. To put it in perspective, in the early 1980s, our country's foreign exchange reserves totaled only $300 million, and every day was a struggle to make ends meet!

  However, the outcome was far beyond our expectations. The Japanese ambassador and Mrs. Yamada discussed and put forward several opinions:

  This is a criminal case and does not involve politics nor will it affect relations between the two countries.

  The body of Yamada Jiro was returned to Japan after being disinfected and preserved.

  Three is fully responsible for handling the case by the Chinese government and notifying the Japanese side of the results.

  Fourth is to abandon claims for compensation against the Chinese government.

  The Chinese side was very satisfied with the result and immediately agreed to send professional personnel for autopsy and anti-corrosion from the provincial capital, and arranged for the best coffin to be sent back to Japan. They also guaranteed that they would do their utmost to investigate the case, severely punish the perpetrator, and promptly inform the Japanese side of the progress of the investigation.

  More than 30 years later, when Sino-Japanese relations were at a freezing point due to territorial disputes over the Diaoyu Islands and historical issues such as comfort women, Yu Xinwan, who had already retired, recalled this incident with clarity: "At that time, I thought the Japanese were very reasonable. Now it seems that Japan was driven by political needs to unite with China against Soviet pressure from the north and economic needs to open up the Chinese market. In the early 1980s, Sino-Japanese relations were in a honeymoon period, so everything became easy to negotiate. Fortunately, news media was not well developed at that time; if it happened now, it would be much more troublesome for all parties involved! Of course, if this incident had occurred in the early 20th century, it would have been the spark that set off the Sino-Japanese War."