The man's name was Cui Hang.
Ru Songyi found him in a week, which was faster than I had expected but consistent with Ru Songyi's general approach to problems, which was to move quickly on the things that could be moved quickly and reserve patience for the things that genuinely required it. Cui Hang was not, it turned out, particularly difficult to find. He existed in the administrative record as a licensed trade facilitator — someone who, for a fee, managed the paperwork and legal documentation for transactions involving parties who preferred not to appear in the same room. It was a legitimate profession. Many people used trade facilitators for entirely unremarkable reasons.
What made Cui Hang notable was the pattern of his clients and the timing of his work.
