Joy of the hunt
Early in the morning of April 9, Afeng waited at a Beijing subway station where a target was supposed to appear. But after half an hour, he checked his mobile phone and suddenly rushed into a train just as its doors shut. "It seems that he's going to change place. Will he go to his office?" Afeng told the Beijing Times reporter.
At noon, he saw the target driving out of his office with a woman sitting in the passenger seat, possibly his mistress.
Hiding behind a tree, Afeng made a gesture of silence to the reporter and took out a video camera and started to shoot. The car disappeared from view after turning a corner but Afeng didn't worry. He took out his mobile phone and tracked the car through a GPS device placed on the vehicle.
He followed the target into a nearby residential community but was unable to find the car. At last, he returned to the front gate and waited. He had just started this job and needed to be patient. "At this moment, it's not proper to follow too closely. Otherwise, I would be easily discovered," he said.
At 1 pm, the car went back to the office. An hour later, the target drove out of the office, but the passenger seat was empty. Later, at a crossing, Afeng found the car and spotted a woman and a girl getting in. "I can finish this job today," he joked.
The woman turned out to be his client and the girl was their daughter.
Most of the time, investigators need to wait like hunters. The wait can range from a week to months. Even when they confirm that the cheater and the third party will meet, they must wait until the two are physically together before reporting it and getting the evidence they need.
The client's presence is vital. No matter if the adultery happens at home, at a hotel or in a car, the investigators must have the client with them while recording the adultery. "If the client is not with us, the targets can sue us for breaking in, bullying or threatening them," Weng Yu, another investigator, told the Beijing Times.
Weng is a veteran of the business. After getting the idea from some lawyer friends, she established an investigation team in 2008 that focuses on helping women.
Adulterers are usually caught in the wee hours. Besides the client, the investigator often takes three or four team members with them, with some taking charge of filming, some protecting the client and the investigators.
Sometimes it can get violent. A video that went viral shows investigators bursting into a room to film a couple having sex, the man's wife grabbing the naked woman's hair and beginning to curse and beat her, while several men grab the naked man.
