At the height of the Sars crisis, Wei Wujun's phone was almost silent. 'No husband dared to risk going out to cheat on their wives,' says the Shanghai-based private eye and China's most famous mistress hunter. 'But today, with Sars off the radar screen, my phone is ringing non-stop again.'
The outbreak didn't just have a dramatic impact on the mainland economy. It also had a devastating impact on mainland nightlife as most hostess clubs had to shut down during the 10 weeks that marked the height of the crisis, from April to early June.
But with the World Health Organisation travel advisory on Beijing lifted, mainland and expat men are at it again: cheating on their wives. Mr Wei's business is seeing a revival.
Frequently interviewed on television and known nationally as an er nai sha shou, or mistress assassin, the 48-year-old has helped more than 1,200 women track down their philandering husbands all over China.
At 1.81 metres tall and 90kg, Mr Wei cuts a formidable figure. He usually wears sunglasses, even at night, and often wears a baseball cap that covers much of his face. A chain smoker, he is a quiet man who seldom boasts of his success as China's best-known private eye. 'You can't stop a married man from playing around, but when he takes a mistress and actually sets up a household, then he breaks the law,' says Mr Wei, who spent more than 10 years as a police officer in the People's Liberation Army in Shandong province and 10 years as a news reporter and TV producer before setting up his agency in 1993. 'Er nais [second wives] hurt the institution of marriage, and too many married men these days are taking them on.'
Mainland mistresses aren't hurting only mainland wives. Just ask Laura, a 39-year-old who lives in the American Midwest. Laura, who asked that her last name not be used, knows about mainland concubines only too well - Mr Wei helped her track down her philandering husband and his mistress in Shanghai. For years husband Kevin had been a loving man. On Valentine's Day, he always gave her a dozen roses. On her birthday, there would be a romantic dinner out, away from the kids. At night, the couple always had quality time talking about what happened during the day. But all that changed two years ago, when Kevin began travelling to Shanghai for regular business trips. He became distant and cold. Then he didn't return phone calls until the next morning and began lying about money.