by Mai Jia
At the mention of a deal, Li Ningyu said that she’d be willing to do pretty much anything if Gu Xiaomeng would help her get the message out. ‘Even if we’re not friends,’ she said, ‘we’re still comrades-in-arms in our fight against the Japanese devils. You can’t be wanting our comrades to get arrested and killed by Hihara, can you?’
Gu Xiaomeng harrumphed at that and said with a sarcastic laugh, ‘I nearly found myself suffering the same fate as Wu Zhiguo, and yet you still have the gall to say that we’re comrades-in-arms? I know exactly what I think of the way you treat your so-called comrades – you’ve been trying your best to get me killed!’
‘But I didn’t know then that you were one of my comrades…’
‘Who are you calling a comrade? Don’t fool yourself!’
‘If I can’t get the message out, I might as well be dead.’
‘That’s up to you,’ Gu Xiaomeng countered. ‘It has nothing whatsoever to do with me. Go to hell!’
‘In that case,’ Li Ningyu said, ‘if I’m going to hell, you’re coming with me!’
Li Ningyu showed her hand now: unless Gu Xiaomeng helped her get the message out, she would tell Hihara exactly who Mr and Miss Gu really were.
She was overturning their original agreement and upping the stakes.
Gu Xiaomeng was so angry, her entire body was shaking. ‘You bitch!’
Li Ningyu was perfectly calm. ‘I’m not a bitch – it’s you who’s forcing me to do this. It wouldn’t cost you a thing, but you’re refusing to help me – you seem to want me to sit by and do nothing while my comrades are arrested and killed by Hihara. Quite frankly, I would rather be dead, so why don’t you go and turn me in? That way I can die with honour!’
That’s the kind of logic only a criminal would come up with.
Gu Xiaomeng couldn’t think of a thing to say.
Li Ningyu had already planned all of this and now everything came out smoothly, exactly as she’d scripted it. ‘You’re already helping me by not going to the authorities, so why not go the whole hog and help me take the message out. Just helping me a bit is no damn good! As I said, it will be even worse for me if I survive this and my comrades don’t – why should I be grateful to you for that? It would be perfectly straightforward for you, but you won’t even consider it – if that’s going to be how it is, then we might as well not bother.’ As she said this, Li Ningyu climbed onto a stool and started to reconnect the wiring on the bugs.
‘What are you doing?’ Gu Xiaomeng asked.
‘What do you think I’m doing? If we’re both going to die, we don’t need to worry about people listening in – let them hear us, I say!’
The knife was now at her throat. Gu Xiaomeng pulled Li Ningyu away and started to cry.
[Transcript from the interview with Gu Xiaomeng]
Oh yes, I gave in. I didn’t have any choice – I had to do what she said. She had power over me because she knew who I was. She could cause us a lot of damage. I’d be put under surveillance, people would start analysing everything we’d done in the past and testing us over every little thing from then on – even if we were able to cover up our past activities, how could we possibly continue with our mission? I was terrified. So I just had to swallow my rage and let her lead me around by the nose.
It turned out that what she wanted me to do was actually just as straightforward as she’d claimed: I was to put the medicine capsules back where I’d found them, so that Turtle could pass on the intelligence when he returned to the estate the following day. I thought that if it really was that simple, she ought to be able to do it herself – why did she have to blackmail me into doing it? – but she said Hihara was already watching her too closely, so it would be too dangerous for her.
That explanation was obviously only half the story. I later discovered it was actually just a test so that she could find out for sure whether or not my father and I were really working undercover for the Bureau. If my father and I weren’t working for the Nationalists, I’d probably have slapped her across the face when she broke our deal. But because I’d acquiesced, she knew exactly where she was with me.
Ah, Li Ningyu was an angel, but she could also be a real devil. She always worked out everything in advance, considered every possible angle – there was absolutely no way I could keep up with her.
[Transcription ends]
The experienced agent won out; Gu Xiaomeng was still far too young to be any sort of match for her. Li Ningyu had already spent years in the underground, honing her skills; even a long-serving counter-intelligence operative like Hihara could get nothing out of her, so Gu Xiaomeng, who was after all only on her first mission, had no chance.
Time and experience are needed to build a successful agent; when people talk of natural ability, what they mean is the person concerned has been through a lot to get to where they are.
3
The next day was the blackest of all for Li Ningyu.
She and Gu Xiaomeng had only finally got to sleep just before dawn. They were both exhausted, so they only woke up when Secretary Bai knocked on their door to call them to breakfast. They got up as quickly as they could and rushed downstairs, but as they went out of the front door Gu Xiaomeng realized she’d forgotten to bring the capsules with her. It was infuriating! When Li Ningyu discovered this, she wondered if Gu Xiaomeng was trying to trick her – but she was also furious with herself for having made a mistake at such a critical moment. It would have been easy enough to remind Gu Xiaomeng. Sometimes even the best-laid plans go wrong.
When they’d finished breakfast and were walking back, Li Ningyu demanded that Gu Xiaomeng make up a story so she could go out again and return the capsules to where they were meant to be. Gu Xiaomeng agreed. But as soon as they reached the west building, they were all called into the conference room for a meeting, and she didn’t even have time to go upstairs – how could she possibly have slipped away?
This was the meeting that began with everyone being shown the letter Wu Zhiguo had written in blood. Gu Xiaomeng knew better than anyone that Li Ningyu was indeed Ghost, as the letter stated. She didn’t dare accuse Li Ningyu outright, but now she could just stand back and watch her squirm; it would be nothing to do with her.
Li Ningyu was as quiet as ever. She was under terrible pressure. After so many days in captivity, this was the first time that she thought she might crack. She had not expected that Hihara would bring out Wu Zhiguo’s blood letter and let everyone know that she was under suspicion. She didn’t know whether this was just another ruse on Hihara’s part or whether she’d made a mistake somewhere. Or perhaps Gu Xiaomeng had betrayed her?
As always when faced with a crisis, she picked up her comb and started to comb her hair.
This annoyed Secretary Bai enormously. ‘Why don’t you say something, Li Ningyu?’ he said sharply. ‘Even the dead have made their opinions known. Or is it that you have nothing to say?’
‘Everything that I want to say I have already told Colonel Hihara,’ Li Ningyu said. ‘I have nothing more to add. But if I have to talk to someone, then I would like to ask Gu Xiaomeng a question, since she’s the only one who hasn’t made her opinion clear.’
‘What do you want to know?’ Gu Xiaomeng asked.
‘Do you think I’m Ghost too?’ Li Ningyu said.
That was what she was like – for her, attack was always the best form of defence.
Gu Xiaomeng was both impressed and furious. She was impressed by Li Ningyu’s acting skills, by the fact that her expression hadn’t changed, not even in the face of such intense antagonism, and by the way she’d held her nerve until she’d managed to regain the initiative. But Gu Xiaomeng was also furious because she didn’t know what to say: should she keep silent or tell the truth? She couldn’t afford to fall out with Li Ningyu under any circumstances, and yet she still felt a powerful urge to fight back – she was genuinely worried that she might actually tell them the truth just for the momentary pleasure of seeing Li Ningyu brought down. She wished she cou
ld just run away and avoid all this torment.
How could she run away? Li Ningyu was staring at her fixedly, as if she had staked everything on this final roll of the dice.
Gu Xiaomeng raised her eyes and met Li Ningyu’s gaze squarely. ‘And what if I say I think that you are Ghost?’ she asked rudely.
Li Ningyu’s words conveyed a hidden warning: ‘Given what you know about me, I am sure you won’t do that.’
Gu Xiaomeng was cursing inwardly. Given what I know about you, that’s exactly what I ought to tell them! But…
She glared at Li Ningyu and said threateningly, ‘And what if I say it anyway?’
Without hesitating, Li Ningyu replied, ‘That would just go to prove that this is hell, and everyone here is lying like the devils they are.’
Gu Xiaomeng burst out laughing at this, howling like a lunatic. ‘Yes, everyone is lying, and this is a hell that the devils have constructed for us – a hell!’
When she stopped laughing, she turned to Wang Tianxiang. ‘To tell you the truth, Police Chief Wang, I find it impossible to believe that Unit Chief Li is Ghost. And I should also tell you that I don’t believe Chief of Staff Wu is the kind of person who would happily martyr himself to show his loyalty to the Imperial Japanese Army.’
As soon as she heard that, Li Ningyu’s biggest worry evaporated. As long as Gu Xiaomeng was on her side, as long as she kept her promise, even if Li Ningyu was arrested that instant, there was still hope that her message might yet be taken out.
4
Although Li Ningyu wasn’t placed under arrest, she wasn’t far off it. From then on, she wasn’t allowed to leave the building, her food was brought to her by the guards, and she was moved into the room originally occupied by Wu Zhiguo. It was a bigger bedroom and now she would be on her own. That was the special treatment she received because she’d been named in his letter written in blood. Hihara had to do this in order to prove his bona fides – to convince Section Chief Jin and Gu Xiaomeng that the letter was real.
[Transcript from an interview with Gu Xiaomeng]
At that point we had no idea that Wu Zhiguo’s death had been faked, so I thought Li Ningyu had had it. If someone commits suicide to prove their allegations against you, how on earth are you going to get out of that? To tell you the truth, at first I was quite pleased to see her get into trouble; even though I hadn’t been able to turn her in, somebody else had. But then she started attacking me and I realized she thought I’d betrayed her – which was obviously going to be very bad for me. The more danger she was in, the worse it was going to be for me too. That’s why I kept saying that she couldn’t possibly be Ghost; I was showing her that whatever had happened was nothing to do with me.
But I knew that wasn’t going to be enough to convince her, because she might think that I’d planned it like that with Hihara and the others: stabbing her in the back and then pretending to be on her side – just an act, you see? So how could I convince her? I decided I would help her return the capsules to their original location. That way she’d have to trust me.
So the minute the meeting was over, I’d have to slip out. But right then I couldn’t think of a reason to leave, and she’d reconnected the wiring for the bugs, so we couldn’t say anything.
Li Ningyu then suddenly hugged me and started to scream and cry, yelling that Wu Zhiguo was maligning her, trying to get her into trouble; at the same time, she whispered me my instructions. She told me to go to Secretary Bai and say that we’d been sharing one tube of toothpaste, so now that we’d been moved into separate rooms, I needed to go to the officers’ club to buy myself another tube.
That was how I got out of there and was able to put the three medicine capsules back where they needed to go – and it was not even ten in the morning by the time I had finished.
[Transcription ends]
By the time that Gu Xiaomeng was heading out of the door to buy herself some toothpaste, Li Ningyu had already been moved into Wu Zhiguo’s old room. As she stood out of sight beside the window and watched Gu Xiaomeng walk away, a strange sense of excitement and anticipation wound its way through her heart. Her main concern was the medicine capsules, but she was also happy that Gu Xiaomeng had kept her word and was willing to take risks for her. She might be tiresome and stubborn in the ordinary way of things, but when it came to the crunch, she was very cautious and obedient.
Li Ningyu was amazed that despite all the time they’d spent together, she’d never discovered that Gu Xiaomeng was working undercover for the Nationalists; she was even more amazed that, even though Gu Xiaomeng had worked her way in so deep, she had still made that tiny mistake that blew her cover. Li Ningyu was suddenly grateful for her own ability to keep quiet and remain calm, because it was that which had allowed her to notice Gu Xiaomeng’s slip – and when she’d tested her hypothesis, she’d got the evidence she needed. That really was a great discovery. A victory like that, she told herself, ought to mean that in the end their side would triumph.
Gu Xiaomeng disappeared behind a clump of bamboo. Li Ningyu knew that the bins would be directly ahead of her now – all she had to do was walk over and drop the first capsule, the one with the message inside, and then keep going until she got to the fork…
As she thought about this, she moved away from the window as if in a daze and sat down on the bed. Having sat for a while, she realized she was absolutely exhausted and had to lie down. The bed was so huge, so soft, that, lying there in the middle, she felt as if she’d shrunk; she seemed much smaller and lighter than usual. The embroidered coverlet smelt of cigarette smoke – in fact, the whole room stank. That was down to Wu Zhiguo. If he was really dead, that would mean that the smoke from his cigarettes had outlasted him. She smiled. The year or more she’d spent struggling to perfect his handwriting had finally paid off.
Outside the window, a bird wheeled through the empty sky, flashing past her eyes like an apparition in a dream. The bird led Li Ningyu to thinking about what was happening beyond the estate, in downtown Hangzhou, to Turtle.
Over the past year and more, she’d seen Turtle at regular intervals and in set places, come rain or shine, in summer heat and winter cold. It was as if Turtle were one of the scenic spots on base: if you went to the right place, there he would be. But they had never once spoken to each other; if they met face to face, they communicated in silence, with glances. Once, when she’d been late leaving work and had missed Turtle’s collection, she’d had to give him her rubbish directly. Their hands had accidentally touched and it was as if she’d got an electric shock; she’d moved quickly to one side, her whole body shaking.
She was having a similar sensation right then. It was as if she’d become a flash of lightning, as if she were spinning through space, as if she had disappeared into the sky above the Tan Estate…
A little while later, Gu Xiaomeng returned looking pleased with herself; out in the corridor, she mimed that she’d done as asked. A wave of happiness surged through Li Ningyu; she felt almost light-headed, as if she were floating. When Turtle made his next round of the estate, he would be sure to notice the two black capsules lying on the path and then he would know exactly what to do. It was a huge estate, but there weren’t that many rubbish bins; he wouldn’t have any difficulty locating the right one.
As she thought about this, Li Ningyu unconsciously curled her knees under her until she was kneeling on the bed, then she put her hands together and closed her eyes. She was praying that Turtle would come to the Tan Estate right away.
She was pinning all her hopes on this. When she’d seen Turtle yesterday, it had been impossible to signal clearly to him that he needed to come back again today. But she kept telling herself that the Gathering of Heroes was now imminent, and so her superiors would be desperate for news from her – Turtle ought to be trying to stay in regular contact, he ought to come and see her every day. She even imagined that he would have made arrangements to this effect yesterday – perhaps he had left something behind, or maybe he’
d agreed to help one of the servants at the officers’ club to clean the toilets.
All she needed was for Turtle to show up, even if just for a few moments. That would be enough.
5
If Turtle had turned up, none of the rest of it would have happened.
But Turtle didn’t come. He never appeared. The hands on the clock ticked on; morning became afternoon became evening. For Li Ningyu, expectancy became worry became reluctant acceptance. Even so, she found it very difficult to believe that at such a critical juncture, Turtle would go a whole day without coming to see her.
[Transcript from the interview with Gu Xiaomeng]
She had no idea what had happened. Turtle and that old idiot Pan had completely swallowed Hihara’s story – they thought that Li Ningyu was there carrying out some kind of ECCC mission.
I met Turtle once, later on. He’d been arrested by Police Chief Wang and was in prison; I went to see him on the sly, to find out if I could help get him out. But one of his legs had been broken, so he couldn’t escape. In the end he couldn’t stand the torture any longer and he killed himself.
When we met, he told me all about it – he thought I was a comrade. Why? Because it was me who’d taken the message out and given it to him. But that was later…
Getting back to our story, Turtle told me that if the weather had been good that day, he might well have come out to the Tan Estate one more time. But that morning it was raining; the weather gods were against us. He decided that it would look too obvious if he came out in a downpour. The Gathering of Heroes was just about to happen, and everyone was on high alert, so he didn’t dare do anything that might draw attention. It stopped raining in the afternoon, but the base was in a bad state, with fallen leaves all over the place, so he had no time to go anywhere else. Of course, if he’d realized that Li Ningyu had intelligence for him, he would have made time to go to the estate regardless, but the crucial thing was that he had no idea. Nobody knew! Even my own father didn’t realize that I was under house arrest at the time. What can you say? It was Heaven’s will – the rain ruined everything. In our line of work, that happens from time to time: something quite beyond your control can spoil everything. You can plan as carefully as you like, but in the end it all comes down to chance.