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Back In the Dark Save as PDF
Chapters (90)
  1. Cover
  2. IN THE DARK
  3. PRELUDE
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. WIND LISTENERS
  11. Blind Abing
  12. 1
  13. 2
  14. 3
  15. 4
  16. 5
  17. 6
  18. 7
  19. 8
  20. 9
  21. 10
  22. 11
  23. 12
  24. 13
  25. 14
  26. 15
  27. 16
  28. 17
  29. 18
  30. 19
  31. 20
  32. 21
  33. WIND READERS
  34. An Angel with Problems
  35. 1
  36. 2
  37. 3
  38. 4
  39. 5
  40. 6
  41. 7
  42. 8
  43. 9
  44. 10
  45. 11
  46. 12
  47. 13
  48. 14
  49. 15
  50. 16
  51. 17
  52. 18
  53. 19
  54. 20
  55. 21
  56. 22
  57. 23
  58. 24
  59. 25
  60. 26
  61. 27
  62. 28
  63. 29
  64. 30
  65. THE SHADOW OF CHEN ERHU
  66. Diary Excerpts: 25 March 1987
  67. 26 March
  68. 27 March
  69. 28 March
  70. 2 April
  71. The Letter: Day One
  72. Day Two
  73. Day Three
  74. Day Four
  75. Day Five
  76. Day Six
  77. Day Seven
  78. Two Old Letters
  79. WIND-CATCHERS
  80. A Vietnamese Ghost Story
  81. 1
  82. 2
  83. 3
  84. 4
  85. 5
  86. 6
  87. 7
  88. 8
  89. 9
  90. THE BEGINNING

The following morning we set off. I was carrying a suitcase I had been given by Director Tie: a very big and very heavy suitcase, with a red thread hanging from it. Director Tie didn’t tell me what was inside it, but when I saw the fuse for the incendiary device (otherwise known as the red thread) I knew that it was top-secret material, probably connected with the cipher that we had to break. I knew that there could be no mistakes. If something happened en route, it was my duty to light the fuse and turn all the secrets inside into ash …

10

Young man, do you think this will do? I can’t carry on, I am too tired. Let’s continue tomorrow …

11

There’s no need to be in such a hurry. I want you to look at these photographs.

These are pictures of me as a young man. Look at that one – that’s nice and clear. I was pretty good-looking when I was young. Some people admired my nose, and said such a straight bridge and such neat nostrils were a sign I was a reliable man. Some people admired my mouth, with its generous, well-defined lips, and said it was a sign of honesty. Some people admired my forehead, square and with a strong eyebrow ridge, and said it was a sign I would be successful. Look at this picture – you can see how tall and fit I was. Some people said my proportions were pretty much perfect. People said all girls loved men like me – serious, stable, upstanding, good-looking, with a great future in front of me; attractive. But to tell the truth, when I was young none of the girls fancied me. I found it very difficult to get married, and though I had three serious girlfriends none of these relationships worked out, so that in the end the Party had to find me a wife. The reason I’m telling you this is because I want you to understand that other people thought of me as a really outstanding guy. By the time I met Huang Yiyi I was past forty; I had been married and had children; women were no longer a mystery to me. That meant that when Huang Yiyi unfurled like a flower beside me and started murmuring seductive words, it never excited or flustered me: I treated the whole thing as a joke.

I should explain that the journey to Unit 701 was very smooth, though we did have problems getting the train.