I thought that if this was how it was, then perhaps my special pass could help in securing his release. Little did I know, however, that the web of misfortune poor old Luo ‘Three Ears’ had got caught up in would not so easily let him go. The problems of the past were now added to the problems of the present. His only solution, it seemed, was suicide. So the moment he got the opportunity he threw himself from the third storey of the prison.

Perhaps because he simply wasn’t destined to die on this occasion he survived. However, he might as well have been dead. When I went to see him in hospital, except for his mouth which stuck out from between layers of bandage, he was a broken shell of a man. His legs were crushed, and from the fact that he was completely incontinent, I reckon that his spinal cord had been broken.

I sat by his bed for about half an hour and told him two things: the first thing was I could have changed his fate, but that now it was impossible because his shattered body was of little use to us – we simply didn’t have the time to wait for him to recuperate. Then I asked him if he knew of anyone, anyone at all, with ears as good as his own.

He listened in silence to what I had to say. He did not move, he uttered no sound. He seemed much like a corpse. Then, just as I was about to take my leave, he suddenly called out to me: ‘Director!’, and proceeded to tell me the following:

‘Crossing the Huangpu River, you’ll see an oil refinery. Next to it there is a small tributary of the Huangpu. If you walk along this tributary for about five li, there is a small hamlet called Lujiayan. There you will find the person you are looking for.’

I asked what this person’s name was, and if the person was male or female.

He told me the person in question was a boy, but he did not know his name. He explained, ‘It doesn’t matter, because once you get there, all you need do is ask any villager about this boy; everyone knows him.’

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