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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

Since I was now painted into a corner, I had to help out. At that point in time she was a goddess – she could summon the wind and raise the rain, she could turn base metal into gold – and what she said went. If I didn’t do this for her, someone else would. And if someone else stepped forward to help her, then I would have annoyed her, and that could bring down a lot of trouble on my own head. Whenever senior people came, did any of them not want to meet her? They all wanted to see her! She could easily take the opportunity either to complain about me or to say something nice – something as easy for her as leading a lamb, but it could change my destiny. What is meant by one word changing your life? Right then, every word she said could change your life. I certainly wasn’t stupid enough to annoy her and then let someone else take advantage of that fact. So since she was insisting on helping Zhang Guoqing, and also mentioned that she’d really like Comrade Wang’s problems sorted out as well, I had no hesitation in doing my very best for her. I had to make a special trip to headquarters, and then everything was done.

To tell you the truth, right then the Party would have taken seriously any request that she cared to make, and would have done their best to fulfil her every wish. The problems that Zhang Guoqing and Comrade Wang had were actually internal, and could be solved within the work unit, so the minute she made her request, it was fixed – it was really no trouble.

28

Unit 701 was usually sealed, and the people inside were allowed no contact with the outside world. Perhaps it was for that reason that gossip flourished so readily. Zhang Guoqing and Comrade Wang’s situation was known to everyone in the unit, and when Huang Yiyi saved them, that really was a fresh bit of news – before we knew where we were, everybody had heard about it. They called Huang Yiyi ‘Angel’ or ‘The Angel with Problems’. Thinking about it, they were perfectly correct. What kind of person could have brought them out of hell? No ordinary human being, only an angel! And if you think about it, what kind of person could have cracked RECOVERY like that? Only an angel! Calling Huang Yiyi the Angel was doubly appropriate, and so everyone started calling her that.