I quickly tried to console him, and in an effort to calm him down, I pretended to reprimand the attendant. To resolve the situation, I suggested that we should all step outside and check for certain. As we walked outside, the attendant whispered to us: ‘Ever since it was born, that dog has never been far from my sight. I think I’d know if it was male or female.’ But as we entered the courtyard and looked at the two dogs, the attendant was dumbfounded. The younger dog that he had thought was there was nowhere to be seen. His older dog was there, all present and correct, but the other one was the dog belonging to the cafeteria staff. In any case, both of the young dogs were from the same litter – and this one was female.

Upon hearing the attendant’s explanation, everyone was amazed.

Afterwards, the Director patted me on the shoulder and said, ‘It seems that you have brought back a real treasure.’ Turning round to look at Bureau Chief Wu, he issued his orders: ‘Prepare food and lodgings for him as you would for any Party cadre, and get him a pair of sunglasses to wear. I’ll be back in the evening.’

9

That evening, Bureau Chief Wu personally escorted the Director and a load of other people to see Abing. The members of the delegation carried with them twenty record–replay devices as well as twenty different telegrams written in Morse code. They set up their equipment in the meeting room in preparation for the special testing of Abing’s listening abilities. First, the test involved providing him with a particular signal and giving him a set amount of time to determine the signal’s unique characteristics. Then they would randomly give him twenty different signals and see if he could correctly identify the signal he had first been given. This test might be the same as having twenty people sit in front of him, each of the same age and with the same accent – say about twenty years old, and all from the same area. First, it would be arranged for a John Doe to say a few words to Abing and then all twenty would speak, including the aforementioned John Doe. Abing’s job would be to pick out of the line-up, as it were, the John Doe who had spoken to him.