The First Excellence: Fa-Ling's Map (14 page)

He remained in the coolness of the garden, watching the pair and trying to memorise their movements. He could not resist taking several photos, which he would study later, when he returned home.

When they finally finished, the morning was already heating up. They returned to the tiny kitchen. Long found a third chair, one he used when he was painting, in his bedroom and dragged it to the table so all three could sit during breakfast.

“
I don’t know what will happen now without Lim,” Long said, resuming a conversation they’d had the previous evening. “We relied on him. During the past five years, he personally saved over a hundred lives. He never failed to bring me a prisoner every other week. If it weren’t for his efforts, each one of those people would have suffered and perhaps died at the hands of the State.”

“
So,” Randy said, “in effect you are running an Underground Railroad here?”

Shopei looked confused, unsure of how to translate Randy’s words. He explained to her how Americans in the northern States and Canadians across the border had established an Underground Railroad prior to the U.S. Civil War to move slaves from captivity in the deep South to freedom in the North. She nodded and repeated the story in Cantonese for Long’s benefit.

“
Yes,” Long agreed, “that’s what we are doing. However, I am not ‘running’ the Railroad. I am merely a tie on the track, so to speak. There are many of us who make up this network. We work together, each person responsible for his little part. Lim was an important link in the chain. As a warden at the re-education camp, he knew which prisoners were at greatest risk. He had access to all areas of the compound and could remove vehicles from the site without being questioned.”

“
Isn’t that like playing God?” Randy said. “With so many prisoners to choose from, how could he know which he should save?”

“
It was a great responsibility for him,” Long agreed. “We spoke of it many times. He sought my advice on the subject. In the end he understood that, as difficult as it was to make these choices, they had to be made quickly and without recrimination, or the ‘train’ would be derailed.”

“
What did he base his decisions on?”

“
His first criterion was imminent danger. If a prisoner was at immediate risk of torture or surgery, that prisoner would make the list.

“
Second, Lim also had to have easy access to the prisoner. He could not attempt any rescue that would heighten chances of his being discovered.

“
Finally, he tried to choose those prisoners who were resilient enough to survive the long journey to freedom.”

“
Why, then, did he choose Gui-Jing? He must have known she had little chance of recovery.” Shopei translated Randy’s question in a whisper, not wanting the injured woman to hear.

“
I suspect he took an inordinate risk in saving Wu Gui-Jing. No doubt he knew she might not survive, and when he arrived with her, he had to carry her into my house. In fact, I would not be surprised if he was seen removing her from the camp. She was not conscious when he put her into the vehicle.”

Long scratched his head before continuing. “I don’t know why he chose her. Maybe he felt empathy for such a young girl. Maybe she reminded him of his daughter.”

“
Exactly what was done to her?” Randy asked.

“
Lim told me Gui-Jing was beautiful when she arrived at the camp. It did not take long for the other wardens to notice her. One night he heard them when he was performing his rounds. They were in her cell. She was calling out for help, but of course, no help would come. Your father,” Long said to Shopei, “tried to intervene at once, but had no authority over the men. He pleaded with them to stop, but they became more violent, beating the girl and taking turns with her. Lim could not stand to hear her screams. He left her to suffer alone. He was ashamed of this.”

“
He had no choice,” Shopei said defiantly. “Those pigs would have killed him.”

“
Exactly. Later, though, he told me he was so ashamed that he knew he had to save her. He planned to take her away the next night. He did not realise, though, she had been scheduled for surgery that afternoon. He looked for her, but she was already in the operating room, undergoing surgery to remove her kidneys.”

“
But she still has her kidneys,” Randy said.

“
Yes.” Long nodded his head. “When the surgeon made the cut, he immediately saw the damage that had been done to the organs. The beating she’d suffered had bruised her kidneys. The surgeon ordered the incision to be closed immediately. Gui-Jing was sent back to her cell to heal, so the operation could be performed at a later date.”

“
She didn’t heal, though.”

“
No. Unfortunately the conditions of the operating room were less than sterile. She was sewn up badly, and thrown back into her bed without antibiotics. Her captors cared little whether she lived. There were plenty more kidneys to be had. Lim took her that night. He was afraid even in her battered state the others might try to abuse her further. He could not witness it again.”

“
He hoped you could heal her,” Randy said.

“
Lim said to me, ‘Father, I bring you this one so she may know peace in her spirit. If she dies, let her die here in your garden. I will come for her body when it is practical to do so’. He carried the girl inside and laid her on the healing bed. That was the last time I saw him, two weeks ago today.”

“
The next day he was attacked,” Shopei said. “He must have aroused suspicion when he tried to defend the girl. They may have been watching when he carried her to the car.”

“
Let’s hope they didn’t follow him here,” Randy said.

“
They did not follow him,” Long said. “I am sure of it.”

Fa-ling watched the sun rise through her hotel window, painting long shadows on the city below. Already the traffic was heavy with delivery trucks, brightly coloured buses and labourers on bicycles. Large sections of street were currently under construction, the sidewalks ripped apart and thick dust hovering in the sullen air.

Her room did not have a balcony. Fa-ling felt self-conscious about the idea of practising her T’Ai Chi alone on the grounds, but she preferred to exercise in the fresh air. She made her way to the courtyard beside the outdoor pool and began her hand movements.

Like Confucius, whose teachings she had studied, Fa-ling believed in the steady pursuit of “five excellences” to ensure a balanced and productive life. She had already chosen four excellences: music, to empty the soul of anger and to bring beauty to the mind; poetry, to assist with understanding the inner self; languages, to heighten one’s ability to communicate with others; and martial arts, to align the three elements of life, mind, body and spirit, with the universe. To her distress, she didn’t know yet what the ‘first excellence’ would be.

She was passionate about all four of her selected endeavours, but none of them would ensure her a living. She needed to decide on a
career
.

That was the reason for this trip. Fa-ling believed she could not go forward until she had first gone backward. She needed to revisit the past in order to gain a better understanding of who she really was. Only then would she know what she should do with her life.

Fa-ling respected the experience of her elders. Her father hoped she would become an academic like him, to make use of her understanding of literature and art. Her mother said she only wanted Fa-ling to be happy.

Be happy! That was a tall order. How could one be happy without direction, flailing around after this achievement and that, never really knowing what one was meant to do, never discovering the “first excellence”?

By the time she finished her exercise ritual, Fa-ling felt more relaxed. She knew what she must do that morning, if not in the distant future. She would have to postpone her planned visit to the Li River until the following day. Instead, she would place a call to the detective, Wang Yong-qi. She should have called him immediately, while the man with the vacuum cleaner was still in room 607, but at the time panic had dominated her thoughts and her mind had failed to find its way to that obvious conclusion.

Since there was no longer any urgency, Fa-ling decided to get breakfast out of the way before calling Wang.

From the courtyard she went directly to the hotel restaurant. It was seven am when she approached the buffet. Unlike North America, China was not separated into geographical time zones. From the eastern capital of Beijing to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the far west, one clock reigned supreme in all of China. There was a precise twelve-hour difference between Toronto and Nanning, making it easy for Fa-ling to keep track of the time. There was no need for her to re-set her watch.

She chose a Canadian breakfast, one egg, two strips of bacon, a piece of toast and some fruit. Her father had pointed out that breakfast and dinner were included in the travel package, but lunch was not. It was a good idea to fill up in the morning and skip the mid-day meal.

She looked around for a place to sit, finally spotting a small table in a corner. As Fa-ling made her way through the restaurant, she saw three of the couples already eating their breakfasts. Ting-lo and Adrian Harlan were at a large table with Eloise and Joseph Golluck. The Kitcheners were in another corner with their daughters.

Ting-lo waved and motioned for Fa-ling to join their group. It would be rude to refuse. She took a seat.

“
Did you sleep well?” Eloise asked cheerfully. She was wearing an elegant morning dress, with a set of long colourful beads dangling around her neck. At nearly fifty she was still beautiful, perhaps more lovely than ever. Her age brought with it a poise that is often lacking in younger women. Her eyes, though, betrayed her fatigue.

Joseph, on the other hand, appeared fully refreshed in a pair of blue jeans and a sports jacket.

“
Only so-so,” Fa-ling said. Like Eloise, she was exhausted. Her T’Ai Chi session had revived her energy level only marginally.

“
We were awake most of the night,” Adrian said. “Jet lag.”

“
Me, too,” Fa-ling agreed. She did not want to go into details about the suicide.

“
Only eight hours till The Big Delivery,” Ting-lo said.

“
What a long pregnancy this has been,” Adrian added. “Almost two years to the day since we started the process.”

“
At least we didn’t have to give up drinking,” Joseph joked.

“
Amen to that,” Adrian said.

“
Unfortunately, though,” Ting-lo said, “we haven’t been able to justify ‘eating for two’. I feel cheated, not having all those food cravings to enjoy whenever I feel like it.”

“
On the other hand, we get to keep our waistlines. That’s a good thing,” Eloise said.

“
You’d have no choice, now,” Joseph said, “given the new adoption policy. No fat people allowed in China!” He was referring to the new restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on the criteria for couples wishing to adopt. Persons who were obese, physically disabled, or who suffered a visible ‘facial deformity’, to quote the policy, would be rejected.

Fa-ling wondered how a person’s appearance could possibly interfere with his or her ability to love a child. Her own mother wore scars over the left side of her face, having suffered severe burns in a house fire years earlier.

“
Oh,” said Eloise, “here come the Kaders.”

Joseph made a funny face.

Ting-lo laughed. “I guess we’d better call them over,” she said. She turned and waved at the couple. Guy smiled and strode toward the group.

“
We have plenty of room at our table,” Eloise said. “Please join us.”

“
We will, thanks,” Guy said. He had circles under his eyes and deep lines on his forehead, but his smile was genuine. He returned to his wife at the buffet table.

“
Don’t say a word,” Eloise whispered sternly to her husband, who was grinning like a monkey.

“
I didn’t say anything.” Joseph raised his hands in mock protest. “If I had said something, what I would have said was: Man, that guy is a saint!”

Both couples chuckled quietly and even Fa-ling could not quite suppress a smile. The general consensus seemed to be that Paula Kader was a “high maintenance” kind of girl.

Guy and Paula filled their plates and joined the others. Whatever had been troubling Paula the previous day seemed to have vanished. She treated the group to a beaming smile.

Guy watched his wife, in awe of her chameleon-like ability to alter her mood at will. Within moments the three wives were talking like old friends, including Fa-ling in their chatter.

“
Did you sleep all right?” Ting-lo asked.

“
Not at all,” Paula said. The lack of rest didn’t appear to affect her much. She was in form, turning on the charm the way that only Cool Hand Kader could.

“
We had some excitement on the sixth floor,” Guy said, “at around two in the morning.”

“
What happened?” Eloise asked.

Fa-ling stared into her coffee. She wished she could ask Guy and Paula to keep quiet. A solitary man had come to the end of his personal despair, taking his own life in an act of desperation. He must have been suffering in ways one could only try to imagine. He should be left to rest in peace, not become the subject of idle gossip.