Mingmei Yip - The Nine Fold Heaven

Li exclaimed with an authoritative air. “Now we announce the execution of Hong Bin, spy, traitor, and a communist!”

“Hao!” many of the onlookers shouted, itchy for blood.

He turned to ask the man: “You have any last words?”

The man tilted his head, shouting, “Be struck by lightning, you turtlehead!”

No one dared to say anything. I yelled inside. “You have guts, man!”

Li, his face crimson, kicked the criminal’s head. To everyone’s surprise, the victim didn’t scream, or even moan, as blood trickled down his face.

Li turned to shout at the executioner. “Ready!”

The executioner picked up his ax and raised it in midair, ready for action. Another guard pushed the criminal to kneel on the floor, then twisted his head so he was now facing the onlookers.

Chief Li shouted again. “Take off this man’s blindfold so he can witness his own death!”

I stared at the bloody face as my heart froze and a chill scurried down my spine like a street rat. The intended to be soon entering-a-coffin-and-turning-a-corpse man was none other than Master Lung’s bodyguard—my secret lover, Gao! How fortune’s wheel turns. Not too long ago, this man was making passionate love to me a few feet from his master’s stateroom as we crossed the Atlantic on our way to Paris.

I pressed my hand across my mouth so no scream would escape.

Gao must have lost at least twenty pounds since then, but still looked tough and handsome. I suddenly realized that Hong Bin must be his real name, and Gao the one given by the Flying Dragons after his initiation.

Now Gao cast a contemptuous look at the evil officers, then at us. Suddenly he spat with full force.

One of the guards kicked him in the face, yelling. “What’s the matter with you, dead man?”

Then he pushed Gao’s head down till it touched the ground—an extreme insult and humiliation.

A few young women, who may have fallen in love with him on the spot, dabbed their eyes with handkerchiefs, one even sobbed. But crying can’t help, only action does. And from my experience as a spy, I’d learned that with action, one must watch the timing, especially when you plan to kill somebody.

I was well aware that Buddhism teaches wisdom and compassion. However, this did not apply to me, for, if I were compassionate, I’d have died a horrible death a long time ago. Kindness only works when it encounters another kindness. But when kindness meets cruelty, it’s the path to defeat. That’s why the Chinese say, “Use poison to get rid of poison.”

Cautiously my hand reached into my pocket to feel the hard handle of my knife. Knife-throwing was part of my training to be an assassin for Big Brother Wang. Though I threw knives with great accuracy as part of my stage act, I’d never had the occasion to use them in a fight. I thought of how it had been Gao’s job to search me thoroughly before I’d be let inside his boss’s room. I couldn’t say I minded this. Gao had always been good to me—tender and protective. But I couldn’t love him completely, because there was Jinying, our boss’s son, and the father of my child.

I knew well that executing Gao as a spy was a way for Chief Li to do a favor for Big Brother Wang. Since Lung, dead or disappeared, was now out of the way, Big Brother Wang had finally attained his goal of being the number one gangster in Shanghai. So Li was now eager to collaborate with the new number one.

Li’s thunderous voice woke me from my reflections. “What are we waiting for? Chop this criminal’s head off, right now!”

To everyone’s surprise, Gao raised his head and shouted, “Wait!”

Li sneered. “All right, let’s hear what’s the last wish of a dying man. If it’s not unreasonable, I might as well grant it to accumulate some good karma for myself. Don’t you think?”

A collective “Yes!” burst among the onlookers.

Again, to everyone’s surprise, Gao’s question was, “Is my outfit buttoned in the correct way?”

The onlookers burst into hilarious laughter, as if they were watching a comedy, not a killing.

Someone yelled, “Ha! You’re going to report to the King of Hell in seconds, you think he‘ll care about your outfit, huh? Or are you a member of the Severed Sleeve Club?”

More raucous laughter exploded.

Severed Sleeve refers to men who love other men. One time when Emperor Ai of the Han dynasty woke up next to his favorite male concubine, he found the latter asleep with his head on the emperor’s dragon sleeve. Having no heart to wake up his lover, the emperor cut off his sleeve.

Chief Li looked amused. Since Gao was the fish trapped inside his urn, he could take his own sweet time before letting the ax fall.

He asked sarcastically, “All right, just out of curiosity, why do you want to know if your buttons are in the right holes?”

Gao spat. “I’d like to look respectable on my last, solitary journey to meet with the King of Hell.” He paused, then spat out vehemently. “And you bet you’ll ask the same question when I’m back!”

That was an ominous remark, implying that he’d come back to Chief Li as a vengeful ghost!

As if heaven also heard what Gao had just said, all of a sudden there was a clap of thunder followed by a sudden downpour. Some ran to take refuge under the few nearby trees; others pulled up their jacket to cover their heads.

The young man next to me said to his friends, “I think heaven disapproves of the execution. We should go, I don’t want to be part of this. Leave before heaven looks in our direction and recognizes our faces, quick!”

A guard immediately held a huge umbrella over Police Chief Li. Then the boss made a chopping gesture with his gloved hand. Was the glove to keep the blood from staining his murderous hand?

Then he addressed the crowd, “Please stay calm, it’ll be over in a moment; then you can all go home to relax or to a restaurant to have a big meal!”

As the man in the black mask raised the ax high to strike, I slid the knife from my pocket and hurled it with full force. As expected, the knife buried itself in the executioner’s thick arm.

Blood squirted in his eyes and ran down the mask to his chest as he screamed out painfully. “Aiya!”

The ax dropped to the floor as more rain poured down.

Someone yelled, “Let the man go free!

“Don’t you realize that heaven does not want him to die?!”

Chief Li raised his voice against the thunder and the calls of the crowd. “This man is a heartless criminal and will meet his long-deserved death!”

But no one listened to him, because they believed he had been overruled by heaven.

Li shouted, veins bulging on his temples. “I’m the police chief and I order you all to stay, right now!”

But there was mass confusion. Ignoring the disorderly crowd, he turned to ordered the executioner. “Strike, now!”

But Gao was nowhere to be seen.

As unobtrusively as possible, I squeezed through the stampeding crowd and left this place of horror. I’d left behind my precious knife but saved an even more precious life.

That night I slept restlessly, terrible images flitting through my distorted awareness. Finally, I fell into a deep, troubled sleep and did not awaken in my hotel room until it was already afternoon, the sheets clammy with my sweat. I soaked for a long time in the bathtub, then rested until evening, when I finally summoned the energy to go out. Not wanting to be alone, I decided to visit Edward Miller, hoping he could soothe my chilled and exhausted mind and body. I hoped the ambassador would be at home, but I knew that diplomats like him spend many evenings out at dinners or receptions with politicians, businessmen, or celebrities.