Mingmei Yip - The Nine Fold Heaven

“Son, don’t tease me! What do you mean that they’re in hell?”

“Oh, Mama,” he retorted, “how can you forget that they’re dead?”

“Dead, how?”

“Mama, your parents were murdered!”

“What?! By whom?”

“By the man you call big brother, that’s who!”

Just then I woke up from this dreamy revelation to find myself not in the amusement park but in my joyless Hong Kong apartment. Suddenly memories I’d been suppressing my whole life flowed into my consciousness like water bursting a dam.

I was about four, accompanying my parents for an outing. On the way, I fussed so badly that my parents said that after they’d taken me to pee, they’d get me some ice cream to cheer me up. While we were looking for a restroom, two big men jumped out of a seemingly deserted alley and grabbed us. One of them pulled a bag over my head so I couldn’t see. But I was able to hear all too clearly—flesh slashing, cow-slaughtering screams—then silence. After that, I was pushed into a car that sped away in full speed.

I cried hysterically, “Mama! Baba!” until the bag was lifted from my head.

In front of me was the face of a young Big Brother Wang!

At this moment, I knew what I must do next with Wang’s training.

Back in Shanghai, Shadow and I stayed at a medium-priced hotel in the French Concession. Here, we could get tidbits of information from the rickshaw pullers as they went in and out. Since the concessions were controlled by foreign governments, we were safer here than in the main city, controlled, of course, by the Chinese police and their gangster accomplices.

Since we had not come back for pleasure, we didn’t go out much, but read all the newspapers to catch up on what was happening in the city. However, after Rainbow’s article that I’d read in Hong Kong, there was no further news about Jinying’s kidnapping or Wang’s efforts to take over the Shanghai underworld. This left me more worried than ever.

A whole week had passed and still nothing in the news. To overcome my inertia, I decided on a bold move: telephoning Big Brother Wang. This would be extremely risky, even suicidal, because then he would know I was in Shanghai, within reach of his hit men. I needed to be very careful not to carelessly reveal anything about my location or my plans. So I wrote down what I’d be telling Wang:

1. I’m now in Shanghai.

2. I have Lung’s safe combination and bank account numbers.

3. I’m offering a trade—Jinying alive with not so much as a single hair lost—in exchange for the combination and account numbers.

I figured this was an offer Wang could not refuse since getting these had been his life-long obsession. In addition, if Wang believed that I cared more about love than money, he’d fall more easily into my trap.

The next morning, I went to a public phone and dialed my former boss’s residence.

The man who picked up the phone—probably one of his bodyguards—barked a loud, “Yes?!” which sounded very much like a threatening “No!”

“Is Big Brother Wang there? I would like to speak to him.”

“Who’s that?”

“Please tell him it’s his former secretary.”

“Did he have one?”

I smiled into the phone and spoke seductively. “Sir, you must be new, of course he had!”

The bark seemed to be brought down a notch. “All right, miss, stay right there.”

Seconds later, Wang’s even more intimidating voice attacked me from the other end of the line.

“Who is this? It better be something good!”

“It’s Camilla, Big Brother Wang.”

A few seconds of deathly silence.

“Camilla? Is this a joke?”

“It’s me, Big Brother Wang.”

Another cemetery silence during which I imagined the relish of plunging a knife into his chest or firing a bullet into his head.

“Then where the hell have you been, and why are you calling me after this damn long time?”

“Sorry, Big Brother Wang, but I can explain.”

“Huh, explain? You’re pretty brave to even call me in person. My men can track you down and snap your pretty neck with a loud crack! Ha!” He snickered. “Maybe this just proves how well I’ve trained you to be fearless. But I didn’t mean to train you to be stupid!”

”Big Brother Wang, I’m well aware of my position.”

Before winning the battle, it’s always wise to play humble. As The Art of War taught me:

“Then when are you going to give me back what you stole from Lung’s safe, huh?”

“This is exactly why I called, Big Brother Wang.”

I heard him breathe in sharply.

“Ha, good. But otherwise, your pretty little head will no longer be sitting between your shoulders. All right, now tell me what you want.”

“I know you have Master Lung’s son and I want to exchange what I’ve got for him.”

“ Wah, are you crazy or something? All that money for that worthless fool?”

“Because I love him.”

“Ha, ha, ha! Don’t make me laugh! Didn’t I train you to have no friends and no emotions? But you fall in love with a good-for-nothing and all your training goes down the shithole!”

“Love happens, Big Brother Wang.” I knew this idea was lost on him but said it anyway.

“All right. I don’t give a damn about who you love, don’t love, or used to love, or used to torture, or destroyed. Speaking of torture, tonight might be a good time for my men to torture Lung Jinying some more. I can hold up the phone so you can hear him scream, if you don’t believe me. Or, you can give me all Lung’s bank account numbers, cash, bank notes, American dollars, jewelry, gold and silver bars, and whatever else you took; then you can have your worthless Jinying back. Anyway, I’ve got to get rid of him one way or the other because I don’t want to keep paying for his meals. You know, these days the price of rice and meat keeps going up, ha, ha, ha!”

“If he’s such a burden, why did you bother to kidnap him?”

Although I already read the answer in Rainbow’s column, I needed to verify from Wang’s mouth. If it was the same as what Rainbow said, then she was telling the truth.

“Ha, smart as you are, you should have guessed—I keep him to lure his father to come out of hiding.”

“You think Master Lung is still alive somewhere?”

“I’m not sure, that’s why I need his son—for bait. If he still doesn’t show his face, I’ll start the torture.”

“Please don’t!”

“Ha! You really love this—”

“Big Brother Wang, why torture him, since I can trade you Lung’s treasures?”

There was a silence, as if he was actually thinking.

“You do have a point. Ha, see how well I trained you! But I still get to keep the son so I can torture him to have revenge on his father.”

“Big Brother Wang, what if Lung is already dead?”

“I don’t think so.”

“How come?”

“Because his body was never found. He must be seriously injured and trying to recover. Anyway, as soon as he can, I bet he’ll show his face to try to get his son back, ha, ha, ha!”

Yes, Lung, once the most powerful gangster, would have no face left if he was powerless to save his only son.

But I really didn’t care about Master Lung, only his son, so I asked urgently, “So, Big Brother Wang, what about if we set up a day and time for the exchange?”

“Sounds good. But if you play tricks…”