Jiang knew what hung in the balance-China's swimming title or his balls. What he didn't know was that his balls were going to be hacked off no matter what he did. Jiang will pay for Xiao's treachery . . . one way or another he'll pay. Sung Li had always liked Jiang-he had always hoped Jiang would become one of his special boys, but not now. Sung Li knew he'd never be able to look Jiang in the eyes without thinking about Xiao. It's Jiang's fault that Xiao's dead and the penalty for murder is death. Now I have license to kill him piece by piece, bone by bone, hair by hair. Sung Li smiled as he pictured Jiang on the table. I hope he wins; it'll give him all the more reason to return to the village . . .and to my special room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jiang spent his final evening in Shuoxian, fucking Mei. Now that Xiao was gone, there was no doubt they'd marry. We'll live in a fairy world and we'll have a dozen children.

At daybreak, Jiang lifted himself off Mei, wishing he could go in for one more plunge, wishing Wei and Xiao were one and the same.

Jiang kissed Wei dispassionately and headed out to the awaiting truck. He hopped into the back with the other boys, and the coach drove to Canton. They only had two flat tires along the way and Luo Cong took it as a good omen. "Surely, the ancient gods are with us; they've sent us their good fortune and you all win in Canton."

Jiang was just as confident. He knew he was the best swimmer in Northern China: now he would prove it to the rest of the nation.

Hon-Kee, Lin-Chu and Wang giggled in the back of the truck along with Jiang. They all knew Jiang was the strongest swimmer, but they also knew anything could happen in a meet. "We're going to be up against China's strongest swimmers," Hon-Kee said. "And this is just one meet . . . anything can happen in one meet, you know that, Jiang, you know that."

"And how many times have I lost?"

"You're arrogant, that's your problem. I didn't say you were going to lose I said anything could happen and it can . . . even Wang or Lin-Chu could win . . . anyone could!"

"The boys in South China could win. We don't know how good they are but we know they've been going to the national meets every year for the past ten."

"And this is our first time," Wang piped in. "We don't know what's going to happen., so just take it easy and calm down, okay?"

Wang's nerves were shot. He always got car sick and he barely understood why he didn't get sick when he swam because his stomach churned and his head spun. He was always nervous, "high strung" is how the coach described him, and he had weird premonitions before each match. He knew who was going to win and he knew who was going to come in last and now he was having another premonition. He knew Jiang was not going to win the gold. He knew something terrible was going to happen and he didn't know what to do about it.

"Don't worry about yourself," Lin-Chu added, "You always do well . . . and so does Jiang . . . just worry about the team. We need to win a team medal, so don't look at individual events until we know how we've done as a team.

Lin-Chu was right. If the boys from Shuoxian didn't finish in the top seven, they wouldn't be able to swim in the individual races and then they'd all go home with their heads in the toilet. "We must think as a team." Lin-Chu wanted to reach out and grab his teammates, he wanted to touch them and hold them, but he knew boys didn't do that-at least not in public.

"I'm not arrogant," Jiang said, after thinking long and hard about Hon-Kee's remark. "I just know I'm going to win; I've always won. I've trained harder and longer than any other boy in China. You know that-you all know that."

The other boys didn't disagree. They didn't have to. Each one knew Jiang was the best; he had worked hardest and he deserved to win, each boy wished Jiang the greatest success, but deep down inside, Wang sensed that Jiang was going to lose-what Wang didn't know, however, were the consequences of Jiang's defeat. "Look on the good side," Wang said, "if you lose, you can always go home and marry Mei."

Jiang thought about Mei-and her father. She was a different girl after her whipping and after the chat Jiang had with Deng Quoc-Di, he knew he would marry Mei-and he would control her.

"Maybe you can even coach someday. You have your entire life ahead of you; don't let one little competition bother you."

"It's not worrying me," Jiang said as he stood up taller than his hundred and sixty-two centimeter height would allow. "I know what I have to do . . . and you know what you have to do. Without each other we're nothing, but working as a team we can defeat every other boy in China."

Jiang knew the consequences and he prayed to Kuan Yin that he wouldn't lose-"I must go on for China, I must go on for her."

Each boy interpreted Jiang's word "her" in a different light. Lin-Chu thought "her" referred to the swimming event. Jiang is the consummate swimmer; he'll win her for all of us. Wang thought "her" referred to China and that Jiang meant he'd swim for his country, but Hon-Kee thought Jiang meant Mei, that he would swim for his girlfriend and when he won, they'd both celebrate the victory together, and that elated Hon-Kee because he knew he and Jiang would be brothers-in-law. Hon-Kee licked his lips thinking about Jiang as his brother-in-law. Xiao's dead and out of the picture now, perhaps I can be Jiang's special friend. Hon-Kee licked his lips again, eyeing Jiang, wondering why, wondering why not.

The coach and the boys didn't have to spend the three nights sleeping in the truck since they had arranged time to spend in local inns on the way to Canton. All four boys and the coach shared the same room, however. "It's the only way any of us will get any sleep," Coach said. "If I have my own room, you'll carry on all night long, but if I stay here, no one will dare breathe unless I give him permission."

The boys knew the coach was right, but secretly they each wished for enough freedom to be on their own for a few minutes-out of sight of the coach-and each boy knew exactly how he would use his free time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next day, Jiang and his team spent the night with thousands of other athletes and he stayed awake half the night, wondering who would be the next person to walk into the athletic hall's dormitory because each time someone turned on the lights, Jiang would hear a new voice saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was here. Oh my God, it's Wu Jiang, I've heard so much about you. I've wanted to meet you all my life." And so it went all night long. Each time Jiang met a new friend, each time he shared his experiences with his new swimming pal, the friend would retire graciously and Jiang would try to fall back to sleep until, just a few moments later, the light would blast and another boy would enter the room as the same scene repeated itself over again.

Jiang had no idea that his reputation had preceded him; he had no idea he was so revered, What will I do if I lose? What will the boys think; how will I be able to face them?

But Jiang knew he had to win if he wanted to remain intact and stay true to Xiao's memory. If only I had made it back to the cave, if only I had died with Xiao.

The next morning, Jiang entered the first race, his strongest event, the butterfly, thinking it was a good omen and secretly wondering if Xiao's butterfly mole would have performed magic for him if he were still alive.

He won the first three heats by several meters and when it came to the final six or seven seconds of each race, there was no one inside his wake. He had the pool all to himself and it was as if he flew through the water. It was as if Jiang had launched himself on top of a submarine and glided from one end of the pool to the other, back and forth, back and forth, until he beat his closest competitors by a full nine seconds.

The next race, the backstroke, was to be completed in the late morning and Jiang could feel his adrenalin and testosterone flowing, I'll never be castrated now! I'll be a man and marry Mei and have so many children that even Sung Li will be jealous.

No one could touch Jiang in the backstroke and, again, he was exactly seven seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, but Jiang was delighted to notice that Hon-Kee, his friend from early childhood, was the winner of the silver. Now there are two of us from the village of Shuoxian who will represent our province. We are invincible and the government won't try to do anything to me now that I have friends in high places and everyone knows what I have done. No one will ever be able to hurt me now!

No boy had ever swum so many matches in one day, but Jiang was used to swimming hours a day at practice and hours more at night as he swam against the currents in the great river. Jiang could swim twenty-four seven and never be tired.

"You've swum in five heats and two finals, aren't you tired at all?" Even the coach couldn't believe Jiang's stamina. "No one can swim so many hours. You're swimming like you're swimming for your life. What's your secret? Have you been blessed by the ancient gods?"

Jiang was swimming for his life but he didn't tell his coach. It was obvious that the coach had known about Sung Li's plot for months and the coach was delighted to know that Jiang's nuts would be safe now. Not even Sung Li's brave enough to touch my boy now, no one will bother China's greatest hero now.

And then the final event, the freestyle, was announced and Jiang was flying! He was ready for a trip to heaven now-nothing would deter him.

Jiang easily won both of the first two heats and worked his way so far up the pecking order that he didn't have to enter any more, winning an automatic exemption for the rest of the championship-the first boy in Chinese sports history to attain such an honor.

But it was then that Jiang's luck changed, just as he was ready to jump off the starting blocks for the final event, he tapped his big toe, which was nothing serious to an athlete of Jiang's prowess, but it was enough to cause a slight swelling and a pain to emanate from his toe to his brain, and as he neared the final lap, he realized he had spent more time wondering about his toe than he had in focusing on the race. He turned to his left and saw Lin-Chu far ahead of him and when he turned to the right he noticed that Hon Kee, again, was pulling up, but he was pulling up so fast that Jiang wouldn't be able to win the race. Jiang struggled for third, knowing a bronze in the freestyle wasn't victory but it was better than coming in fourth. Coming in fourth is like a man with one shoe-worthless to everyone but the shoemaker. They know you have to come back again; they know they have you by the balls. Just when Jiang thought of the word balls, he froze in the water and everyone thought he had a charley horse. He was unable to climb out of the pool and found himself floundering and starting to sink. If it hadn't been for his friend, Hon-Kee, Jiang would have sunk beneath the water, drowned and been gone forever. However, Hon-Kee was on him in a moment, dragging him to the surface, back paddling until he got to the edge of the pool where dozens of spectators and officials grabbed Jiang and pulled him out of the water. Needless to say, Jiang didn't come in fourth-he didn't even qualify to be listed as completing the race, which was the most important one in all of China's swimming history. The event would never be held again and Jiang would have to go home with two Gold Medals in lesser events, but they were nothing more than and an ignominious defeat. There was no way he could face Sung Li now. Even the government officials would forget him once they learned he had choked up on the final lap of the freestyle.

Can I escape to Hong Kong? Can I ask for refuge? How do I seek sanctuary? What can I do?

All the boys hugged and banged on Lin-Chu's back. He was China's new hero and Jiang, once the favored and idol and everyone's child, hung his head as he walked silently to the dressing room, slipped into his clothing and headed out into the darkness of the night. I should just throw myself into the river-at least I'll die intact-at least I'll bring no more shame to myself or to my country. I should just toss myself into the Pearl River and let my body wash down to Hong Kong. Jiang walked more rapidly now, heading toward the river already smelling the salty breeze wafting up from the ocean, knowing he should toss himself into the sea just as Meng Jiangnu had done so many centuries before.

Then, almost miraculously, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a boy, a slender childlike boy of Xiao's height and weight, coming toward him. He's just passing in the night. He's just walking along the street, just like me, but . . .

Jiang didn't want to think about Xiao, he just wanted to end it all-he wanted to go away and never be seen again. I'll be free or I'll toss myself into the river and die; I must live free or die!

The boy who approached Jiang had black hair and a girlish gait that was similar to Xiao's walk and, yet, he was different.

I wonder if . . . no, it can't be Xiao. He's covered by the mountain underneath the Great Wall. He's dead and I must decide what to do without him-should I try to escape or just end it?

The boy's hands covered his face as he approached Jiang-it was almost as if he was playing peek-a-boo, but Jiang knew better. Strangers don't do that-they don't play games, unless -

The boy seemed more and more like Xiao's duplicate-even the aroma wafting across the street, reminded Jiang of Xiao. Jiang wondered if it was an omen, Perhaps he's a messenger from the goddess. Perhaps he's come to help me.

Jiang stopped and faced the boy, the boy who seemed so familiar, yet so different from the man he loved.

"I've been following you forever," the boy said with a grin. "You haven't changed at all, but I have."

"Xiao, is that you, Xiao?" Jiang shouted so loudly that both boys thought they would bring the police if they didn't immediately lower their voices. "Is that really you? I saw the mountain cave in around you. I thought you were dead."

"Yes, my love, it's me. Look," Xiao pulled down his-shirt, revealing the butterfly mole on his left shoulder.

"I discovered Meng Jiangnu's secret-I had to-I didn't have any choices left and when we were separated, when the wall came crashing down, I could only think of our adventure and everything we tried; then I thought about Kuan Yin and how she warned us to remember the legend of Meng Jiangnu. I could only think of freedom, and that forced me to figure out how to open the door."

"You opened the door? But how?"

"It was simple; I don't know why we never solved it together. I was holding the bowls in my right hand and traced the words with my left hand, realizing that Fan Xiliang must have been left-handed. That's why we failed-that's why we weren't able to open that stupid door, we didn't think that Fan Xiliang was left handed. Any fool should have seen it!"

'Well, I didn't!"

"From then on, it was simple, the door opened and I went through it. I walked for days, underneath the Great Wall, struggling to understand the gods that I met there, struggling to understand why I was chosen to be The Great Wall - the mighty fortress-the strength in china. And then I met Kuan Yin in her palace and she told me that you and I have lived before-we've been alive forever-AND we'll live forever and we are The Great Walls in China. And-" Xiao's eyes melted as he thought about his grandmother-realizing he'd never see her again, wishing he had thanked her for her love. "I saw Granny. She's dead-but I saw her soul-she's going to be born again!"

"I don't understand-"

"It's Meng's secret-the secret of the immortals-we'll both be reborn. We are the reincarnated spirits of Fan Xiliang and Meng Jiangnu. "

"That explains everything," Jiang shouted. "That explains why I had this urge to walk to the river to drown myself . . . just like Ming did when the emperor captured her. Did the goddess tell you which of us was who? Am I Meng? Am I Xiliang?" Jiang had a twinkle in his eye-he knew he was Meng Jiangnu but he wondered if the goddess had shared that secret with Xiao.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that we've always been together," Xiao laughed, "but don't end up drowning yourself to prove it." The boys hugged. Jiang knew he was safe now.

"Kuan Yin explained that we'll escape. I'm sure we can get to Hong Kong-it's just a short train ride away. Then get to the West where we'll be free forever."

Jiang touched Xiao's shoulder as the butterfly mole undulated gently under his fingertips; it was as if the butterfly was verifying Jiang and Xiao were really alive for the first time, now that their fear was gone, now that their hatred had dissipated and both boys were free.

Jiang kissed Xiao gently, took his hand and quickly headed off toward the ships, docked in the harbor.

"We can jump a ship and escape. Stay with me, my love, stay with me."

I wonder if I should tell Jiang about the secret of the Great Wall-that it offers everyone two different kinds of lives-a life in the body or a life in the spirit. I wonder if I should tell him which I chose. No, I'll tell him later. Jiang's not ready yet . . . he's just not ready.


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Melbourne
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