Fat Years - Chan Koonchung [71]
“ ‘Look at you,’ said the female prosecutor, ‘you don’t look like an American. Say something in English for us.’ I recited a section of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing in the Wind,’ and I did it quite fluently.
“But the prosecutor was not having any of it. ‘You’re obviously Chinese. You can’t fool anybody by pretending to be American. Why would an American hide in a peasant’s house? What the hell is an American doing here anyway? There aren’t any tourist attractions or investment opportunities here. You look like an American spy to me.’
“ ‘Captured foreign spies are to be executed,’ said the male prosecutor.
“ ‘You have no objections?’ the female prosecutor asked, looking at the young female judge.
“ ‘He can’t be executed,’ said the young female judge.
“ ‘Why not?’ asked the male prosecutor. ‘We’re supposed to punish criminals severely and rapidly.’
“ ‘If we capture an American spy,’ the young judge said, ‘we are supposed to report it to the higher authorities.’
“The two prosecutors immediately responded that that would take too much time.
“ ‘Then let’s pass sentence,’ said the male prosecutor.
“ ‘You can’t pass sentence,’ said the young female judge.
“ ‘Why can’t we pass sentence?’ asked the male prosecutor. ‘The Americans sent a spy over here, and we Chinese are not happy. Isn’t that so?’
“ ‘You can be unhappy,’ the young female judge countered, ‘but you can’t be stupid. If he’s a spy, we have to report it to the higher authorities; if he isn’t, we have to let him go.’
“ ‘Americans no longer have extraterritorial rights,’ said the male prosecutor.
“ ‘It has nothing to do with extraterritoriality,’ said the female judge. ‘It is not a crime for a Chinese person to carry an American passport in China—and that’s according to our own Chinese law.’
“The two prosecutors looked very unsettled at what the young judge was saying.
“ ‘Comrade,’ the female prosecutor said, ‘stop arguing. You know perfectly well you’re wasting police time. They worked so hard to arrest this guy and now you want to let him go. This is a waste of our group’s time, too. And furthermore, you’re interfering with our work schedule. At this rate we won’t be able to reach the target set by the higher authorities.’
“The other prosecutor nodded in approval, while the two Public Security officials and the other judge had yet to open their mouths.
“ ‘I can’t worry about that,’ said the stubborn young female judge, ‘I operate on the basis of our national laws. If he’s a spy, report him to the higher authorities. If he’s not a spy, set him free.’
“The female prosecutor stared fiercely at the young judge. She was so angry she was about to explode, but the men just bowed their heads in silence. I was stunned. Then the female prosecutor shouted, ‘Get him out of here!’ and they escorted me off the premises. My life and freedom had been saved. Even in a deserted little town like that, China has outstanding talent like that young woman. Even if it’s just for her sake, I cannot allow the world to forget what happened during that lost month.”
Lao Chen was moved by Fang’s story and longed even more for Little Xi.
“I knew,” Fang Caodi continued, “I couldn’t keep running around wildly; if I was picked up again, I might really be executed. There was a Daoist temple near the town, and when I recited the names of a few old Daoist monks I’d heard of, the old monk there let me stay. Some other time I’ll tell you about my monastic seclusion and the practice of inedia. You’ve heard of inedia, haven’t you? It basically amounts to fasting. Would you believe that I can practice inedia for fourteen days? We could have a competition and see who can practice it for the longest time …”
“Forget it,” said Lao Chen, looking at a text message, “you win already. I can’t stand missing a single meal. Finish your story. I need to talk to you about something.”
“I wanted to practice inedia in the temple for twenty-one days,” Fang went on, “but when I reached the fourteenth day,