Finally, Yu-ou took out an envelope from the bottom of the drawer, inside was a piece of paper.
She unfolded it and read it literally:
Recalling an Old Pal on Graduation
Twittering swallow, you have fully fledged,
Fluttering to fly high, your happiness I can imagine.
Is there another swallow flying with you?
Or have you built a nest and forgotten your old pal?
Crystalline swallow, who is trapped in a cage,
Your time and youth have been elapsed within;
Be endured until a heaviest storm comes,
Break through the cage and enjoy our life in peace.
The poem was written by me when Yu-ou was still in prison and I was graduated fo-m Beijing Medical College. Later I gave it to Yu-ou when we got married. There seemed to be an impulse when I wrote down the last two sentences and I felt a b-it strange. Yu-ou pressed it tightly against her chest, tears came down like rain. Regarding the last two sentences, Yu-ou had vaguely thought that to be out
of reach. Would it now come true? Could I break free and find a way out? She und-erstood that this piece of paper could definitely not be left behind. After hes-itation, she finally scratched a match and incinerated it. Yu-ou took little Meng to Aunt Yin. Because Yin's husband was a worker in a printing factory, if the police questioned her afterward there might be less trouble. She repeatedly considered whether to tell Aunt Yin about her escape plan but finally decided not,
fearing that Yin would dare not accept little Meng. Also, it would take time to explain it all. Yu-ou didn't have much time left, so she told a lie: "Aunt Yin, the police substation told me to attend a meeting, please take care of little Meng for a while.” Little Meng was falling asleep, and with her rosycomplexion, seemed sweeter than ever. Yu-ou hugged her tightly. Facing a parting which migh-t be forever, Yu-ou almost couldn't help but cry out. She gently handed little Meng to Aunt Yin. Little Meng sighed "um" but didn’t wake up. Yu-ou immediatel-y turned away barely restraining her tears. Aunt Yin felt a misgiving and asked suspiciously, "What meeting?" “I don't know. Nothing, I will be back soon." Yu-ou replied as she hurried away. Just out of the door, her tears streamed down.
Parting in life? Or separating by death? Who could tell? Zhang Ting and Yu-ou le-ft Guangzhou on the evening bus, and then checked into a hotel with fake travel certificates. The next day they used the fake certificates to board a boat and bus and pass militia checks. Finally they got off at the Xiaoli bus station in the evening and walked quietly along a narrow road. When it turned dark they sn-eaked into the mountains and began an arduous adventure, walking by night and h-iding by day. Both of them were unfamiliar with the area. Zhang Ting had heard a little bit but not more than the direction and the target characteristics. Th-ey had expected a four-day journey, but they traveled a total of ten days, including the bus and boat as well as climbing mountains! Becoming very hungry, they resorted to eating raw vegetables from farm fields. After several narrow escape-s, finally they climbed up to the Eagle Beak Ridge close to the provincial boun-dary at night. Below them was the sea! There was a dim blue light glowing acros-s the sea far away that they were sure was the Portuguese colony of Macao. Near the blue light they pinpointed a big rock next to a hill as their goal for swim-ming across the sea, and then descended the mountain. A path wound through the foothills. Zhang Ting had heard that border guards and militiamen patrolled the path with a very ferocious dog. They saw no patrol, so quickly crossed the pat-h. Down on the seashore, Yu-ou found not the beach she was expecting (Yu-ou had lived in Hong Kong and Macao in her childhood), but instead rugged rocks, sand dunes, puddles, mud, oyster shells, sparse sea grasses, and what they later learned were "sea olive groves". The sea itself was still dozens of meters away.
Day was dawning and the tide had been ebbing for some time. So they knew they mu-st move toward the sea as quickly as possible. They walked through the mud, hold-ing a branch as a cane, and nearly slipped several times. Their bodies stained with mud and their strength nearly exhausted, Yu-ou and Zhang Ting finally reac-hed the waterfront. They need to stop and rest, but the path along the foothill-s was not far away, and patrolling militia or border guards could easily spot t-hem. So they struggled farther, then squatted and hid among dense sea grasses a-nd olive trees. Sea water reached their chests and shoulders and waves splashed on their faces. Although it was hot summer, they still felt a chill when soaked by sea water in the early morning. Mosquitoes and other small insects flitted a-bout their heads and faces. As bugs swarmed, occasional small fish pecked at te-ir bodies and legs. Just ten minutes of rest did not make them comfortable. The-y also worried about sea snakes. Zhang Ting had heard that a particular sea sna-ke with an elliptical rather than a triangular head was poisonous. They stared at the path in the foothills, because the militia or border guards might appear at any time. By now it was daylight. They saw nobody patrolling on the path, so they stood up, tore off Mao’s badges, threw them into the mud, took off the wo
 wash away. Then they blew up air pillows, tied tightly the shoes and the remain-ing half-bottle of water to their waists, and prepared to swim out. Yu-ou looke-d up and saw a flock of seagulls flying freely under the blue sky. She remember-ed the name her parents gave her: Yu-ou (Jade Gull). “This Gull is not as free as those gulls!" she sighed.They swam out toward the big rock previously identi-fied as their goal, trying to relax and changed their swimming postures from ti-me to time. The ebb tides helped push them quickly forward. Praying to their ow-n respective deities for mercy, they did not encounter patrol boats or sharks.
Zhang Ting had heard earlier that a man swimming to Hong Kong was attacked by a shark and lost a leg, then bled to death when not very far to the coast. They d-id not know how many hours they had swum and both of them felt exhausted, but there was still a considerable distance to the goal of that big rock. By this tim-e Yu-ou had noticed what appeared to be land just ahead. She gasped and said to Zhang Ting, "I cannot swim any longer. Look right ahead, it seems to be land, l-et us swim over to it.” Zhang Ting answered, "I can't swim anymore either. But does that land belong to Macao or Zhuhai (a county of Mainland China)?" Yu-ou s-aid: "No matter, just swim over there, or else we’ll drown in the sea." Yu-ou feared that if it was part of Zhuhai then, as a "released counterrevolutionary" fleeing, she would inevitably be sentenced to probably five or ten years. “Ala-s, ten years, how terrible!” she thought. “How can I get through the days? Ho-w would little Meng be? How would Qing Si get along?” Then she thought of the current chaos of the Cultural Revolution. Would she be tortured or beaten to de-ath by “masses dictatorship”? A chill of terror and bitterness seized her. Sh-e dared not think about it any longer but prayed, “God, everything is handed u-p to you, have mercy on us.” They dragged their tired bodies and swam mechanic-ally toward the land. Gradually they saw a beach. Paddling closer, they noticed two people swimming towards them. They were alarmed but there was no way to esc-ape. Their bodies were so weak that their hands and feet could only mechanicall-y paddle. They had to resign themselves to fate. As the two people swam closer, th-ey appeared to be a young man and a woman with no malicious intention. "What is the shore there?" Yu-ou asked feebly. “Macao.” "Oh, Macao!" They cried out in pleasant surprise as tears burst out and they gained new strength to swim quickly forward. The young man and woman followed them to shore. Finally Yu-ou and Zhang Ting felt the sandy seabed, immediately stood up, and stumbled onto the b-each. After standing, Yu Ou knelt down, looked up and raised her hands to heave-n: "God! Thank you for having mercy on us.” Zhang Ting also involuntarily knel-t down thanking a god she did not know. Yu-ou then lay prone on the ground, kis-sed the sand, then held her head in her hands, sighing with relief. They finall-y had arrived in a land of freedom! Yu-ou arose and saw the young man and woman standing in front of her. They were moved by the scene and looked affectionatel-y at Yu-ou. The man carried a mesh bag of biscuits, the woman handed Yu-ou a bo-ttle of soda. Zhang Ting already had been chewing biscuits and drinking soda. Y-u-ou suddenly felt long-lost human kindness, and with tears in her eyes thanked them. She took the soda and cookies: “Ah! The ‘Watson’ soda and ‘Garden’ b-iscuits of the free world, how many years I have not seen you!” She began to e-at and drink by the mouthful. Yu-ou suddenly paused, a mixed emotion surging u--p: “Yes, I am free. But how about little Meng? How about Qing Si and other rel-atives? When will their disaster be over?” She could not help but let more tea-rs trickle down her cheeks.