In the front half there was an archaic square table, on it piled bundles of unfi-nished firecrackers. A wrinkled old woman wearing a pair of black-framed readin-g glasses and working under a dim kerosene lamp, held a bundle of firecrackers with her left hand, and a stick in her right hand to poke at the end of each fi-recracker to press the gunpowder inside. She might earn more than 20 cents a da-y so as to supplement the family income.Zheng asked the old woman to come into the room, then pushed the firecrackers aside and put out a tea set. The three o-f us leaned on the table and whispered.Before long, a man passed by, saw and gr-eeted us: "Jian, guests?" Zheng answered: "My cousins come from Guangzhou." The man came in, Zheng drew a stool for him to sit down and introduced him to us: "My former classmate, A Wu." A Wu was an argumentative guest who had once robbd the place of the host. He asked many questions; we tried to respond courteously but without telling him much. A Wu rambled on spraying his spittle around as he talked: "XX fled to Macao successfully, eleven people squeezed in a boat." Then he glanced at the street and whispered: "The next tide cycle (suitable date and time of going out to the sea) I will go by boat. They allow two more persons to join in. Just to pay a small amount of money, but most important is that he sho-uld have someone in Hong Kong or Macao to help take care of us. I wonder if any-one wants to go." He stared at Donnan and me.Donnan and I forced a smile and sa-id we had never thought of fleeing to Hong Kong.Donnan tried to shake off A Wu. Looking at the old-fashioned clock on the wall he said: "Eleveno’clock alread-y, let’s go have a tea!" Zheng rose and led us out, but A Wu followed. In the r-estaurant, A Wu talked again enticingly in low voice about fleeing to Hong Kon--g: "If someone wants to go, just let me know, but must be quick.”We three look-ed the other way evading the subject.As we left, A Wu again whispered to us: "I-f anyone wants to go, contact me as soon as possible. Eh?" We pretended to hear nothing.On the way back, Zheng warned us: "Be careful with this guy, someone sa-id he is an informer." I wondered with a chill: Did the informer have an eye on me? A week after we had returned to Guangzhou, Donnan told me that Zheng sent h-im a message saying that the fishermen whom we wanted to contact went with anot-her group of people five days ago. So far their families had not yet received a-ny news of their arrival, so it seemed to be fraught with grim possibilities.So a link was broken. A friend invited me to see his Uncle Yue. Uncle used to be a seaman but had been unemployed for a long time. He earned a living by doing odd jobs such as repairing household appliances and plumbing.Uncle Yue told me that he recently became connected to a group for fleeing to Hong Kong by boat, in Lo-ngjiang Town, Shunde County, where the trend of fleeing to Hong Kong was prevai-ling.They found him because he used to be a seaman, and they needed a navigato-r; also they had to fix the broken boat and have someone to pay for it. I asked how much it would cost, but Uncle Yue said he had no idea yet.Late one afternoo-n, Uncle Yue and I took a bus to Longjiang and located our contacts. A dozen pe-ople sat around a table eating hot pot; two plates of raw fish fillets also wer-e on the table. They greeted us and invited us to join them. I knew the Shunde was an endemic area of clonorchiasis (a parasitic disease of the hepatobiliary system). I dared not eat raw fish, so put the fillet into the hot pot to cook w-ell before eating. I asked Uncle Yue and the others to do the same, but the loc-als would not.We started talking about fleeing. It turned out they had a crippl-ed fishing ship, now berthing in the creek.They led us to see the ship. It was a black and rather big one, but badly broken, even the mast was damaged. After returning, they talked jubilantly and dreamed about the future, as if they had arrived in Hong Kong already. They talked with eloquence and no scruples at al-l, whereas I was always edgy; in Guangzhou we could talk fleeing to Hong Kong on-ly secretly.They were local farmers who worked hard all year but eked out only a scanty livelihood. So where to get the extra money to repair the ship? They h-ad to find a partner. They said that after the ship had been repaired, they cou-ld start out on the next tide cycle.I asked how much it would take to repair th-e ship; they listed which parts needed to be repaired or replaced, how much for each part, and how much was the total. The amount was not small; I could not af-ford it, but did not say so, just said we would think about that when we return-ed to Guangzhou. We also put forward a few questions regarding safety, although we had only superficial knowledge about that. Most worrisome was the fact that more than 20 people would join in, and could all keep the secret? But they pled-ged to do so, because all involved were relatives or friends.Back to Guangzhou, Uncle Yue and I carefully discussed some issues. As for the money, it was possi-ble to find someone to share the cost, because they agreed to give one or two m-ore seats.However, in terms of safety, we decided it was too risky. More than 2-0 people, and to repair the ship openly, how could it be kept secret? In additi-on, they knew little about the inspection points on inner rivers or creeks, whe
 reas Uncle Yue had experience only after entering the sea. After careful consid
 eration, we decided to give it up.Uncle Yue and I thought that if we could find a small boat with the fishermen and passengers totaling no more than six or sev-en people, it would be ideal. Of course, the fishermen should be familiar with the network of rivers in Pearl River Delta and able to avoid or successfully co-pe with the inspection points. However, where to find such an ideal boat? A fri-end introduced Chang Tsai to me. Chang Tsai was a farmer of Guizhou Commune, Sh-unde County, in his forties. A few months ago, he and 10 people successfully fl-ed to Macao in a boat. Macao was small and its job opportunities limited, so mo-st people who fled to Macau just used it as a springboard to flee to Hong Kong. When Chang Tsai and others took a fishing boat to Hong Kong,unfortunately they were intercepted by the patrol boat and sent back to the mainland. As Chang Tsa-i was a poor peasant by class status, he had nothing serious to lose.I invited Chang Tsai to come to Guangzhou. But he said he had just failed in the fleeing and did not want to go for a second time. I tried to persuade him, the main rea-son was that two factions of Red Guards were busy in fighting each other recent-ly, and it was said that the border guards were somewhat distracted. It was a p-ity to let such an opportunity slip away. Chang Tsai’s family had been farming for generations. He was not well educated, but he made a very realistic stateme-nt: "So far as the economy (problem) is not resolved, the fleeing to Hong Kong
will not stop.” As for the border situation, Chang Tsai didn't care much and sa-id: "(Pearl River Delta) rivers and creeks like a net, you guard here, and I ca-n go around by another route.”It seemed that Chang Tsai would be a very good g-uide. After half a month, I invited a friend to accompany me directly to Chang Tsai's home. His home was just beyond the third border zone, so we could buy a bus ticket without a special certificate of travel. Crossing a small bridge to the south was Zhongshan County which belonged to the border zone.Chang Tsai’s home was an old thatched hut; there was a square table with four wooden benches in the front room. It was simple but shabby. He politely asked us to sit down f-or tea and told his wife to prepare lunch. We knew Chang Tsai’s life was hard. Like all local farmers, he ate only pickled vegetables and rice year-round, so I brought a packet of sausage and two bottles of wine for him. Chang Tsai told us that when he returned from Guangzhou last time, he specifically visited a fo-r tuneteller, the blind Wang in next village, and was told "should not travel t-his year.” We understood his decision was firm, so we said goodbye with regre-t. Alas! Looking for a way to flee to Hong Kong was so difficult, failure after failure. I was really exhausted both in mind and body, and money had to be spen-t again and again. Even though I might get some help from abroad, I always was hard put to cope. To continue would be like throwing the money into a bottomles-s pit. What's more, there were always threats of checking the registered reside
 nce and Kunming to catch me back; and the vicious news of brutal and bloody kil-ling alarmed me again and again. Day after day, my situation was growing more a-nd more difficult, and my mood more and more depressed. Days wore on like years!