Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society (17 page)

‘From now on, the six of us will belong to the same family. No one needs to be alone again. You four children have been chosen to be part of an elite corps of secret agents embarking on a daring mission. One by one, please place your left hand on top of mine with your palm facing downwards. You first, Master Wu, followed by David. Since David is the oldest among the four of you he will be your Big Brother
(da ge
(
)). Place your hand on top of David’s, Sam. You are Second Older Brother
(er ge (
)).
Your hand above Sam’s, Marat, as Third Older Brother
(san ge
(
)). CC’s hand goes on the very top. Being the youngest, she is everyone’s Little Sister
(xiao mei
(
)).

‘Let’s now squeeze our left hands together to make a giant fist! In unity there is strength. At the same time, place your right hand against your heart and repeat after me:

‘I swear to be loyal and true to the Dragon Society and to my fellow members, with whom I am united from now until the end of my life.

‘I promise to practise mindfulness, awareness and true perception through meditation daily.

‘I will turn negative emotions into positive
qi
(energy) and achieve great deeds by following the Tao of Buddha at all times.’

As I repeated the words after her, I thought how radically my life had changed. Under Grandma Wu’s guidance, my future was now full of hope. I closed my eyes and made a silent promise to her that I would always try my best to be mentally alert, morally upright and physically strong.

‘This ends CC’s initiation ceremony,’ Grandma Wu said. ‘Congratulations.’

‘You did it! You did it!’ Sam cheered.

‘You may not realize it at this stage of your young lives,’ Master Wu said, ‘but one of the most difficult things to find in life is true friendship. Now that the four of you have the opportunity of becoming close, you should do so. As the years go by, little friends will grow up to be great friends.

‘But now that we have sworn the oath we need to tackle the task at hand. The Americans have asked us for help. At this very moment in San Francisco, sixteen B25 bombers are being loaded onto an aircraft carrier, the USS
Hornet
. Each plane has a crew of five so there will be eighty American airmen altogether. When the USS
Hornet
is 450 miles from Japan, the planes will take off from the ship and fly towards Tokyo. When they have
completed their raid, the pilots will refuel their planes in eastern China.

‘Chuchow in Zhejiang Province is only 100 miles inland from China’s coast. That’s where the Americans will refuel. Afterwards, they will fly west to Chungking, and then on to India via Burma on their way home. Our help is needed in Chuchow.’

‘When will they bomb Tokyo?’ Marat asked, his eyes shining. I knew that he was thinking of his brother, Ivanov, locked up under Japanese guard in Bridge House. Since receiving the letter on the back of the poster, Marat had heard nothing from him.

‘The USS
Hornet
is scheduled to leave San Francisco tomorrow, 12 April. It will take the ship about six days to cross the Pacific Ocean. They plan to launch the planes on the evening of 18 April and reach their targets in the dark of night, to avoid Japanese anti-aircraft fire. Hopefully, they’ll land in Chuchow on the morning of the nineteenth.’

‘Why don’t they land on the Chinese coast? Wouldn’t that be closer to Tokyo?’ David asked.

‘China’s coastline is in Japanese hands,’ Grandma Wu answered. ‘It’s true that Chiang Kai-shek’s troops are in control of Chuchow but the Japanese army is not far away. In addition, the Japanese are using Chinese puppet troops under the collaborator Wang Jing-wei to patrol that area. But I
believe the hearts of many of Wang’s soldiers really belong to China. They may be willing to help the American pilots in secret.’

‘How can we help?’ Sam asked.

‘We have been training you for exactly this type of task,’ Grandma Wu said. ‘Because you all speak fluent Chinese and English, your help will be essential when the Americans land in Chuchow. The pilots probably won’t be able to tell a Japanese from a Chinese.’

‘Except one is an enemy and the other is a friend!’ Sam added.

‘That’s right!’ Master Wu agreed. ’Sometimes we have difficulty telling the difference between enemies and friends ourselves. Grandma Wu is using passwords to determine who is on our side.’

‘The passwords come from our history,’ Grandma Wu announced. ‘Twenty-two hundred years ago, China was divided into warring states and the king of Chu had been killed by the king of Qin. The people of Chu mourned the loss of their king and made the following vow:
Chu sui san hu, wang Qin bi Chu
(
), even if there are but three families left in Chu, the Qin empire will be toppled by a native son of Chu. Over the years, this saying has become a proverb symbolizing the undying
qi
of a conquered nation. It is the code for our mission.’

‘Secret agents will identify themselves by uttering the first half of the couplet twice:
Chu sui san hu,
even if there are only three families left in Chu,’ Master Wu said. ‘You will respond by repeating
wang Qin bi Chu,
the Qin empire will be toppled by a native son of Chu, four times in rapid succession. Repeating this phrase will replenish your
qi
and strengthen your determination.’

‘In the case of a dire emergency where action needs to be taken immediately, you will give warning by repeating the first half of the couplet,
Chu sui san hu,
four times in rapid succession,’ continued Grandma Wu. ‘You will dress and behave like local peasant children.’ Here she paused and handed us four cone-shaped bamboo hats, the black warrior jackets we had tailored for ourselves, four black loose peasant shirts, four pairs of cotton trousers and four pairs of straw sandals. ‘It’s important for you to blend in with the crowd and not be noticed.’

‘But these shirts look like they’ve been worn by someone else!’ Marat complained. ‘In fact, there is a hole in the elbow of mine!’

‘Come on!’ David exclaimed indignantly. ‘We’re not going to a fancy dress party! This is a mission to save the lives of American pilots! Do you want to save lives or look nice?’

‘Sorry!’ Marat mumbled. ‘You’re right!’

‘Since you’ll resemble local peasant children when dressed in these clothes, the Japanese are unlikely to bother you,’ Grandma Wu said. ‘Keep your eyes and ears open at all times. You will be staying with secret resistance fighters, but spies are everywhere and the Japanese are powerful. When the time comes, I’ll be phoning your teachers to excuse you from school.’

She gave each of us a small box containing a battery-operated radio transmitter through which we could receive and send short-wave radio signals. ‘I’ll teach you how to intercept and decode radio messages,’ she said. ‘These are the secret codes. By dialling into the following radiofrequencies, you’ll be able to hear coded messages being transmitted by the US as well as the Japanese Navy. Marat, I’m appointing you as our chief radio operator on this mission because you’re fluent in Japanese.’

‘Who’s the American leader of the raid?’ David asked.

‘Colonel Jimmy Doolittle.’

‘Doolittle?’ David said. ‘I’ve heard of him. Isn’t he the one who holds all those flight records? For speed, endurance, distance and altitude combined?’

‘That’s right! He is one of die volunteer airmen on this mission. We have to hope that the US aircraft carriers aren’t spotted by the picket boats
patrolling Japanese waters,’ warned Master Wu. ‘You children must listen very carefully for radio signals and decode them as fast as possible. We need to warn our American allies at once if their carriers are spotted by the Japanese.’

‘When are we leaving?’ Marat wanted to know. ‘There are only eight days left before the pilots are due to land in Chuchow. Today is already the eleventh.’

‘Master Wu will be leaving today to orchestrate arrangements in Chuchow, but we still have a few days before Saturday the eighteenth,’ Grandma Wu replied. ‘Say nothing to anyone. Start getting your things ready. Put on your peasant clothes instead of your school uniform when you get up on Friday. We depart first thing that morning.’

12

The Mission