Chapter 39: Ning Liujin

His hard work and his background as one of the common people, a “target to be won over and relied upon,” soon caught the attention of the Kunzei in charge. He was assigned to clear the latrines and slop water in the “A” section of the prisoner-of-war camp. This job was much easier than being a porter at the docks, and the food was better too; he could eat in the “A” section’s kitchen, where the meals were superior to those of the prisoner labor teams at the docks.

The “A” section of the POW camp housed the identified key members of the Zheng clan and their families, most of whom had been captured in Anping. There were men, women, old, and young, all living in hastily built straw huts and tents. These were people who had once lived in comfort and privilege, and now they were all in a sorry state. However, the Kunzei treated them relatively well. They were not required to work, their food was better than that of the ordinary prisoners, and the sick received timely medical treatment. Each person was also given a change of clothes.

Ning Liujin worked in the “A” section for a few days and became familiar with the people there. He was a local, and the Zheng clan was mainly composed of people from the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou regions of Southern Min. Originally, their social statuses were worlds apart. To the people in the “A” section, someone like Ning Liujin was less than an ant, a speck of dust. But now, he could move about freely, and the Kunzei seemed to trust him. Suddenly, Ning Liujin became a person of some standing in the POW camp. Many people called him “Sixth Master”—in the past, it would have been a great compliment if they had deigned to call him “Liujin.”

Ning Liujin went in and out of the POW camp every day and slept at night in the labor camp outside. This camp housed the local people and prisoners who had recently surrendered to the “Kunzei.” They provided various services to the Australians, from manual labor to translation and guidance. Because of his good performance, Ning Liujin gradually stopped doing the dirty and heavy work and was moved to better jobs, such as transporting goods for the kitchen and laundry. He worked happily. He had enough to eat, and no one beat or cursed him. He felt that this was a good life.

Because the collaborator labor camp had just been established, the system was not yet sound, and various departments constantly requisitioned people from it for work assignments. As a result, the security here was not tight. People could come and go as they pleased, as long as they had a small wooden tag hanging around their neck. The guards assigned to the collaborator camp were from the “White Horse” team, and they didn’t speak the local language. They were only there to maintain basic order in the camp. This gave a great deal of freedom to those with active minds.

This day, after delivering food supplies to the “A” section, he took his carrying pole and walked towards the beach. He wanted to take advantage of the low tide to gather some seafood to satisfy his cravings. There were several large reefs on the beach. When the tide receded, many shellfish would be left behind, and sometimes, if he was lucky, he could find stranded fish and shrimp.

As he was searching among the reefs, he vaguely felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and then he lost consciousness.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he woke up.

It was dark all around, with only rocks. There was a faint light, but he couldn’t see clearly. He struggled to sit up.

It looked like a stone cave. All around were dark, rugged, wet rocks. A little light filtered in from above.

He reached out and felt around. The ground beneath him was sand. He quieted his mind and listened. He could faintly hear the sound of the sea.

Ah, this was a cave in the seaside reefs!

Ning Liujin had grown up by the sea and was very familiar with such caves. He slowly stood up and, with the help of the faint light and his hands and feet, quickly figured out that the cave was not large. He soon found the entrance, but it was tightly blocked with stones.

“Why would they knock me out and lock me in a cave?” He couldn’t understand it.

He couldn’t recall making any enemies. In the Zheng clan, he was not even a small fry, just a speck of dust. If it was the Australians, they could kill or imprison anyone with a single word; why would they be so secretive?

As if in answer to his question, a beam of white light suddenly shot into the dark, sandy ground. The stones at the entrance of the cave were moved aside.

He then realized that the entrance was over a man’s height. Three or four men entered at once. They were all naked from the waist up, wearing only shorts. Each had his face covered with a towel. The light was dim, and he couldn’t see their faces clearly, nor did he have time to look closely.

“What’s your name?” the leader asked him in Southern Min.

“Ning… Liujin.”

“Who did you work for before?”

Ning Liujin gave the name of his distant relative, but the other man obviously didn’t know him. Ning Liujin had to say that he didn’t know either, only that the ship’s owner always referred to his superior by the surname Zheng.

There were many people with the surname Zheng in the Zheng clan, so this was as good as saying nothing.

“You dishonest fellow! Beat him!” several of the men shouted, rushing towards Ning Liujin.

“Don’t hit me, I’m telling the truth!” Ning Liujin shouted, and, following his years of experience in being beaten, he covered his head with his hands and curled up on the ground.

“Forget it, don’t hit him,” the leader said. “He’s probably just a crewman on a ship. Even the owner himself is just a nobody.”

He then asked, “Boy, I’m asking you a question, and you’d better answer honestly. Otherwise, I’ll just leave you in this cave—the tide will be coming in in half an hour!”

A seaside reef cave like this would be submerged by the tide when it came in. If you were trapped inside, you would drown.

“I’ll tell you everything! I’ll tell you everything,” Ning Liujin replied.

“You work for the Kunzei in the ‘A’ section of the POW camp?”

“Yes… yes…” Ning Liujin was terrified. From the man’s tone, it seemed they were from the Zheng family. He had been working hard for the Australians these past few days. Were they going to make an example of him? A wave of fear washed over him, and he immediately fell to his knees, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

“Have mercy, my lord! Have mercy! I was forced to work for the Kunzei. If I didn’t work, they would kill me. I was afraid of dying and just wanted a few full meals. It was wrong of me to work for the Kunzei, but I never did anything to betray the Zheng family…”

“Working for the Kunzei is a heinous crime!” the leader said fiercely. “It would be right to tie you to a rock and sink you in the sea…”

“Spare my life, my lord! Spare my life!” Ning Liujin was so scared he almost wet his pants, and he kowtowed repeatedly.

Just as he was scared out of his wits, thinking his life was over, there was a clattering sound, and a pile of things was thrown in front of him. Ning Liujin looked closely and saw more than twenty silver dollars.

He had seen silver dollars before. The ship’s owner sometimes paid the sailors with these shiny silver pieces—of course, he only got to watch. But even the second-in-command on the ship only got eight of these silver dollars a month. Now, there were more than twenty in front of him!

He looked up at the leader in confusion.

“There are twenty-five dollars here,” he said. “As long as you honestly do a few small things for me, not only will your crime be forgiven, but these silver dollars will also be yours.”

“I wouldn’t dare…” Although Ning Liujin was afraid, he knew in his heart that what the Zheng family wanted him to do was no small matter; it was probably something that would cost him his head. But he was in no position to bargain. He quickly said, “I will do whatever you command, my lord!”

“In the ‘A’ section, have you seen a boy, about eight or nine years old?”

“There are many families of the masters in the ‘A’ section, and many boys of eight or nine. I don’t know which one you mean, my lord.”

“His nickname is Fukumatsu, and some people call him Zheng Sen.”

“Oh, oh, you mean young master Fukumatsu!” Ning Liujin nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes, there is. A female servant attends to him.”

“How do the Kunzei treat him?”

“Very well…” Ning Liujin seemed to think this was not the right thing to say, paused, and then added, “The Kunzei have arranged a separate tent for him and the female servant. Their meals are also good; the kitchen cooks for them separately…”

“Has anyone told you who he is?”

“No, and I wouldn’t dare to ask…”

“In a little while, you will take one of our men to the ‘A’ section to find Fukumatsu…”

Ning Liujin’s legs went weak at the thought. He stammered and tried to refuse, “This… this… the ‘A’ section is heavily guarded. No one without a pass can get in. I’m afraid it will get you all in trouble. I think…”

With a shhh sound, someone drew a sharp dagger. The rest of Ning Liujin’s words were swallowed.

“Don’t you worry,” the leader said with a sinister smile. “We know everything about the ‘A’ section and the labor camp. We also know all about you running around working for the Kunzei. You’d better understand, what are you? Don’t think that just because you have a small wooden tag around your neck, you’re one of the Kunzei’s men. If you die, the Kunzei will treat it as if an ant or a bug has died. There are tens of thousands of ants like you on this island of Kinmen. We’ve already killed several who didn’t know their place in the last few days. Do you see the Kunzei remembering any of them? A rock tied around your neck and a toss into the sea, and you’ll be working for the Dragon King of the Sea…”

“Yes, yes, I’m just a bug, an ant…” Ning Liujin was sweating profusely with fear and kowtowed repeatedly. “I’ll go and find a way right now!”

Several men put a straw sack over his head and upper body and then pushed him along. He could feel the sea breeze on his body and hear the seagulls. The ground under his feet was soft; he was probably on the beach outside.

He was driven along like this for a long way before the sack was removed. He blinked his eyes. He was back at the place where he had been gathering seafood.

“When will you be going to the ‘A’ section?” the leader asked.

Ning Liujin had no choice but to say, “Tonight, to deliver rice.”

“Good. For now, go about your business. Come here before you deliver the rice,” he said fiercely. “Don’t get any funny ideas. We know everything.”