Cao had been summoned to a meeting with some officials. No one had told him why the meeting was held, only when it was and where he was supposed to go. He was scared, he had heard stories of some people going to meetings and then never coming back, but he had done his best not to believe them. So he had gone without even trying to find out what the meeting was about. When he finally came there he was brought to a medium-sized room with gray concrete walls. The room had a metal table and four metal chairs, with three on one side of the table and the last one on the other side. Three men were sitting on the table as he walked into the room, checking some papers. They told him to sit down.
"So, citizen Cao Long. Do you know why we have called for you?" the man said. Cao hadn't seen the man before, but the man on the right side of the table was named Bi Lok. He was the leader of some accounting or administration department, although Cao wasn't completely sure. He had never bothered anyone here and the only responsibilities he had taken were those that everyone had asked him to take. Had they finally found out about his crime back home? That must be it.
"No sir, I do not." Short, simple answers were best.
"Well, Long. May I call you by your first name?" the man said, and then waited until Cao nodded slightly. "Good. As you may know we have been watching the progress of the most promising magicians. Many, many people show promise, but you, you don't just show promise, you show brilliance. As they say, 'either hire him or kill him'. Although some think I am wrong in my opinion of you, we all think you are good enough, yes, definitely good enough to merit personal attention."
"Sir, I am just a humble servan..." Cao was saying until the man in cut him off mid-sentence.
"Humble? Yes, that is what I really wanted to talk to you about. I have been told you sit in the back when others show whatever petty toys or tricks they have done. You never ask any question, yet you can almost always do exactly what they did after only being showed it once or twice. And yes, it is very good to be humble in front of the state and the people, very good indeed. But today, this time need you to step forward, where you will be more useful to everyone," the man said, then took a sip of water from his glass before continuing. "They talk about you in the corners, you know? When you walk the streets, people stand there silent and just look at you. Or so I have been told?" the man said, then quickly glanced at Bi before continuing. "Do you think I am right Long?" he asked.
Cao looked over at the two other men, still sitting there silently, before he answered. "Sir, I am no great man. I teach yes, and many wish to the taught by me, but I have no desire for power. And... and, I can not lie to you. Before I came here I committed a most terrible crime, I..." he said, and was cut off again.
"Oh, the factory manager," the man said, then took a pause to look on Cao. "You look surprised? Of course we knew about him, we found out about it easily when we began checking up on you. Don't worry about him, that thing is settled now. The countryside, the factory, the manager; all that is your past." the man said, and the others nodded. "What we want to do here today is talk about your future. Have you ever sat silently and listened? Can you hear it? The magicians desire a leader, one of their own. And if you listen closely, you can hear your name. We here hear it. You wish to serve. That is well, that is indeed very well. Your kind seems to have chosen you to be a leader of some kind, and after this little talk between us, I think we can agree. You do want to serve the party, do you?" The man even stood up and began walking as he talked, making all kinds of moves and gestures with his hands.
"But I don't know anything about leading. I am a humble man. How could anyone look up to me when I prefer to sit down?" Cao asked. He felt nervous; he didn't want this responsibility. Once he had only been responsible for himself, and he had killed a man and severed relations with his family. If he had done that to himself, how could be responsible for everyone?
"I asked if you want to serve the party."
"But I have never led anyone. There must be someone older, someone who knows about these things?" Cao said.
"You still haven't answered my question, Long."
"Yes, I want to serve, but..."
"Brilliant. He accepts," the man said to the others.
"Your training will begin tomorrow, at 10 in the morning, here." Bi Lok said.
"Training?" Cao asked.
"Yes, of course. You may be the shining dragon of glory for all the others here, but as you said, you don't know how to lead. We will teach you the sciences of leading and teaching. Study hard." Bi said.
"I... I will, yes sir."
"Any other questions, Long?" the man in the middle asked.
"What... What is your name, sir?" Cao asked.
"Dee Kong. Anything else?" Dee said.
"No sir. Thank you for this, sir." Cao said.
"Then go, return tomorrow. At 10." Dee said.
"Yes, I remember, sir." Cao said, then began to walk out of the room, his head still facing the three men. He hit the door with his back, but did his best to look composed as he opened it, his face still towards them, and then walked out. Just as he closed the door, he though he could see the men inside the room shaking hands, but he wasn't sure, and he didn't care to open the door again to find out. He also felt in his heart that there was something else that had changed inside of him, but he thought that it might just be the excitement of the situation.
The trek back to his rooms was eventful. He was so much in thought that a car almost hit that him. The driver managed to move past him at the last instant and stop before hitting anything, and then he came out to shout at Cao. Cao didn't even really notice what had happened and just waved back at the driver. Others greeted him as he walked past him. He thought about the greeters. Does everyone really respect me, and have I just missed it? He hadn't noticed it before, but he was certain he hadn't met many of the people greeting him on the street. Was everyone just friendly here or was it something else. No one had been so friendly towards him back home, but everyone knew each other there from childhood. His mother had always told him to be friendly and courteous to strangers. Did they have the same kind of a mother as I?
He was just wondering when suddenly two men came out screaming from some building. "Look! A miracle! Come, see! Something impossible has happened."
Cao was curious and started talking to one of the men "What has happened? And are you feeling well?"
"What has happened? I'll tell you. Me and my friend here, Shing, were playing heads or tails. I took tails, he heads. But the thing is, it landed on its side. Shing ran and took a photo, and we showed it to everyone else in here. But then... but then, then we threw it again, we had bet 20 yuan after all. And it landed on its side again. It's impossible! Impossible!" he said, then started motioning for everyone to come in and look at the coin. Lots of people came in to look and admire the coin. Some called it lucky, others unlucky. A few seemed to have cameras of some kind with them. Cao decided that he had better things to concern himself with right now, and continued on.
After walking for a while, he decided not to go back to his apartment, but to go and talk with Ming instead. She would be happy to find out the thing with his crime was solved. He wondered how exactly they had fixed the issue, he had never heard of any law allowing murder. They probably knew best though.
"How are you doing?" he asked her once he got all the way to her apartment. She had been inside, drinking tea. Before answering to his question she called him inside and poured up a cup of tea for him too. It was indeed becoming cold outside. Usually he used magic to keep himself warm, but he had been so deep in his thoughts that he had forgotten it. Only now did he notice how cold he really was.
"Fine, I'm doing fine. But what are you doing here? Didn't the meeting go well?" she asked as she handed him the cup of tea. It was green tea. Cao hated green tea, but drank it out of politeness. It didn't taste any better even now that he was cold.
"They asked me to, well, nothing special," he said.
"What? Tell me."
"Well, they wanted me to become some kind of a leader. They didn't tell me any specifics, but I assume they want me to work as some kind of teacher here. Maybe a principal of the other teachers, they talked much about learning, teaching and leadership. They didn't say it out loud, but I think that's what they asked me to do. My training starts tomorrow," he said. He hoped that by talking with her he might better be able to decide what he wanted to do.
"What, and you didn't even think of coming to ask my opinion about it!" Ming said.
"?"
"Don't look at me like that. I know very well that you would have had the night to think on it if you asked. And now you make a decision like that without consulting me! Men!" Ming said.
Cao thought Ming reminded him of his mother. He wanted to defend himself by saying there hadn't really been any choice on his part, but decided not to. The worst thing one could do to a woman was try to talk sense. He just stood there silently, thinking what neutral thing he could say. Finally he got it "It was a very good offer, and I could not stop my mouth. I am sorry, I will come to you first the next time"
"Pah. When do you start?" Ming asked, still looking angry.
"Tomorrow at 10."
"Be there at 9."
"Well, why?" Cao asked, then quickly cursed his mouth again.
"WHY! Because they expect you, I mean, how can you even ask that. They give you this position, and suddenly you are so high and mighty that the last signs of humility in you have vanished. At 9! They expect it of you."
"Yes. I will do my best to please them," Cao said. How could one understand women?
Cao though about the meeting while he finished his tea. It did sound good, and it was prestigious to be chosen for such an assignment, but he just wanted to know why it had been him. He also though about Ming's advice, and came to the conclusion that it would be good to impress them at once by coming in early.
When the cup was empty, Ming took it away. She didn't ask if he wanted another one, and Cao had learnt that it was the signal for him to leave so she could sleep. He thanked her for her advice, and she smiled and gave him a kiss on his left chin. Cao thanked himself for being so lucky, he wondered if he had done something in an earlier life to merit it. The trip back was quite short, he had found a new place to live, closer to Ming. Once he was trained they would probably place him in some fancy building, possibly one of the new ones that were being built. He hoped that they would let Ming come with him.
He slept badly that night, still wondering about the job. He felt that he didn't just doubt himself and his ability to lead, there was something else too that he couldn't quite put his finger on. But at least he didn't have any nightmares that night when he finally fell asleep, and when he woke up he saw that as a good sign.
When he was outside the building he checked his watch. It showed 8.59. He asked one of the reception-clerks what he was supposed to do, but she just pointed on one of the chairs. Cao looked at what papers they had. He chose the newspaper from yesterday and began to scan for articles he hadn't read yesterday. There was much of talk about the capitalists insulting the Soviets. The paper asked all Chinese to work harder to show support for the Soviets in their crisis. Long didn't know what harder work had to do with showing support, but he was angry at the capitalist and fascists for once again plotting to kill all communists and plunge the world into another war.
As the hour went by, more men and women came and sat beside him. He recognized several of them, and talked to them. It turned out they were also here for leadership education. Cao was happy that he wouldn't have to be alone in this job, but he hadn't expected to. There were very many channelers after all.