Let me end by saying that if you and God are both in agreement that Jinzhen is here to develop the science of artificial intelligence, then this letter may prove helpful. Otherwise, if either you or God is determined to prevent him from pursuing this line of inquiry, then give this letter to the university library, that it may serve as a memento of the twelve happy years that I have spent working there.
I hope that Jinzhen will recover soon!
Jan Liseiwicz.
Written on the eve of departure.
Young Lillie read this letter straight through, sitting on the cardboard box. The wind ruffled the pages; raindrops caught and tossed in the breeze spattered down, as if they too wanted to read the contents of this letter. Maybe it was because he had not slept well the night before; maybe it was because the letter had touched some hidden corner of his mind: the old man sat quiet for a long time after he had finished reading. He sat quietly, looking up into space. After a very long time, he finally seemed to come to. Turning into the wind and rain, he suddenly spoke the following words: ‘Goodbye, Jan. I hope that you have a good journey. . ’[Transcript of the interview with Master Rong]
Jan Liseiwicz decided to leave after his father-in-law was almost executed as a war criminal.
As I am sure you are well aware, Liseiwicz was offered many opportunities to leave, particularly in the wake of the end of the Second World War. There were all sorts of universities and research institutes in the West that wanted him to join them, and his drawers were stuffed with invitations of one kind or another. However, it was quite clear that he had no intention of going anywhere — for example he brought back that huge wooden case of books and then a little bit later on he bought not only the house in Sanyuan Lane that he had been living in for years, but the whole courtyard. He was working hard at his Chinese and spoke the language better than ever. In the end he announced that he was going to apply for Chinese citizenship (this was never followed up). I believe that Liseiwicz and his father-inlaw were very close. This man was the son of a Provincial Graduate and a member of a very wealthy family — by far the most important gentry family in the region. When his daughter announced that she wanted to marry a foreigner he was extremely opposed to the idea. When she told him that she was getting married anyway, he placed very strict demands on the couple. Liseiwicz was told that he would never be allowed to take his wife to live abroad, that he would not be allowed to divorce her, that he would have to learn to speak Chinese, that any children would take their mother’s surname, and so on. From all of this you can see that while the man was a member of a prominent gentry family, he was neither educated nor gentlemanly. He was the kind of unpleasant person who would take advantage of his wealth and power to bully everyone else. When someone with that kind of personality finds themselves in an exalted position, it is easy to imagine that they will build up a lot of resentment against themselves. Furthermore, during the time of the puppet government, he occupied an important office in the county administration and was involved in some very dubious dealings with the Japanese. After the Liberation, the People’s Government was determined to deal with him and he was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. At the time of which I am speaking, he was in prison awaiting execution.
In the run-up to the appointed date, Liseiwicz went the rounds of every professor and student that he could think of, including Daddy and me, in the hope that we would write a joint letter to the government and thereby save his father-in-law’s life. Everyone refused. I am sure this wounded Liseiwicz deeply, but we really didn’t have a choice. To tell the truth, it is not that we did not want to help; there was genuinely nothing we could do. The situation in those days was not such that a couple of people making a fuss or a small demonstration was going to change anything. Daddy did actually go and speak to the mayor on his behalf, but the only answer he got was: ‘Only Chairman Mao himself can save the man now.’ What he meant was that Liseiwicz’s father-in-law was doomed!
The fact is that in those days, the People’s Government was targeting men like him — bullies who had used their position to make the lives of the local people miserable. This was a matter of state policy and there was nothing that anyone could do about it. Liseiwicz didn’t understand that: he was far too naïve about the whole situation. There was nothing that we could do and so we simply ended up hurting him.
What no one could have imagined was that Liseiwicz was in the end able to use the government of X country to save his father-in-law from the firing squad. It was quite unbelievable! Particularly when you consider that at that time, our two countries were open enemies — you can imagine how difficult it was to achieve what he did. Apparently X country sent a special envoy to Beijing to discuss the matter with our government — in the end the whole matter did end up on Chairman Mao’s plate — either his or Zhou Enlai’s! The final decision must have been made by someone right at the top of the Politburo. It really was quite unbelievable!
The end result of their discussions was that Liseiwicz’s father-inlaw was released, and in return X country allowed two of our scientists that they had barred from leaving to come home. It seemed almost as if this horrible old man — who deserved everything that he had coming to him — had suddenly become a national treasure. Of course, he was nothing to X country; they wanted Liseiwicz. It seems as though they had decided that no price was too high to pay for him. So the question was, why was X country so determined to get Liseiwicz? Was it simply because he was a world-famous mathematician? It seemed that there must be more to it, but as to what on earth that could be, I did not have the faintest idea.
Shortly after his father-in-law was released from prison, Liseiwicz and his entire family departed for X country.
[To be continued]
When Liseiwicz left the country, Jinzhen was still hospitalized, though it seemed that he was now out of danger. The hospital, concerned about the mounting medical bills, accepted the patient’s request to be transferred to his home to recover. The day that he left hospital, Master Rong and her mother went to collect him. The doctor who was waiting to meet them naturally mistook one of them for the patient’s mother. However, judging by their ages, one was a bit old and the other a bit too young, so he had to ask a rather bold question: ‘Which of you is the patient’s mother?’
Master Rong was just about to explain, but her mother had already answered loud and clear: ‘Me!’
The doctor explained to Mrs Rong that Jinzhen’s illness was now under control and his condition was stable, but he would require more than a year of special treatment to make a full recovery. ‘During the course of the next twelve months, you are going to have to look after him like a baby, or he might well still suffer a relapse.’
When the doctor took her through the detailed list of what she would have to do, Mrs Rong realized that his comparison was entirely justified. There were however three key points to the treatment: