The Nine Fold Heaven. Mingmei Yip

thought of that. Please forgive me.”

      PART THREE

      8

      The Execution

      Three days after the cruise, the execution was to take place. I hated to think what it would be like, but I felt I had no choice as it was a chance to find out what was happening with the Shanghai gangs. Since executions are popular as free entertainment in Shanghai, I had to arrive an hour early to have any chance of finding a place.

      To make it as easy as possible for myself, after I got off the train at Xu Jiahui Station, I took a taxi to take me all the way to the unhappy site—a deserted area a mile from the train station. On the way, I slumped down so as to lessen the chance I would be seen.

      Again, I had disguised myself as a man, wearing the ubiquitous common worker’s outfit of gray cotton jacket and pants. After I paid and got out of the taxi, I slipped cautiously through the crowd toward the execution ground. I took the precaution of concealing a pair of knives under my jacket, in case I suddenly needed my skill in knife-throwing. Crowds at these bloody events could turn bloodthirsty themselves.