“But why?” I asked.

“You’ll know sooner or later,” sighed Ma.

“Are you just going to leave me with… Grandpa?”

“I’m sorry, Cong, I’m really sorry.”

“But… but I already lost my ba, and now I’m going to lose my ma?”

“It’s the only way, son.”

“But… but…”

“I have to go now. Take care of yourself and Grandpa.”

Those were the last words my ma spoke to me before she went to fight in the Sino-Vietnamese war in 1979. Sixth months later– when I was only 9 years old– she was killed by a Vietnamese soldier. But I didn't find out that she had died so soon after joining the war until my grandpa told me the day after I turned 16. Until then, whenever I asked about Ma, Grandpa would tell me that she had been captured by the enemy and would return one day.

“Cong, I think it’s time to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“It’s that.... It’s how your ma died.”

“How my… ma died?”

“Yes.”

“But didn't you say she was captured by the enemy and would return?”

“You were only 9 years old. You were too young to know that your ma had died.”

“But if you didn't want to tell me when I was 9 years old, then why are you telling me now?”

“I am telling you now because I realized that you have the right to know, and I promised your ma before she went to war that if she dies, I will tell you what happened when you reached  16.”

I almost blurted out that I didn’t care about the promise and that I may not be able to stand it, but before I said that, I started to cry.

“Cong, I know it’s hard for you to accept that your ma is dead, but you should know this. It was early 1979, and your ma received a letter that there was going to be a war against Vietnam. The letter also wrote that the army would need some more soldiers, so your ma, your brave ma, volunteered to fight against the Vietnamese. She thought that if she helped fight, then there would be a better chance of winning because she was a brave woman. But in the end, a Vietnamese soldier killed your ma. That was your ma’s life. Very hard and very cruel.”

After he was done with the story, I couldn’t stop crying. I thought about how my ma sacrificed herself, and how Vietnam still won. I thought about how she was so happy with me before she went to fight in the war. Then, I couldn’t help but think that what if I could help her take revenge on the Vietnamese? What if we could start a battle against them and then win? I quickly put that idea aside. There was no way I could start a war, and there was no way I would have a plan to attack the Vietnamese. There was no hope that I can avenge Ma.

After two years went by, I realized that I couldn't take it anymore. I told my grandpa that I wanted to take revenge against the Vietnamese.

“Grandpa, I know you may think I’m stupid and whatever, but I want to say to you that after you told me the story of how Ma died, I just want to… avenge her. I want to attack the Vietnamese. I just can’t stand knowing how the Vietnamese killed Ma. I’m sorry Grandpa, but I already decided I will attack the Vietnamese. Thanks for taking care of me after… after all these years. I’m really sorry.”

Then, he said something very surprising.

“Ah, my dear grandson. There is no need to be sorry. Avenging your ma is not a bad thing, but just be careful when you attack. I have no right to stop you, but I want to tell you this before you leave, just to give you some more confidence. When you were 5 years old, your ba also had to go to war against the Vietnamese for the Paracel Islands. Even though we, China, won, many people still died, and that included your ba.”

“My ba also died at the hands of the Vietnamese? Why? What has our family ever done to Vietnam? It’s not fair.”

“Cong, there are situations in life that are just not fair, but that’s why your first name is Cong, and your middle name is Cheng. Cong means wise, Cheng means succeeded, and even your last name fits into this situation.”

Gang. Gang (刚) was my last name and it meant… powerful.

“Before your ba went to fight in the war, he said to name you Cong (聪) because he wanted you to be wise and if there was another war, you could come up with strategies to defeat the enemy. Since your ma wanted you to win any war that was coming, she gave you your middle name Cheng (成). You can avenge your ma and ba. You can do it. You are wise, successful and powerful.”

I didn’t know what to say to Grandpa. I didn’t know that my name was that… meaningful.

“Cong, you are 18 years old now. You are an adult. Go and avenge your parents. You can do it. Just remember what I said about your name when you take revenge. You are wise, successful and powerful.”

Wise. Successful. Powerful.

It was two months after the talk with Grandpa. I had formed a little army with my friends. We agreed that no matter what, we would attack and win against the Vietnamese. We decided to attack a nearby enemy island when the soldiers let their guards down and win that island called Truong Sa. We felt that we deserved it.

The next day, my friends and I went to the People’s Liberation Army to get the guns. They decided that this was a good time for revenge, so they gave us some experienced soldiers and an army boat for our journey, but we had to train for one month with the guns. One month after that day, we would attack. One month would be enough training with the guns. One month would have to be enough.

During the first week of training, I met Xiang.

“Hey, Cong, I heard that you are going to attack the Vietnamese!” exclaimed Xiang.

“Well, yeah,” I said.

“You excited?!”

“Yes and no.”

“Wow, confusing feelings! Anyways, I’m Xiang.”

“Um, nice to meet you, Xiang.”

“Yeah, so… how old are you?”

“Uh… why do you want to know?”

“Oh, because I want to know if I’m older or you’re older. I’m 23 and I never led an army to attack an enemy before.”

“Wait… you’re 23?”

“Yeah, what’s so surprising? If I had to guess how old you are, I would guess… 20.”

“What makes you think I’m 20?”

“Uh, your face and your personality; your face doesn’t look too young, yet not as old as me and your personality is pretty serious.”

“Thank you so much,” I said sarcastically.

I bit back an insult: And I am surprised that you’re 23 because you act like a 2-year-old.

“So are you 20 or not?”

“Close to 20, but not quite. I’m 18.”

“What?! 18?! No way!”

“Yeh way! And now, if you would let me practice my shooting, it would be a pleasure.”

“Ugh, why do conversations have to end so quickly?”

The second week of the training, I made friends with Xiang.

“Sup Cong?”

“Get out of my way, Xiang.”

“What? I just wanted to say ‘Sup’…”

“Well, you said it right? Now go away.”

“Hey, you can’t boss me around! I’m 3, no, 5 years older than you!”

“Yeah, I don’t care. Goodbye now.”

“Hey, I am here to make friends. I don’t have many friends because I choose wisely who my friends should be, and you should be honored.”

Yeah right! Maybe people don’t want to be your friend because you act like an idiot.

“Okay then. How about I make a deal. I’ll be your friend and you’ll go away.”

“Deal! Goodbye Friend!”

During the third week of training, I tried, without success, to ignore Xiang.

“Hi Cong!” said Xiang.

There was a moment of silence except for the gun shooting.

“Cong? You still remember me right?”

What? You think I can’t remember anything?

“Cong! Can you hear me?”

So you think I am deaf now.

“Cong! Are you okay? Should I call for help?”

Help? I will just make the soldiers mad because I don’t need help at all. Geez, this guy is not as stupid at making people talk as I thought he was.

“Hey, Xiang. You don’t need to call for help. I was just concentrating on my gunshots.” I lied.

“Whew. I thought you either forgot about me or were deaf.”

“That is such a nice thing to say.”

“Hey, I just came to give you this.”

He quickly handed his package to me and left.

I opened the package, and what was inside made me gasp.

The fourth week, which was also the last week, of training, I became best friends with Xiang.

“Hey, Xiang.”

“Yeah, Cong?”

“I just wanted to say thanks, but where in the world did you get that dagger? Isn't that the famous dagger that Ming Dynasty used? I heard that it had been passed down from generation to generation. Are you…?”

“I am, but that's a story for another time. Right now, you need to focus on training.”

“But–”

“No excuses. This is the last week for you to train. Use the time wisely.”

I was shocked at how he was being so serious. Before I could say anything to him, he quickly walked away.

The four weeks of training were over. It was time to sail to the island. My friends and the other soldiers were as ready as I was. We were sure that we were going to win Truong Sa.

We estimated that it would take three days until we arrive there. During those three days, I thought that if Xiang was on this boat, he would have bugged me. I already missed him, but that gave me the determination that I will come out of this alive. I will come out of this alive and give that dagger back to Xiang. I will.

During the second day, we all agreed that we would attack during midnight because most people would be asleep by then. We checked our armors and prepared for the attack.

When we arrived at Truong Sa, the sun was starting to set. We ate dinner and slept for a while so we would have the energy to attack. Surprisingly, the Vietnamese didn’t have any guns. We thought that this would be easy.

During midnight, the soldiers and I went out of the ship and onto the island. We shuffled quietly through the silent, peaceful night. At first, I felt a little guilty that we were attacking without notice and during a such a beautiful night, but when I remembered that Ma and Ba can never be with me during beautiful nights ever again, it made me very angry. I felt like I can take down ten people by myself.

Each one of us had been assigned to kill every person in a house. Every one of us tiptoed so quietly that even I had to look behind me to see if I was dreaming about this. Apparently, I wasn’t, so I went to the house that I was assigned. I didn’t know how many people were in the house, so I was kind of nervous. I held my gun tighter.

When I was in front of the house, I kicked open the door and examined it. It had dirty clothes on the floor and food everywhere. Then, I realized that this was a dude; a dude that is too lazy to do their laundry and throw away their junk food, and usually a dude like this is pretty tough to fight. Then, I reminded myself that I had the gun.

While I was examining the house, the dude went out of his room. I was a split-second too late; that dude already knocked the gun out of my hand. I was about to grab it back from the ground, but at the same time, he kicked it out of the door. I realized that this dude wanted to physically fight but I was only trained to aim with the gun during training. Also, this dude had good reflexes. At first, I panicked, but then I realized how much I was going to owe Xiang.

When I came back to my house, I gave Grandpa a big hug. I told him how I won Truong Sa for China and how I got to avenge Ma and Ba, and he congratulated me. After the visit with Grandpa, it was time to see Xiang.

“Hey, Xiang. It’s so nice to see you again!” I exclaimed.

“Thank god you came back alive.”

“You shouldn’t thank the gods, you should thank yourself.”

“Why?”

“Oh, so I was fighting this dude. This dude had very good reflexes and I lost my gun. So–”

“Wait. You lost your gun?!” interrupted Xiang.

“Well, that dude had good reflexes and kicked the gun right out of my hands. You can’t blame me that he had good reflexes and I don’t. Well, anyways, while he was charging at me, I sidestepped and quickly pulled out your dagger and stabbed it into his heart. He was very shocked that I had a dagger all along and I was very shocked that I killed a dude.”

“Well, you killed him because you were saving your own life.”

“I still can’t believe I killed someone. Anyways, I came to ask you what would be a good name to name this battle.”

“Wait a minute. You get to name this battle?”

“Well, I was the leader.”

“Fine then, leader. Do you have a name on top of your head right now?”

“Uh, if you count “The Gang War”, then yeah.

“Okay then, I’ll take that as a no. I was thinking that we should name it the “Massacre on the Spratly Islands in 1988” because it was more like a massacre rather than a battle and Truong Sa was in the Spratly Islands.”

“When did you get so smart? Um, nevermind I said that. I am going to report that name to the headquarters now.”

“Okay, and remember to give me credit!” shouted Xiang as Cong ran down the hill.

“You bet!” shouted Cong, but he was already too far for Xiang to hear.