I think I have already mentioned that as a young man I had three serious girlfriends, but that none of these relationships worked out, so that in the end the Party had to help me find a wife. To tell you the truth, I didn’t have much experience with women, and particularly not a relentless nagger like Huang Yiyi. I really didn’t know what to do. I did have one weapon though, and that was stubbornness. During the course of my life there have been a number of successes that I owe to stubbornness and determination, and I believed that I could use these qualities to sort out the problems I had with Huang Yiyi. I thought I could resolve the situation so that no one got hurt and the country benefited.

Looking back now, you could say that was a terrible mistake. Or maybe it wasn’t a mistake, but at the very least it didn’t work out the way I wanted. But at that time and in that situation, did I have any choice but to make that mistake? I had no choice! This seems like a paradox. But then decrypting ciphers is a paradox, and there were many people in Unit 701 who had to live with that. I don’t know if that is impressive, or tragic.

Let’s not talk about that any more: it’s time to get back to the main story.

The following afternoon, I went to the hospital to see Huang Yiyi. She had already discharged herself. It was just a bad cold – these things come on quickly and leave just as fast; all she needed was to take some medicine and it sorted itself out. On the way back from the hospital I debated with myself whether I should go and see her at home. In the end I thought it was my duty as her boss, so I decided to get together some fruit and then go and see her. I didn’t know if she really hated me or was just pretending to be cold and distant, but when she saw me she was positively icy and her words were cutting. I asked her if she was feeling any better, and she glared at me and said, ‘That’s nothing to do with you. I guess you’ll be happy when I’m dead!’ I just stood there not knowing what to say. Seeing me all silent she got really angry, and shouted at me: ‘Say something!’

‘I don’t know what to say. You should rest. I will leave.’

She immediately became furious and cursed me, saying that she should have guessed I wasn’t really concerned about her.

The only thing I could do was to stay and say, ‘Yiyi, I really wanted to see you.’

She smiled coldly. ‘I guess you came here to make fun of me.’

I raised my voice. ‘Can’t you say anything nice!’