‘Provided it is nothing to do with loving you, any other request I will grant.’

‘There is nothing I want right now. If I can’t crack RECOVERY, I don’t want anything. But if I do crack it, I want you to promise me something.’

‘What?’

‘Marry me. I want you to marry me!’

What could I say to that? It was a perfectly reasonable request. When Abing helped us out, the Party wanted to find a wife for him, and if Huang Yiyi really did crack RECOVERY, her achievements would far outstrip anything that Abing had done. In that case we would do whatever was necessary to make her happy, providing it wasn’t actually against the law. I, especially, would do anything for her. If she cracked RECOVERY, I would be one of the beneficiaries, so I had no reason to refuse her request, either as a private individual or as her boss. If there was not a very special reason, I would say yes without hesitation; even if I didn’t love her I would still be willing to marry her. Besides which – how could I not love her? She was so pretty, so talented, so attractive, what kind of man could resist? Any man would fall for her, and if she seemed to have a problematic lifestyle, no doubt it largely came about because there were so many men who fancied her. She was so seductive, and on top of that she had lived for a long time abroad, which perhaps gave her a more free and easy manner with men than most women then had. As a wife, that would of course be a shortcoming, but I think that as far as most men were concerned her attractions would always outweigh her shortcomings. I would even say that if she cracked RECOVERY, even if she had nothing going for her at all, and had this problematic lifestyle, I would still have been willing to marry her. Just like Lin Xiaofang, I would have been proud to devote the rest of my life to such a heroine!

But I … couldn’t.

Why?

Because Xiaoyu was still alive.