After she left, I just sat behind my desk in a daze. The whole thing seemed more than a little peculiar: if she wanted to get married to him, why had she come to tell me before even mentioning it to him? She seemed to be carrying on as if getting married was a task that I’d set her. And another thing, she had never wanted to marry him before, so what could have put that idea into her head all of a sudden? It was a bad idea from start to finish, and we had all been put to an awful lot of trouble for nothing! Oh well, come what may I had to sort it out for her. Even though it wasn’t really my job, when you get right down to it, it was work. I knew what she was like: if things didn’t go to her liking she could do absolutely anything, including going on hunger strike, or taking to her bed for three days, until I was completely desperate. Well, she was the Angel and I was just an ordinary mortal, so what could I do? I had to do what she wanted. So I went to find Zhang Guoqing and explained the situation, and finally I asked his opinion.

His answer was very straightforward: he would listen to the Party.

The Party wanted him to get divorced.

So he got a divorce.

In fact, even if he had not wanted to follow the Party’s wishes, he would still have had to divorce his wife, because there was no room for manoeuvre there. This decision came from the Angel. The amazing fact that the Angel was cracking one cipher after the other told us one thing: the more angelic she was, the more we had to dance to her tune; but as long as we did so all would be well.

A divorce here, a wedding there: they were in such a hurry there was no time for discussion – they didn’t even really think about the rules, just like a pair of ignorant teenagers. The wedding was very simple, just the people from their divisions, me and a few of our superiors. All in all there were enough guests for two tables at the unit’s dining hall. After the meal we went round to the newly married couple’s home to eat wedding-sweets. We wished them well and cracked a few jokes, as seemed appropriate to the situation. We got to see her retching again and again, and then we understood everything: she was pregnant!