I thought the same. Whatever way you looked at it, Abing had saved Unit 701, and so there was really no way we could refuse him anything. I had made my mind up to ensure that such a wedding would take place, and should Xiaofang have any misgivings about marrying someone like Abing, I would use all the power of Unit 701 to assuage her concerns. Talking of this now is quite laughable, and perhaps a little embarrassing. But at that time, at least for Unit 701, it was entirely within our purview to arrange such matters. Actually, my own wedding to my late first wife was arranged by the intelligence service, and while feelings of affection were perhaps absent at the beginning, we did grow to love each other. Unfortunately she passed away prematurely because of an illness, but not before introducing me to her cousin who eventually became my current wife. What am I trying to explain by telling you this? Well, at that time, in Unit 701, we considered marriage and other things of that nature to be all part of the revolution: there was no separation between our private and collective lives. What’s more, this type of belief – faith, really – filled our lives with an incomparable sense of warmth and belonging.

Because she was not actually an agent working for Unit 701, Lin Xiaofang had no clue as to the true nature of Abing’s work: she assumed that the honour and respect given him was because he had invented some secret weapon or other to safeguard the nation. No matter, her ignorance of the truth had no effect on my aim to arrange a perfect marriage. In fact, once I told her of my plan, she responded in the affirmative without hesitation. She even said that if her brother were still alive he would have wholeheartedly supported her decision to marrying Abing – to marry a man, a hero, responsible for developing an advanced and secret weapon to protect the nation. As for Abing’s disability, she believed that to be an important reason for her to marry him: a national hero needed someone to care and look after him.

Lin Xiaofang’s display of resoluteness and her noble character were incredibly heartening and morale-boosting. Without wasting time, I hurried to Abing’s side to tell him of my plan and Xiaofang’s determination. I dare say that this was the first time that Abing ever doubted his own ears, so much so that I had to repeat myself. Somewhat flabbergasted, Abing mumbled to himself, ‘Who’d be willing to marry a blind man? In Lujiayan, the only person who’d marry a blind man is a blind woman, but two sightless people living together – well, wouldn’t they be even more blind?’

Once I assured him that Xiaofang was absolutely in agreement, Abing seemed barely able to control his emotions and excitement. Half-stuttering he asked, ‘Is this really true?’

‘Yes.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, really.’