At this so-called banquet, which turned out just to be me having the company of a few people while I was eating, the other guests were all important figures or principals from the Institute. With so many people present there was a lot of chat, and the meal seemed to drag on for ever. After eating we left the dining room, and as we walked through to the main room, I suddenly noticed there were a couple of people sitting on one of the sofas. One of them was a woman who stared at me with bold, hot eyes, with something of the air of a femme fatale. She must have been about thirty, maybe a little bit older, and her lips were painted deep red. She wore a narrow-striped black-and-white Lenin suit, and her hair was tied back with a white scarf, somewhat in a Western style. She looked just like a spy in a film. Perhaps it was because of that, I felt her smile was ambiguous. I couldn’t believe that this was happening, and hoped that it was just a dream. But either way I felt the same kind of pain as if I had picked up something burning hot, and I was so scared that I did not dare look at her again.

Things then went from bad to worse. Shortly afterwards, I went back to my room after seeing off Party Secretary Wang and the others. She was standing outside the door to my room, and when she saw me she smiled very sweetly. I had the helpless feeling of someone whose world has just been turned upside down, and to disguise it I said accusingly, ‘What do you want?’

‘I’ve been looking for you.’ Her voice was as sweet as her smile.

‘Why have you been looking for me?’

‘You’re here looking for someone special, and I wanted to know more about it. Why, am I not welcome?’ She spoke with perfect self-assurance.

‘What do you do?’ I asked coldly.

She shook her head like a little girl. ‘Guess.’

‘I don’t want to guess,’ I said roughly.

She seemed a bit taken aback, but pretty quickly she smiled again and said, ‘Look at you! Carrying on as if I were a KMT sleeper.’ She giggled. ‘I’m not a KMT special agent, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m a patriotic intellectual; a professor who came back from the USA to serve the motherland, invited by Prime Minister Zhou Enlai!’

I heard what she said but was more confused than ever, and for a moment I just stood there. She knocked on the door, and asked me very politely, ‘How about opening the door and inviting me in?’