I went back to the guest house with the candidates’ files, and when I entered my room, I saw two envelopes on the floor. I knew that these would be the answer papers. The previous day I had given the three of them a mathematical maze, and now according to how they had solved the problem – whether they were right or wrong, how quickly they had done it, and how complex their proof was – I would make the final decision about which of them would be employed. Two people had already turned in their finished papers, and I sat down to read their answers, and discovered that both of them were correct, which made me very happy. I had been thinking that if none of the three were able to turn in an answer in the set time, or if they were all wrong, I really wouldn’t know what to do for the best. As I saw from their workings, even though each of them had their own strong points, there wasn’t much in it from the point of view of complexity and sensitivity, and it would be very difficult to choose between them. That meant that given that I had to pick just one of them, it would all come down to the material in their dossiers. So I was getting ready to go through them with a fine-tooth comb, and then make my choice, when I heard someone knocking on my door. When I went to open it, I discovered that it was Huang Yiyi. She stood in the doorway looking at me with the same dreamy smile as yesterday.

‘Do you want something?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m not here to ask you to dance; don’t worry.’

‘What do you want?’

‘Can I come in before I tell you?’ Without waiting for my reply, she marched in and said, ‘I’m here for the test. You are going to let me take it, aren’t you?’

‘What test?’ I pretended not to know anything about it.

‘Aren’t you here to find someone special?’ She opened her eyes really wide.

‘Yes.’ I didn’t want to talk to her any more; I just wanted to get rid of her. ‘But we’ve found the person we want, so it’s over.’

‘You mean I’m too late?’

‘Yes.’

‘You still haven’t told me your name, so that I can get to know you.’

‘My name is An Zaitian.’

‘And what work unit do you belong to, Comrade An?’

‘The same as you: a research institute.’

‘And what kind of work are you expecting the person you are looking for to do?’

I didn’t want to go into details, so I just said: ‘The work of a mathematician and good citizen.’

‘Mr An, can you please try to be a bit less sour?’

‘Don’t call me Mister. We’re comrades.’