I was delighted by the turn of events. It certainly saved me the trouble of looking for her. "Professor, shall we go out for a cup of tea?" I suggested.

The head of the archive department agreed so we found a teahouse just outside the school and ordered a pot of green tea.

She looked about 40 years old and was surnamed Gao. I was shocked at the huge age gap between her and Qi Sheng so I asked, “Madam Gao, how long were you married to Professor Qi?"

"More than 20 years. In fact, I used to be his student. Although he’s old now, he used to be a handsome and dashing man in his younger days. Back then, everyone around me objected to our teacher-student relationship but at the time, I was as stubborn as mule, my heart set on marrying only him. Alas! I wish I had listened to my family’s advice. He had the sort of paranoid personality that made it hard...