A few years before his death, he published his diaries and confessed his secret role as a government spy during the Anti-Rightist Campaign.

In the aftermath of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Feng began translating English-language novels and articles for American Literature Series, an anthology which he also helped publish that included works like The Fifth Column by Ernest Hemingway.

At the State University of New York, the duo met with American poets Alfred Poulin, Anthony Piccione, and William Heyen.

During the Cultural Revolution, because of Feng's status as a "rightist", Zheng was tortured by the Red Guards and became blind in one eye.

[7][8] According to Song Yuwu in the Biographical Dictionary of the People's Republic of China, "their love story has become legendary in the Chinese literary circle".

[2] In 2000, five years before his death, Feng published the diaries he had kept from July 1958 to April 1962, under the title Hui Yu Rilu (悔余日录; Journal in Remorse).

In order to regain the grace of the Party, Feng worked diligently to ingratiate himself with Zhang and other rightists including Fei Xiaotong.