Lucy Gordon - And the Bride Wore Red

A slight shadow came over Lang’s face.

‘What is it?’ Olivia asked. ‘Have I said something wrong?’

‘No, it’s just that you speak of them accepting me.’

‘But they do, that’s obvious.’

‘I know it looks like that, and I’m probably imagining that the acceptance isn’t complete. I simply have this feeling that they’re holding back just a little.’

‘But why?’

‘I don’t know. All I can tell you is that I feel they’re waiting for me to do something, or say something. But I don’t know what it is.’

‘I think you’re wrong. They’re not holding back at all. They’re so proud of you, and they’re especially proud that you came here and chose them. Biyu did this.’ She tapped her breast. ‘And she said, “In here, he is one of us”.’

‘She actually said that?’ There was something touchingly boyish in his eagerness.

‘She actually said that. So doesn’t that prove you’re accepted?’

‘Maybe, but I don’t think even they know that something doesn’t fit.’

‘Then you have to be patient,’ Olivia said. ‘It’ll happen naturally, and you’ll all know by instinct.’

‘I didn’t think you believed in trusting your instinct.’

‘But it’s not my instinct we’re talking about.’

‘Perhaps it is. I think that whatever we seem to be talking about we’re also finding out about each other-and about ourselves.’

‘Yes, it’s alarming when you start to discover that you’re not the person you thought you were,’ she agreed.

‘What have you learned about yourself?’ he murmured, his mouth close to hers.

‘Things that alarm me. Things that I’m not sure I want to learn.’

‘Tell me about them.’

‘I’m just not the person I thought I was-but, if I’m not, then who am I?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘Of course it matters. What a question!’

‘I’m serious. Why do you have to know who you are? It’s enough that you are . And, besides, I know you. You’re a dragon lady-wild, brave, inventive, everything that’s powerful and good.’

‘To you, yes. But that would mean putting myself entirely in your hands.’

‘Don’t you trust me that much?’

‘It’s not that, it’s just-I don’t know.’

‘Believe me, I know what it’s like to put yourself in the hands of the woman you love and to realise that, if she understands you, it doesn’t matter whether you understand yourself because she’s wiser than you are.’

He might have been talking about Natalie, but the warmth in his eyes told her what he really meant.

‘Perhaps you should be careful,’ she whispered. ‘Who knows if I can really be trusted that much?’

‘I do,’ he said at once. ‘I’d trust you with my life, with my heart, soul and all my future.’

‘But we’ve known each other such a little time.’

‘We’ve known each other for over two-thousand years,’ he said. ‘Ever since the moment I caught a glimpse of your face and knew that I’d gladly give up everything else in my life in order to be with you.’

‘Is that you talking?’ she asked in wonder. ‘Or Renshu?’

‘Ah!’ he said with satisfaction. ‘I said you understood me. Yes, I’m Renshu, and so is every man who’s ever loved as much as I do. And I know one thing-I can’t be without you. You must stay with me for ever or my life will be nothing.

‘I know you can’t abandon Norah, but I don’t ask you to. She has been your mother, and from now on she will be mine too. She’ll be happy in China, I’ll make sure of that. Don’t you think I can?’

‘I think you can do anything you set your mind to,’ she said in wonder.

‘Does that mean yes?’

‘Yes, yes, yes !’

Flinging her arms about him, she hugged him with wild joy and he hugged her back powerfully. When they drew back to behold each other’s faces she saw that his was full of mischief.

‘I was so afraid you’d refuse me,’ he said meekly.

‘Liar, liar! You never thought that for a moment,’ she cried, thumping him. ‘You’re the most conceited devil that ever lived.’

‘Only because you make me conceited,’ he defended himself, laughing. ‘If you love me, how can I not have a good opinion of myself? I merely bow to the dragon lady’s superior good sense. Ow! That hurt!’ He rubbed his thigh where she’d landed a lucky slap.

‘I never said I loved you,’ she riposted. ‘I’m marrying you out of pity. No-Ah, wait!’ Her laughter died as something occurred to her. ‘You never actually mentioned marriage, did you?’

‘I didn’t think it needed mentioning. It has to be marriage. Of course, I’d really prefer to keep you as a concubine-No, no, I give in!’ He fended off a renewed attack, securing her arms and keeping her close for safety. ‘You don’t think Tao and Biyu and the others would let me deprive them of a wedding, do you?’

‘Shall we go back to Beijing and tell everyone?’

‘Not just yet. Let’s go off on our own for a while. You once mentioned Shanghai? Let’s go there. But, in the meantime, let’s dress for dinner. Put on your glad rags because you’re going to enjoy tonight.’

AS THEY were having dinner he explained what he’d meant. ‘After this we’ll go back to the little theatre,’ he said.

‘Not another talent contest, please!’

‘No, they’re doing a play with music. It’s based on a fable that goes back centuries, and it’s known as the Chinese Romeo and Juliet .’

‘Star-crossed lovers?’

‘That’s right. He was poor, her family was rich. When they couldn’t marry, he died of a broken heart, but she went to his tomb and-Well, wait and see.’

When dinner was over they slipped into place, securing a table near the stage. Gradually the lights went down and plaintive music filled the air. Zhu Yingtai, a beautiful young girl, appeared with her family, pleading with them for the right to study. They were shocked at this unladylike behaviour, but finally let her go to college disguised as a man. She sang of her joy:

‘Other women dream of husbands,

But I do not seek a husband.

I choose freedom.’

As the scene changed Lang whispered provocatively to Olivia, ‘She’s looking forward to a life of learning and independence, with no male complications. I know you’ll approve.’

She smiled. It seemed such a long time since she’d been that woman, and the man who’d released her from her cage was sitting so close that she could feel his warmth mingling with another kind of warmth that was part memory, part anticipation.

In the next scene Zhu Yingtai, now dressed as a man, met Liang Shanbo and they became fellow students. They grew close, singing about their deep friendship.

‘Our hearts beat together.

All is understood between us.’

‘And yet he doesn’t suspect that she’s a woman?’ Olivia mused.

‘Perhaps friendship is also part of love,’ Lang murmured. ‘If they’d been able to marry, the fact that they could confide in each other might have sustained them through the years, making them strong while other couples fell apart.’

His face was very close to hers, his eyes glowing with a message he knew she could understand without words. She nodded slowly.

At last Zhu Yingtai revealed her true identity and they declared their love, but it was in vain. Liang Shanbo was poor. Her parents betrothed her to a rich man.

He sang a plaintive ballad, full of heartbreak, saying that his life was nothing without his beloved. Then he lay down and quietly died.

The day of Zhu Yingtai’s wedding dawned. She too sang, longing for death to reunite her with the man she loved. On the way to the ceremony she stopped beside her lover’s tomb, crying out her longing for them to be together.