‘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.’
CHAPTER TEN
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
‘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.
Olivia held her breath. For some reason what would happen next mattered to her.
The music swelled. The tomb doors opened. Zhu Yingtai threw up her arms in ecstatic gratitude and walked triumphantly inside.
The lights dimmed, except for one brilliant beam over the tomb. From somewhere overhead a hologram was projected into the light, and two large butterflies came into view. They hovered for a moment before flying off together into the darkness.
These were the souls of the lovers, now united for ever. The audience gasped, then applauded ecstatically. The lights came up and Olivia hastily dried her eyes.
All about them people were exclaiming with appreciation. Lang and Olivia quietly slipped away and went up on deck.
‘Did I understand the end properly?’ she asked as they strolled hand in hand. ‘The butterflies were the lovers, and now they’ll always be together?’
‘That’s right.’
She stopped and looked up at the moon. No full moon tonight, but a crescent hanging in the sky. Lang followed her gaze.
‘According to Meihui,’ he said, ‘the two butterflies didn’t only signify reunion in death, but eternal fidelity in life also. She said there were so many different stage versions all over China that one or other was always being performed. When I came here, almost the first thing I did was to find a performance, to see if it spoke to me in her voice, and it did. I was so glad it was on here tonight, so that I could show it to you.’
‘Butterflies,’ she mused. ‘Flying away together for eternity. What a lovely thought!’
‘Eternity,’ he echoed. ‘That’s what I want with you, if it’s what you want.’
‘It’s all I shall ever want,’ she told him passionately.
‘Then we have everything. Let’s go inside.’
‘We can go on travelling for another couple of weeks,’ Lang said next morning. ‘And then it’ll be back to Beijing to plan the wedding.’
‘And that’s going to take a lot of planning,’ Olivia mused.
‘Nonsense, we just give Biyu the date and leave everything to her. In fact, why don’t we just let her choose the date?’
‘Good idea. She’ll be better at planning it than I will.’
Biyu thought so too. In a feverish telephone call, she tried to make them return at once and plunge into arrangements. It took all Lang’s strength to resist, and when he hung up Olivia had to take drastic steps to restore his energy. That distracted them so long that they got behind with their packing and nearly weren’t ready when the boat docked at Yichang.
From there they took a plane to Shangai on the coast. During the flight, they planned out the rest of their trip.
‘We could go to Chengdu and see the panda sanctuary,’ he said. ‘I’ve got some more relatives up there, and I’d like them to meet you. But let’s enjoy Shanghai first.’
It was a revelation, an ultra-modern, bustling city where almost every inch seemed to be neon-lit. On the first night they took a boat down the river, gazing up at the skyscrapers adorned with multi-coloured lights. Then they escaped to their hotel room on the thirty-fifth floor and watched from the window.
‘I’m dizzy being up so high,’ she murmured, leaning back against him.
‘I’m dizzy too,’ he whispered against her neck. ‘But it’s not from the height.’
She chuckled but didn’t move, even when he drew his lips across the skin below her ear, although it sent delicious tremors through her.
‘Come to bed,’ he urged.
