LIANG ZHU 11 Match! No Match!

There is turmoil in the Zhu house. Without her knowledge Yingtai’s parents have accepted the proposal from the Ma’s for their son Ma Wen Cai. She is flabbergasted and is refusing her father’s command to marry Ma Wen Cai.

Zhu:
How dare you!? This is absolutely preposterous! This must be the best match of the century, and you are refusing it! What right have you to refuse it?

Yingtai:
You did not ask me, father. If this was to be my wedding, and I know it will not be, why wasn’t I told about it? You are talking about me getting married – that gives me the right to accept or to refuse! How could you do this behind my back?

Mdm Zhu:
Yingtai, you have always been a reasonable girl… and finding a match is both a duty and a privilege for parents. For your father, this is a very special joy… think of the honour and esteem the Zhu family will enjoy with this match.

Yingtai:
It seems that you have been thinking about honour and esteem but not me…

Zhu:
Ungrateful! I can see that we made a mistake sending you off to that school for three years. You have learned nothing. Instead of behaving as a good daughter, you behave as though you have not an iota of learning inside your head. For all the love and care your mother and I have showered upon you, you dare accuse me of thinking about honour and esteem and not you? Preposterous!

Mdm Zhu:
You mean finding the best match in the province for you is selfish of us?

[Yingtai is in tears now and tries to steel herself…]

Yingtai: [quietly]
I don’t want to be matched…

Mdm Zhu:
Then what are we supposed to do with all the gifts that the Ma have just sent…?

Zhu:
The whole province is up with excitement by just looking at the gifts… can you imagine what it will be like on the wedding day? And she doesn’t want to be matched.

Yingtai: [quietly]
Send them back.

Mdm Zhu:
What! Send them back? How can we send them back? What will people say? You want to make us the laughing stock of the province?

Zhu:
She’s possessed and gone off her senses! What have I done to her that she now repays my kindness with this stupid… this… this… you are just trying to kill me!

Mdm Zhu:
You better tell us the reason before your father bursts a blood vessel…

Yingtai:
I won’t marry Ma Wen Cai.

Mdm Zhu:
Why?

Yingtai:
Because I have Liang Shanbo…

Mdm Zhu:
And who is this Liang Shanbo…

Yingtai:
He and I were classmates for all these three years… and I have promised I will marry only him.

Mdm Zhu:
What! But you swore to me that you would not reveal your true identity to anybody? And you promised that you would keep to yourself, not letting anyone touch you! When you returned, you told me you kept your promise.

Yingtai:
Those promises I have kept to the letter. He doesn’t know that I am a girl!

Mdm Zhu:
That’s truly laughable! Then how have you promised that you will marry only him?

Yingtai:
I promised him my twin sister’s hand when he comes.

Mdm Zhu:
You don’t have a twin sister?

Yingtai:
Liang Shanbo is kind, gentle, honest and sincere. In these three years, being his classmate and roommate, I have discovered him to be a true gentleman, generous and sensitive, dutiful and talented. Mother, I did not tell him my true identity because I promised you. When we parted, I knew that I could give my heart only to him and no one else. I made him promise that he will visit me and I promised my twin sister to him – in my heart, I had promised myself to him…

Zhu:
This is so utterly ridiculous! I am not going to listen to it anymore. [He leaves the room angrily.]

Mdm Zhu:
Yingtai, I understand what you are saying… but such things are not done. Right now Liang Shanbo is not a reality but the gifts and the proposal from the Ma’s are. We cannot make these things disappear. This is a very serious matter, Yingtai. Can you imagine what will happen if we do send the gifts back. It will be a terrible insult to the Ma’s, the wealthiest family in the province… it will be very difficult for your father…

Yingtai:
To you Shanbo is not a reality but to me he is as real as my heartbeat. I don’t even know the Ma’s and it is not my intent to insult them. But I would rather die than be married to Ma Wen Cai.

Mdm Zhu:
Where is Liang Shanbo now?

Yingtai:
He will come… I know he will come. [A maid enters nervously, looks at Yingtai…]]

Maid:
Madam, Liang Shanbo has come to ask for our young master Zhu Yingtai.

Yingtai:
Liang Shanbo!

Mdm Zhu:
What a coincidence! Well, you’d better explain the whole situation to him. I hope he has more sense than you on this matter… I shall leave you alone. [She exits.]