LIANG ZHU 12 Reunion

[Yingtai quickly repairs her face, at once bewildered by the desperation of the situation as well as the joy and excitement of seeing Shanbo again. There is also the possible awkwardness of Shanbo seeing her as a girl for the first time. In order that it will not be too difficult for Shanbo when he arrives, she decided that she should stand not facing the doorway but with her back to it so that he would have at least a moment to collect himself upon seeing her. Shanbo enters. He sees her immediately and is a little puzzled that Yingtai is not there except this lady with his back to him.]

Shanbo: [apologetically]
Please forgive me for my intrusion but I thought I was being brought to see Brother Yingtai… [she turns around and smiles at him and he is momentarily stunned] He is not here and I have intruded… [he stops, now speechless, staring at Yingtai]

Yingtai:
Brother Liang… please come in and be seated..

Shanbo:
You call me the way Yingtai calls me! Amazing! How did you know that it is I? I know you must be Yingtai’s twin sister, seeing how much you look like him, but we have never met before.

Yingtai: [assuming a pose which she normally strikes while they are studying together]
White clouds sail across the sky; birds are winging high and free
Leaves are waving, trees are swaying; flowers blooming wild and free

Shanbo:
How did you know that song? Yingtai must have taught it to you. [she shakes her head] You sing it beautifully…

Yingtai: [she quotes from the poem they had composed upon parting]
Three autumns: each one lovelier than the last. Under the moon, we set brush to paper, composed poems to windsong and zither, raised cups together as friends and brothers.

Shanbo: [the memory comes pouring out; the words fall effortlessly from his tongue and it slowly dawns on him that…] Too soon the years have flown… we’ve filled our hearts with laughter, forgetting that this day will come… now duty has come calling, and return you must…

Yingtai: [she continues, staring into his eyes, waiting for that moment of full recognition]
Too deep our affection has grown… and now parting brings us sorrow, wishing there should be no tomorrow.

Shanbo: [amazed, but softly]
Yingtai!

Yingtai:
Shanbo.

Shanbo:
You are a girl… you’ve always been a girl.

Yingtai:
The girl with the butterfly dream…

Shanbo:
Dreaming you are a butterfly, thinking you are a human being… [silence]

Yingtai:
I see that you have succeeded. Congratulations. I am deeply touched that you remembered….

Shanbo:
You have always been a girl, Yingtai! [Still finding it incredible, after all these years.] My brother Zhu Yingtai whom I have lived and studied with for three years… I’ve been a fool… not knowing… how dull and stupid can I be!?

Yingtai:
No! please don’t say that… I did not mean to fool you… it was a disguise that was required of me… please forgive me, Shanbo…

Shanbo:
No, Yingtai, I do not mean that. I saw but I did not see… I knew but I did not know…how could I have… [he breaks off, shaking his head]

Yingtai:
Because you are a true gentleman; sincere and pure in your heart… those three years were the happiest time of my life… because I was with you. That was why, when we parted, I gave you that promise…

Shanbo:
You promised to match me with your twin sister so that our affection for each other will be sealed…

Yingtai:
I am my own twin sister… [he is now totally speechless; so amazed and deeply moved at the same time, he begins to laugh through his tears – that the friend whom he had loved all along will now be his beloved!]

Shanbo:
Zhu Yingtai, how glorious you are… how enchanting you are! Stupid me, haha ha! I saw so many things but I didn’t see… no, I didn’t see at all. [he gazes at her, still finding the whole thing incredible.] Now I have come in my officer’s garb… to redeem the promise from my brother Zhu for the hand of his twin sister Yingtai….


[Dance of Reunion : In a sweep of emotion, Shanbo begins to dance – the theme of the lovers sweeps them away, now in a reconciliation of their unexpressed feelings of love for each other – and Yingtai almost flies, almost free, almost like a butterfly… and when the music fades, there is a moment of eternity in which they gaze into each other’s eyes… until Yingtai remembers. And she looks away.]

Shanbo:
What is the matter, Yingtai?

Yingtai:
Though butterflies can fly, horses are far swifter
Though my heart is given, their gifts come faster

Shanbo:
What do you mean, Yingtai?

Yingtai:
I will marry no one else but you… [as she says this, the light changes… and the sound of the wedding procession is heard – the reedhorn blaring a sense imminent doom. Yingtai runs out in tears but she has to confront the wedding procession and the gift bearers.]