The Garlic Ballads

night was cooling off. They talked in hushed tones.
    “But you know I’m spoken for,” she said with a shiver. “What we’re doing, it’s wrong, isn’t it?”
    “No, it’s not. We’re in love.”
    “But I’m betrothed.”
    “You have to register to be legally married.”
    “Does that mean we can be together?”
    “Yes. Just tell your father you won’t agree to the wedding.”
    “No,” she protested, tripping over her tongue. “They’d kill me…. I’ve been a burden to them for so long.”
    “Does that mean you’d rather marry a dying old man?”
    “I’m afraid.” By now she was weeping. “Mother says she’ll take poison if I don’t.”
    “Scare tactics.”
    “You don’t know her.”
    “I know she’s just trying to scare you.”
    “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you had a younger sister? She could marry my brother and I could be your wife.”
    Gao Ma sighed and rubbed her chilled shoulder. He was nearly in tears.
    “Elder Brother Gao Ma, we can be secret lovers. Then when he dies, we’ll get married.”
    “No!” Gao Ma exploded. He kissed her, and could feel the heat in her belly. A hairy mouth above them touched their heads, as the sound of raspy breathing and the smell of fresh grass settled around their necks. It scared them half to death, until they discovered to their relief that it was only the colt, up to a little mischief.

3.

    Jinju showed Gao Ma the fateful wedding contract. She had come to his home at noon, a month after their tryst amid the indigo. They had met nearly every night after that first one—in the trench, then later in the fields, hiding in farmland planted with shallots. They watched the progress of full moon and crescent moon, with or without cloud cover; leaves were dusted with silver, insects chirped and screeched, cool dew moistened the dry earth below. She wept and he laughed; he wept and she laughed. The fiery passions of love made the young couple grow haggard, but their eyes glowed and crackled like hot cinders.
    Jinju’s parents had sent an angry message to Gao Ma: there has never been hostility or rancor between our families, and you have no right to interfere with our arranged marriages.
    Jinju burst through the door like a whirlwind and looked anxiously over her shoulder, as if she were being followed. Gao Ma led her over to the kang, where she sat down. “They wont come for us, will they?” she asked in a tremulous voice.
    “No,” he assured her, handing her a cup of water. But she scarcely moistened her lips before setting the ebony-colored cup down on the table. “Dont worry, no one will come,” he reassured her. “And what if they did? We have nothing to be ashamed about.”
    “I brought it.” She removed a folded piece of red paper from her pocket and dropped it onto the table before sprawling out on the kang, burying her face in her arms and bursting into tears.
    Gao Ma gendy rubbed her back to get her to stop crying; but when he saw it was futile, he unfolded the sheet of red paper, which was covered with black calligraphy:

    On the auspicious tenth day of the six month in the year nineteen hundred and eighty-five we betroth the eldest grandson of Liu Jiaqing, Liu Shengli , to Fang Jinju , daughter of Fang Yunqiu; the second daughter of Cao Jinzhu, Cao Wenling , to the eldest son of Fang Yunqiu, Fang Yijun; and the second granddaughter of Liu Jiaqing, Liu Lanlan , to the eldest son of Cao Jinzhu, Cao Wen . With this agreement, our families are forever linked, even if the rivers run dry and the oceans become deserts. Witness the three principals: Liu Jiaqing, Fang Yunqiu, Cao Jinzhu.

    Dark fingerprints were affixed to the paper beside the names of the three men.
    Gao Ma refolded the contract and stuffed it into his pocket, then opened a drawer and removed a booklet. “Jinju,” he said, “stop crying and listen to the Marriage Law. Section 3 says, Arranged marriages, mercenary marriages, and all other types that restrict individual freedom are prohibited/ Then in Section 4 it says, ‘Both marriage partners must be willing. Neither they nor any third party may use coercion to force a marriage upon the other party/ That’s national policy, which is more important than this lousy piece of paper. You have nothing to worry about.”
    Jinju sat up and dried her eyes with her sleeve. “What am I supposed to say to my parents?”
    “That’s easy. You just say, ‘Father, Mother, I don’t love Liu Shengli and I won’t marry