The speech echoed as it would in the mountains, inspiring the people in the room.
While the room was still quiet, Jeong Jin Wu and Eun Ok poured wine into glasses and offered it to their parents and elders.
The guests received the bride and groom’s wine with care and respect. As they looked at the clear wine, their eyes sparkled with satisfaction. The wine embodied the overwhelming joy of marriage, gratitude toward the Party for bringing the couple to the zenith of their happiness, respect for elders and comrades, and the eternal covenant between the newlyweds.
The guests lifted their glasses, congratulated the couple, and emptied them without leaving a single drop. The wine that the couple had poured for them was special, so the guests knew they had to drink all of it.
As soon as the formal ceremony was finished, Jeong Jin Wu’s university friend sat down in a corner of the room and pressed the keys of the accordion, as the guests sat around the dinner tables. The music was delicate, but also full of life and hope. Jeong Jin Wu looked at his friend with admiration. The friend, on behalf of the other colleagues, had come a long way to attend the wedding. Teenagers, men and women from the vegetable research institute, Eun Ok’s father’s coworkers, and children sang along with the accordion.
At the people’s request, Jeong Jin Wu and Eun Ok sang a duet.
It was a night full of celebration—songs, laughter, stories, and delicious food.
The popping sound of beer bottles being opened and the foam that overflowed the glasses all blessed the newlyweds’ future.
As the hours passed, the topic of the bride and groom slowly faded, and the elderly people sitting around the tables began to share their personal stories of women, love, and marriage. Vulgar words were exchanged among the elders, whose experiences in life provided deep and honest lessons for one another.
“I don’t care what other people say, the woman needs to be strong in a family,” began one elderly woman.
“That’s right. You know my husband?” added another woman, “Don’t even get me started. I married him because he was big, thinking that he had something great in him. But I realized that he’s a good-for-nothing.”
Then another woman joined the conversation, “As the old saying goes, ‘If you want to pick a husband, then think like a farmer who goes out to the marketplace to buy a cow that can plow his field.’ ”
“Yeah, but that was in the good old days. These days, youngsters go for good looks first.”
The diffusion of the sounds of spoons and chopsticks, wine glasses, and people chattering made it difficult to distinguish one speaker from another.
“Hey, don’t worry about your daughter being ugly now,” said yet another woman. “Young women are like flowers. Just wait till she’s in her mid-twenties. She may not be a rose, but certainly a morning glory or a pumpkin flower. Then, the bees and butterflies will swarm around her to taste a bit of her sweet stuff!”
The elderly women burst into laughter.
“I’m so frustrated with my eldest daughter. She has a bitchy temper, and she is well beyond her ripe age. These days, they say that women who are twenty-six years old are over the hill. But she thinks that getting married is child’s play, like playing house. She doesn’t look at men and isn’t even remotely feminine. I was so frustrated with her the other day I yelled at her, saying, ‘Hey, tough girl! This is why men don’t come on to you. Why don’t you change your tomboyish appearance and try to look more attractive? If you bring home a man tomorrow, I’ll do whatever it takes to set up a wedding, even if it means I have to yank the head off a chicken!’ ”
“Youngsters these days don’t mature until they’re in their late twenties. They’re so content with life right now that they don’t know why they have to get married.”
After a while, a more rational voice was heard.
“Last year at our factory, our boss, ‘Tiger,’ his wife passed away. But these days, his face is awfully bright. He married a widow with a round face and a voluptuous figure. Whenever our boss returns from his business trips, she puts on makeup and dresses well for him. She even goes to the train station to greet him. She holds his bag and walks close to him. I think we’re benefiting from her. He used to be the kind of guy that blew up at us during the factory meetings about increasing production, but now he’s a completely new person. He has become gentler, and he speaks kindly now. He has completely changed, and production has increased!”
The bride and groom were forgotten as the guests conversed on various topics.
The night grew deeper.
The guests slowly started leaving after a delightful night of food, alcohol, and amusing conversations.
Jeong Jin Wu shook hands with every guest.
With a beautiful flower in her hair, Eun Ok bowed to her guests and went out to see them off. The cold air from outside rushed into the house, which was filled with cigarette smoke mixed with the smells of food and alcohol.
Once the guests had all gone home, the two sat quietly in the master bedroom with the lights off. Jeong Jin Wu’s mother had prepared a soft cotton blanket and a mattress for them to sleep on. The couple, still overwhelmed from their wedding ceremony, could not contain their excitement.
They looked at each other in silence, the kind of silence that had existed before the universe was formed.
The moonlight quietly peeked into their room.
Embroidered lovebirds decorated the pillows, and there were colorful birds and flowers on the blanket. In the moonlight, the birds and flowers appeared to have come alive and begun to move about.
All of a sudden, the sound of a shattering icicle broke the silence in the room. Even this late in the evening, nature did not sleep and kept the couple awake. The shrill sound of the icicle startled the couple, who were immersed in their world of happiness. However, what they quietly feared most was the future that lay ahead.
Jeong Jin Wu and Eun Ok approached the window.
The icicles hanging on the eaves sparkled in the moonlight. The couple saw houses across the street faintly through the snow-covered elm trees. The roofs looked like they were covered in a fluffy white blanket. Under the peaceful moonlight, all the houses were fast asleep. In the distance, there were silver hills, and at a further distance were snow-crowned mountains, stretching their regal summits into the limitless sky. Small houses were scattered along the feet of the mountains, appearing like mosaic pieces. In the moonlight, the snow shone like crystals, attesting to nature’s true work of art. It was an enchanting sight on this frosty evening. Nature had never looked so splendid and sublime.
“It’s a really beautiful night. The stars look like diamonds,” uttered Jeong Jin Wu.
Eun Ok stood motionless.
“Our first night together will never be forgotten,” continued Jeong Jin Wu.
Eun Ok gazed into the far distance.
“It will forever be a beautiful memory. Won’t it? Eun Ok, what are you thinking about right now?”
“Comrade Jin Wu.” Eun Ok hesitated for a moment before she said, “Beyond those mountains, where the three stars are, is Yeonsudeok.”
They looked at the dark sky. It appeared as if one could grab any of the flickering stars from the peak of a mountain.
“I can’t help but recall my childhood. I feel like I’m still in that place. It feels like some other woman got married and not me. I’m scared. I feel guilty for leaving Yeonsudeok over there and living over here. In that village, there are the old-timers and comrades whom I grew up with.”
Jeong Jin Wu was moved.