Future Marriage Register Office未来婚姻登记事务所

Qiu Yuanting

1

“Hello, this is Future Registrationof Marriages, No.6 operator at your service. What can I do for you?”

“oh yes, I’d like to book a timefor me and my fiancée. We want to get married next month.”

“Yes of course. But first, l needto check something with you sir, to make sure everything is going just right.”

“Sure. We are very much in love, ifthat’s what you are trying to find out.” Says the young man delightfully, hiswhole heart occupied by happiness.

“Glad to hear that sir, but no, notthat. I guess you haven’t heard the big news yet. Some new regulations ofmarriage. Actually, everyone is talking about it now. Firstly. What kind ofcouple would you like to register as?”

“The happy kind, obviously.” Theman giggles.

“I do hope you take this marriagething a little more serious, sir. Well, for your information, we now have threekinds of marriage for you to choose from. You can either go for a 5-yearmarriage contract, which most young people would love to try, or a 20-year one,long enough for you to raise a child, or the traditional lifetime bond, which certainly brings a sense of security.”

“Oh, that’s quite interesting. Whathappens when it ends?”

“Your marriage contract willautomatically lose effectiveness. In the past, people call this a divorce, butnot anymore. Good thing, isn’t it? But one more change I have to remind you sir,is that you cannot get a divorce within the duration of the marriage you havechosen. Though personally I think it’s silly. Who would ever go for a lifetime marriage contract in this case?”

“Maybe I will. Those in loveare mostly morons, all fooled by Cupid, aren’t they?” The young man laughs,somehow unnaturally.

“Then I admire your courage sir.So, you want to go for an appointment for the lifetime contract next month,right?”

However, the phone is suddenly silentfor a short moment.

“Thank you for the information, butno, not for now. I think my fiancée and I need to discuss it over.”

“Then good day, sir, I do hope youtwo find your best way of marrying.”

2

“My dear Gina, you just heard it.What’s on your mind? What do you think we should go for?”

“Why don’t you tell me yourthoughts first, dear Josh?” Gina smiles gently, patiently waits for the answer.

Gina somehow feels that whoeveranswers this question first would be on the lower hand. Along the way of hergrowing up, her Chinese parents kept telling her that a girl should bereserved, especially in a relationship, because girls are always the ones to betaken advantage of after marriage, in any ways, sexually, economically, mentally, and physically.

And their theory goes like this: ifyou are going to be at a disadvantage after marrying somebody anyway, then youtry your best to gain those advantages back before you marry them.

Those old days have long gone, eventhe old people have gone, but the old way of thinking however, is stilllingering now and then in their children’s head. Like Gina. She was born andbrought up in a country where the groom’s family would normally give largeamounts of money to the bride’s family when getting married, and that’s exactly how her parents think to gain that advantage back.

But money is not Gina worriedabout. Not at all. She cares nothing more than real love, real affections, theone and only Mr. right for eternity. That’s why after 2 years of dating, whenGina thought it should be the right time to marry Josh, she talked her parentsout of this marriage money tradition descending from ancient China.

While Josh, as a British, happilyaccepted this decision, or more accurately, he didn’t know this money-thingever exists, not to mention that it would ever be a problem.

3

But for Gina, what really mattersat this time is the attitude towards marriage her future husband shows.

She senses this uncertaintyunderlying the conversation when Josh was talking on that very phone call. Thatpause, as short as it is, is a signal, a very bad one, a sign of hesitation, andclearly, the loyalty of her husband is shaken by all those 5-year, 20-yearcontracts.

And he even adds a “maybe” before“I will”! All those love-moron-cupid-fool things, when Josh said them, he wasactually looking at Gina out of the corner of his eyes, seeming like a littleboy who was afraid of getting punishment for saying things wrong.

“That is exactly why he sounded sounnaturally,” Gina can’t stop thinking. “Maybe”, who on earth would add a“maybe” before “I will”? Is that what he’s going to say when they are standing ina church in front of a priest, being asked“Would you like to take this woman asyour wife, no matter rich or poor”, and he replies, “Maybe I do”?

Maybe, maybe he doesn’t love me atall. Gina thinks to herself.

And now, apparently, Josh ishesitating again. It must have been two minutes, and he just stands up to getanother coffee, as if this question is too sleepy for him that he must use somecoffee to awake himself up.

“Well…I mean, every new policycomes out for a good reason, doesn’t it?” Josh finally speaks.

“What do you mean by that?” Ginatries hard to suppress her growing anger. She does a really good job, sincefrom the appearance she is just as gentle and calm as she always is, just likeevery time her parents got into little conflicts in her childhood. They are notan emotional family anyway, or rather, a “don’t-know-how-to-express-and-perform-emotions” family.

“Please don’t be mad at me,” Joshnotices something is wrong, “I’m not saying that we shouldn’t go for thelifetime thing at all. I do want to be with you my whole life! I’m justsuggesting that we can have some second thoughts. You see, the possibilitieshere are fun to think about! After 5 years, we could get married again as a wholly new couple! That would be a great way to keep excitements in love!”

“Now I see where this is going.”Gina replies, “Not even for 20 years! My parents have been married for theirwhole life! Oh Gosh Josh I can’t believe it. You could also leave me after this5-year of marriage! What should I do at that time? I might be old and ugly, asingle lonely helpless mother dragging a baby desperately, just because their ex-husband doesn’t want to proceed their marriage contract!”

“How did all those thoughts comefrom anyway?” Josh gets irritated as well, “Aren’t we equal and independent asman and woman even in marriage? Come on Gina, don’t live in your ancient Chinaanymore, we are now in this modern world where marriage can change,acknowledged by the laws for fuck’s sake!”

4

For one moment, the room is allsilent again.

“Do you still want to marry me,Gina?” Josh breaks the silence.

“You tell me first.” Gina said.

“Oh no, not that again. Please, pleasetell me what your feelings are, those true feelings underneath all thisrational nonsense.”

“I think I do.” Gina sighs, “Maybe.I mean, I do want to be with you as much as you do, and I’m pretty sure aboutthat for now. I used to think marriage is just something two people in loveshould do naturally, but who knows? Maybe we are just too young to knowanything about love and marriage. But yes, I do want to marry you for now.”

“Then let’s do it. If you want togo for lifetime, I’ll consider seriously. We can talk it through.”

“No. I’ve changed my mind. What doI really know about marriage? Let’s take the 5-year thing as a trial then. We’llsee. Maybe, maybe things will work out for themselves.”

2021-10-08

at Arvon (Lumb Bank), Hebden Bridge, UK