Evidence of Love

By Mo Xiaomi

Alady who was on the verge of breaking up her marriage came to visit. After a hasty narration, she produced a paper bag from her delicate purse. When she opened it, it turned out to be a stack of greeting cards arranged in chronological order, which were given to her by her husband after more than ten years of marriage. There were New Year’s cards and birthday cards, alive with catchy congratulations on each card.

“Look, our relationship was really pretty good, but for that slut...” she began to choke.

I would have liked to say to her: These things don’t mean anything. You’d better throw them away. But seeing her so infatuated, I couldn’t have the heart to do that. She took them out in this way, and it seemed that these things were the only evidence she had at her disposal. She needed them to prove the love she once had, to others and to herself.

Love is so heartbreaking that we often begin to dread losing it when we have just possessed it—so it requires evidence.

Nowadays, many young or not-so-young couples expend thousands of dollars on things like taking wedding photos, which are said to be for “keeping affection and love” and feel that they are worth it.

Not to mention whether the evidence is adulterated when a price tag is involved, so what if it is all true? Even if they can prove what they were, can they prove what they are?

The evidence was a sheer ornament when love was still passionate; and when it comes to making it all a public endeavor, it makes no sense.

(From New Family. Translation: Qing Run)

愛的證物

文/莫小米

有位婚姻瀕臨破裂的女士來訪，一番急促的敘述之后，她從隨身的精巧皮包中取出一個紙包。打開來，是一沓按年月順序排好的賀卡，那是結婚十多年來丈夫給她的。有新年賀卡，有生日賀卡，張張卡上寫滿動聽的祝詞。

“你看，我倆的感情，實在是非常好的，要不是那個騷貨……”她開始哽咽。

很想對她說：這些東西不能說明什么，不如扔了它。但看她那么癡情，又不忍心。她將它們這樣拿出來示人，看來這是她手頭唯一掌握的物證。她需要拿它們證明她曾擁有過的愛情，向別人，也向自己。

愛情就是如此讓人心碎，往往在剛剛擁有的時候便開始害怕失去，因此便需要物證。如今，更有許多年輕的或已不太年輕的夫婦，花幾千元錢補拍婚紗照，據說是為了“留住情和愛情”，覺得花這些錢很值。

且不說那些物證是否摻假打折，即使全是真的又能怎樣？它們證明得了當初，能證明今天嗎？

物證在愛情依然熾熱的時候，形同擺設；在公開示人的時候，更無意義。