She managed to convince her family to allow her to go to school in disguise as a man.
On her journey to school, Zhu met Liang, a young man who was going to the same school as her. They became friends at first meeting. In the next three years, they studied together and behaved like "brothers". Gradually, Zhu fell in love with Liang.
One day, Zhu received a letter from her family, asking her to return home. Zhu had no choice but leave school and Liang. However, in her heart, she was deeply in love with Liang and was determined to be with him forever.
So she went to her teacher’s wife for help. The teacher’s wife actually recognized her to be a girl long time ago, and promised to help her.
On the way Liang saw Zhu off. Zhu hinted to Liang that she was a girl, but Liang was somehow a bookworm and didn’t understand Zhu’s hint. Finally Zhu came up with an idea and told Liang that she had a beautiful sister and would like to introduce her sister to be Liang’s wife. Liang was very happy and looked forward to meeting Zhu’s sister.
However, when Zhu went home, her family had already arranged a marriage for her. The man Zhu was arranged to marry was from a very rich and powerful family.
Zhu confessed her love with Liang to her parents and resisted to the arranged marriage. She even vowed that she would kill herself rather than marry another man. But his father didn’t agree to the possible marriage between Liang and Zhu, and threatened that if she didn’t agree to the arranged marriage, Liang’s life would be at risk if the powerful family got angry with her breaking the arranged marriage. Since Zhu loved Liang and didn’t want Liang to be hurt, she finally decided to submit herself to the arranged marriage.
At school, with the reminding of the teacher’s wife, Liang finally realized that Zhu was a girl and the sister Zhu wanted to introduce to him was actually Zhu herself. After knowing this, Liang was very happy and couldn’t wait any more to see Zhu again.
However, when Liang arrived at Zhu’s home, he was heartbroken to learn that Zhu had to marry another man. There was no way for them to break the feudal customs or rules set at that time.
Since then, Liang got sick and died later.
On the day Zhu was sent for wedding, a mysterious wind brought the team passing by Liang’s grave. When Zhu saw Liang's grave, she cried in bitter despair and begged for the grave to open up.
Suddenly, the grave opened with a strike of thunder. Without any hesitation, Zhu threw herself into the grave and united with Liang.
Their spirits turned into a pair of beautiful butterflies. They flied together and never separated again.
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The above is a 6 - 8 min speech I delivered in my Toastmasters club (AC#4 Tell a story)
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