A mother's love story

After arriving in Shangluo, we had always wanted to visit Lantian and Xi'an. Just then, our son and daughter-in-law were returning home and would take the train back to Beijing from Xi'an. Seizing this opportunity, we came to Sister Zhang's home. Their home is in a large unit's dormitory in the Baqiao District. After seeing off our son and daughter-in-law, it was already quite late. We hurried to Sister Zhang's house, freshened up, and quickly went to bed.

The next day, we finally had the chance to visit her mother. Aunt Zuo, her mother, was born in 1941 and is now 83 years old. However, she is still very spirited. Although her hair is completely white, she is meticulous in her appearance and has a rosy complexion. Especially, her face reveals an indescribable sense of peace and joy, which is very touching.

We chatted about family matters. They are from Hejian, Hebei. She mentioned her family, saying, "Our family has two sisters married to two brothers." I became interested and asked, "Is this your custom and tradition?" "No," she replied.

At that time, my elder sister married their (Zhang family) brother-in-law, who was in Nanjing at the time. They had a child, and in 1957, I went to help take care of the child. I had also met Zhang XX at my elder brother's house, but it was all very ordinary, and I didn't pay much attention to him or think in that direction. Suddenly, one day, my elder brother gave me a letter from Zhang XX, and I found it quite strange, so I pushed the letter aside. It turned out that my brother-in-law and elder sister had this intention: they wanted to match us up.

A few months later, I returned to my hometown in Hejian County. After that, we started to correspond gradually, but we didn't talk about love; our letters were all about work, studies, and pursuing progress, etc. In 1961, he took three days off and came to my house. In the end, he said he was there to marry me, and I was completely unprepared. Ah, he was just so straightforward.

We asked Aunt Zuo: Do you have any photos from back then? She said, "Yes." So she went into the inner room and found several photo albums, taking out some important photos one by one to show us. We saw their photos from when they were young: one was thin but very handsome and spirited; the other had a round face, was a bit chubby, and very plump. There was also a photo of them in old age, both in their seventies, with her husband holding her head from behind to show affection. This gesture is very rare among the elderly, and its appearance in a photo is even more precious.

Aunt Zuo's family background was not good, and they faced oppression and restrictions in many aspects. For example, regarding education, she originally had the conditions to attend university, but she couldn't. It turned out that her grandfather was a martial scholar during the Qing Dynasty, and her father had been a puppet village chief. Especially the latter made it difficult for her to hold her head high for almost her entire life. In fact, her father became a puppet village chief under the orders of the underground party to provide cover for the guerrilla forces. Later, all the witnesses from back then passed away, and no one could testify or guarantee for her father, so he suffered a lot during various movements later on.

The Japanese and the Eighth Route Army and guerrilla forces all stayed at their home, which became a transit station. When the Eighth Route Army came, the Japanese would leave, and when the Japanese came, the Eighth Route Army would leave. Once, while they were hosting the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese suddenly arrived. The Eighth Route Army quickly escaped, but they didn't have time to clean up the food they were eating, so they had to scatter many items on the ground, giving the impression that they had just been looted by the Japanese. They narrowly escaped a disaster. The Japanese wanted to find "flower girls," and he couldn't bear to ruin good women, so he personally paid to hire women from a brothel to send to the Japanese...

Aunt Zuo always said her husband was ugly, but when we looked at the photos, we saw that her husband was quite a handsome and capable man, with relatively narrow eyes but bright and spirited. She also said he loved to joke, which we believed. When Aunt Zuo talked about her husband, she would shyly lower her head, as if avoiding a pair of eyes. We were moved and shocked by this expression. It was so natural and genuine, unadorned and spontaneous. Her daughter was not pleased. "Mom, why are you like this? When others ask, you just spill everything." When Sister Zhang said this, we felt embarrassed to ask further.

Aunt Zuo's husband never believed in God, but after he got cancer, his health quickly deteriorated, and his strong body became very weak. After being persuaded by her daughter, Sister Zhang, he finally believed. Aunt Zuo said that when her husband passed away, she did not cry, and she has not cried since, not even a single tear. She is very calm and peaceful because she knows her husband has gone to another world, that he has followed Jesus and is enjoying rest in the Kingdom of Heaven, and that one day they will meet again.

The next evening, we went to Aunt Zuo's house again. It is said that after we left last night, she still held the photo album and looked at it for a long, long time...

Saturday, February 17, 2024