One day in October 1997, a special wedding was in full swing in a cramped rental house somewhere in Chongqing's Jiangbei district.
The groom, Qiu Daming, is 82 years old, this is his third marriage, about a month ago, he just met his new wife, but he felt indescribably familiar, so the two decided to spend the rest of their lives together without much thought.
The tedious procedures and etiquette were completed one by one, and the time was very late, and the old couple sat side by side on the edge of the bed and chatted with each other, and suddenly, the wife proposed: "Although we are old, we must also get a certificate, or we will not be laughed at by others." ”
Qiu Daming paused for a moment and nodded, "Well, yes, where are you from?" ”
"Xuanhanta River Dam people."
When he learned of his wife's hometown, Qiu Daming was very happy, and he was also very familiar with it when he mentioned it: "Everyone there is surnamed Li, where is the surname Liu?" ”
"My real name was Li Defang, but I changed my name later." The wife explains.
A sentence directly made Qiu Daming stunned, only because Qiu Daming's first love wife was also called "Li Defang".
"Is your mother's name Yu?" Qiu Daming asked in a trembling voice.
"How do you know?"
This made Qiu Daming more certain that the wife in front of him at this time was the original wife who had not seen each other for sixty years, and immediately whimpered: "I am your husband!" Your family recruited a door-to-door son-in-law, but he went north to resist the Japanese, and there was no way to contact your family! ”
More than 60 years ago, their short union, but deeply affected each other's lives, did not expect that sixty years later can be married again, is this a love affair or a bad fate?
One
In 1936, Qiu Daming was 21 years old, which was the best year of his life, and he was still an officer in Liu Xiang's unit of the Sichuan Army, which was absolutely popular at that time.
In June of that year, Qiu Daming came with his troops to Xuanhan County, Sichuan.
One day, Qiu Daming was doing business outside, and suddenly saw a little girl with a clear eyebrow on the street, which made Qiu Daming's heart move, originally Qiu Daming wanted to go up and say a few words to the girl, but he was temporarily stopped by his subordinates.
By the time Qiu Daming finished answering his subordinates' questions, there was no longer the girl in the crowd. Qiu Daming was completely lost, and for the next few days he was not in a position to stay, and he never saw the girl's figure again.
Yu Kai, who was familiar with Qiu Daming, was the director of the company and often went out to the countryside to buy vegetables, so he knew many fellow villagers. Among them, there is a woman named Li Yushi of Taheba Furnace Mountain, who is very talkative and very familiar with Yu Kai.
In the process of chatting, Li Yushi accidentally mentioned that she had a daughter named Li Defang, who was waiting for the word boudoir, Yu Kai listened to Li Yushi's introduction, felt that this little girl was really good, and thought of his friend Qiu Daming.
Yu Kai told Qiu Daming about this, and at first Qiu Daming was reluctant because he was always obsessed with the little girl in the market that day, and he was always looking forward to meeting her again.
However, unable to resist his friend's soft and hard bubbles, Qiu Daming finally agreed to his friend to meet him. On the day of the agreement, Qiu Daming came to Li Yu's home accompanied by Yu Kai, but the person who came to open the door made Qiu Daming stunned.
"Isn't this the girl I met in the county?" Qiu Daming thought to himself.
At this moment, Li Defang was no different from when Qiu Daming first saw her that day, a long braid, a bright head rope tied at the end of her hair, the same eyebrows were clear-eyed, and her eyes were also very agile, and when she learned that Qiu Daming had come to kiss her, Li Defang also blushed and looked amorous and gentle.
At that time, Qiu Daming was also a talented person with a high horse, plus his identity was a soldier, standing there with a sense of righteousness in his body, and his mother-in-law Li Yushi was very satisfied with him.
The two agreed to get along and see.
In the process of getting along, Qiu Daming found that Li Defang was very different from what he imagined, Li Defang obviously looked like a soft and weak southern woman, but in his bones he revealed a tenacity and loyalty, and was an out-and-out tough woman.
This contrast made Qiu Daming's heart move, and the relationship between the two became closer and closer, and in June 1937, the two finally came together.
Two
The married life of the two is very sweet, Li Defang is not only beautiful, but also takes care of a good housework, the home is cleaned up by her, and nothing needs to be worried about Qiu Daming.
However, Qiu Daming often had to perform official duties in the army, and rarely had the opportunity to go home, and the two had always gathered less and left more.
1937 was a turbulent year in China, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out on July 7, the Songhu Campaign began on August 13, the land of China was full of wolf smoke, and Qiu Daming became more and more busy.
On September 5, Qiu Daming, who had not returned home to see his wife for a long time, returned home, but before he could say a few words to Li Defang, the soldiers ran over breathlessly.
"Report! Urgent assembly! The messenger shouted as he ran, and before the sound had arrived, Qiu Daming heard him and quickly put on his coat and ran out.
Li Defang chased him out from behind: "This has just come home, where are you going?" ”
"Something is temporary, I want to go back!"
"Then come back early!"
"Got it, you're waiting for me." Qiu Daming replied, and left without turning his head.
At this time, the two did not expect that the next goodbye would be more than sixty years later.
In the following years, as a soldier, Qiu Daming actively participated in the War of Resistance Against Japan and National Salvation, and the guns on the battlefield could be killed at any time without eyes, and Qiu Daming personally left a suicide note to his wife.
From leaving home in 1937 to 1942, Qiu Daming traveled to various battlefields, successively to Shanghai, Jiangxi, Hubei, Jiangsu and other places.
During this period, Qiu Daming was in danger several times, and he also turned the crisis into safety several times, because he made many military achievements, so his official position was repeatedly promoted, but at this time, Qiu Daming was not really happy, because he always remembered his wife at home.
He had sent letters to his wife many times, but the road was far away, there were many tribulations on the road, and none of them had been successfully handed over to his wife, and Li Defang did not know where Qiu Daming was, and he could not write a letter at all.
After each letter sent by Qiu Daming, he sank into the sea, which made his heart very uneasy.
It was not until 1942, when Qiu Daming was hit by shrapnel and was so badly injured that he could not participate in the war, that he withdrew from the front line.
After leaving the army, Qiu Daming returned to Chengdu and entered the study of water public security.
No longer need to run around, he hurried around to inquire about Li Defang's whereabouts, and also entrusted his acquaintances to help him go back to his hometown to see, worried that Li Defang came to find himself without entanglement, Qiu Daming also brought a lot of silver money to his fellow villagers.
However, he did not expect that the fellow was also an unreliable villain, and when he saw that the money was open and he wanted to steal the silver money given by Qiu Daming, he lied and told Qiu Daming that Li Defang had died in the bombing of the Japanese army, and the bones were gone.
This news for Qiu Daming is nothing more than a thunderbolt on a sunny day, you know, Li Defang is the biggest driving force for him to escape from the battlefield many times, every time he is in pain, he thinks of winning the battle quickly and going home to reunite with his wife, but he did not expect that his wife at home was gone, which made Qiu Daming lose all his fighting spirit in an instant.
Three
But life always has to go on, Qiu Daming's friends around him have also been advising him to look forward, gradually, Qiu Daming also gradually put down, only in the middle of the night, will think of the girl with gentle eyebrows.
Four years later, Qiu Daming was assigned to Luxian as a captain, responsible for guarding the Luxian docks, and married his wife again.
Where is Li Defang at this time? Is it really dead?
In fact, Li Defang has been in her hometown, worried that her husband can't find herself, so she has not moved once, many people have told her that her husband is dead, but Li Defang is not willing to believe.
Relatives felt that Li Defang could not go on like this, and introduced her to several family affairs, but they were all rejected by Li Defang, and Li Defang insisted on waiting for her husband to return.
This wait is half a lifetime. Since then, neither has intersected, but they have suffered in different places in the same time and space because of the same things.
Qiu Daming, a Kuomintang officer in 1950, was imprisoned, and after serving a few years in Sichuan, he was escorted to Xinjiang, where he remained in prison for 21 years before being released in 1975.
After the liberation of the whole country, Li Defang came to Chongqing alone to look for her husband, but there has been no progress, and his parents have died one after another, making Li Defang's life more difficult.
Because Li Defang did not go to school for a few days, he could only find some cleaning and sweeping work in Chongqing, and occasionally helped people sew and mend clothes.
Because her former husband was a Kuomintang officer, in order to avoid trouble, Li Defang also changed his name to "Liu Zehua" and lived in Chongqing in anonymity.
It's 14 years.
In the anticipation day after day, Li Defang finally accepted the fact that her husband was no longer there and started a new life.
Later, she met a chef from Fuling, and after spending some time together, the two married.
The life after marriage is not good, the husband and wife rely on selling porridge for a living, the life is already bitter, the two personalities are not compatible, three days a small quarrel five days a big quarrel, let Li Defang tired.
In the end, the two still came to the step of divorce, and Li Defang, who had married with nothing, left home cleanly and spent the night in his hometown to sell general merchandise for a living.
Four
Qiu Daming did not return to his hometown immediately after his release, but lived in Xinjiang for a period of time before returning to Sichuan four years later.
At that time, Qiu Daming was already over the age of huajia, and he had no one to rely on in Sichuan, relying on miscellaneous work to make a living.
In Sichuan, Qiu Daming was unaccompanied, and in the difficult days, Qiu Daming often thought of Li Defang and often remembered the time they spent together.
Whenever he thought of li defang asking him to come back early when they last met, Qiu Daming's heart was like a knife.
He always thought that Li Defang was dead, but what he didn't know was that Li Defang was not only alive, but also lived by his side, the two lived less than 6 kilometers, maybe they had walked face to face several times, but because of the change of years, the appearance of the two had changed dramatically, and they just couldn't recognize it.
After divorcing her husband as a chef, Li Defang had nowhere to go but to live in a friend's house, but living in someone else's house was never the way to do it, so Li Defang gently mentioned to her daughter Li Lazhi that she wanted to remarry.
After Li Defang finished speaking, Li Lazhi thought of Qiu Daming, Li Lazhi knew Qiu Daming a long time ago, and felt that the old man's character was really good, just similar to the age of Gan Ma, so he introduced the two people to know.
Li Lazhi only felt that the two were suitable, and did not know the past of the two.
Li Lazhi told Qiu Daming about this matter, and Qiu Daming was still very hesitant: "When I returned to Chongqing from Xinjiang in 1976, I had a settlement fee of 3,000 yuan, but the money had long been subsidized for the family, and I don't have any money now, even the covers are tattered, where can I afford to raise parishioners?" ”
Li Lazhi told Li Defang about Qiu Daming's situation, Li Defang did not care, he could have a place to live, and in this way, in August 1997, the two met.
Five
When the two met, they both had a sense of déjà vu, but where this feeling came from, they couldn't tell, less than a month after the first meeting, the two people felt married.
They never recognized each other until the night of their wedding night, when the two were chatting, that they realized that the person in front of them had been husband and wife more than sixty years ago.
"I can't stand you in this life, I have delayed your youth, and I will use the rest of my life to compensate you." Qiu Daming said.
Reunited again, Qiu Daming is 82 years old, Li Defang is 80 years old, old, both of them are not in good health. They don't have much time to get together until later, so they cherish time very much.
Qiu Daming said: "I am a person who has fought in battles, I am not afraid of death, I am reluctant to do it, only her, I owe her too much in this life, no matter how much I do, there is no way to compensate her." ”
After the reunion, they lived comfortably and comfortably, taking a walk, playing cards, watching TV every day, and their hands were always clasped together.
In 2005, Li Defang was paralyzed in bed, Qiu Daming took care of her day and night, it seemed that he felt that his time was short, Li Defang often instructed his daughter: "After I die, you must take good care of the old man, if he has any wishes, try to satisfy him, do not let him have regrets." ”
On October 28, 2009, Li Defang closed her eyes forever in Qiu Daming's arms; twenty days later, Qiu Daming also went with her.
The dry daughter buried them together so that they could be together forever. They didn't have many days together, but it didn't prevent them from having a deep love for each other.
Resources:
Li Ruijuan: "The Best Waiting: The Strange Adventures of Anti-Japanese War Veterans and Their Wives"
The Paper: "Octogenarian veterans are on a blind date, and the other party is a wife who has been separated for 60 years"
International Online: "Newlyweds Reunite 60 Years After Being Separated by the War of Resistance, Two Elderly People Remarried and Met the Original Match"
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