On September 21, 2010, the Xiamen Civil Affairs Bureau welcomed a couple who had registered their marriages, namely Li Danni, 83, and Yuan Dibao, 82.
The two old men came to each other with sweet smiles, and the happiness infected everyone present.
The combination of Li Dani and Yuan Dibao is known as the love of the world, which has touched countless people.
They knew each other when they were young, had not seen each other for 55 years, and had been disconnected for decades, and it was difficult to find each other again in their old age, holding hands in the white-haired sky.
Going round and round, spanning more than half a century, across heavy oceans, they finally came together.
In September 1953, Zhejiang Medical College welcomed a group of new students, and Yuan Dibao was one of them.
At that time, 25-year-old Yuan Dibao studied hard for several years and enthusiastically threw himself into the ocean of knowledge. He liked foreign languages and took Russian as an elective. In his first Russian class, he met Li Dani, a mixed-race teacher.
Li Dani, who graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of Zhejiang University, was 26 years old at the time, proficient in English, French, Russian and Chinese Chinese, often wore dresses, and was a goddess teacher for many students. The first time Yuan Dibao saw Li Dani, she was attracted by her beautiful eyes and bright temperament.
Li Dani also noticed a boy sitting by the window, his eyes were clear and bright, listening carefully to the lecture, he was Yuan Dibao. Soon, the hard-working Yuan Dibao became a representative of the Russian language class, and had more opportunities for communication with Teacher Dani.
Because Yuan Dibao was very interested in foreign languages, there was no English class in the school at that time, and Li Dani let Yuan Dibao come home on weekends to learn English.
At that time, Dani lived with her parents, her father was a Chinese musician Li Shuhua, whose ancestral home was Meixian County, Guangdong Province, and her mother was French, Dani had lived in China since childhood.
Yuan Dibao is a native of Shanghang, Fujian Province, and Dani's father are Hakka, when he goes to the house for tuition, he will chat with Dani's father in Hakka, Yuan Dibao is deeply liked by Dani's family.
They have a lot of the same hobbies and endless topics to talk about. At that time, their favorite song was the English interlude "When We Were Young" from the American movie "Spring Dawn", and the two of them often sang: "When we were young / On a beautiful May morning / You said you loved me / When we were young." ”
They will support each other, and Li Dani's mixed-race identity has made her known as a "bastard" since she was a child, which is the pain in her heart. Yuan Dibao often comforted her, ignoring the ill-intentioned disturbances.
But Li Dani slowly noticed that there was a hint of sadness on Yuan Dibao's bright face. In 1955, Chengdu West China Medical College was going to merge with Yuan Dibao's major, and Yuan Dibao needed to go to Chengdu to continue his studies, which also meant that he had to be separated from Li Dani.
The day before he left for Chengdu, Yuan Dibao confided the secret that made him sad.
It turned out that a month before he entered the university, the eldest sister in the family arranged a marriage for him, and in the eyes of his family, he was not familiar with his wife, let alone love. But since he married himself, he couldn't be sorry for her, so he was entangled in the entanglement and free feelings of the old-style marriage, and Yuan Dibao was very tormented.
Li Dani's first reaction when she learned of it was, "I have no right to build happiness on the misfortune of another woman and rob others of their happiness, and I cannot accept this result." ”
When she got home that day, she told her mother about her attitude, and her mother agreed with the decision, saying, "There is no place for you now." "
After that, the two decided to only care about each other as brothers and sisters, and Li Dani also told Yuan Dibao: You should take good care of your wife.
Love should not be selfish, but more rational and kind. Their timely turn and leave is also a respect and fulfillment for each other.
After separation, the lives of Li Dani and Yuan Dibao are like two parallel lines that cannot intersect. They can only get information from each other occasionally through letters.
A year later, Danni Li followed her family on a steamer to France.
And Yuan Dibao, who returned to Xiamen after his studies, respected his wife Huang Xiuxue as a guest, and the salary earned was handed over to his wife for his control in addition to pocket money, Li Dani left him with good memories, and living well and living up to the people around him is a man's responsibility and responsibility.
After that, Yuan Dibao and his wife gave birth to 3 sons successively. He also sent a photo of the family of 5 to Li Dani in France. Like announcing good news to a loved one who has not been seen for a long time, let the other party rest assured.
Li Dani showed the photo to her mother, who looked at it for half a day and told her: "You can rest assured, Yuan Dibao is living a very happy life now." "From that moment on, my heart calmed down."
Knowing that yuan dibao is not easy to raise children, although Li Dani is very poor, she still bought milk powder, toys and sent them to China, and many years later she still counts the age of the children, and she has been thinking about them.
When she first arrived in France, Dani's life was very difficult, her mixed-race status was despised by her French relatives, and she had to rely on her grandmother to help her. It was four years later that Dani Li obtained French citizenship.
At that time, being a stenographer was more profitable, and in order to support her family, Li Danni did it for more than ten years.
But she always had China in mind, that's where she grew up, and she wanted to use her Chinese to contribute to China. In 1973, Danni Li worked as a Chinese teaching assistant at the University of Lyon, after which she received her Ph.D. in Sinology from the University of Paris VII at the age of 53 and became a tenured associate professor at the University of Lyon III.
Dani has been promoting cultural exchanges between China and France, and after retiring, she also served as the secretary general of the Sino-French Association.
Li Dani, who has been bravely climbing the peak of her career, has always been single and unmarried, because she lives in her heart, Yuan Dibao is the name engraved in her heart, she will not bother him, but silently cherished.
As for Li Dani's situation in France, Yuan Dibao was unaware. Because of social unrest, the correspondence between the two men was broken. The last letter Lee received was in 1965.
Yuan Dibao, who is in China, thought that he could spend his life with his wife and family smoothly and happily. Unfortunately, in 1994, Yuan Dibao's wife suffered from gum cancer. During the illness, Yuan Dibao accompanied the bed every day to guard, mashed all kinds of food and fed it to his wife's mouth, but still failed to save her life, Yuan Dibao was extremely sad to write a eulogy of "good wife, good mother and good grandmother".
After his wife died of illness, Yuan Dibao refused the request to live with his son, and lived alone for 10 years before moving in with his third son.
For those 10 years, he said he was a "third-class citizen," waiting to eat, sleep, and die. In his twilight years, there is no more sad than losing his lifelong partner, and he cannot see the hope of life.
In the Spring Festival of 2010, the son of Yuan Dibao's sister came to visit the New Year, and it was very sad to see the old man's lonely and decadent Appearance, and inadvertently mentioned the past between Yuan Dibao and Li Danni in the chat. Ouyang Luying, the third daughter-in-law who heard about this matter for the first time, could not help but be touched by the stoic friendship between the two old men.
Ouyang asked his father-in-law, "Why haven't you written to her again?" He said: "I am in my 80s, I don't know if I am still there, and the letters I sent before have been returned." ”
Ouyang advised him to try writing a letter to greet him again. Yuan Dibao did not answer, and went upstairs to sleep. But that night, his room was lit up all night.
After Ouyang found out that the French generally did not change addresses easily, she again encouraged her father-in-law to try to write to Lyon, France, according to the old address. Therefore, Yuan Dibao wrote 5 letters in Chinese and English with the attitude of trying it out, and if Dani could not receive it, the neighbors or relatives would also hope to pass it on to her.
10 days later, Dani in France received the letter, saw these familiar fonts, and for a time all kinds of emotions rushed into Dany's heart. She stood in the courtyard, surprised, nervous, and emotional.
Dany then replied to the letter, writing about her recent situation: "I have been alone all these years, and now I go to the monastery at noon to eat, and I no longer go out in the afternoon. When one day life can not take care of myself, I will choose to go to the monastery to end up. ”
When he received Dani's reply, Yuan Dibao was excited, but it was heartbroken to learn that Dani had never been married in her life, and even died in the monastery.
The third son and daughter-in-law saw this and encouraged the father-in-law to take Dani to Xiamen to live together, "Mom is gone, do you still want to miss Dani's teacher?" ”
When Dani knew that she was going to receive news from China, she also asked the priest how to choose, and the priest replied: "This is all providence." ”
Therefore, daughter-in-law Ouyang went to France to take Dani to Xiamen. On the day the plane landed, Yuan Dibao held 55 roses in his hand and waited outside the airport.
After 55 years, Li Danni and Yuan Dibao finally reunited, and the two embraced and cried.
Dani said, "You haven't changed, your spirit is all there." ”
Di Bao replied: "You have not changed, even more beautiful." ”
On September 26, 2010, the two elderly people held a wedding, and the couple was full of happy smiles. Dani Lee finally put on her wedding dress at the age of 83 and married the person she loved the most.
Their married life is full of sweetness, and it is precisely because they are all white-haired, so they cherish this rare affection even more.
Yuan Dibao's hearing loss requires Dani to be close to his ear to hear each sentence. Dani couldn't see the road clearly because of the glaucoma, and she had to walk with Yuan Dibao all the time, and they snuggled up to each other with "I am your ear, you are my eye".
Because of the poor hearing, Yuan Dibao's voice must be very loud to be heard by himself, and those sweet words to Dani are sweetened by Yuan Dibao's loud voice, and the people around him are sweetened.
When Dany asked, "Do you feel sweet when you kiss me?" ”
Di Bao laughed and replied, "That's sweeter than sweet, it's just oblivious." ”
Then the two laughed together, their hands still clasped.
They also used to sing the song they loved the year most: "When we were young, on a beautiful May morning, you said you loved me." ”
The days passed so sweetly and fullly. In October 2017, with Dany for 7 years, Yuan Dibao completed the last journey of his life happily without regrets.
A year later, Dani, who had lost her beloved, also died, and the children buried half of Li Dani's ashes with Yuan Dibao in China, and the other half was later taken back by relatives in France and buried with her parents.