Sticking to it is a long-term commitment, and a bland story is told in a lifetime.
In today's fast-paced impetuous society, few people can keep their lifelong promises, often abandoning them after agreeing to them, or giving up for a small profit. Promises are "worthless" in the mouths of some people, but "a word for gold" in the mouths of others, and the difference is who this person is.
The protagonist of today's article, because of a promise to others, has taken care of other people's wives and children for 66 years without reservation. What's going on here?
Forced enlistment
Yu Changfa, also known as Yu Shifa, was born in 1924 in Pengshui, Chongqing, to a poor peasant family. In that war-torn era, the poor middle peasants had no better means of livelihood, they depended on the sky for food, and the life of the family pointed to this point to this livelihood. The same is true of the long hair family, his parents get up early and are greedy in the dark to barely maintain the daily life of the family, so the precocious long hair is particularly sensible and well-behaved.
His parents could not afford his desire to study, and Yu Changfa also understood the difficulties of the world. Since he was a child, he will help his parents to do some housework within his ability, although he is very envious that other people's children can have the opportunity to study, but he also understands the situation of his own family and will not make some non-point requirements. When he grew up, he could take on more responsibilities, so he helped his parents with farm work, cutting grass, herding cattle, etc.
Every time he looks at the boundless grassland, he always looks forward to the future life. Maybe you will still be poor in the future, and there will be no special life opportunities, but it is always okay to marry a wife and have children and live the happy life that ordinary people think. And so, day after day, year after year, soon came 1938.
It was the same early morning as usual, and Yu Changfa got up early again to graze his cattle. But a group of hurried passers-by shattered all his illusions, and although he was short, his long hair could barely be regarded as a strong laborer. In that era of military force, all the strong men who could be used were the targets of robbery by warlords everywhere, and how many people were forced to enlist in the army and then stay on the battlefield forever.
In this way, Yu Changfa was caught, but the fear of the future overwhelmed him. From the moment of birth, Yu Changfa has lived a very miserable life, as a bystander, we cannot know his psychological activities at that time, but it is foreseeable that the enlistment changed his life, what happened?
Meet the sir
The long hair that had just been arrested did not look like he could go to the battlefield to fight at all, and due to long-term malnutrition, he was already shorter than his peers, with thin yellow muscles and no flesh. Coupled with the sudden change in the environment, the fear of the future caused him to become more and more malaise and distressed. After many days of trekking to the station, his long hair was shaky and he almost fainted. Discerning people saw that he was captured to make up the number of people, and he was completely unsuitable for fighting on the battlefield, but he did not find a place to properly place him for a while.
At the same time, Yu Changfa's parents and relatives were heartbroken by his capture, and he was like a kite with a broken thread, and he lost contact with his family. With the passage of time, his whereabouts became a heart disease for the Yu family's parents, and it was difficult to let go for a long time. But he was undoubtedly lucky, he met a nobleman - Officer Yixiang.
Yi Xiang graduated from the 14th term of the Whampoa Military Academy, when he was lacking an orderly soldier beside him, and he saw that although he was very young, he was loyal and honest, and he worked very reliably and hard, so he left Yu Changfa by his side. The orderlies do mostly errands and miscellaneous things, and the gold content is not high, but they can stay away from the battlefield, which will be relatively safe.
For this reason, Yu Changfa is very grateful to Yi Xiang, he almost regards Yi Xiang as his lifesaver, he feels that because Yi Xiang chose himself, he can retrieve a life in the chaotic world, so he also did his best to meet all the needs put forward by Yi Xiang as much as possible.
We can see that Yu Changfa is a very emotional person, he knows how to be grateful, and he remembers the kindness of others to him deeply, and reciprocates it in a hundredfold or a thousand times. It is precisely because of his heavy feelings that his commander can entrust him with a greater responsibility.
Entrust to wife and children
After becoming an orderly, Yu Changfa's life has made a qualitative leap. Although it was still very hard, he followed Yi Xiang to the south and north, and he also saw a lot. His heart has been hoping for the early end of the war and his return to his hometown to reunite with his parents. However, after eight years of resistance, the two parties began a civil war. As the civil war entered a white-hot stage, and the Kuomintang was losing ground in the mainland, Yi Xiang also began to consider his own way out.
In 1949, with the victory of the Liberation War, many senior Kuomintang generals fled to Taiwan, and Yixiang was no exception. However, he already had a wife and children, and the situation at that time did not allow him to take his family south, so the problem of the resettlement of his wife and children became a major problem for him. At that time, the person he trusted the most was Yu Changfa, and Yi Xiang thought of a delaying measure. First let Yu Changfa take his wife and children to live in his hometown for a period of time, and after he settled down in Taiwan, he took his wife and children from Hunan to Taiwan.
Yu Changfa also gladly accepted Yi Xiang's instructions and returned to Hunan with his wife and children. But what Yi Xiang didn't expect was that he never came back after leaving. With Taiwan's "isolation from the country," navigation communications with the mainland have all been suspended. But Yu Changfa did not break his word, he still took care of the chief's wife and two young children.
From a young man to a white-haired old man, for 66 years, Yu Changfa used his youth to repay the superior's care for him as a child. In the era of scarcity of materials, in order to feed these people, he worked continuously in exchange for a meager salary, and even preferred to go hungry himself than treat the relatives of his superiors.
Perhaps because the enemy could not miss his homeland, Yi Xiang still tried everything to send back a letter. In the letter, he told Yu Changfa that he had married and had children again in Taiwan, so he could not take care of his wife and children in China. He hopes that he can take his place and form a true partner with his wife.
Yu Changfa refused this request, in his opinion, 66 years of relationship has cultivated family-like feelings, and it is not a suitable move to marry again at this time. What's more, he made this relationship because of his commitment to his superior. Yu Changfa never married, and later returned to his hometown and passed away accompanied by his nephew.
Brief summary:
To be able to stick to an ethereal promise for 66 years is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Don't make promises lightly, because not being able to do so is more abhorrent than destroying them. But once you've made a promise, don't break it easily, because it's a sign of your integrity in the world.
The famous comic writer Molière once said that it is more important for a man to guard his promises than to guard his property. Yu Changfa really practiced this with his own practical actions. Although he is not a great man, he is a man of truly noble character, worthy of the trust of his superiors and worthy of his conscience.