Author: Dan Yan Editor: Li Jin
Source: Journal of Marriage and Family
ID：hunyinyujiating99
At 13:07 on May 22, 2021, Yuan Longping, winner of the Order of the Republic, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the National Hybrid Rice Engineering and Technology Research Center, died in Changsha at the age of 91.
The old man once had a dream that high-yielding rice was higher than sorghum, the ears of rice were as long as brooms, and the grains were as big as peanuts, and they cooled down under the grass.
In order to realize such a dream, Elder Yuan dedicated his life to the "rice bowl" of the people. Today, he has gone far away with the "seed" of his dream, but he has left the seed of grain, the "seed" of innovation and struggle to future generations.
He said: "My lifelong pursuit is to keep everyone away from hunger.
This old man who has been chasing dreams all his life makes people think infinitely and be awe-inspired.
Behind him, there is a figure, spanning more than half a century, who has been following and accompanying him...
01
Even now, yuan longping and his wife Deng Zhe's marriage is slightly avant-garde.
They are teachers and students, from love to marriage in less than a month, is a veritable "teacher-student love" plus "flash marriage".
However, because of meeting the right person, everything is not a problem.
In 1953, Yuan Longping graduated from Chongqing Xianghui Agricultural College (now Southwest Agricultural University) as the first generation of college students in New China and was assigned to teach in Hunan.
Because of the simple clothing and no trimming, most of the girls respect Yuan Longping and stay away. And he himself was also shipwrecked because of a love affair that ended in nowhere.
Suddenly, Yuan Longping became an elderly youth, and in his 30s, he finally met Deng Zhe.
Deng Zhe loved and admired this teacher, "Mr. Yuan is a good person, and the class is good. Yuan Longping also had a good feeling for this quiet and handsome An Jiang girl, and the two gradually got closer to each other.
Soon, enthusiastic colleagues stirred them up and struck the iron while it was hot to get the happy event done. Yuan Longping was a little shy, and quietly asked Deng Zhe, "Is it okay to buy you a new dress?" ”
Deng Zhe shook his head shyly: "No, no." "Honest Yuan Longping actually didn't buy it."
In this way, Yuan Longping, 34, and Deng Zhe, 26, used only 50 yuan of candy to hold a frugal wedding.
A few days after the new marriage, Yuan Longping excitedly invited Deng Zhe to swim. Before leaving the door, he deliberately took a small pair of scissors. Deng Zhe asked him what he was doing with the scissors for swimming, and he said that there were many fishing nets laid by fishermen in the river, and if they touched them while swimming, they could immediately cut them to help her get out. Deng Zhe listened to the warmth in his heart: Mr. Yuan is really careful, and this husband is right.
After marriage, they are not only husband and wife, but also work partners.
From June 1964 to July 1965, the couple walked through the anjiang agricultural school practice farm and the rice fields of the nearby production team under the scorching sun and mud on their feet, and finally found six natural male sterile plants. These achievements, published in the Scientific Bulletin in 1966, attracted the attention of national leaders.
Just as Yuan Longping was preparing to do a big job, the Cultural Revolution began.
One day, he said worriedly: "Deng Zhe, you had better have a mental preparation, tomorrow I may have to go to the stage to be criticized, and when I come back, I will enter the 'cowshed'." ”
Before that, Yuan Longping thought a lot, he was afraid that his wife and children would suffer with him, and he also remembered the lovers who were forced to break up in the anti-right.
But Deng Zhe only replied to him: "It's a big deal to farm with you and become a farmer, you can still engage in your hybrid rice." ”
Yuan Longping tearfully hugged his wife and children, and this sentence became one of the greatest comforts in his life.
Fortunately, because of the outstanding research results, Yuan Longping was listed as a key protection object, and it was useless to enter the cowshed, however, another disaster almost forced him to the end of the road.
One day soon after, a group of rebels smashed the experimental pot of male sterile strains carefully cultivated by Yuan Longping, and yuan Longping cried like a child.
Deng Zhe, who had heard the news, looked at her husband who was in disarray and grief-stricken, and said, "Mr. Yuan, there is no invincible road in heaven, even if these seedlings are all dead, we will definitely be able to find new sterile plants!" ”
She packed up the seedlings, took advantage of the night to go out, and rushed home after more than an hour, holding up Yuan Longping, who was sitting on the ground: "I have found a good breeding base." Yuan Longping jumped up excitedly and rushed out with his wife.
In this way, the remaining seedlings were hidden in the stinky ditches of the apple orchards and continued to be cultivated, and the next year, the harvested seeds were expanded to two points.
However, one night, these two points were secretly plucked out. At the most difficult moment, it was Deng Zhe who stood beside him again.
After 4 days, they found the remaining 5 seedlings in an abandoned well at the school and continued the experiment.
She supported him through the most difficult years, and the relationship between the two became more and more tenacious in these difficult years.
02
At the end of the 60s, Yuan Longping was transferred to the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Deng Zhe stayed in Qianyang with his children, and for more than 20 years, Deng Zhe took on all the responsibilities of the family with a weak shoulder.
The 3 sons, the elderly on both sides, all relied on Deng Zhe to take care of them.
In the winter of 1974, Yuan Longping's father, Yuan Xinglie, was hospitalized with stomach cancer. When he received the telegram of his critical illness, Yuan Longping was conducting a breeding experiment in Hainan and could not get out. Deng Zhe rushed from Anjiang to Chongqing day and night to visit the old man.
On January 3, 1975, Yuan's father died, and according to the old man's last wishes, Deng Zhe concealed the bad news and replaced Yuan Longping as his father.
In Chinese New Year's Eve 1982, Yuan Longping returned home for the first time for the Spring Festival in more than 10 years of breeding in the south. Unexpectedly, on the second day of the first month of the first month, Deng Zhe suddenly had acute viral encephalitis and was sent to the hospital for rescue. The disaster was not alone, and the mother-in-law and the mother-in-law also fell ill one after another. Yuan Longping was suddenly confused.
In the hospital, Deng Zhe fell into a deep coma and relied solely on infusions to sustain himself.
Yuan Longping took care of the two elderly people who were sick during the day, accompanied his wife at night, wiped her body and changed clothes, recited Tang poems and told stories for her, and sang the English song "Old Black Slave" for her...
During that time, he really felt Deng Zhe's difficulty.
Looking at his wife on the hospital bed, Yuan Longping murmured: "I am not good, I am not a good husband, you are tired and sick!" But I can't do it, I can't do without hybrid rice, and the grass seedlings can't do without me! Deng Zhe, I am by your side, guarding you and protecting you, as long as you wake up, you can do whatever you want me to do. As he spoke, tears blurred his eyes.
Perhaps this love touched the heavens, and under the affectionate call of Yuan Longping, half a month later, Deng Zhe woke up. Yuan Longping was not only excited, but also did not forget to follow the doctor's instructions, every hour to help his wife turn over and massage her. A month later, Deng Zhe miraculously recovered.
This serious illness made Yuan Longping realize that he owed too much to his wife, and he tried his best to compensate.
In May 1985, on the eve of yuan longping's international academic conference in the Philippines, he bought a gift in Beijing and entrusted him to carry it back, and wrote to Deng Zhe:
"In Beijing, I bought you two skirts and an undershirt, two black and one dark blue. This is the first time I bought a dress, I don't know what number is suitable for you to wear, so I have to buy two for you to choose..." Deng Zhe, who received the letter, looked at the two skirts and laughed out of tears. Because of the perennial land, Yuan Longping is black and thin, typical of the peasant dress, but who said that this rough man will only scientific research and does not understand romance?
03
Although he has many great titles, Yuan Longping is a blind housewife, and his clothes are not folded well until now. When in Anjiang, Hunan, a bed was needed at home.
Deng Zhe borrowed a bed with a shelf at school, and only needed Yuan Longping to take the time to piece it together according to the structure, "It's such a simple thing, Mr. Yuan can't do it, how to spell it is not like a bed." ”
Like all ordinary couples who love each other, Deng Zhe always complains about her husband while deeply in love with this man.
After becoming famous, Yuan Longping was busier, but as long as he had the opportunity to go abroad, he tried his best to bring his wife, and the two traveled through many countries together.
Deng Zhe learned to drive at the age of 63, but Yuan Longping did not advocate that she drive often, as long as there are young people in the family who can be drivers, Deng Zhe will not want to touch the steering wheel.
In his words, we're reunited, and I want to keep you for a few more years.
In December 2000, in order to win more follow-up scientific research funds, after the listing of the "Longping Hi-Tech" named after Yuan Longping, Yuan Longping suddenly became a billionaire, but he still wore a shirt of less than 50 yuan, and walked through the fields in the wind and rain; she accompanied him to rough tea and light rice, which was particularly sweet.
Deng Zhe even "doesn't like" "Longping Hi-Tech" listing: today "Yuan Longping" rose three points, tomorrow "Yuan Longping" fell two points, how ugly!
In the eyes of the public, Elder Yuan is a very great person, highly unattainable, but in Deng Zhe's view, his wife is an interesting little old man, he is meticulous and romantic, versatile, loves to play ball, is good at swimming, loves to sing, can play the violin, English and Russian top croaking, and he writes love poems, is also a good hand,
"A man is like a grain of dust,
No matter how flying, how noisy,
At the end of the day, it will still fall to its own land;
A husband is like a fallen leaf,
No matter how he flaunts, how he turns from green to red and yellow,
At the end of the day, it will still fall to his wife..."
Yuan Longping once said:
In his lifetime, he had two wishes, the first was to successfully cultivate super hybrid rice and apply it to production; the second was to promote hybrid rice to the whole world for the benefit of all mankind.
The goal is being achieved step by step, in 2017, Yuan Longping planted red rice with seawater, in 2019; Yuan Longping's hybrid rice set a record for high yield in Africa...
The martyrs are in their twilight years and their hearts are full of excitement.
And Deng Zhe's wish is only one: to accompany him and call Mr. Yuan, that is, a lifetime.