One day in July 1927, on a ship bound for China from France.
When the painter Xu Beihong saw a person, he felt quite familiar, remembering that he had seen the deeds and photos of this person in the Paris Morning Post not long ago, so he called out his name.
The two men took the opportunity to greet each other, and Xu Beihong thought that he would return to China after completing his studies and would have a bright future in the future, so he sketched a portrait for him and wrote an inscription in French:
To my dear friend, "The Light of Science" Yan Keats.
Yes, he is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the second president of the University of Science and Technology of China, the main founder of Modern Physics Research in China, and the main founder of Optical Research and Optical Instrument Development in China.
Born in January 1901 in Dongyang, Zhejiang Province, Yan Keats, the character "Mu Guang", devoted his life to the field of optical research, but in his 95-year life journey, his wife Zhang Zongying was his "light of life".
The two met at Nanjing Higher Normal School (later renamed Southeast University), and Cupid's arrow of love shot into each other's atrium, which is the so-called "eyes are all him (her), and he is wrong at first sight for life."
And Yan Keats and Zhang Zongying's love and marriage life for more than sixty years not only let us see the appearance of happiness, but also let us believe that the original good love can really achieve each other.
【1】
When they met in a small way, "French Love Letters" crossed mountains and seas.
Born in a poor peasant family, Yan Keats spent his childhood in hard work, fortunately born as the eldest son, was sent to the Yan Ancestral Hall to study, and studied hard all the way to Nanjing Higher Normal School.
Zhang Zongying, who was born in the same year as Yan Keats, was the father of the famous educator Zhang Heling, who was open-minded and supported Zhang Zongying's admission to the Beijing Higher Women's Normal School, and transferred to Southeast University a year later.
Although there were different origins, the two people who were equally studious fell in love at first sight, and on August 8, 1923, Yan Keats was engaged before going to France to study, and made a lifelong marriage contract.
"French Love Letters" is a collection of love letters written by Yan Keats to Zhang Zongying in the past four years of studying abroad.
After reading this love letter, a young man once used it to educate his lover and said, "Look at how the great scientist talks to his wife!" ”
In addition to his busy studies, Yan Keats writes love letters to Zhang Zongying every three or five days.
On Zhang Zongying's birthday, he deliberately collected purple orchids and clipped them into a book to make a specimen and sent them back to China as a gift.
At the same time, Yan Keats confessed in the letter: "Although the Yin who talks about the yin of the cousin is not new, it is also the attention of the god of love." ”
When he learned that Zhang Zongying was ill, Yan Keats was anxious, and wrote in the letter: "Er, I love each other to the truth, I have nothing, can move, and my love Qing asked myself, and did nothing, but talked about me, the most lovely person in the world." ”
The love words are enough to soothe Zhang Zongying in illness, and let each other's hearts be far away from the mountains and seas but there is no distance.
Yan Keats even designed a "formula for love" in order to comfort Zhang Zongying, who has been ill for a long time:
The health of Zhenqing (Zhang Zongying) = 7, the health of Mu Guang = 9, the health of Zhen Mu = 7× 9 = 63; if there is a way to average Mu and Zhen's health of 8 each, then Zhen Mu's health = 8× 8 = 64.
The formula of this love style makes Zhang Zongying truly feel the deep affection of "True (Qing) Mu (Guang)" into one.
It is precisely because of their concern for each other that Yan Keats, who obtained a doctorate, returned to Shanghai in August 1927, and held a wedding with Zhang Zongying on November 11 of that year, opening a happy life for the two people.
Like-mindedness and true love for each other are the basis of marital happiness, and the love of Yan Keats and Zhang Zongying is exactly like this, and it is also the background for the rest of their lives to support each other.
As the American writer Carson McCullers put it, love is a common experience that happens between two people.
【2】
Holding hands in turmoil, never giving up on each other.
In order to let science and technology take root in China, in the winter of 1928, Yan Keats took Zhang Zongying to France again to study, and at this time, the eldest son Yan Youguang was just born.
Yan Keats devoted himself to scientific research, and Zhang Zongying fully supported her husband, during which he gave birth to a second son, Yan Shuangguang, and did not reunite the family until he returned to China two years later.
Now many people say that raising children is hard and tiring, and for women in the turbulent years of the time, raising children is even more difficult.
The couple had seven sons and a daughter, but the old three three lights, the old seven seven light (daughter) and the old eight Dian guang all died around one year old, you can imagine how much blow they suffered.
At that time, Yan Keats engaged in scientific research with "redoubled efforts and desperate hard work", and did not have more energy to take care of his wife and children, Zhang Zongying never complained, silently took on more family burdens.
Whenever someone came to Yan Keats, Zhang Zongying always said: "In addition to eating and sleeping at home, he is also in the laboratory on Sundays." ”
Not only to take care of the children's food and drink, but also to do a good job in the logistics support of Yan Keats, Zhang Zongying, who originally graduated from the Chinese Department of Southeast University, gave up a lot for this.
But we all know that in that era when the motherland needed more high-tech talents, Zhang Zongying's choice to retire to his family was undoubtedly Yan Keats's dedication to science.
It is also the trust and support between each other that has enabled Yan Keats to achieve remarkable results in the fields of pressure crystals, pressure and photography and spectroscopy.
At the same time, Yan Keats attaches great importance to the cultivation of scientific and technological talents, and well-known experts and scholars such as Qian Sanqiang and Lu Xueshan are all trained from his hands.
The five sons of the Yan family, under the education of their mother Zhang Zongying, followed their father's footsteps and embarked on the road of scientific research.
The eldest son, Yan Youguang, graduated from the Department of Mathematics of Tsinghua University and was the main designer of China's first digital computer.
The second son, Yan Shuangguang, graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Nankai University, the fourth son, Yan Siguang, graduated from the Department of International Relations of Yenching University, the fifth son, Yan Wuguang, graduated from the Department of Physics of Leningrad University in the Soviet Union, and the sixth son, Yan Luguang, graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Moscow Power University in the Soviet Union.
There is a saying that sincere and pure love must be permeated with respect for the labor and profession of the beloved.
You are bent on career, I am bent on family, husband and wife are in the same heart, Yan Keats and Zhang Zongying from the turbulent years to each other hand in hand, all the way to the new era, this mutual love is touching.
【3】
Accompanying you for a lifetime, I understand your efforts.
Yan Luguang once wrote in an article recalling his parents that his mother Zhang Zongying died of illness in November 1984.
"After the body was cremated, the father decided to pack the mother's ashes into two urns, one in Babaoshan and the other to take home, and specially arranged a memorial room."
Until Yan Keats's death in November 1996, when he moved twice, he personally arranged for the relocation of Zhang Zongying's memorial room and relics.
And as long as Yan Keats is at home, every morning when he wakes up, he must first bow three times in front of Zhang Zongying's statue, and then sit next to the statue for three or five minutes before starting the day's activities.
Zhang Zongying's seat at the family table has always been reserved, even if there are guests to eat, as if Zhang Zongying has been sitting opposite Yan Keats.
Yan Keats once said to Zhang Zongying in a letter: "Looking back on these twenty-five years, there are too many places where I am sorry for you, in short, it is the sacrifice of you that has made me." ”
Purely from the perspective of career achievements, it is indeed Zhang Zongying's sacrifice that has made Yan Keats, which Yan Keats can see clearly and is also grateful for Zhang Zongying's efforts.
But who said that raising five excellent sons is not Zhang Zongying's pride?
The most important thing is that it is precisely because of Zhang Zongying's perfection and support that Yan Keats' achievements in the field of optics have made him the pillar of national construction.
Husband and wife should have divided their work and cooperated, you ploughed the field to weave cloth, and worked together to make this home warmer and let the children grow up more smoothly.
As the writer Lu Yao once said, true love is not self-interested, but should be altruistic.
Because I love you, I am willing to firmly support you, which is Zhang Zongying's lifelong commitment, and it is precisely this that makes her the "light of life" of Yan Keats.
Over the past sixty years, the couple's contribution to the field of science in New China is the effort of Yan Keats and the help of Zhang Zongying.
Perhaps, this is the root of a long-term marriage that can be mixed with each other, I understand your efforts.
【4】
The writer Chi Zijian once wrote: "After reading the "French Love Letter", I was very afraid. I think that in today's extremely developed transportation and communication industry, such a text is no longer possible. ”
Chi Zijian said that few people now use letters to convey feelings, and there will be no longer Mr. Yan Keats's leisurely description.
From identifying each other in the green years to accompanying each other in their old age, Yan Keats and Zhang Zongying let us see the appearance of beautiful love, and let us believe that true love is so simple and unpretentious.