I feel that I can almost touch the word ‘ happiness’
The 32-year-old has been married to Liao Yanfei, head of Jinsha village, Hunan province, for 10 years.
How time flies! We’ve been married for a decade, but all the good and bad times we have experienced are as fresh as if they had happened yesterday.
I had a crush on Yanfei when we worked together in a restaurant in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. He was different from the other waiters because he was the most diligent and had no fear of challenges or difficulties. When our other colleagues failed to complete dirty jobs or refused to work overtime, he always said “yes”, and would make all sorts of efforts to finish the tasks. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, and I decided to pursue him.
I contacted him via QQ, a popular instant-messaging tool at the time, and asked him to help me, as I had just moved to a new place in Shenzhen. Our relationship started a couple of months later.
I remember my excitement when he took me to his home in Jinsha for his sister’s wedding. That was the first time I saw his house, a small, shabby shelter built of rough stone and with no furniture. There wasn’t even a bed for me to sleep in.
Although I also come from a village (Ezhou, Hubei province), I grew up in a relatively rich home. My parents were development leaders in our area and we lived in a two-story house, so when I saw his home, I was shocked and really began to understand the word “poverty”.
But I didn’t care about his poor circumstances, and I even borrowed money from my parents because I believed his work ethic and love for me would bring us a bright future. The fact that we started operating our own curedmeat plant proves that I made the right decision.
When we started the business, we had no idea how to run it and were short of funds. When I was prepared to give up, Yanfei encouraged me to try one last time.
Life, especially our financial situation, has changed since then, but his love for me hasn’t changed. I will never forget the time he bought a hamburger for me on his way home from a business trip.
It’s difficult for me to describe love, but when I read the details of our life that I have recorded on WeChat, I feel that I can almost touch the word “happiness”.
Wang Yinhua spoke with Cao Yin