When she married him, he was already 50 years old. A 50-year-old man who is not married is unusual. She was 20 years younger than him, a flower at 30, though one that might be about to wither, still beautiful. People in her hometown thought she had married a rich man, but only she knew what kind of man he really was.
He was just an ordinary man, dark-skinned, unattractive, with yellow teeth. The matchmaker hadn’t said so at first; they just said he was a good man to live with, only delayed in finding a wife because of his high social status back then. Those who couldn’t find wives at that time went to the mountains to find one, from places like Sichuan, Chengde, Hunan… A few thousand yuan would bring a wife. The man also had someone bring a wife for him, a woman whose husband had died. The matchmaker said the man was well-off, making a good living with his skills after the reform and opening up, leading a prosperous life.
The woman, eager to escape her family at the time, didn’t even ask what his skills were and came over. It wasn’t until she arrived that she found out his skill was repairing shoes outside in the wind and rain, and the man was quite unattractive. She felt deceived. Returning was not an option; her in-laws called her a jinx, saying she had caused her husband’s death. In reality, he had died from a drunken brawl.
From the day she got married, she hadn’t had a good day. Her first husband would beat her when he was drunk, and her mother-in-law would scold her for giving birth to a daughter. In the impoverished mountainous area, she had no status. She thought it was her fate. It wasn’t until she remarried that she discovered something called love between a man and a woman.
After marriage, the man doted on her, buying her small trinkets every now and then, like a box of face powder, a lipstick, a few bunches of lychees… At 30, she had never used lipstick, let alone eaten lychees. She felt happier than Yang Guifei. When she ate lychees, the man wouldn’t eat, just watched her eat with a silly smile. She urged him, “You should eat too.” He said, “I don’t like that stuff. Watching you eat makes me happy.” Later, she happened to go to the market and was shocked to find that lychees cost 20 yuan per kilogram. She burst into tears.
How could he not like lychees? He just couldn’t bear to eat them. She loved him even more, making warm dinners for him when he came home and getting up early to make breakfast for him. In winter, when he was cold after a day on the street, she would warm his feet in her arms until his body was no longer stiff. He was very content, saying he must have earned great fortune in a past life to marry her. He said he waited until 50 to get married because he was waiting for her, which made her heart blossom.
The woman was idle at home for a year. When the man was not around, time passed slowly and she felt bored. Seeing how tired the man was, she felt sorry for him. He said there was more and more work, and he couldn’t keep up. The woman asked for a machine to join him in repairing shoes. The man refused, saying he could earn enough to support her, but she insisted. So, on the street, you could always see an old couple repairing shoes together, sitting close to each other, repairing shoes or chatting happily when there were no customers.
In winter, with the wind howling, people on the street dwindled, and the two of them would share cheerful stories in the wind. Her hands were chapped, and her ears were bruised purple from the cold. The man bought a baked sweet potato, its fragrance inviting, peeled it, blew on it, but didn’t eat it. He brought it to her mouth, and she happily took a bite, then blew on it and offered it to him. They ate it together, enjoying it as if it were a feast, as if they were savoring a banquet of love.
One day, the man told her that he would one day leave before her. She cried, saying she would go with him. He said he would be angry if she did. He said they didn’t have much money yet, but in a few more years, they would have enough for her retirement. He had planted 500 trees on a piece of land for her. When he was gone and she could no longer move, those 500 trees would have grown, and they would support her.
She cried in his arms. Were those just 500 trees? No one had ever thought of her like this in her life. The man had even planned for her old age. She felt her life was worth it. Now, city people were planting trees for love, but her man’s trees were a million times more precious.
Two years later, they had a son. His name was simple: Happiness.
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