True love knows no age: Their Love Is Stronger Than Gold
In 1996, in a simple village Yangko dance troupe in Northeast China, they met. Soon, they became the most harmonious duo on stage.
They sang Er Ren Zhuan, a traditional duet performance. She played the role of a beautiful young wife, while he was the dashing husband. She twirled around him, her fan fluttering, her long braid swaying lightly; he followed her lead, his voice clear and gentle, elegant and refined. Their gazes met, soft and electric.
And so, they fell in love. In the winter of 1997, in a small village in Northeast China, on the edge of a distant rice field, inside a makeshift earthen house, she became his bride.
That year, he was 27, handsome and charming; she was 58, frail and aged. To the world, they were an odd, mismatched couple, and over the next nine years, they endured countless hardships and scorn. Both were disowned by their families, left without a home.
In the freezing Northeast winter, with bone-chilling winds, they huddled together for warmth in their field, with nothing but a thin plastic sheet as a blanket. Like swallows, they painstakingly gathered bricks and tiles, finally building a small house. But it was truly bare, with not a single decent piece of furniture, no electricity, and they had to walk a kilometer to fetch water from the village. They even struggled to find food, surviving on grains they picked from fields after the harvest.
The only valuable possession in their home was a small radio. After a day’s work, they would listen to it together. But even this humble abode was burned down to the ground by a fire.
To help make ends meet, he sold a section of discarded cable, not knowing it would bring trouble. He was sentenced to a year of re-education through labor. Left alone, she was like a drifting leaf in the rain, with nowhere to turn, no one to rely on. No one would lend her money, and his family constantly harassed her, taking away her meager supplies and threatening to tear down her house.
But none of these hardships could separate them. He treated this woman, 32 years his senior, as the most precious thing in the world.
With the money he earned from odd jobs, he bought her beautiful clothes. Whatever she loved to eat, no matter the cost, he would buy it. When she was upset, he would sing to cheer her up. He even sent her to undergo cosmetic surgery to remove the deep wrinkles on her face. In the face of everyone’s opposition, he simply said, “As long as I care for you, that’s enough.”
And so, he loved and cherished her until the year 20xx. In a time when many marriages between well-matched couples fell apart, and many talented and beautiful lovers went their separate ways, they continued to love each other steadfastly, despite family estrangement and harsh living conditions, finding happiness in their love.
Her name is Ma Yuqin, and his is Li Yucheng. On that day, during a live TV broadcast, his left arm was always around her frail shoulders, his right hand holding hers tightly, his gentle gaze constantly following her face. That gaze contained something profoundly moving—something all who have loved understand—it was love.
A viewer asked a very harsh question: If one day, Ma Yuqin grows old and passes away, what will Li Yucheng do?
In response, they each wrote down their answers, which the host read out loud.
Ma Yuqin said: “I’ve saved all the money you’ve given me. When I’m gone, find yourself another partner.”
Li Yucheng said: “From now on, I won’t argue with you or make you angry. I hope you live to be 100. By then, I’ll be 70, and there’ll be no need to find another partner.”
At that moment, my resolute heart was finally touched by a tender emotion.
Many years ago, Shakespeare once said, “I do not admit impediments to the union of true minds. Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.” Today, many years later, she and he—this couple who transcended worldly barriers—used their unwavering, deep love to provide the best explanation for this quote: Love is stronger than gold.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
