The ambiguous relationship between her and my father
has been going on since I can remember. They have lived in the same compound as me.
She is a very elegant woman. She is not beautiful, but she knows how to dress well. Everything about her, from her appearance to her mannerisms, is chic. When I was little, my mother and the other women in the family all wore dull colors, but she always wore a bright red dress that caught everyone’s eye.
Her husband was in the army and only came back once or twice a year. She and my father were classmates in junior high school, and their families had been friends for generations. She called my father “brother” and my mother “sister-in-law,” and she was used to asking my father for help with family matters. I remember that there was a position at the company that she could apply for, but even after her husband had expressed his opinion, she waited until my father returned and listened to his advice before making a decision.
In fact, she and my father were never alone together. But even when they were in a group, I could sense an extraordinary energy between them, a deep understanding. I always felt that my father looked at her with tenderness, and she always seemed to be particularly relaxed, even a little carefree, in his presence.
When I was 14, she got divorced and soon after went to work in the provincial capital. I was so relieved. During that time, my father was a bit depressed. He always looked habitually at the house where she had lived when he came home, and he slept late at night. He said that it was stuffy in the summer, so he sat on the steps in the courtyard for a long time to cool off.
In my mother’s heart, she was just a sister to be pitied. Every time she came back, my mother would happily prepare a big table of food, and when she left, she would let her take a bunch of things with her. I often felt a sense of frustration with my mother. How could such a stupid woman have actively invited the wolf into the house! Sometimes, I even felt that she was like a piece of wood, oblivious to the intimacy between my father and that woman. I really wanted to shake her hard to wake her up and stop her from indulging in her own little world and losing sight of reality.
A sad love story 2
Wen Shanzhong was a national hero and a handsome man, standing 1.8 meters tall. He was praised by Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty as “a blessing from heaven, a blessing for the Song Dynasty.”
He and his wife Ouyang Yiren had an extremely deep relationship, and they never gave up on each other despite the many national calamities and their subsequent displacement. Later, his wife and two daughters were taken by Yuan troops in the chaos of war, and Wen Tianxiang wrote the heart-wrenching “Song of Chaos” (乱离歌), which shows just how deep the couple’s feelings were:
I have a wife, and my wife has left me for another. We have been married since childhood and have never been apart.
In the chaos of war, we meet tigers and wolves along the way. The phoenix has flown away, leaving its phoenix.
Where have you gone, my young wife? What worries me is that our country is ruined and our family is gone. I can’t bear to leave you and your clothes behind.
The sky is vast and the earth is far away. The cowherd and the weaver girl look at each other from afar every night.
Alas, the song goes on and on, and the sad wind from the north makes me feel lost!
Love Love has love and affection. Westerners value male-female love, while Chinese value the love between husband and wife. Male-female love will gradually fade with the passage of time, and passion will fade. However, the love between husband and wife will become deeper and closer with the accumulation of time.
Later, Wenshan Gong wrote another text about crying for his wife. It is only 24 characters long, but the depth of emotion makes people shed tears:
A lament for his wife
A virtuous woman does not marry a second husband, and a loyal minister does not serve more than one master. Between heaven and earth, there is only you and me. Alas!
What a heaven and earth between you and me! We all know that Wenshan Gong is a model of our national integrity, but in fact he is also a representative of the steadfast love of the Chinese people!
Sad love story 3
Huo Xiaoyu was a Tang Dynasty courtesan. At the age of sixteen, she fell in love with the poems of Li Yi, who was a talented scholar and younger brother, waiting for an official position. In Chang’an City, the talented man and beautiful woman met for the first time, fell in love at first sight, and had endless love and attachment.
However, Li Yi was unfaithful, and Huo Xiaoyu died. Everyone in Chang’an City knew about it. A man in a yellow shirt saw injustice and took Li Yi to the door of Huo Xiaoyu. Huo Xiaoyu got up despite her illness, splashed wine on the ground to show that what was done could not be undone, and then uttered the poignant curse: “After I die, I will become a fierce ghost and make your wives and concubines restless forever.”
Historically, abandoned wives always died quietly, such as Su Xiaoxiao and Cui Yingying. Even Du Shiniang, who committed suicide by drowning herself with a large pile of gold and silver jewelry, never wanted to take revenge on anyone.
But Huo Xiaoyu was different. She paid with her life, but she never considered herself unlucky and would never let it go. And she didn’t die tragically like in a third-rate novel, with a halo of light above her head as she saw her lover coming, forgiving his betrayal, understanding his difficulties, their fingers intertwined, vowing to reunite in the next life, and dying beautifully. For example, in Leslie Cheung’s last movie, “The Darkest Hour,” it was the female ghost who gave up her life out of old feelings.
Forgiveness, such a noble and great word, is not so cheap. For example, in the book “The Insulted and the Damaged,” there is forgiveness and there is never forgiving, which is related to self-respect.
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