In 1962, Hu Shi died suddenly of a heart attack, and three years later, his first love, Wei Liansi, sent a large package of things to his widow Jiang Dongxiu. Jiang Dongxiu thought that this was Wei Liansi humiliating her, but she never thought that after opening the package, she was moved to tears.
At the age of fourteen, Hu Shi's life trajectory was quietly set, not because he had an early opinion, but because his mother set a marriage for him at a party.
The woman is Jiang Dongxiu, one year older than him, and her family is well-off. Although both parties were still young at that time and did not know what love was, "the life of the parents and the words of the matchmaker" had undoubted weight at that time.
Hu Shi's mother especially believed in these, and whether the eight characters fit together or not became an important criterion for her to measure this marriage. Jiang Dongxiu's eight characters were solemnly put into the bamboo tube in front of the stove god, and several times "shake the lot" down, and it was pointed at her every time, which strengthened Hu's mother's determination.
In this way, the lives of the two young people, under the arrangement of the elders, were tightly bound together by a thin marriage contract. A few years later, the ambitious Hu Shi crossed the ocean to study in the United States.
At Cornell University, he was like a sponge, greedily absorbing knowledge, and also met a romantic love in this foreign country. Her name is Wei Liansi, the daughter of a professor, five years older than Hu Shi, with elegant manners and independent thinking.
The two met at a party, and Wei Liansi was attracted by Hu Shi's talent and conversation, and took the initiative to invite him to dance. The music flowed, the two danced, their eyes only on each other, and everything around them seemed to have disappeared.
If the marriage contract with Jiang Dongxiu is the shackles of feudal etiquette, then the encounter with Wei Liansi is the spark of free love that ignited in Hu Shi's heart.
He was deeply attracted to this warm, independent Western woman, and the two often talked about literature and art together, shared each other's thoughts, and the seeds of love quietly sprouted in their hearts. They strolled through Cornell's campus together, vowing in the sunset that they were partners for life.
However, fate always seems to like to joke, and just as Hu Shi was immersed in the sweetness of love, a letter from across the ocean broke the peace. In the letter, his mother said that she was ill and hoped that he would return to China as soon as possible.
The filial Hu Shi was worried, hurriedly bid farewell to Wei Liansi, and embarked on the journey home. It's just that he didn't know that this hurried farewell turned out to be the last time the two met in this life.
When he returned home, Hu Shi found that what his mother said about being seriously ill was just a pretext, and her real purpose was to let him get married as soon as possible. Looking at the fiancée in front of him, who he had never met, Hu Shi had mixed feelings in his heart.
He tried to explain to his mother that he already had a beloved, but in exchange for his mother's death. With traditional filial piety on one side and free love on the other, Hu Shi was in a dilemma. In the end, he chose to compromise and married Jiang Dongxiu as his wife.
Wei Liansi, who was far away on the other side of the ocean, was waiting for Hu Shi's breakup letter. In the letter, Hu Shi confessed everything to her and persuaded her to let go of this relationship and find her own happiness.
Willis' heart was broken, and she couldn't understand why the people who had made a vow to make a vow in the first place had now given up their love so easily. However, she loved Hu Shi deeply, chose to respect his choice, and buried this love deep in her heart, never married.
After marriage, Hu Shi and Jiang Dongxiu live under the same roof, but they seem to live in two worlds. One is a cultural pioneer who has received a new type of education, and the other is a lady with little feet who is deeply influenced by traditional thoughts.
Hu Shi once complained to a friend in a letter, saying that Jiang Dongxiu did not understand his thoughts, and there was no common language between the two. And although Jiang Dongxiu has a pungent personality, he also loves Hu Shi deeply, but he is not good at expressing it.
This marriage has become an eternal regret in Hu Shi's heart. He couldn't forget the relationship with Wei Liansi, and the two could only express their thoughts about each other through letters.
Wei Liansi became Hu Shi's spiritual support, and whenever he encountered setbacks and confusion, she would always write to encourage him, comfort him, and accompany him through the darkest moments of his life.
Time passed, and the correspondence between Hu Shi and Wei Liansi became a witness of love between the two across mountains and seas. On Hu Shi's 68th birthday, Wei Liansi did something that touched everyone.
She sold her property and used all her savings to set up a foundation for Hu Shi as a way to show her love and support for him.
After receiving the letter, Hu Shi was moved, and he longed to see Wei Liansi again, even if it was just one side, which was enough to comfort him for many years. However, this wish was ruthlessly rejected by Jiang Dongxiu.
She could not accept that in her husband's heart, there was always a place for another woman. In this way, Hu Shi passed away with regret, and he and Wei Liansi failed to see each other again after all.
After Hu Shi's death, Jiang Dongxiu found a package from across the ocean when he was sorting out his belongings. When I opened it, it turned out to be the letters that Wei Liansi had written to Hu Shi over the years, and each one was well preserved.
In the envelope, there was also a note that read: "I hope that these correspondence between me and Mr. Hu Shi will become valuable materials to commemorate him and understand him in the future, and will not cause you to misunderstand." ”
Reading Wei Liansi's letter, Jiang Dongxiu's tears couldn't stop flowing. She finally understood that this woman's love for Hu Shi was so deep and selfless. She didn't hold grudges, she didn't demand, she just stood silently behind him, supported him, and accompanied him.
In the end, Jiang Dongxiu made a decision, she put Wei Liansi's photo into Hu Shi's tomb, hoping to make up for Hu Shi's regrets before his death, and also fulfill this fruitless love.
A marriage, two relationships, and the life trajectories of three people are intertwined in this way, deducing an emotional story that makes people sigh and sigh.
Love is never a simple possession, but understanding, fulfillment, mutual achievement, and common growth. Even if they didn't come together in the end, that deep love transcended time and space and remained in each other's hearts forever.
