Love
in China
True Story
11 November
2006
Recently a Chinese media
(The Chinese Women’s Daily) has
selected top 10 contemporary true love
stories from nearly 3000 entries.
Here is one of them:
 
I only Have Eyes
for You
1
By the
time Zhang Jian (张剑) left home after
high school to go to Guangzhou looking
for work, he was just 19. Like a lot of
Jiangsu man, he has slim and delicate
features, which helped secure him a job
as security guard at the special economic
zone.
In the
neighbouring city of Shenzhen there was
an 18-year old girl named Yanzi (燕子), and like many girls from
Hunan, she’s tall, exquisite, gentle
and cheerful. After obtained a
computer-training certificate, she worked
in the office of a foreign-invested
company.
When Zhang
Jian met Yanzi at a party, they fell in
love at the first sight and exchanged
phone numbers. Since then, though both
were thousands miles away from their
families, they felt lonely no more. The
young lovers spent all weekends and
holidays together and cared for each
other.
Some
months later, Yanzi followed Zhang Jian
to visit his home at a village in Pei
County, the birthplace of the founding
emperor of the Han Dynasty, and was
warmly welcomed and whole-heartedly
accepted by his family. Zhang Jian’s
parents promised to prepare for their
wedding after they’d grown a few years
older.
At the
time it seemed to be a match made in
heaven; no-one suspected that the path
leading to their wedding would be so long
and so rocky.
About a
half year later, one day when Zhang Jian
was on duty, a white car crashed into a
garden fence and was badly damaged. Zhang
Jian dashed forward to help the driver, a
young woman in her late twenties, get out
of her car. Quickly he arranged for the
car to be taken away for repair, and
found a taxi to take her home.
Since
then, whenever the young woman, Rong,
paid a visit to her business friend
there, she would go out of her way to
engage in small talk with Zhang Jian. And
if he was not on duty, she would then
invite him to yum cha.
Once when
they sat down for a drink, Rong began to
tell him her sad personal stories. Zhang
Jian felt for her and tried his best to
cheer her up, and that somehow touched
Rong to the heart greatly. Few days late,
she declaimed to him that she loved him.
On hearing
this, Zhang Jian was taken aback. Once
gathered his thoughts, he fished out
Yanzi’s photo from his wallet to make
it clear that he had already had a
girlfriend.
Rong was
puzzled. As the wealthy owner of a large
trading company, she wasn’t prepared to
be refused by man, let along by a poor
man. "But, she’s just an office
clerk … How can she help you in your
career development?" She frowned.
"You’re a man, surely the career
success is the most important thing in
your life. Just come to think of it, by
sharing my business and wealth, you can
become a successful businessman
instantly. Besides, I truly love you,
does that not matter to you?"
"But
I love her," said Zhang Jian, and
believed that was enough reason.
But that
was not enough for Rong to give him up.
Quite contrary. Zhang’s stubborn love
for a poor girl only proved that he was a
man of trustworthy and integrity, which
made him all the more attractive to her.
So she began calling him daily, sending
him gifts and cooking him meals.
That was
not what Zhang Jian wanted however - he
worried their closeness would hurt
Yanzi's feelings. So he resigned from his
job. Yanzi resigned too, and followed him
home.
A Jiangnan
village
Zhang Jian’s
parents made a living off a small apple
orchard. To help the young lovers start
own business, Zhang’s father gave the
pair 2,000 baby ducks.
As a city
girl Yanzi initially had a hard time
adjusting to village life and
duck-herding work, but her love for Zhang
Jian made her strong and she was
determined to stick it out. One year on,
by the end of 2001, the pair had earned
enough money to open an interior deco
store at a nearby town. The business was
good, but the work was equally
backbreaking. As they could not afford to
hire staff, the pair had to do everything
themselves. And Yanzi’s hands, used to
fly up and down computer keyboard, were
full of cuts from metal and glass. But
she felt content and happy, because she
was with the man she loved.
Another
year passed. And they thought they were
blessed, for they were able to live
together and work together, and as they
witnessed how their hard work brought
success in business.
Then
misfortune struck.
At the end
of the 2002, Yanzi received an urgent
phone call from her mother, saying her
father was diagnosed with cancer. Next
day, the pair closed their store and
hurried to her sick dad’s bedside. One
week later, Yanzi was struck by a
motorbike.
She lost
her consciousness almost immediately.
At
hospital’s emergency room, the
microscopic examination revealed
extensive damage to her brain, and within
a single day, she underwent two
open-skull surgeries.
Peering
through the window to the intensive care
unit, Zhang Jian could barely recognise
her face. He darted out onto the rooftop,
and cried and shouted savagely. When he
eventually returned to the building, the
nurses noticed his bleeding lips and
blood-smeared hands. He was evidently
biting himself like a raging beast.
Yanzi
survived, but remained in deep coma.
Zhang Jian stayed at her bedside day and
night, calling her name, "Yanzi,
wake up, I’m your Ar Jian, please, look
at me, I beg you …"
But Yanzi
did not respond. One month had passed,
Zhang Jian had talked himself hoarse, yet
Yanzi had no sign of opening her eyes.
Zhang Jian
fell into a dark pit of despair, and life
force was slowly drained out of him. He
began drafting his last letter to his
parents and preparing for his own demise
… …
I
only Have Eyes for You 2
(Reference: 唤醒生命的爱, 周瑜 亦清)
China
stories are told at wenhousecrafts.com
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