Graphic Version 100 Heartwarming Stories That Touch a Lifetime

Author: Liang Shiqiu, Yu Qiuwei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Beautiful hearts, wonderful emotions; A life textbook for shaping outstanding personalities; Understanding love, understanding life; 100 heart-stirring true, real, and loving stories. "I am happy because I love, and because I am loved." — Poet Browning of the United Kingdom This book awakened the love that had been dormant within me for so long, giving me new insights into life and existence: Life is fulfilling with love, and life is beautiful with love. — Senior Editor Chen Zheng In my half-century of publishing work, I have never read a book so touching as this. It is an excellent read for the soul, worthy of sharing with family and friends, and worth everyone possessing and cherishing it together. — Executive Vice President of the China Association of Prose Writers, Zhou Ming This is a book that made my eyes well up. The emotionally charged words struck my heart, as if time itself had paused. — Literary Critic Ni Peigeng I grew up listening to the same story as my sister. The general plot of the story is as follows: When my father was in middle school, he fell in love with a girl named Zhang Juhua. Later, an accident occurred, and Zhang Juhua was injured by a collapsing dangerous building. As she lay dying, my father shouted his love to many teachers and classmates, desperately and repeatedly: "I love Zhang Juhua! Zhang Juhua, I love you!" — In those conservative times, my father's actions were like a miniature Tangshan earthquake. As someone who was dating early, he was expelled from school and mocked by the entire village.
What needs to be added is that this sad story had a beautiful "ending": My mother was my father's classmate. After hearing my father's loud declaration of love, she was stunned but secretly admired his courage as a man. Four years after Zhang Juhua's death, my mother became my father's wife. My father's "scandal" spread endlessly in the mouths of the neighbors. Even as my sister and I grew up, we could still hear the story that made us feel ashamed. The neighbors talked about it, and my mother often mentioned it too. During their arguments, the angry mother would tearfully shout at my father, "I know you love Zhang Juhua, you never loved me." At the mention of this, my father would immediately fall silent, awkwardly smile, and then humbly try to comfort my mother, taking on all the household chores to appease her. But when my parents were sweet, my mother would jokingly say, "Oh, you still think about Zhang Juhua? Tell me, what was so special about her?" My father would still awkwardly smile and never confront my mother directly.
Honestly, I hated my father those years because of his "romantic and sentimental" nature. I was mocked by my peers, and I believe my sister felt the same way. So, we studied hard and finally got into university, escaping the hometown that made us sisters the laughingstock. Last year, on my mother's sixtieth birthday, I finally returned to my hometown after not seeing my parents for a long time. After a few drinks, my ten-year-old nephew suddenly asked my father, "Grandpa, I heard you didn't love Grandma when you were young. You loved another girl—is that true?" The lively room suddenly fell silent, and everyone awkwardly looked at my father. I never expected that my father's "scandal" would "spread" to our next generation. This time, my father didn't awkwardly smile but quietly took a sip of wine and said, "Actually, I never loved that Zhang Juhua." He turned to my mother and continued, "Lixiang (my mother's name), do you remember? Back then, Zhang Juhua's father was labeled a 'current counter-revolutionary' and was detained. Left alone with her grandmother, she was beautiful but looked down upon because of her family background. No one wanted to sit with her, not even I, but as class monitor, the teacher asked me to help underperforming students, so I was assigned to sit with her.
Zhang Juhua's parents weren't counter-revolutionaries; they were both scholars. After they were detained, Zhang Juhua was sent to the countryside. Her family had many books. One day, she secretly brought a book to school and showed me a passage written by a foreigner. It said that the three greatest regrets in life are: not having parents' love in childhood, not having a lover's love in adulthood, and not having children's love in old age. Zhang Juhua tearfully told me that her three regrets might all come true. That day, it rained heavily with strong winds, and our dilapidated classroom swayed violently. Everyone panicked and rushed out. The door, already broken, collapsed with bricks falling down. Five or six students were crushed. Zhang Juhua's injuries were severe. That night, when the doctor shook his head in front of the gathered teachers, classmates, and villagers, we were all terrified. For some reason, I suddenly remembered her words about life's three regrets, and I was stunned. Without thinking, I shouted a few times, "Zhang Juhua, I love you." In truth, I didn't love Zhang Juhua; she was messy, a bit untidy, and always smelled. At the time, I just wanted to make her regret less.
We were all stunned by the truth behind the long-standing rumor about my father. The room remained silent for a long time, except for my innocent nephew, who still tugged at my father's sleeve, asking more questions.