Yang Sen feeds water to his "mom." Every day, his parents show filial piety to grandma, and the children see it all in their eyes. It's not easy taking care of business during the day and then coming home to take care of "mom" after work. Yang Sen and his wife together change the diaper for "mom." "Mom, come on, open your mouth." Gently patting the frail, wrinkled hand of the elderly woman, Yang Sen handed the straw connected to a cup of water to the edge of the old lady's mouth. After she took a sip, Yang Sen proceeded to rub her back and helped her turn over.
A 36-year-old rural young man from Shaanxi Province and a 95-year-old paralyzed single elderly woman from Beijing have no blood ties. A military-civilian friendship event brought happiness to the later years of this elderly woman.
Seventeen years ago, Yang Sen, who now works as an advertising salesperson at a certain website, was serving in the army in Beijing when he met Zhi Wenping, his current "mom," during a street community liaison mutual assistance event. "She is old, has heart disease, her husband passed away during the revolution, she has no children, and she is on low-income assistance." Afterwards, Yang Sen insisted on regularly doing housework for the elderly woman, chatting with her, and helping her run errands to buy things.
Year after year, the two developed a deep bond. The elderly woman trusted him like her own son. Yang Sen said that his parents passed away early, and while he was helping the elderly woman, he also enjoyed maternal love from her. In 2005, when the small house where the elderly woman lived was scheduled for demolition and the street office planned to send the single elderly woman to a nursing home, "I will never forget the look in mom's eyes that day. She said she would rather die than go to a nursing home, then she looked at me. I said, then you can come with me, I'll support you. The elderly woman nodded." A promise made by Yang Sen, which he has kept until today.
Yang Sen's wife, Qin Yuhua, said that during their courtship, she thought Yang Sen was making up a great story. After seeing it with her own eyes, she believed, "He is a good person," and followed Yang Sen in showing filial piety.
Yang Sen said that attending to the elderly woman, cleaning up after her, hard work, and spending money were not fearsome; what he feared most was asking for help and taking the elderly woman to the hospital if she got sick. In May this year, the elderly woman was hospitalized three times consecutively. After being discharged for the third time, she could no longer move at all and could only lie down, needing to be fed and having a urinary catheter inserted. When the urinary catheter fell out, Yang Sen, a grown man, ran to the hospital in tears, begging the doctor to come to their home to replace the catheter, "It's too difficult to ask for favors." Ultimately, a kind-hearted doctor was moved and violated regulations to help Yang Sen.
In Yang Sen's home, Zhi Wenping lies in bed, covered with several layers of blankets, but her mental state is still quite good. "My son is good, and my daughter-in-law is good too," the elderly woman said, admitting that she has a big temper, "but they never dare to talk back, afraid that I might get sick."
Many people around them say that Yang Sen "has lost his mind," and some even say he must be scheming something from the elderly woman. Yang Sen just smiles and says that during the demolition, the elderly woman didn't ask the street office for a single penny of compensation, and directly moved in with him.
Yang Sen remembers hearing a story when he was little: A daughter-in-law wouldn't give her mother-in-law enough food to eat, and when the mother-in-law passed away, this daughter-in-law wanted to throw away the bowl used by her mother-in-law. At that moment, the grandson said, "Mom, don't throw it away, when you get old, I'll use it for you." "Mom gave me maternal love, my child has a grandmother, we are a complete family. Today, everything I do is watched by heaven, watched by my daughter, and I can face my conscience."
Zhi Wenping's wish is to be buried with her husband after she passes away. Yang Sen said that when he has time, he will go to Hebei to find the grave of the elderly woman and try to fulfill his mom's last wish.
This edition written by reporter Wen Jing. Photographed by reporter Zhu Jialei. Share to: Welcome to comment! I want to comment! Weibo recommendation | Today's Weibo hot topics (Editor: SN034)