Gu Yan Yu has been filial for decades. Not only is the son filial, but the daughter-in-law is also commendable.
She is an 80-year-old rural grandmother from Funan, and he is a former Shanghai intellectual youth who was sent down to the countryside. Due to his experience of being sent down over 40 years ago, these two originally unrelated people established a special "mother-son bond."
42 years ago, every time he was starving, she would use the only white flour in her home to fill his stomach; after returning to the city, he always kept the promise of a "son" through his actions. Now, as she grows old and he enters his sixties, this mother-son affection continues.
The elderly woman wants to praise her "son."
On January 17th, when Luo Haiqing, a resident of Chengxi Community in Lucheng Town, Funan County, Fuyang City, visited the home of fellow villager Yang Xiufang, he found that they had a new large color TV.
"My son and daughter-in-law were worried that I would have nothing to do on winter nights, so they gave me a big color TV, saying it would keep me entertained," said the 80-year-old Yang Xiufang to Luo Haiqing. Luo Haiqing knew that Yang Xiufang and her husband only had two married daughters, and the "son" she referred to was Gu Yan Yu, an intellectual youth who was sent down to the countryside more than forty years ago. "I've heard from elders that thanks to Yang Xiufang's help, Gu Yan Yu didn't starve back then, and later they recognized each other as mother and son," Luo Haiqing told reporters. After returning to the city, Gu Yan Yu never forgot the kindness of a meal back then and continued to take care of the couple for more than forty years.
"In addition to sending money every month, all the items in the elder’s house were provided by him." After Luo Haiqing visited Yang Xiufang's home this time, the couple entrusted him with something. "Yang Xiufang said that she just gave Gu Yan Yu a meal back then, and he took care of her for more than forty years. Now, he even gave her a large color TV, which made her feel very uneasy." Not knowing how to express her gratitude, Yang Xiufang thought of reflecting this matter to the media. "As the elderly are old and don’t know how to contact newspapers, they asked me to reflect this good deed and praised their 'son' properly," said Luo Haiqing.
A three-year meal forged a mother-son bond.
An old-fashioned glass picture frame hangs on the wall of Yang Xiufang's home, not holding pictures of herself and her husband, but of Gu Yan Yu's family. "I clean this frame every day and won't let any dust settle on it," Yang Xiufang said. In her memory, her mother-son bond with Gu Yan Yu began in the barren year of 1969.
At that time, Gu Yan Yu was just an 18-year-old intellectual youth who came from the metropolis of Shanghai to the rural area of Funan County to "train" and did not know how to work in the fields, often going hungry; living in front of Gu Yan Yu's house was Yang Xiufang's family, a 38-year-old village women cadre.
Yang Xiufang said that the newly arrived Gu Yan Yu from the city was strong and had a big appetite, but he was not used to eating the coarse grains in the local countryside and often complained of hunger.
One day, Yang Xiufang ground some white flour and cooked a few noodles, preparing them for her two daughters. Gu Yan Yu followed the smell of the noodles and said, "Grandma, I'm so hungry." As a result, that day Gu Yan Yu ate all the noodles in the pot without leaving a single one. "I told my daughters that he came to support national construction, what are a few noodles?"
Seeing that Gu Yan Yu was always hungry, the kind-hearted Yang Xiufang would call him every time at mealtime and occasionally cook him a bowl of noodles, thus taking care of Gu Yan Yu's meals for three years.
Yang Xiufang told reporters that the countryside was generally poor at the time, and her own family conditions were not good either. "Our family of four received only 12 jin (pounds) of wheat per year from the village." Her two daughters, seeing the well-ground white flour, often cried out that they wanted to eat. "Sometimes I couldn't resist my daughters, so I counted the noodles carefully to satisfy them." Her husband Sun Y启 quietly supported Yang Xiufang's actions by reducing his already small food intake even further.
"That big young man, I can't see him go hungry without helping. A meal, our family can save up if we try, and Xiao Gu doesn't mind recognizing me as his godmother, I am already very satisfied," Yang Xiufang told reporters. Xiao Gu has taken care of her family for more than forty years, moved by her feelings, she doesn't know how to repay, and thinks about praising him through the newspaper.
Still practicing filial piety in his sixties
After retirement, Gu Yan Yu lived in Fuyang City with his wife Zhu Gangzhen, both entering their sixties.
"The grandma has done me a favor." Recalling those days, Gu Yan Yu couldn't help but sigh. "For how long I stayed in the village, Grandma took care of my meals for that long. My real mom was far away and couldn't take care of me, Grandma treated me like her own son." Three years later, when Gu Yan Yu had to leave the small village to go to the Huabei coal mine, upon hearing the news, he recognized Yang Xiufang as his godmother that night, and the two cried together. "I told Grandma that I would treat her like my real mother for the rest of my life, I am her son, and I will take care of her until the end."
In the summer of 1973, Gu Yan Yu received his first salary, and having the ability, he started fulfilling his responsibilities as a son. Yang Xiufang still remembers that when Gu Yan Yu worked in Huabei, getting to Funan required several transfers. "He said the braised meat in the cafeteria was delicious, and once bought several pounds of it to bring back for me to taste. He carried it all the way from Xiao County, Huabei, and Fuyang, and when he got home, I saw his hands were full of marks from the plastic bags."
In 1981, Gu Yan Yu brought his newlywed wife Zhu Gangzhen to Yang Xiufang's home. "My wife fully supports me, sometimes when I'm busy, she goes to see the elders instead of me." Gu Yan Yu told reporters that after getting married, they lived in Fuyang City and tried many times to persuade the elders to leave their hometown and live with them. "But the two elders said they couldn't get used to city life and insisted on going back after staying only one day." Since then, Gu Yan Yu could only visit the Funan hometown more frequently with his wife.
"All the electrical appliances, cashmere blankets, coats, and food in the house were bought by the Xia Gu family." Yang Xiufang recalled that last September, her daughter-in-law Zhu Gangzhen carried a large cashmere blanket and a pile of food on her back. Since the bus only reached the village entrance, Zhu Gangzhen struggled to carry the heavy cashmere blanket home, and her blouse was soaked with sweat. "Xiao Zhu said that Xiao Gu was busy, but worried that the cold weather in the countryside would come quickly, so she hurriedly brought me a cashmere blanket." Yang Xiufang looked at this already 60-year-old "daughter-in-law" and didn't know how to express her heartache.
On January 20th this year, there was a sudden snowfall across the province, including Fuyang. Thinking that the roads in the village would be difficult to walk on after the snow, and the elders wouldn't have anywhere to buy vegetables, Mr. and Mrs. Gu Yan Yu got up early and braved the snow to arrive at the elders' home on the earliest bus, not only bringing warm clothes and shoes, but also enough vegetables for the elders to last a week.
To take care of the elderly couple until the end
Zhu Gangzhen told reporters that she met her husband while working as a waitress at a hotel in Fuyang City. "He told me he was going back to the countryside to visit his godmother." The story between Gu Yan Yu and Yang Xiufang touched Zhu Gangzhen, and she said, "Since he is my husband's relative, he is also my relative, and I want to be filial with my husband."
"My biological mother is now in Shanghai, taken care of by my older brother and sister." Gu Yan Yu said that compared to his real mother who has children, Yang Xiufang and her husband were more on his mind. "Their two daughters are already married, and now the couple are the village's five-guarantees households. If we don't take care of them, who will?"
This "mother-son bond" has lasted for more than forty years, and now Yang Xiufang is already eighty years old. With age, the elderly need someone around them, and Gu Yan Yu said that since both he and his wife are retired, they have more time to take care of the elderly couple. He and his wife have already decided to stay in Fuyang until they take care of the two elders until the end.
Zhu Gangzhen said that her daughter is already 31 years old and has settled down in Shanghai. "My daughter once suggested we return to Shanghai, but the grandmother in the countryside needs more care." Zhu Gangzhen told reporters that although her family and her husband's family were jealous of Yang Xiufang, they all support them and understand their decision to stay in Fuyang.
"At this age, the elderly value their posthumous affairs the most. As their son, I will always be with them until this matter is properly handled, otherwise I won't return to Shanghai," said Gu Yan Yu.
Good reputation of maternal kindness and filial piety
After the "mother-son bond" of more than forty years became known, some local media proposed interviews with Gu Yan Yu and Zhu Gangzhen, but most were rejected by Gu Yan Yu. "Between me and Grandma, we already have a deep familial bond, doing these things is completely normal." He said he just wanted to quietly do what a son should do. "Being filial is simply what I should do."
However, Yang Xiufang felt that the care from her son and daughter-in-law made her and her husband feel uneasy, so she declined their invitation to live together in Fuyang City, "Xiao Gu's family is too considerate of me, we can't give them any more trouble."
Li Guojin, 74 years old, lives next door to Yang Xiufang. He told reporters that Yang Xiufang was a village cadre back then, illiterate but reasonable and simple-hearted, "They like to help others. Back then, life was tough, and the food supply for Yang's family of four was barely enough, yet they still fed Xiao Gu, always saying it was to support national construction. She deserves her good fortune."
"Xiao Gu truly knows how to repay kindness," Luo Haiqing told reporters that Gu Yan Yu has consistently returned to the countryside in Funan for many years, taking care of the elders with the same emotion as caring for his own parents.
Reported by intern reporter Shao Jingyi
(Pictures provided by interview subjects)