Today is the Chongyang Festival, a day for ascending heights and appreciating scenery, but more importantly, it's a day to respect and care for the elderly. Since ancient times, our country has placed particular emphasis on the character "filial piety". Providing for the elderly and ensuring their happiness is a great social responsibility. In Zhenjiang, Li Zhendi, an exemplary daughter-in-law, has tirelessly cared for her paralyzed mother-in-law for 12 consecutive years; in Gaoyou, a newlywed couple visited the nursing home just three days after their wedding. The two heartwarming stories reported in this edition show us the virtue of respecting and caring for the elderly, which deserves praise.
**Providing for the Elderly**
The mother-in-law was completely paralyzed, and she took care of the elderly person's eating, drinking, and toileting for 12 years. Yesterday, in Unit 207, Building 17, Area A of the New City Garden in Zhenjiang, 78-year-old Chen Jie lay in bed, muttering words that outsiders couldn't understand. The room was spotless, with clean bedding. The elder had a pale complexion, not at all like someone over seventy years old. She didn’t realize she had already spent her 12th year in this sickbed. Outside the bedroom, 49-year-old Li Zhendi looked haggard, with a simple smile on her emaciated face. She is Chen Jie’s daughter-in-law. Cooking, buying groceries, turning the patient over, changing medicine, and helping with bowel movements—these arduous tasks that most people find hard to persist with, Li Zhendi persevered with for 12 whole years.
In 1984, Li Zhendi married into the Yao family through an introduction. Although the couple earned little money, they lived happily together. The next year, Li Zhendi gave birth to a daughter, bringing even more joy to the family. However, the family was concerned about the persistent pain in her mother-in-law Chen Jie's left ear. Little did anyone know that a disaster was looming.
In 1999, Chen Jie's condition worsened, often falling due to pain. The diagnosis shocked the entire family: Chen Jie had an ear sac tumor! Li Zhendi and her husband took the elder to seek medical help everywhere, but due to the high surgical risk, they reluctantly abandoned the surgery. Because the ear sac tumor pressed against the central nervous system and brain, Chen Jie soon became completely paralyzed, and this paralysis lasted for 12 years. For 12 years, all her eating, drinking, and toileting were done in bed, unable even to maintain a basic sitting posture, and she often rambled incoherently. Faced with this sudden change, the family was at a loss, but Li Zhendi chose silent persistence. "Since misfortune cannot be avoided, we can only face it," Li Zhendi told reporters. From then on, she worked while meticulously taking care of her mother-in-law.
"Adding insult to injury," in 2000, Li Zhendi lost her job. Without an income source, this made her very sad, forcing her to budget even more carefully, stretching every penny to make ends meet. But deep down, she found some comfort: "After losing my job, I have more time to take care of my mother-in-law, so I don't have to worry about both work and family!"
**Helping the Father-in-Law with Personal Hygiene**
Fate seemed to toy with Li Zhendi. Not long after her mother-in-law became paralyzed, in 2000, her father-in-law was diagnosed with "Parkinson's syndrome," quickly losing his ability to take care of himself.
On one side was the completely paralyzed mother-in-law, and on the other was the father-in-law who could no longer live independently. When busy, Li Zhendi would take her father-in-law for intravenous therapy in the morning and pick up medicine for her mother-in-law from the hospital in the afternoon. Back and forth, Li Zhendi spun like a top, rushing even to the restroom. She no longer had personal time. Her schedule was filled with cooking, feeding medicine, helping patients wash their bodies, and even assisting her father-in-law with defecation issues. Every time her father-in-law saw his daughter-in-law helping him with such intimate tasks, tears streamed down his face. In 2006, deeply grateful to his filial daughter-in-law, the father-in-law passed away peacefully.
Working hard in her husband's home, Li Zhendi missed her parents dearly, but she could only squeeze in time to visit them occasionally before rushing back to take care of her in-laws. Seeing their daughter thin and exhausted, Li Zhendi's parents shed tears.
Li Zhendi's husband was one of five siblings—three older sisters and one younger sister. The in-laws had always lived with them. The older and younger sisters often came home to lend a hand to Li Zhendi, but these were temporary helps. With her husband working outside, the heavy burden still fell on Li Zhendi's shoulders. Therefore, in the eyes of her sisters-in-law, Li Zhendi was the "pillar" of their family, the most respected person in this large household.
Zhou Xiaoying, the former group leader of the village where Li Zhendi used to live, said: "Doing one good deed is not difficult, but doing good deeds all one's life is..." Reporters learned that Li Zhendi's daughter had just gotten married during the National Day holiday. As her daughter left home, she told her one thing: "Be a good person, and good people will surely be happy."
By Kong Wangcai, Correspondent, and Wan Lingyun, Reporter
**Entertainment for the Elderly**
A Newlywed Couple in Gaoyou Brings “Four Joys” to the Nursing Home
Yesterday morning, a newlywed couple arrived at the Gaoyou City Che Luo Town Nursing Home. The young couple brought “candy, money, cigarettes, and alcohol” as the "four joys" to the disabled and widowed elders there, along with blessings for the Chongyang Festival.
October 2nd was Yang Xin's wedding day. The groom was a technician at the town's machinery factory, and the bride, Xu Jing, was an office clerk at the Che Luo Town Gift Company in Gaoyou City. Yesterday, the newlyweds Yang Xin and Xu Jing brought candy, cigarettes, alcohol, and a 500-yuan red envelope, totaling over 2000 yuan worth of items, to visit the elders at the nursing home. According to the groom Yang Xin, they did this as the beginning of showing filial piety to both sets of elders in the future. They plan to visit the elders on major holidays going forward.
By Liu Qiding, Xu Kuanquan, and Chen Yong (Text and Photos)