During the interview, when they talked about their past hardships, both of them cried and wiped each other's tears. When they talked about happy things, they couldn't stop laughing. The picture was taken by Yaxin.com reporter Li Tiejun. On September 5th, when Wang Xinmei learned that her friends were coming to visit Mr. Duan, she waited anxiously at the building entrance looking around. When she saw the car with her friends arriving, Wang Xinmei lowered her head happily and kept holding the corner of her clothes.
Wang Xinmei is 48 years old this year. She suffered from meningitis as a child and left sequelae, which made her IQ equivalent to that of an 8-year-old child. Her husband, Duan Zhicheng, is 57 years old, suffering from polio, making it difficult for him to walk. In late 1992, after getting divorced, Duan Zhicheng met Wang Xinmei. They got married in 1994.
"We are all disabled people. Before, I worked with Mr. Duan in the trade city driving a three-wheeled motorcycle. After Mr. Duan fell ill, his family became even more difficult. As the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, we all want to help them," said Mr. Duan's friends like Li Dehua, Lei Li, Deng Caixia, etc.
In an old building of the petroleum geological survey residential area on Yingbin North Road No.1 in Urumqi, Duan Zhicheng and Wang Xinmei spent 17 years of their lives together.
Although one of them suffers from polio and the other is intellectually disabled, in the eyes of their friends, they are a model couple.
When everyone was chatting with Duan Zhicheng, someone joked with Xinmei: "Is Zhicheng good to you?" Xinmei laughed immediately: "He is good, just good, I will grow old with him!" While saying that, Xinmei leaned her head on Mr. Duan's shoulder and said: "I have even written a song for my husband, let me sing it."
"Xinmei, can you sing? Sing it for us!" Everyone said.
Xinmei lowered her head, bit her lips, and held the corner of her clothes. Mr. Duan nodded and said: "Sing it, don't be shy!"
"Do you ask how much I love you, how much I care for you? My feelings are sincere, my love is deep, the moon represents my heart..." Although some parts were unclear in pronunciation, Xinmei finished the whole song. Mr. Duan sat beside, lowered his head without speaking, and kept smiling.
On the cabinet in Mr. Duan's house, there is a wedding photo of theirs. Mr. Duan said that it was taken in 2000. A friend bought a mobile phone and received a free wedding photo shoot coupon, so he took Xinmei to take photos. To save money, they only took two.
Seeing everyone looking at the wedding photo, Xinmei ran into the inner room quickly. "Big photo, look at the big photo." Xinmei held a bigger photo and showed it to everyone: "Which one looks better?" Saying that, Xinmei kissed the wedding photo hard. Then, she looked again, kissed it once more, and then hopped back to put the photo away.
Mr. Duan and Xinmei met at the end of 1992, dated for a year, and got married on February 2nd, 1994.
Mr. Duan said that when they first met, Wang Xinmei was 31 years old, and he was 39. They only met once, and Duan Zhicheng decided on Wang Xinmei.
"I met my wife for the first time at the marriage introduction agency, she hid behind her mother." Mr. Duan said, "At that time, she had fair skin and big eyes. I thought she would do. Before that, others introduced me to potential partners, but either they were more severely disabled than me or they looked down on me. Before meeting her, the marriage introducer told me that her brain wasn't good. I thought, in the future, I will be her brain, and she will be my legs. We could take care of each other and live our lives."
When they first got married, Xinmei didn't know anything, "Back then, not only did I purchase all the necessary items for the household, but I even bought her underwear and panties. Sometimes, buying women's clothes in the store made me very embarrassed, but my wife could only rely on me!" Duan Zhicheng said.
Nearly 20 years of marriage later, Mr. Duan taught his wife how to shop and how to find her way home. "Now, near the neighborhood, she can buy things and come back. Although she still doesn't recognize money, everyone knows our situation and won't cheat her."
In January this year, Mr. Duan suddenly had a heart attack, which scared Xinmei a lot.
Cang Fu is Mr. Duan's friend and also lives in the same neighborhood. "That night, after dinner with friends, I went to visit Mr. Duan, and found him lying on the ground, while his wife was crying anxiously beside him. I quickly drove him to the hospital."
"When he was sick, I was so afraid!" Xinmei mentioned Mr. Duan's hospitalization.
At that time, for a whole week, Xinmei never left Mr. Duan's side, sleeping on the floor of the hospital.
After that incident, Xinmei learned another thing: if Mr. Duan's condition was wrong, either give him medicine or seek help from neighbors.
"After falling ill in January, my heart has been bad, relying on quick-acting heart-saving pills every day, fearing that one day I might fall asleep and never wake up," Mr. Duan said.
"I can take care of him, I know where the medicine is, and it's all placed by me!" Xinmei said proudly.
When marrying Xinmei, Mr. Duan was an employee of the Kazibay Leather Factory. After the factory went bankrupt in 2002, he relied on driving a tricycle to support the family, while Xinmei depended on the community's low-income allowance for living.
Around 2006, when the community calculated the family income, the income of Mr. Duan's family exceeded the standard for enjoying low-income allowances, so Xinmei's low-income allowance would be stopped. To keep the 300 yuan low-income allowance, on June 5th, 2006, the two got divorced. In 2010, due to Duan Zhicheng's continuous physical discomfort, unable to drive a tricycle, they went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get their marriage certificate back.
Mr. Duan said that Xinmei's parents lived in the same neighborhood as them, but because of some family disputes before, they rarely interacted. "If I am gone, I don't know what she will do." Watching the lively Xinmei jumping around, Duan Zhicheng sat in front of everyone and fell silent again.
Lei Li, Li Dehua, Cang Fu, and several brothers sat in front of Duan Zhicheng, sighing along. All disabled, with low incomes, facing Mr. Duan's increasingly weak body, everyone remained silent, anxious.
"Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, this money isn't much, but please keep it to celebrate the festival," Lei Li took out 200 yuan and handed it to Mr. Duan, then everyone gave him 100 or 50 yuan.
"Earning money isn't easy for you either," Mr. Duan said, his eyes turning red, and the eyes of several big men also turned red.
Mr. Duan said that he was recently applying for social security. If he succeeded, he could receive retirement pay. However, to keep Xinmei's low-income allowance, they might need to divorce again. "Marriage and divorce mean nothing to us anymore," Mr. Duan said, "We cannot live without each other now."