He met her at a banquet. At that time, she was young and beautiful, with many suitors around her, while he was just an ordinary person. Therefore, when the banquet ended and he invited her to have coffee together, she was quite surprised. However, out of politeness, she accepted his invitation.
Sitting in the café, the atmosphere between them was rather awkward, with little conversation. She wanted to end it quickly and go home. But when the waitress served the coffee, he suddenly said, "Could you please bring me some salt? I like to add a bit of salt to my coffee." At that moment, she was stunned, the waitress was stunned, everyone's eyes focused on him, making his face turn red.
The waitress brought the salt, and he added a little into his coffee, sipping it slowly. Being a very curious woman, she asked him, "Why do you add salt?" He paused for a while, then slowly said almost word by word, "When I was a child, my family lived by the sea, I often soaked in the sea, the waves came, seawater rushed into my mouth, bitter and salty. Now, I haven't been home for a long time, adding salt to my coffee is a way of missing home, trying to shorten the distance."
She was suddenly moved because this was the first time she had heard a man talk about missing home in front of her. She believed that men who missed home must be family-oriented men, and family-oriented men must be loving men. She suddenly felt a desire to confide in him, telling him about her hometown far away, and the cold atmosphere gradually became friendly. They chatted for a long time, and she did not refuse his offer to send her home.
Afterward, they started dating frequently. She found that he was actually a good man, generous, meticulous, considerate, possessing all the characteristics of the excellent men she admired. She secretly rejoiced that it was her politeness that prevented her from missing him. She took him to every café in the city, each time saying, "Please bring some salt, my friend likes salt in his coffee." Later, as written in fairy tales, "The prince and princess got married and lived happily ever after." They indeed lived happily, and it lasted for more than forty years until he fell ill and passed away not long ago.
The story seemed to be over, if it weren't for that letter.
That letter was written by him before he passed away, addressed to her:
"Forgive me for deceiving you all along. Do you remember the first time I invited you for coffee? The atmosphere was terrible, I was very uncomfortable and nervous, and I don't know why I told the waitress to bring some salt. Actually, I don't add salt, but since I said it, I had to go along with it. Unexpectedly, it sparked your curiosity, making me drink coffee with salt for half my life. Many times, I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you would be angry, even more afraid that you would leave me because of it.
Now I am no longer afraid because I am going to die, and it is always easy for the dead to be forgiven, right? Getting you in this life was my greatest happiness. If there is another life, I still hope to marry you, only, I don't want to drink coffee with salt anymore. Adding salt to coffee, you don't know how bad it tastes! How could I have thought of such a thing!"
The content of the letter shocked her and gave her a feeling of being deceived. However, he didn't know how much she wanted to tell him: "How happy I am that someone would deceive me for a lifetime because of me... "