Ping Ru Meitang

A companion piece to "Ping Ru Mei Tang,"
Rao Pingru's autobiography "The Story of My Life"
https://book.douban.com/subject/35562175/
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This is the life story of Rao Pingru and Mao Meitang.
He wasn't a man who wanted to fight, but he still went to war without hesitation. And because he was with Meitang, he eventually grew tired of war and wanted to go home.
Sixty years of companionship were full of hardships, and fate kept them apart for a long time. Just when they were finally reunited, Meitang became seriously ill and gradually lost her memory.
Pingru canceled all his work to wholeheartedly care for his wife. He would get up at 5 AM every day to comb her hair, wash her face, cook, and perform peritoneal dialysis four times a day – sterilizing, masking, connecting tubes, draining ascites, and also injecting insulin and keeping records. He didn't trust anyone else to help.
Meitang, in her illness, gradually stopped cooperating, often pulling out the tubes on her body. Her hearing was poor, and she couldn't see words clearly, so Pingru would draw pictures to persuade her not to pull the tubes, but even the drawings didn't work. He could only stay up all night watching her, but given his age, he couldn't do that every day, so he still had to tie her hands. "She cried 'Don't tie me,' and I felt so sad, what could I do... it was so painful."
Meitang's confusion worsened, and one day she accused her husband of hiding her granddaughter and preventing her from seeing her. No matter what Pingru said, she wouldn't believe him. He was over eighty years old, sitting on the ground, crying inconsolably.
She watched him cry, as if she didn't see anything.
Their lives were full of ups and downs, and they only found a stable home in their twilight years, but old age and illness caught up, and she was already at the end of her life.
After Meitang finally passed away, Pingru drew the story of him and Meitang, leaving behind the most beautiful memories of her and their life together.

2017-10-01

广西师范大学出版社

Shanghai Beibet

360

9787549599226