An Unusual Love Story

In a small town long ago, little did Anna know that her mother was pursued by her father, David, with great determination. Back then, her mother would talk almost every day about how David had asked to stay at her place on the first day they met, claiming it was too dark and far to go back. He even risked being punished by running out of the army in the middle of the night and taking a train to see her. In the end, he was indeed punished and lost a star on his epaulette.

David and Anna's mother, Lily, didn't seem to have a happy life, at least not in Anna's eyes. Lily came from a scholarly family and loved writing. In contrast, David joined the army at the age of 17 and often encountered unfamiliar words when reading newspapers. Since Anna was a child, she often witnessed them arguing. Lily would always pick a fight over the tiniest things and shout loudly at David. At first, David would smile and say something light-hearted to defuse Lily's anger. But Lily would never back down. In a fit of rage, she would even throw things and complain about how wrong she was to marry such a useless man. For more than 20 years, the most common thing Anna heard from Lily was complaining about David being useless. Lily always said David had nothing, except for being able to amuse people with his witty words. Anna admitted that David wasn't particularly remarkable. He was just an ordinary officer, a "shorty" and "bowlegged" in the eyes of Lily's mother. But he was Anna's father and the pillar of the family. Anna had always felt unfair for her father.

Lily couldn't cook. In her own words, "I'm just not meant for the kitchen." When Anna was young, David hadn't been transferred back to their town. Every weekend, David would rush back from the army. His first task was to go to the market. Then, for two whole days, he would cook for Anna and Lily. Ever since Anna could remember, David belonged in the kitchen. In the old tenement building where they lived, the kitchen was in the corridor. Every time David came back, he would be busy all day outside the room, covered in the smell of cooking oil and sweat on his face.

David was an excellent cook. Whenever Lily and David argued, David would sulkily hide in the kitchen and make soup. Lily loved soup very much. No matter how heartbroken she was or how much she cried, as soon as the fragrant soup was brought into the room, she would immediately stop crying and sit at the dining table sniffling. At the end of each weekend, their refrigerator would be filled with food, and the water cups and kettles would also be filled with hot water. For the next five days, the only household chore Lily needed to do was take the food out of the refrigerator and heat it up in the steamer. Even so, Lily would often complain that David wasn't by their side and couldn't take good care of them.

Although David only came home on weekends, he took care of all household affairs, big and small. Lily not only seldom did housework but also rarely washed her own clothes, let alone take care of Anna.

In Anna's senior year of high school, David, after long efforts, finally got transferred back to their town to better take care of Anna and Lily. During the year of living with her parents day and night, Anna deeply felt the inequality between her mother and father. Whenever there were guests at home, Lily would like to scold David in front of them and talk about everything she had done for the family, such as making a lot of money for the family. The thing Anna couldn't stand the most was when Lily said to David, "Yesterday, someone from my work invited me to dinner. He's much better than you. Why don't we get a divorce?" And every time David heard this, he would only answer with one word, "Okay," and then continue cooking as if nothing had happened.

In the summer of Anna's sophomore year in college, David was hospitalized. He had liver cancer and it was already in the late stage when it was discovered. Hearing the news, Anna took the train back to their town from Shanghai the next day. This time, Lily surprisingly went to the hospital. She stopped reading and writing and stayed by David's hospital bed. When Anna saw her mother, she really hated her. Although Lily was more educated than David and although many life lessons were taught to her by Lily, standing by David's hospital bed, Anna still felt that Lily was insignificant and hateful. If Lily had shared some of the family burdens with David in the past 20 years, maybe David wouldn't have gotten such a disease.

Three months before his death, David asked to go home. Against Anna's objection, Lily helped David back home. Incredibly, the first thing David did after returning home was to put on an apron and go into the kitchen. No matter how much Anna shouted and tried to stop him, David insisted on cooking. Lily didn't say a word and leaned against the kitchen door, watching David cook for her. Anna was so anxious that she was almost in tears and shouted at Lily, "Dad has cooked for you all his life. Can't you, for the sake of your son, spare him this time and cook a meal yourself?" But Lily ignored her, and so did David. The old couple was just like in the past decades, one idle and one cooking. Anna's heart was breaking.

Five days later, Anna and Lily sent David, whose belly was bulging high, back to the hospital. During David's hospitalization, all the meals were cooked by the elderly grandma, and all the laundry was done by Anna. Lily just sat by David's bed all day long and did only one thing, which was to read her own books to David. Anna once heard Lily say to David, "Dear, you never read the books I wrote before. Now that you are sick, just lie down and listen to me read to you. There are both you and me in this book."

At the end of his life, David called Anna to his hospital bed. There were no tears, only one sentence left for her: "After graduation, come back to our town and live with your mom and cook for her." And there was only one sentence left for Lily: "Dear, I'm leaving. I can't cook for you anymore." For this sentence, Lily cried for a whole week, refusing to eat or drink. No one could persuade her. She just kept repeating one sentence: "You said you would cook for me all your life. You didn't keep your promise."

After graduating from college, Anna followed her father's will and returned to their town to live with her mother. Only then did she gradually discover that Lily had always been so dependent on David, not only in life but also in spirit. In Lily's heart, David hadn't really left.

As Anna was busy with work and didn't have much time to cook for her retired mother. One day, when she entered the house, she was surprised to see Lily cooking in the kitchen by herself. She was clumsily cutting potato slices with tears on her cheeks. Anna suddenly thought of her father's last words and tears welled up in her eyes.

Six years after David's death, Lily finally couldn't bear the loneliness and followed David. Before her death, Lily said to Anna, "Burn all my books and your father's portrait together. Let him go with me." On the night Lily died, Anna read through Lily's last published book with tears. Like her father, Anna almost never read Lily's books. Only at this moment did she finally understand that Lily had loved David so deeply all along. It was just that her way of loving was different. In fact, Lily's life was intertwined with David's. In an unequal love, there is also equally touching true love!