In the spring of 1941, on the eve of her newlywed husband Lin Zhiyuan’s departure for the front, Su Wanqing began writing her first letter to tell him she was pregnant. After he left, the war took a turn for the worse and their correspondence was cut off. Alone, she gave birth to their daughter, Lin Nianyuan.
After her mother-in-law passed away, Su Wanqing arranged the funeral by herself. In 1946, after the war ended, she saw her husband’s name on a list of the missing, yet kept writing letters to record the small details of her life. She sold her jewelry to make ends meet, worked hard to adapt to teaching, and helped establish a war memorial. Her daughter showed a gift for music and became a source of comfort to her. In the 1960s, her daughter grew up and left home, and Su Wanqing began sorting through her letters in preparation for publication. After being diagnosed with a terminal illness in the 1970s, she systematically organized the letters she had written throughout her life, completing her final record before she died.
