After Her Alzheimer's Treatment, She Gets a Second Chance at Love

At 25, Fang Hua was a gifted prodigy and a graduate student in mathematics at a prestigious university, in the prime of her life and newly married. Then a sudden ordeal led to a diagnosis of rare, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Her condition deteriorated rapidly until she could no longer care for herself, became incontinent, lost the ability to speak coherently, and watched her memories crumble. Unable to bear the burden, her husband Xiao Ren came to see her as dead weight and abandoned her in a remote mountain wilderness one night. In a raging downpour, Fang Hua curled up in the corner of a ruined temple, barely conscious and on the brink of death.

Yuan Jun, 45, is a kindhearted homeless scavenger who lives alone in a thatched hut at the foot of the mountain. By chance, he finds Fang Hua unconscious and brings her home, where he cares for her devotedly. Faced with this “madwoman,” he never turns away in disgust. Instead, in the simplest ways, telling stories, playing old songs, making hot soup, and taking her to watch the sunrise, he slowly awakens her senses. He starts by gently asking, “Do you remember your mother?” and encourages her to write down a word or a sentence. At first, she only scribbles, but before long she manages to piece together: “Mom’s apron was blue.”

With Yuan Jun’s patient companionship, Fang Hua’s memories begin to thaw like a frozen river, resurfacing in fragments. She starts writing down moments from her childhood. Her words are so sincere and moving that a literary editor who happens to pass by discovers them and publishes them online, drawing widespread attention. Meanwhile, under extreme stimulation and emotional awakening, Fang Hua’s mind finally restores all her memories: her forgotten talent for mathematics, and every injustice she suffered...