On December 24, 2004, Nobel laureate Yang Zhenning married Weng Fan, a female master's degree student who was 54 years apart. The old-young love between the two caused a sensation in society, and the issue of age in love became the focus of discussion among people in the society.
At the end of 2003, Weng Fan, a graduate student at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, came to Hong Kong for a visit. After graduating from the English Department of Shantou University in 1998, she worked in trading companies in Shantou and Shenzhen. After a two-year failed marriage with a Hong Kong employee, she returned to school to study for graduate school in 2002. While in Hong Kong, Weng Fan remembered that Yang Zhenning once told her: He and his wife usually spend their summer vacations in Hong Kong. So, she thought of contacting Yang Zhenning. It turned out that as early as the summer vacation of 1995, Shantou University held the first World Chinese Physics Congress, and Weng Fan was selected by the school to receive Yang Zhenning and Du Zhili. She was innocent and lovely and was deeply loved by the scientist and his wife. In the years that followed, she and Yang Zhenning and his wife occasionally exchanged letters. In 2003, Qiu Du Zhili passed away in the United States, and Weng Fan, who was far away in Guangzhou, did not know.
One day in February 2004, Weng Fan received a call from Yang Zhenning, inviting her to meet at the Chinese University. Before the meeting, Weng Fan was really excited and nervous: We have been separated for many years, and when I see Professor Yang Zhenning, who is 82 years old, should I step forward to help him?
What surprised Weng Fan was that Professor Yang Zhenning in front of him was energetic and spoke, thought and acted very quickly. He was almost the same as he was eight or nine years ago. Weng Fan's nervous mood suddenly relaxed. Everyone was very happy at this meeting. Because Weng Fan was not as formal as a science student would be with an academic leader, the conversation seemed relaxed and casual.
After this meeting, Yang Zhenning could not forget Weng Fan, and his lonely heart was warmed by this straightforward girl. In the days that followed, whenever he had free time, Yang Zhenning couldn't help but call Weng Fan. Weng Fan gradually became accustomed to answering Yang Zhenning's calls in her spare time, which became an important part of her life. Sometimes she would feel a sense of loss when she could not receive Yang Zhenning's calls as scheduled. One day, Weng Fan was shopping with his friends in Guangzhou. Yang Zhenning called again. Weng Fan said to the phone: "I was shopping with the friend I mentioned to you last time." The friend who was left aside noticed it. There was a hint of it, and he teased Weng Fan: "Does Professor Yang like you? With his identity and status, if he didn't like you, he wouldn't call you so frequently." Weng Fan blushed with embarrassment. In May, when the phoenix flower bloomed in Hong Kong, Yang Zhenning invited Weng Fan to visit Shek O. It was raining that day, and there was a very steep road leading from Shek O Village to the seaside. For the sake of safety, the two naturally held hands and immediately let go after walking the distance. It was then that Weng Fan discovered that he really liked Yang Zhenning holding her hand.
In July 2004, Weng Fan and his friends found two like-minded "travel friends" on the Internet and traveled to Inner Mongolia together. In the vast grassland, Weng Fan received a call from Yang Zhenning who had arrived in Beijing. Yang Zhenning further invited her to be a guest at his "Returning to His Roots" at Tsinghua University. Every year, he spends part of his time in Tsinghua and part of his time in Hong Kong.
A few days later, Weng Fan took a taxi to Tsinghua University. Yang Zhenning had already asked the nanny to prepare delicious meals for Weng Fan. Weng Fan discovered that many years of living in the United States did not Westernize Yang Zhenning's lifestyle. He was very traditional. I like eating Huaiyang cuisine and drinking black tea. The two communicated more and felt that they had a good understanding of each other.
After a short stay in Beijing, Weng Fan traveled to Shanxi again. During that time, she was often restless, and Yang Zhenning's smile always appeared in front of her. She realized that she was really in love, and suddenly she felt panicked: How could this be possible? But if she calms down and thinks about it, she thinks Yang Zhenning has all the charm of a man except that he is a little older. She has no choice but to surrender to love. But she was still worried because there was a 54-year age difference between the two. Back in Guangzhou, Weng Fan's whole heart has stayed with Yang Zhenning. There is sweet love in my heart. She often has the urge to write English poems, and after finishing writing, she sends the poems to Chen Ning Yang via email. Yang Zhenning always revised the poems and sent them back. Later, Weng Fan posted several of his favorite poems online.
Several Ph.D.s from the Department of Translation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong commented after reading it: Weng Fan is indeed very talented in the rhythm and beauty of English poetry. The two people, suffering from lovesickness, finally waited until the "National Day" Golden Week in 2004. Yang Zhenning and Weng Fan agreed to travel together to Beihai, which is not too far from Guangzhou and not too crowded. Yang Zhenning knew that Weng Fan liked taking pictures, so he specially gave her a Panasonic digital camera. Amid the blue sky, white clouds and sea, the footprints of this forgotten couple are left. Weng Fan wore his favorite Mickey casual clothes and rode a tandem bicycle with Yang Zhenning, happily walking through the coconut grove paths.
A few days after returning to Beijing from Beihai, Yang Zhenning proposed to Weng Fan over the phone. Weng Fan received a marriage proposal call in Guangzhou. She said coquettishly: "How can you propose to someone without giving him a rose?" Yang Zhenning quickly smiled and promised: "I will give you a gift next time we meet." In November 2004, Weng Fan made a special trip back to his hometown in Chaozhou. Weng Fan's family background is very good. Weng Fan's father, Weng Yunguang, has always loved Weng Fan the most. That day, Weng Fan gently told his parents about his relationship with Yang Zhenning. Weng Yunguang and his wife were really surprised. Weng Fan had to slowly explain and convince. The enlightened parents finally agreed with their daughter's choice.
The parents nodded, and Weng Fan immediately told Yang Zhenning the good news. The next day, Yang Zhenning asked people where to apply for marriage registration procedures. Only then did he learn that Chinese Americans like him must go to the woman's registered residence to apply for marriage registration procedures. He quickly called Weng Fan and asked her to prepare. In the evening, they agreed to write emails to friends to share their happy events.
Friends who received their emails were very excited. Early the next morning, the professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong mysteriously discussed the latest news about his old friend Yang Zhenning, and was unable to work all morning. But just when these professors were determined to keep Chen Ning Yang secret, the Singapore media reported the news of Yang Weng's engagement. The media suddenly "bited" Weng Fan so tightly that she didn't even dare to answer her cell phone.
On December 22, Yang Zhenning and Weng Fan flew to Shantou. Weng Fan's parents were already waiting at the hotel. Yang Zhenning called them "Mr. Weng" and "Mrs. Weng". Weng Fan's parents called Yang Zhenning "Professor Yang." On the morning of the 24th, Yang Zhenning and Weng Fan were accompanied by their younger brother Yang Zhenhan and his wife to collect their marriage certificates. Yang Zhenning and Weng Fan kept a distance of more than two meters and walked into the door of the Civil Affairs Bureau one after another. During the Spring Festival, Yang Zhenning accompanied Weng Fan back to Guangzhou. He specially entertained Weng Fan's friends in Guangzhou and took them to the White Swan Hotel where they stayed to watch their own DVs. Yang Zhenning especially likes to shoot DV. Weng Fan teased him about his "desire to be a director." When the two go out to play, Yang Zhenning often "directs" passers-by to shoot for them, and shouts "start" and "stop" like a director. Yang Zhenning is particularly attentive and friendly to Weng Fan's friends, and he gets along well with this group of young people. He carefully asked the young man what he thought of their marriage. After hearing the words of blessing, he asked humorously: "Then have your parents relaxed the age limit for your boyfriend a lot?"
After the two got married, Weng Fan changed the title of his graduation thesis to "On Xu Yuanchong's Poetic Translation Thoughts." Xu Yuanchong is a famous professor at Peking University and Yang Zhenning’s classmate at Tsinghua University. In the process of writing the thesis, Weng Fan read a large number of Professor Xu's works and had the opportunity to seek advice from Professor Xu personally. Although Weng Fan was a little rushed when writing her graduation thesis, she still completed it seriously and received praise from her instructor. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies implements anonymous review of graduate thesis, and invites one expert from inside and outside the school to review each graduate thesis. Both experts rated Weng Fan’s thesis highly and the thesis achieved good results. In the past, Weng Fan's lifestyle tended to be Western-style: she liked drinking coffee, chatting with friends online late at night, and getting up very late in the morning. After her marriage, she gradually adjusted her work and rest schedule to be the same as her husband's, going to bed early and getting up early, very regularly, and her fair skin became increasingly rosy and shiny.
Generally speaking, they get up on time at 8 o'clock every morning. There is no nanny at home in Hong Kong, so Weng Fan prepares breakfast for them by himself: two glasses of milk, a few slices of toast, and two fried eggs. Simple and nutritious. After breakfast, Yang Zhenning went to school to work.
In the past few years, his work has mainly been to use his international influence to introduce top academic talents to the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Tsinghua University, and to raise funds to develop advanced academic research. In the past year, he has raised US$10 million for Tsinghua University and hired Yao Qizhi, a Chinese scholar from Princeton University in the United States and a global authority in computers today, to Tsinghua University. After his husband went to work, Weng Fan read and revised papers at home. At 12 noon, the couple has a simple lunch and then takes a lunch break. At around two o'clock in the afternoon, the couple worked separately. Dinner is usually arranged around 6:30. In Beijing, there are nannies at home to help with the work. In Hong Kong, Weng Fan sometimes cooks his own food and eats out most of the time. Yang Zhenning likes the desserts in Hong Kong restaurants, but Weng Fan doesn't dare to eat more. In the evening, the two of them walked on campus. They always held hands closely and intertwined their fingers. Yang Zhenning told Weng Fan some stories about internationally famous physicists, or told stories about his past travels around the world with his family. Weng Fan said meekly Listening to it, it feels warm and satisfying. In the evening, the two of them sat on the sofa listening to music and watching CDs. They rented the VCD of "April in the World" to watch. The two also like to watch historical dramas. Weng Fan had read "The Secret History of Xiaozhuang" and thought it was good, so he recommended it to Yang Zhenning. A few days ago, they listened to classical music, sat on a small sofa, read the best-selling book "The Da Vinci Code", and discussed the thrilling plot in it.
Zhen Ning Yang always likes to wear T-shirts in bright colors such as light yellow and light pink, and also likes to wear belts to look very young and energetic. Weng Fan gradually gave up the casual dress he originally liked and turned to a more ladylike and stable dress.
Because the apartment is on the other side of the mountain from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, you have to drive your own car when going out. They drove the same Nissan Yang Zhenning bought in 1980. It was a bit like the classic car in the movie "The Legend of Henry". It had been used for nearly 20 years. Sometimes it was driven into the busy city and the rate of return was very high because there were almost no people in Hong Kong. Driving such an old car. Yang Zhenning always drives the car himself. He reacts quickly and has good parking skills. There is a small island next to Shek O in Hong Kong. When they have free time, Yang Zhenning and Weng Fan will drive there to play. When Yang Zhenning was driving, Weng Fan always sat in the passenger seat next to him and watched him tenderly. Yang Zhenning likes Weng Fan's gaze very much. It feels like a soft light shining on him, safe and warm. A long-time friend of Weng Fan also said: "The way Weng Fan looks at Chen Ning Yang is absolutely gentler than ever before." Regarding future plans, Weng Fan hopes to spend more time and energy taking care of his husband and sorting out his academic materials and lecture notes. A friend asked Weng Fan: "Are you planning to have a baby and become a mother?" Weng Fan said: "Let nature take its course."
In April 2005, Yang Zhenning and his brothers Yang Zhenhan and Yang Zhenping took their wives to climb Mount Huangshan. Although Yang Zhenning is almost 83 years old, he has no difficulty climbing the mountain. Weng Fan is almost pulled by him. Yang Zhenning joked: "Fanfan, although my legs and feet are very flexible, I still like to hold your hand. Do you know why? Because holding your hand feels very solid!" Along the way, Weng Fan's voice was soft and sweet, and he spoke quickly Very slow, Mandarin mixed with English. Chen Ning Yang often makes fun of her Mandarin with a slight Teochew accent. Weng Fan told her friends that the most impressive thing about her trip to Huangshan was: Good health is so important to people. She said that Yang Zhenning's family was in particularly good health. Although they were all over seventy years old, they all climbed Mount Huang easily. Weng Fan and Yang Zhenning's family get along very well. Whenever Yang Zhenning's children call from the United States, Weng Fan will take the phone and chat with them.
In early June 2005, Weng Fan’s master’s thesis was successfully passed. After returning to Beijing, she signed up for a French class. She hoped to learn better the language she had studied for several years and was very interested in. She is also planning to buy a piano, hoping that in the future she can smell the fragrance of flowers in the yard, play the piano, and live a peaceful and sweet life with her husband.