He Married His Dead Wife Before Holding Her Funeral...

Weddings are about celebrating love, and although 99% of them are also about happiness and joy, this one particular wedding I just learned about in the news brought me to tears.

Sadly, I wasn’t the only one… All guests attending that wedding were crying along.

A man named Xu Shinan from Dalian turned a funeral into a wedding venue on October 20 to fulfil his wife's final wish.

It goes without saying that it moved Chinese netizens across the country – myself included.

His wife, Yang Liu, died of breast cancer on October 14 at the age of 34 after battling the disease for five years. 

This is their story.

01

Xu graduated from college without a clear purpose or career goal, so he ended up playing video games instead. That is, until he met Yang Liu, who helped guide him and provide more hope and support.

In May 2012, he entered the aquaculture industry.

Yang followed him to the seaside in Dongying, Shandong province, where he rented a small house with no bathroom, heating, air conditioning or hot water. Whenever he would be out for business during the day, Yang stayed alone in the house and watched the shop on his behalf.

Thanks in part to Yang Liu’s contribution and dedication, Xu's business picked up and provided a good living for the young couple.

They registered their marriage on August 13, 2013, exactly six years since they’d met for the first time.

That same year, Xu bought a house in Yang Liu's hometown to get settled and move on with their married life together.

02

But soon after in November 2013, Yang began feeling pain in her right breast. They had hoped that it was a benign tumor, but doctors confirmed that she had breast cancer.

Yang was told that she would only have five more years to live.

They remained positive and determined to beat her cancer.  Yang underwent 8 rounds of chemotherapy, 32 rounds of radiotherapy, and a year long of targeted therapy.

She also documented her cancer journey on Weibo under the username @"Breast cancer Cici" (translated) and offered words of encouragement to thousands of fellow patients.

Yang was dubbed a "star patient" by hospital.

After two years of treatment had finally shown signs that the disease was going into remission, the couple started to plan their wedding again.

But as fate would have it, her cancer returned in July 2018, cutting their wedding plans short again. And this time, it spread much faster throughout her body until she succumbed to the disease.

Xu looked through his wife's Taobao shopping cart and found wedding supplies and wedding dresses that she had searched before she died. This broke his heart but also reminded him of how thoughtfully she had planned their upcoming wedding.

The day after his wife passed, he went to the wedding dress shop and chose a beautiful dress for her.

He and his beloved wife had a grand wedding, followed by her funeral.

This man tried his best to hold back his tears at the wedding but broke down when she was taken away for cremation.

"I know I promised you that I wouldn't cry… I’m sorry, I just couldn't hold it," Xu said.

Although this is a very sad story, this is also a beautiful reminder of how strong and beautiful love is. 

And that we should always cherish every single moment we can spend with our loved ones while we are still healthy.

Treat every day as if it was your last.

And live a great story.

Source: Pear video/ Weibo

Editor: Crystal Huang

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