Weak willow does not fade the quality of turmeric

(Baonghean) - She is an ordinary Nghe An person far from home. Saying an ordinary Nghe An person means not a famous or successful person, like a writer, poet, artist, politician, businesswoman... but she has a strange charm.

She still retains the strong Nghe An character in her lifestyle. Although she left her homeland at the age of 18, has lived in many places, domestically and internationally, and speaks four foreign languages ​​fluently, although her business is transnational, when she speaks Vietnamese, it is only a pure Nghe An dialect with all the typical features...

I noticed that in her speech, she never mixed in any foreign words. Like many other people living far from home, she often uses Facebook to connect with her fellow countrymen. Her statuses are often very funny, not necessarily because of the interesting content, but because there are many comments in different languages, including, in addition to Vietnamese, Chinese, Lao, English and Thai, making readers curious, while she calmly translates from one language to another, and whether the translation is correct or not, sometimes only she knows, so sometimes, it is extremely funny.

Her way of eating is also imbued with the flavors of Nghe An with pickles, eggplants, fish sauce, and salty pickles. Even her husband, a foreigner, is now accustomed to and addicted to those rustic specialties. Her manner of behavior, no matter where she goes, is still straightforward, simple, innocent, sincere, and affectionate.

An Thi and her husband live in Jilin, China, her husband's hometown. Photo provided by the character

She is Nguyen Phuoc An Thi, from Thach Ha, Ha Tinh, and to her friends, she is often known by the nickname Fan Yang. Contrary to her beautiful name, her personality is incredibly simple. She can afford to buy expensive perfumes, cosmetics, branded clothes and accessories, but she always wears no makeup and her clothes are only valuable for the comfort when worn. Yet she exudes an attractive femininity.

Talking about her charm, we cannot help but mention this woman's strange marriage. Her husband is much younger than her, he is a tall, white, urban Chinese man with the attractive appearance of a trendy "hot boy". The two met at an international consumer goods exhibition in China, when he was a student volunteering to guide at the fair with the desire to practice English, and she was an interpreter for a Vietnamese business. Her charm made him give up everything to follow her to Vietnam, and then, wandering with her on all paths of life, with bitterness, sweetness and happiness.

Ms. Nguyen Phuoc An Thi and her husband have a strange love and a happy marriage.

We, the younger generation, got to know her since the 40th anniversary of Phan Boi Chau School, when the movement to recall memories of the old school was popular among former students on the Facebook forum. She aroused curiosity with her intelligent, humorous, carefree and mischievous way of responding, one could not tell whether she was young or old. And through those stories of memories, we were even more curious about the anecdote about her daring to jump into the school's drinking water tank at night to take a hot bath. But what we admired her most, and what she was most reluctant to talk about, was her contributions to the activities of former students towards their teachers and old school as well as the activities of Nghe people towards their homeland.

From the fund raising movement to take care of former teachers, to contributions to poor artists who do not have a house in the old Ben Thuy theater area and the Vi, Giam performances in the 3 regions of the North - Central - South on the occasion of this folk song genre being honored, then scholarships for poor students overcoming difficulties. Most recently, the movement to build a memorial house for patriotic scholar Phan Boi Chau in his hometown in Nam Dan district... All of them have an important contribution from her, quietly but generously. When she needs money, she contributes money, when she needs strength, she contributes strength, without hesitation, without counting the credit. It is as if it is the most natural thing.

In just 2 years, she has contributed hundreds of millions to such activities. Without people like her, in fact, without her, these activities would hardly have achieved successful results. Not only that, whenever she hears or reads about difficult situations in her hometown that need help, she almost never ignores them. She may not be a successful person, not a famous person, but Nghe An people far from home like her truly cherish their homeland. There are many Nghe An people far from home who are successful, famous, and rich, but few have wholeheartedly turned to their homeland with such deep and selfless love as she has. She is also someone who still retains the character of Nghe Tinh people, which somewhere, even in this Nghe An land, many people have faded away.

Bao Ngan