‘Pick up a husband on the street’: love and marriage blossoms for Chinese woman and ‘handsome’ rejected man who gave her flowers he bought for another
- Two years after relieving a rejected stranger of his unwanted bunch of Valentine’s Day roses, a Chinese woman is to marry him
- Tens of thousands of people on Chinese social media helped her track him down and the couple have become a symbol of love on the internet
Almost two years ago to the day, a heartbroken and forlorn figure wandered the streets of a county in the central Chinese province of Henan.
The man was carrying a bouquet of flowers – it was Valentine’s Day after all – but his gift of love was redundant because the woman he loved had just rejected him.
Just when he was starting to think that there would never be another, he heard a female voice in the near distance behind him.
“Hey handsome, if she doesn’t want them. You can give them to me!”
Still lost in his rejection, the man handed the bouquet of red roses and a gift box with a ring inside over to the young woman and then the pair parted ways.
But not before she had filmed the moment which she later posted on the Chinese social media platform, Douyin.
Subsequently, the woman, whose surname is Zhou and who calls herself “Warrior Zhou”, was swamped by online messages from people urging her to track down the man who had given her his flowers.
Three days after posting the original video, Zhou posted another in which she said: “I’m now looking for this guy across the whole internet! I received your ring and flowers but I don’t know your name yet. If you are unmarried, I am also unmarried. So why don’t we be brave?”
Once again, social media went to work and it was discovered that the man’s surname was Meng and that he farmed fish, grew sweet potatoes and sold agricultural products in the county.
The information was enough to eventually allow Zhou and Meng meet. They fell in love soon after that and Zhou often posts on social media about their relationship.
The original video of her calling out to Meng on the street continues to attract online comments from well-wishers. You could say the couple have become a symbol of love on Douyin.
On February 14 this year they went all in on love and registered to marry, news which quickly went viral online.
Holding up the marriage documents in a video, Zhou said: “I really didn’t think much of it at the time. I just saw his lonely figure and casually shouted, not realising that it would change our lives.
“I am a single mother, with my daughter Duoduo, running a small shop in the county, and he is farming fish and sweet potatoes. Two people who had nothing to do with each other came together,” Zhou said.
“The people I should thank the most are my fans and Douyin. I never thought they would actually find him through my videos. Now that we’ve got our marriage certificates, we’ll find a suitable time to have our wedding,” she added.
The original video from two years ago has attracted 38,000 comments.
One commenter said: “Now, the whole world knows you picked up a husband on the street.”
Another long-time fan said: “I have followed you from the very beginning. May your love be complete! And may your life be beautiful!”
