They met with each other at a party, she was so young and beautiful, with many pursuers after her, while he was just an ordinary man. At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him, which was to her great surprise, however, out of politeness, she accepted his invivation.

他和她相识在一个宴会上，那时的她年轻美丽，身边有很多的追求者，而他却是一个很普通的人因此，身边当宴会结束，他邀请她一块去喝咖啡的时候，她很吃惊，然而，出于礼貌，她还是答应。

Sitting in a nice cafe and not knowing what to talk about, they both felt very embarrassed, all she had in her mind was to end the date and go home.

坐在咖啡馆里，两个人之间的气氛很是尴尬，没有什么话题，她只想尽快结束，好回去。

When the waitress served them the coffee, he asked her to bring him some salt, telling the waitress that he had the habit of putting salt in the coffee. Stunned¹ by his queer action, everyone in the cafe, including her, focused their eyes on him, which made him turn red. Soon the waitress gave him the salt, and he put in the salt and took sips². Her curiosity aroused, she asked, "How come such a habit?" He hesitated for a while before replying in a word-after-word way, "When I was a little kid, we lived by the seashore and I used to indulge myself in the sea. Every time there came the ocean wave, the sea water would found its way into my mouth, which was bitter and salty. I have been away from my family for a long time and I am missing it, and coffee with salt can remind me of the taste of the seawater and bring me closer to my hometown.

但是当小姐把咖啡端上来的时候，他却突然说:“麻烦你拿点盐过来，我喝咖啡习惯放点盐”，当时，她都愣了，小姐也愣了，大家的目光都集中到了他身上，以至于他的脸都红了。小姐把盐拿过来了，他放了点进去，慢慢地喝着。她是好奇心很重的女子，于是很好奇地问他:“你为什么要加盐呢?”，他沉默了一会，很慢的几乎是一字一顿地说:“小时候，我家住在海边，我老是在海里泡着，海浪打过来，海水涌进嘴里，又苦又咸。我已经很久没回家了，非常想家，咖啡里加盐，就算是想家的一种表现吧，以把距离拉近一点。”

All of a sudden, she was touched by the man, for it was the first time for her to hear a man telling her of his longings³ for home. In her eyes, a man with homesickness must be a domestic man, who will surely love his family. She had an urge to confide⁴ to him, about her hometown thousands of miles away. The cold and embarrassing atmosphere melted away for the time, and they talked for quite a while. That night, she agreed to let him walk her home.

她突然被打动了，因为，这是她第一次听到男人在她面前说想家，她认为，想家的男人必定是顾家的男人，而顾家的男人必定是爱家的男人。她忽然有一种倾诉的欲望，跟他说起了她远在千里之外的故乡，冷冰冰的气氛渐渐变得融洽起来，两个人聊了很久，并且，她没有拒绝他送她回家。

After that special night, they dated frequently. She gradually got to know that he was a nice man, being magnanimous, attentive⁵ and considerate, which were the essential qualities she thought a remarkable⁶ man should possess. Deep down, she felt lucky for accepting his first invitation out of politeness, otherwise, she would have missed such a remarkable man. They later dated with each other in almost all the cafes in the city, where she would always take the lead to tell the waiter to get him some salt.

再以后，两个人频繁地约会，她发现他实际上是一个很好的男人，大度，细心，体贴，符合她所欣赏的所有的优秀男人应该具有的特性她暗自庆幸，幸亏当时的礼貌，才没有和他擦肩而过)她带他去遍了城里的每家咖啡馆，每次都是她说:“请拿些盐来好吗?我的朋友喜欢咖啡里加盐”

再后来，就像童话书里所写的一样，“王子和公主结婚了，从此过着幸福的生活。”他们确实过得很幸福，而且一过就是40多年，直到他前不久得病去世故事似乎要结束了，如果没有那封信的话。

As all the fairy tales go, the princess and the prince get married and lead a happy life ever since. And the story would have ended with the husband passing away after 40 years of happy life, nothing special if it were not for the letter the husband left for her.

那封信是他临终前写的，写给她的:“原谅我一直都欺骗了你，还记得第一次请你喝咖啡吗?当时气氛差极了，我很难受，也很紧张，我本想叫服务员拿糖来的，不知怎么想的，竟然对小姐说拿些盐来，其实我不加盐的，当时既然说出来了，只好将错就错了。没想到竞然引起了你的好奇心，没办法只好临场编了这个故事，这一下，让我喝了半辈子加盐的咖啡.有好多次，我都想告诉你，可我怕你会生气，更怕你会因此离开我……现在我终于不怕了，因为我就要死了，死人总是很容易被原谅的，对不对?今生得到你是我最大的幸福，如果有来生，我还希望能娶到你，只是，我可不想再喝加盐的咖啡了，你不知道，那味道有多难喝。”

The letter was written before his death, "My dearest, please forgive me for my cheating you all the time. Do you still remember our first date in the cafe? You know, the atmosphere was not very pleasant, and I was feeling terrible and nervous. I meant to ask the waitress to bring me the sugar, which came out to be the salt. I actually didn't go for the salt, but I had to go on with the mistake, which sparked your curiosity. I had no other choice but to make up the story I told you, which 1 had no idea would made me drink coffee with salt for the rest of my life. I didn't yield to my impulse to tell you the truth several times, because I didn't want to get you upset, I was even more afraid of you leaving me for that. I am relieved now, for I'm dying, and people all forgive the dying, right? I have been endowed with the greatest happiness in the world for marring you, and if I had a second life, I would choose you to be my wife again. There is only one thing I want to make sure, that is, I would never drink coffee with salt anymore, you never know how bitter it is!"

信的内容让她吃惊，同时有一种被骗的感觉。然而，他不知道，她多想告诉他:“她是多么高兴，自己心爱的人，为了她，能够作出这样的一生一世的欺骗……”

She was shocked by the letter, with the feeling of being cheated. However, he would never know how strong her desire was to let him know that, she was just too happy to be cheated for her whole life by someone she loved so much.