Woman posts video looking for love on her Douyin account with 1.6 million followers. Elderly man sent home with tail between legs after police explain how Internet works. — SCMP
The story of a confused 83-year-old man in China who travelled 800km in the hope of marrying an online influencer half his age has trended on mainland social media.
The octogenarian, surnamed Li, from Henan province in central China, took a high-speed train alone to the city of Suzhou in eastern China.
His aim was to marry a 45-year-old divorced woman who it turned out was an influencer on the Douyin social media platform with nearly 1.6 million followers.
The woman had posted a video online looking for love. At the time he saw the message, he was not aware she was an influencer, Xibu Juece reported.
In an online video, the old man is seen talking with a uniformed police officer who is trying to explain what the woman does.
“Yesterday she asked me to come here to marry her,” Li told the officer.
“How did you meet her?” the officer asks, to which Li replies: “I met her online. She is divorced, so she wants to find a partner.”
The officer then asks Li to turn on his iPad: “Is this the woman?” she asks.
“Yes, that’s her,” Li replies.
Then the female officer breaks the bad news to the old man: “I am telling you that everyone can watch her videos. No matter what you say to her, she will not reply to you.”
It is unclear when Li started following the woman’s Douyin account, but he has been watching her videos for some time and is oblivious to how these things work.
Over time, despite not talking or meeting the woman, Li considered her his girlfriend and thought his dream of marrying her was real.
The reality of the situation only dawned on him when he went to the police in Suzhou to seek directions to the woman’s home.
When he understood the painful truth he agreed to return home.
The story has sparked widespread discussion on mainland social media.
“The old man has a ‘love brain’,” quipped one online observer.
Another person said: “Hahaha, he is old but young at heart.”
“This old man probably is more crazy than younger men,” another person said.
“I wonder how he felt when he found out the truth?” asked another.
Heartwarming love stories involving online influencers frequently make headlines in China.
At the beginning of this year, an interior design blogger with one million followers online married a woman in southern China who flirted over his online video by asking, “Does this flat need a lady”.
In February, after tens of thousands of people online helped a Douyin influencer in central China track down a man who gave her flowers that he had bought for another woman, the couple met and fell in love. – South China Morning Post
