Odd pairs gain mutual benefits in sharing home

College students assist elderly in exchange for free living quarters

Elderly widower Yao Jianshun and postgraduate student Feng Luchen were both initially wary when they first met to discuss the prospect of sharing a home over the summer.

Feng, 24, needed a place to stay for four months during an internship near Yao's neighborhood, while the 64-year-old pensioner, partially paralyzed after a stroke 15 years ago, needed companionship after becoming isolated in his small attic apartment since the death of his wife.