Our Heritage (II)

續貼舅舅的文章…

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This is #2 of what I like to share with you and at times found it uneasy to share.

All of you may wonder why all our relatives come from your Mother side and not my side. Even Wendy(*1) made joke of me that all relatives of my side were maintained by her and I just stood on the sideline. Yes, both me and my only sister, Chu-chiang(*2), are pretty cool toward our relatives. I like to let you know why and how we were brought up to be so. It does not mean we do not enjoy cozy relationships with Wendy's relatives, so is Chu-chiang to her husband's relatives. We enjoy the relationship because we know how difficult to come by.

First on my father's side: My grandparents had two sons and several daughters. As usual daughters were brought up and married as soon as they were fit.

Two sons were supposed to be the heirs to Lin's heritage. Unfortunately, Lins were simply very poor contracted farmers, or the farmers working for the landlords. In fact, my grandpa even did not have a leased land to till; thus he was married into my grandma family because she had a leased land to till. Thus, my grandpa was a hired son-in-law to till the land and to give birth to children. If you ever saw the picture of my grandpa, yes, we had one, the group picture, he was tall, handsome, and could pass for a modern 007.

The land was to small to support two sons. My father was younger and had to move on to find his own life somewhere else. He moved to Taipei across the Tanshui river. Illiterate and poor, he moved around jobs, supplemented his incomes as a typical scoundrel. But he was also smart, verbal, and quick to take his own position at an emerging market. He was also smart to find a hard-working seamstress and beautiful wife, you grandma. Again, like his own father, he agreed to marry into your grandma's family. Thus, my younger sister, had a surname Kuo; the surname was changed back to Lin when KMT arrived and did not respect the local customs

My uncle passed away because of a simple appendix trouble due to the poor medical conditions. My father left us for the WWII as a cook for the Japanese family. Yes, he was a cook because he managed to occupy a food stall at the Circle to sell foods. I said "occupy" because it is a free for all Western story. You simply stake a place and stay there to claim for it. I was four and my sister just one when my father went for war. Thus, I had very little memory of him. All his heroic activities and Uncle's death, I heard it later when I grew up.

Now Lins were left with two widows and children, we have two and they have five. They continued staying at the farm and your grandma eking a life in Taipei. My grandma moved in to take (care) of me and sister; your grandma worked day and night to support us.

From now on, it is a story of continuous bitterness with both Lins' family at the country side, and the Chens' family, your grandma's nature family in Taipei. The stories would teach you only one lesson, there is no one to rely on except yourself when the time is tough; and when the time is good, most people would not share your share with you even if they are your relatives. Your grandma fought them all and was taught the lessons well not to have cozy relationship with them except for courteous reasons. I would share the story in the next episodes. But I hope all of you would like the Tai's family(*3) model, rather than Lins. Although I know when it came to financial deals, even among Tais, they have their share of bitterness. But no hard feeling, they are still a big, boisterous, happy family. See you next time.


(To be continued…)
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註釋：
(*1) Wendy：老劉的舅媽；
(*2) Chu-chiang：again，老劉的胖媽，中文名 初江；
(*3) Tai's family：我舅媽的親戚，戴家；