Our Heritage (IV)

趁空再來貼故事…

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Our Heritage #4: Grandma had to fight them all to survive

Our first ever self-owned house is located at #8 lane 52 chih-feng street(*1), Taipei. The address is still valid where a four floor apartment is now located. The grandma bought it for about NT$10k, the share she asked for when my uncle' side had the windfall of land sales. But the money was all from your Grandma's earning, not a penny from any one else. We lived there from my grade 3 to the day I earned a place at the university entrance exam. After that, we moved to a new and much better one, #1 lane 41 chih-feng street. The newer address is still there and the building is exactly the same there. All of you were given birth there, except Tom, who had the honor of living in the best house we ever have and bought under Wendy's name with my money and Wendy's money management. After marrying, my younger sister lived on the ground floor of #1 lane 41 and we lived on the second floor. Thus, grandma bought two floors at one time and was considered a very well off business woman by that time.

What about those days before your grandma bought the first house? Where did we live and how did we survive?

I did not have very clear memory of how your Grandma made it. But your Grandma was known to continue to operate the food stall at the circle(*2) during the war. But the life was tough and food shortage rampant. Your Grandma had to source non-rationed food from the country side. She had to buy pigs for pork from I-Lan and rode train to take pigs back to Taipei. But there were cops searching for any person transporting foods for sales, other than the officially rationed ones. How to do it on the public transportation under the police surveillance? Your Grandma had to conceal the pig as baby and shouldered it on the back with the blanket covered. Of course, the pig has a baby cap on the head and compled with mittens and socks. Obeying the rules and starve or breaking the rules and survive. The choice is very obvious.

At the height of American bombing Taipei during the last phase of war, both my sister and I had to join our uncle at the farm, and your Grandma continued to stay in the city. Those were my country side days. Shortage of food did not stop kids from enjoying the country side; we swam in the stream without any teaching and supplemented foods with any things we could find. They are plenty. We ate serpents, frogs, small fishes and shrimps, crickets etc.. But the staple food was always a bucket of red carrots with very little rice in it. For that reason, I was unable to take any food with red carrots for many many years.

After the war, our first rented house was located exactly on the same street where 228 events took place. The cigarette selling ladies are every day lives there. I only remembered people were scared and angry. Very quickly we moved to another living quarter, not far away and very close to where your Grandma was having her food stall business, Youn Lo (ever happy) market. We now rented a place at the back end of a relatives' residence. The relative was from your Grandma's adopted parents' side. The relative was quite well off as a fake doctor (he was only interned as a medicine dispensing boy). The doctor was quite famous and that address still has a clinic operated by his son; this time around a medical school graduate. I can show the place to you next time you are in Taipei. It is right in front of Taipei ChenHwon Temple, where, as kids, seeing people being executed by KMT army in front of the temple was part of kids passing time fun. Eerie? Yah, but we were not aware of it. This is how I see Mainland China executing prisoners in public.

We rented the backend of doctors' residence at the fair market price. I guess at that time every one needs some extra money even if you were a doctor. Most of my pre primary and primary school days were there. I will cover my schooling in another episode.

Every one were doing better and better. Your Grandma's business, doctor's business, and your Grandma's competitors. Your Grandma had to fight her landlord and the competitors.

First, the doctor decided that he would evacuate us without any valid reason. Your Grandma was willing to pay extra rents to stay, but the doctor insisted that we moved. The doctor went to court to evacuate us. Your Grandma appeared at the court to defend herself. She prevailed. And the court ruled that the doctor needed to give your Grandma sufficient time to evacuate. I believed we stayed there for another two or three years.

On the business side, your Grandma was doing a better business than her next door competitors. Eventually, the competitors went to the stall owner (yes, your Grandma rented out the Circle stall and rented another one at Young Lo market) and had the owner agreed not to renew the rental with your Grandma.

Again, your Grandma was taken to court and she fought to win a order to give us sufficient time to relocate.

I did not participate in any of these events because I was too young. But I could hear your Grandma crying at nights after work, saying something like why people were so mean to helpless widows and their children. So much for this episode. I could not continue any more with tears again swelling in my eyes.

See you next time.

(To be continued…)
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註釋：
(*1) chih-feng street：台北市赤峰街，也是老劉出生時住的地方(但非這一個住址，應是文後提到的另一地址)。不過小劉當時年紀小(估計不到三歲)，所以對赤峰街只剩零星的記憶了；
(*2) the circle：台北市那個曾經以地方小吃聚集、聞名的「圓環」。只可惜在前幾年市政府將之改建後，因設計不良使得小吃商家經營越來越形困難，如今已吹熄燈號了；