After being divorced for more than two decades, Liu De-lai, 88, and Wang Hsiu-ying, 84, registered their marriage for the second time on May 22, once again becoming “newlyweds.”
Wang, who had been adopted into the Liu family as a child to be a future daughter-in-law (tongyangxi), was married to Liu for over 40 years and they raised three sons and two daughters together. For reasons unknown they got divorced and despite having reached a low point in their relationship continued living together. It was not until Wang visited Liu in the hospital because of a motorcycle injury that she dispensed with her resentment. Their children, playing cupid, suggested that they get remarried and made preparations for the wedding, inviting personnel from the local household registration office to witness the wedding at the hospital and register their marriage.
Wang says that her parents took her from their impoverished home to the Liu residence to serve as a tongyangxi. Living was hard for everyone during Japanese colonial rule, she says, adding that her husband was conscripted into the army and they were not officially married until he completed his service. Her husband, having received a Japanese-style education, was exacting in his ways but always treated her good and was idolized by his children, Wang says.
Photo: Wang Ying-chieh, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者王英傑
Their eldest daughter Liu Yu-chen says that after her father was hurt in a motorcycle accident and sent to hospital on April 21, her mother was not initially willing to visit him in the hospital and assumed that he did not want to see her. However, her father actually asked her mother’s whereabouts, so Wang eventually came to the hospital room and could not help but hold Liu’s hand tightly when she saw him crying.
Their children originally wanted them to register their marriage on May 20 (because it sounds like “I love you“ in Chinese), but her father could not make it to the household registration office because of his injuries. Keelung City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai helped them arrange for a representative from the registration office to come to the hospital to register the marriage of the old newlyweds.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
基隆市八十八歲劉德來與八十四歲王秀英離婚超過二十年,兩位老人家五月二十二日再度登記結婚,重新當「老伴」。
王秀英自小到劉德來家當童養媳,結婚四十多年,育有三子二女,因故離婚,關係降至冰點,卻仍同住屋簷下。直到上月劉德來車禍住院,王秀英到院探望化解心結,子女「牽紅線」,提議再次結婚,將爸媽「送作堆」,戶政事務所人員專程到醫院見證,在病房完成登記結婚。
王秀英說,自小家境貧困,被父母送到劉家當童養媳,日治時期大家都過得辛苦,「頭家」(指丈夫)也被徵召當軍人,直到退役回來才完婚。丈夫受日本式教育,個性嚴謹,不過對她很好,子女也把爸爸當偶像。
大女兒劉于甄提到,四月廿一日父親騎機車摔傷,無法行動,住進基隆市台灣礦工醫院附設八堵護理之家,母親一開始不願意去探望,認為父親不想見到她,但其實父親都會問:「妳媽媽呢?」母親最後到了病房,只見父親不斷流淚,母親才不捨地緊握父親的手。
子女們原想趁五月二十日(諧音「我愛你」的「五二○」)當天幫父母登記結婚,但因為父親行動不便無法到戶政事務所辦手續,透過市議長黃景泰協助,五月二十二戶政人員專程到病房裡幫這對「老新人」完成登記。
(自由時報記者王英傑)
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