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[wenzili]

（3） The vicissitudes of her life

The �echoing lady� was born in a remote village about 30 kilometers away from our town.

She married a porter at age of 18.
Her husband was one of the poorest slugs in our town.

He stuck to smoke and alcohol all his life. Every payday, he did nothing but went into a local inn to enjoy himself thoroughly.

When he was getting drunk and hobbling alone home, with almost empty pocket, his wife, the �echoing lady�, always reprimanded him severely: � What a irresponsible person! You�ve spent most of your salary already. My God! How can we survive without money?� she was painfully sobbing out.

Her sorrowful cry always shook up and grieved us to tears. However, the porter just leaned on the bamboo chair with snoring.

Sometimes, he may be annoyed by her endless nagging and stood up with his giant fists� brandishing. Facing on so wild gesture, she never receded until her face swollen and nose bleeding.

In 1948, the situation in front came to be critical, the local The �echoing lady� was born in a remote village about 30 kilometers away from our town.

She married a porter at the age of 18.
Her husband was one of the poorest slugs in our town.

He smoked and drank all his life. Every payday, he did nothing but go to the local inn to enjoy himself thoroughly.

When he was getting drunk and hobbling home alone, with almost empty pockets, his wife, the �echoing lady�, always reprimanded him severely: �What an irresponsible person! You�ve spent most of your salary already. My God! How can we survive without money?� she painfully sobbed out.

Her sorrowful cry always shook us up and grieved us to tears. However, the porter just snored in the bamboo chair.

Sometimes, he was annoyed by her endless nagging and stood up brandishing his giant fists�. Faced by so wild a gesture, she never retreated until her face was swollen and her nose bleeding.

In 1948, the political situation became critical, and the local authorities of the previous KMT government spared no effort to recruit and enlarge their army.

At that time, owing to his tobacco and alcohol addiction, the porter was deeply in debt.

To repay the debt, he sold himself for the price of 300 silver coins, as a substitute for a rich man�s army service.*

He then completely disappeared, leaving enormous distress and misery to his wife and four children.

After the liberation in 1949, the new government in our local community was in sympathy with their difficulty and allocated them a small house next door to our district office.

With their hard work plus the relief of the local community, they existed in poverty, but were able to survive.

In 1960, the war clouds densely covered Taiwan Strait. She sent her elder son, known as Wuli, to join the PLA (People�s Liberation Army).

Three years later, after Wuli�s return from the front, he was assigned to a local power plant.

As a technician, he was engaged in generating the electricity for residential illumination from evening to next morning each day.**

From then on, his family had a regular fixed income. The financial situation had completely changed.

In consideration of his mother�s aging, Wuli suggested she retire and be free from the hardship in later years. However, she firmly rejected his proposals and persisted in patrolling and shouting every day.

* During the civil war, the army recruitment of KMT was turned over to local administration. Therefore, some local officers always sold the rich man�s quota (escuage) of the military service to the poor to earn the profit.

** In 1950�s there was no machine driven by electricity in our town. The electric lamplight was just introduced, which was powered by local electric generator."

(To be continued by Part 4: Putting on A Humiliating �Green Cap�)
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