A real and touching story:

https://www.ixigua.com/7291723552271630882?logTag=98fae86d8bc68b2df9b8 

Attached below is my previous translation:

得意人生時不覺，人老才知悟、才知悔…………

The light finally dawned on him when he was old.

大陸經濟學家張宏馳在夫人馮華去世後，竟從天津鄉下領回來一個老態龍鍾的文盲老太太，讓她成為繼室。這令他的兒子張成和張敢百思不得其解。2009年11月，張宏馳辭世，千萬財產要分給繼母一大半，兒子張成萬分不滿和不甘。在企圖阻止繼母繼承遺產的過程中，他追尋著父親的情感軌跡，經過層層剝繭抽絲，他發現了父親和繼母的一連串秘密……

After his wife, Fong Hua, died, Zhang Hong-chih, an economist from Mainland China, brought home from rural Tianjin a decrepit, illiterate old woman as his second wife. The second marriage totally bewildered his two sons, Zhang Chen and Zhang Gan. When Zhang Hong-chih died in November 2009, he bequeathed the larger part of his legacies—over ten million—to his wife. The bereaved son, Zhang Chen, was totally unwilling and discontented with the arrangement and was trying to thwart his stepmother’s inheritance. During his attempt, Zhang Chen pursued the track of his father’s inner, untold life, scrutinized it, and found a series of secrets between his father and his stepmother.

父親辭世

My father passed away.

2009年11月5日，下午3點多，84歲高齡的經濟學家張宏馳突發心臟病。在被送往醫院途中，張宏馳還有短暫意識，他拉住兒子張成的手艱難地叮囑：“要是我熬不過去了，你和弟弟，一定要照顧好王姨……”

Around three o’clock on the afternoon of November 5, 2009, the economist Zhang Hong-chih, then 84, was hit by a seizure of heart attack. En route to the hospital, with transient consciousness, he grabbed the hand of his son, Zhang Chen, and labored to utter, “If I couldn’t make it, you and your brother must take good care of Auntie Wang."

王姨是張成的繼母王秀珠。張成和弟弟張敢都沒有料到，這竟然是父親的遺言。

Auntie Wang is Zhang Chen’s stepmother, Wang Xiu-zhu. Zhang brothers, neither Chen nor Gan, would ever expect these to be his father’s last words.

當天晚上，張宏馳因醫治無效，與世長辭。張成和張敢悲慟欲絕，更對父親的臨終囑託萬分疑惑：父親是大學教授，再婚為何要娶一個文盲？父親為何對這個農村老太太感情這麼深？臨終遺言，子孫他一個也不提，單單交代“要照顧好王姨”！

Zhang Hong-chih passed away that night. While mourning for the deceased father with a broken heart, the brothers were perplexed by the last words on their father’s deathbed: “Father was a college professor; why did he choose an illiterate to marry again? Why was Father so deeply devoted to that old lady from rural land? Why didn’t his last words mention anything about his offspring except taking good care of Auntie Wang?”

張成兄弟對此事百思不得其解，對父親也多少有些怨氣。

No answers to the questions could occur to the brothers; some grievances against their father were nursing.

張宏馳1925年出生于天津，是北京某大學的教授，享受國務院頒發的政府特殊津貼。張成在父親的盛名之下成長，繼承了父親踏實堅韌的品格，年紀輕輕就成為中關村一家科技公司的總裁。

Zhang Hong-chih, born in Tianjin in 1925, was a professor at a university in Beijing who also received special perks from the Department of State. A chip off the old block, Zhang Chen grew up without the reflected glory of his father but inherited his character of perseverance. He became the CEO of a startup in Zhongguan Village, a technology park in Beijing, when he was still young.

1996年，張成的生母馮華去世。怕父親晚年生活孤寂，張成和張敢都希望父親續弦，卻被父親一口拒絕。5年後，父親忽然打電話來，讓兄弟倆回家。張成和張敢匆匆趕回去一看，家裡多了個陌生老太太！她衣著土氣，一臉皺紋，滿頭白髮，一問，老太太70多歲了，是從天津農村接來的，父親準備和她結婚！

Fong Hua, Zhang Chen’s mother, died in 1996. The brothers worried about their father’s loneliness in late life and suggested that he remarry, but he declined on the spot. One day, after five years, the father called them home. Chen and Gan hastened home and found a strange, old lady full of furrows, gray-headed and clad in rustic clothes, and a seventy-odd rural woman from Tianjin whom the father was going to marry!

兄弟倆震驚得說不出話來。父親如果找個老年女性知識份子做伴兒，有共同語言，屬人之常情；或者找個沒多少文化但比他小十幾二十來歲的漂亮女人，也可以理解。可這個年齡又大又沒文化的農村老太太，究竟哪點吸引了他？

The brothers were dumbstruck. If the father could find an old but intellectual woman as his mate who shared the same language as him, then the choice would be natural and normal. Or even a less intellectual but good-looking woman—twenty years younger than him or so—would be acceptable. But how come this senile and illiterate woman from rural land could attract him?

聽說父親第二天將和這個叫王秀珠的女人去領結婚證，張成兄弟怕父親不高興，所以沒敢反對，但又一時無法接受這個繼母。於是他們試探著問父親與這個女人是如何認識的，父親不悅，說：“我的事情不用你們操心！”兄弟倆對視了一眼：父親不是老糊塗了吧？

The brothers dared not disagree when their father decided to officially marry her the next day. Reluctant to accept this stepmother, the brothers were trying to ask the father how he had gotten to know this woman. The father replied with a sullen look, “Mind your own business.” The brothers looked at each other and wondered if their father had been in his dotage.

父親與王秀珠結婚後，兄弟倆都對她很冷淡。他們很少回父親家，即便逢年過節回來看望父親，也很少與她說話。王秀珠話不多，在張成的印象裡，她永遠都只是在家裡收收揀揀，從來沒有刻意討好過兄弟倆

Both of the brothers were cold towards Wang Xiu-zhu since she had married the father. They seldom came back to see their father; even at the family reunion, like during the Lunar New Years festival, the brothers barely talked to her. It seemed to Zhang Chen that Wang didn’t talk much, was almost always busy with domestic chores, and never curried favor with the brothers deliberately.。

現在父親忽然去世，王秀珠將要參與遺產分配。父親一生向學，碩果累累，生活又極其儉樸，學校分配給他的位於北京三環以內的兩套住房，加上多年的津貼、著作版權費、收藏的字畫等，總價千萬之巨。張成和弟弟更加憤憤不平——一個70多歲的村婦，能嫁給他父親已是一步登天。這8年來，兄弟倆對她談不上敬重倒也客客氣氣，她在北京享了8年福已經是人生的造化，她有什麼資格分父親的遺產？

But now the father suddenly passed away, and Wang Xiu-zhu was going to take part in allocating the legacies he left. Zhang Hon-chih devoted himself to academic research only, leading a very simple and frugal life. The fortune he amassed included two units of apartment in urban Beijing that the university bestowed upon him, salaries for years, royalties, paintings, and calligraphy he treasured, all worth over ten million. What made Zhang Chen and his brother feel more indignant was that the marriage of a seventy-odd yokel like Wang had been a windfall. During the last eight years, the brothers treated her fairly, despite a lack of respect. It was serendipitous for her to have lived a beatific life in Beijing; what else was she eligible to get, like his father’s legacies?

但兄弟倆的身份、地位、學識和修養，使得他們縱然心有不滿，做事也在情在理。2010年1月，兩人開始辦理父親的身後事。由於王秀珠也是高齡老人了，耳背、眼花、行動遲緩，張成雖有一百個不情願，也不得不親自奔波，去為她代辦一切遺產繼承的手續。

The dignity, status, education, and breeding the two brothers possessed confined them to being reasonable in dealing with this matter, even though they were harboring ill feelings. In January 2010, they started to take care of their father’s posthumous affairs. Being hard of hearing, feeble in eyesight, and retarded in motion, the aged, illiterate Wang was not able to handle anything regarding the inheritance except by proxy, so Zhang Chen, though willy-nilly, had to do all the red tape for her.

2月初，張成來到王秀珠的老家天津市郊。王秀珠終生無子，很多東西由其妹妹王佩娥的孩子趙亮代為保管。張成兄弟倆與王秀珠的親戚從來沒有過半點兒聯繫，此次為辦繼承手續才相互認識。聽說張成來拿材料辦理繼承手續，趙亮非常高興，主動地搬出了家裡放材料的木箱。在箱底，張成看到一本發黃的家譜，打開一看，他萬分震驚：王秀珠的母親竟然是張宏馳父親的表姐！也就是說，王秀珠和張宏馳是表親關係！而三代以內旁系血親的婚姻在法律上是無效的！

In early February, Zhang Chen went to Wang Xiu-zhu’s old home located in the outskirkets of Tianjin. Wang had no children, so most of her personal stuff was kept in the custody of her nephew, Zhao Liang, her sister Wang Pei-e’s son. The brothers had never met these relatives before; they made acquaintance with one another just because of the inheritance. Zhao was more than happy to offer Zhang Chen a wood box containing Wang’s credentials. At the bottom of the box was a worn genealogical table, which Zhang Chen was shocked to find indicated that Wang Xiu-Zhu’s mother was the cousin of Zhang Hong-chih’s father. That meant Zhang and Wang were also cousins to each other, and the near-kin marriage was legally annulled!

王秀珠的妹妹和趙亮知道此事嗎？至少他們肯定不知道近親婚姻無效。張成不敢聲張，只是悄悄將家譜放進公事包。這時，他發現了更令他震驚的事——在王秀珠珍藏的物品中，竟然還有一份離婚證書：張宏馳，王秀珠，青海省共和縣，1955年結婚，1965年離異。他們竟然曾經有過長達10年的婚姻！這到底是怎麼一回事？

Did Wang’s sister and nephew know this? At least they were not aware of the annulment. Except for silently putting the materials into his briefcase, Zhang didn’t say anything else. Simultaneously, he found out another thing that made him even more agape: there had been a divorce certificate issued by a county in Gong-he province, which was also treasured in Wang’s stuff. The paper stated that Zhang and Wang got married in 1955 and divorced in 1965, meaning they have had a nuptial relationship for ten years! What’s the hell with all of these?

太多的意外紛至遝來，令張成心亂如麻。他將全部材料都帶上了。告別了王佩娥一家人，張成立刻打電話給弟弟：“爸和王秀珠有血緣關係，婚姻無效，她沒有繼承權！”張敢也萬分詫異，更加疑惑：“你為什麼不問問王秀珠的妹妹到底怎麼回事？”張成說：“我一心想著王秀珠沒有繼承權，別的事沒敢驚動他們。等我回來再和你商量怎麼辦。”

Zhang Chen was very annoyed at being inundated with unexpected incidents. Taking all of the materials with him, he bid an adieu to Wangs’ and called his brother on the phone at once, “Father has a blood relationship with Wang Xiu-zhu, so their marriage is annulled, and she disqualifies taking part in the inheritance.” Similarly surprised and even more perplexed, Zhang Gan asked, “Why didn’t you question Wang’s sister to see what it was all about?" “The only thing on my mind was Wang’s disqualification, so I didn’t mention anything to them. We’ll talk this over when I get back," replied Zhang Chen.

一路上，看著鐵軌旁筆直的電線杆呼嘯著後退，張成心潮起伏。難怪父親對他和王姨的相識經歷諱莫如深。張成明白，只要他向法院提起訴訟，就意味著王秀珠從這場無效的婚姻裡得不到任何遺產，她將淨身回到天津楊柳青鎮。這對於一個糊塗的年邁老人而言，是不是太殘忍了？可是父親在世時，一家人也對得起她了。不是進入這個家庭，她怎麼能出入坐小轎車？怎麼能有保姆照顧？怎麼能氣定神閑地侍花弄草？而她對這個家庭並沒有付出過什麼。

On the homebound train, thoughts were waving up and down in Zhang Chen’s mind so rapidly, like the passing wire poles outside. No wonder his father kept it a top secret about Wang and himself. Zhang Chen knew quite well that once he filed a lawsuit for the annulment, Wang would get nothing but returning her hometown in Tianjing empty-handed. Would it be too cruel to treat an old woman so senile like Wang? On the other hand, the family treated her fairly when their father was still alive. Had she not come to the family, how could she have ridden in a sedan, been tended to by a nurse, and enjoyed the leisure of gardening? She didn’t give anything to the family in return.

張成糾結一路，最終還是決定起訴。想到王秀珠並無子嗣，一個人回到天津未免淒涼，張成和弟弟商議，每月付給她一定的養老金。

Out of long-time entanglement en route, Zhang Chen finally decided to file the litigation. Considering the miserable situation that Wang had no children to lean on in her days alone in Tianjin, the brothers were going to give her a certain amount of living expenses every month.

2010年3月25日，張成向北京市海澱區人民法院提起訴訟，要求判決父親與繼母的婚姻關係無效，請求依法取消繼母王秀珠的繼承權。

On March 25, 2010, Zhang Chen filed litigation with the district people’s court in Hai-dan, appealing that the marriage of his father and stepmother had been annulled and demanding a revocation of Wang’s inheritance.

因為勝券在握，張成有了一絲歉意，決定回去看望一下繼母。一進家門，他看見王秀珠正坐在陽臺上曬太陽，身上披著父親生前常穿的灰色大衣，那風燭殘年、行將就木的淒涼晚景，讓張成難免有一絲心酸。他問：“王姨，你和我爸爸在1965年離過一次婚？為什麼你們結婚又離婚？”王秀珠半晌才聽清，遲鈍地歎了一聲： “你爸爸讀了很多書……多少年了啊……”

Granted that the odds of winning the lawsuit favored him, Zhang Chen started to feel a little bit apologetic. So he decided to pay her stepmother a visit in Tianjin. When he arrived, he saw Wang sitting on the balcony beneath the sun, the gray overcoat his father used to wear draped over her body. The sad scene of a feeble, decrepit old woman nearing the end of her days made Zhang feel slightly grieved. “Auntie Wang, you married my father then divorced him in 1965, but why did both of you get married again?” he asked. Slowly, Wang Xiu-zhu understood what he’d said, and she sighed. “Your father has read a lot of books in so many years.”

是啊，半個世紀過去了，那時離婚是一件驚天動地的大事，這是怎樣一段感情？張成再追問下去，王秀珠卻已語無倫次。她蒼老得說不出一句邏輯正常的話，只剩下悲切混濁的淚水。

Indeed, half a century elapsed, but divorce was really a big deal then. What kind of emotional entanglement has it been all about? Zhang continued to dig out the answers from Wang, but she had already spoken incoherently. She was too senile to be lucid; what she could do was nothing but shed tears pathetically.

幾天後，張成到弟弟家做客，與弟弟、弟媳議論起繼母的事。弟媳提醒兄弟倆：“爸臨終時交代我們要對得起王姨，我們都答應了。現在他屍骨未寒，我們卻剝奪她的遺產繼承權，是不是有點兒過分？”張成心頭一震。

Several days later, Zhang Chen talked with his brother and his sister-in-law about their stepmother. The sister-in-law reminded the brothers of their father’s last words: “Father urged us on his deathbed to take good care of Auntie Wang, and we promised to do that. Now his words still lingered, yet we wanted to deprive her of her right to inheritance. Was that a little bit too much?” Zhang Chen felt galvanic at what she said.

父親為什麼對一個村婦如此情深義重？這背後一定有著不為人知的故事，自己不能做出不孝不義的事。張成決定再赴天津，搞清楚事實，決不讓父親在九泉之下難以瞑目。
6月初，張成再次來到天津楊柳青鎮。

“Why was Father attached to this woman with so much affection?” Before finding out the true story, Zhang Chen told himself not to do anything against
his filial piety. So he decided to visit Tianjin again, trying to make things as clear as possible, lest his father die with regrets. In early June, he made the trip.

追尋真相

Looking for the truth

王秀珠的妹妹王佩娥，得知張成是來追尋張宏馳人生軌跡的，不禁老淚縱橫。她告訴張成，張宏馳和姐姐王秀珠是青梅竹馬的表兄妹。在那個愚昧的年代，表親可以成婚。1944年，兩人舉行了傳統結婚儀式，拜了天地。
同年，張宏馳考入輔仁大學社會經濟系。為了支持他念書，王秀珠來到北京，在有錢人家中漿洗衣物、被服，掙錢供張宏馳讀書.

When Wang Pei-e, Wang Xiu-zhu’s sister, realized Zhang’s intention, she couldn’t help but sob her heart out. She told him that Zhang Hon-chih and Wang Xiu-zhu were cousins and grew up together with innocent affection. In those less civilized days, a man or woman was allowed to marry his or her cousin. In 1944, they got married through a conventional ritual, and in the same year, Zhang became a freshman at Fu Jen University, majoring in sociology and economics. To help Zhang financially, Wang came to Beijing and worked for a wealthy family, starching clothes, sheets, and covers so as to support Zhang’s studies.

年輕的感情，動盪得如同驚濤駭浪。張宏馳在求學期間，喜歡上了漂亮的城裡女孩兒。而且，讀了書的他，知道了近親結婚是違背科學和倫理的。

Young emotion always vibrates like a whirlwind or a tidal wave. During his college life, he was fond of pretty, urban girls. Besides, the more he read, the more he learned that near-kin marriage was risky and unethical.

1947年，王秀珠和王佩娥去大學看望張宏馳。張宏馳根本不願意同學們知道他結了婚，見姐妹倆找來，暴跳如雷：“誰讓你們來的！”王秀珠只好拉著王佩娥快步離開。王佩娥至今還記得，那天為了去見姐夫，她和姐姐穿的都是沒有一點兒補丁的、最好的花襯衫。她們一來一回，徒步走了整整一天。她天真地問：“為什麼姐夫不高興？”姐姐回答說：“讀書的時候是不准結婚的，他怕同學知道。”王佩娥信以為真，直到幾十年後她才知道，當時的學堂並沒有這樣一條規定。在那個烈日炎炎的中午，王秀珠獨自咽下委屈，絲毫沒讓妹妹發現端倪……

One day in 1947, the Wang sisters went to see Zhang Hong-chih at the school. Unwilling at all to let his classmates know he’d married, Zhang trembled with rage when he saw the sisters coming and yelled, “What the hell are you coming here for?” So Wang Xiu-zhu had to take her sister and hastened away. Wang Pei-e still remembered that on that day the sisters were wearing the most decent floral shirts they had, without any patches on, in order not to embarrass Zhang, and they did trudge to and fro the whole day long. Naively, she asked her sister, “Why is my brother-in-law so upset?” “Students are not allowed to get married; he’s afraid that his classmates would know it," replied the sister. Wang Pei-e believed so until several decades later, when she finally got to know that there had been no such rule. Wang Xiu-zhu was devoured by grief alone, not showing the slightest sign to her sister.

1948年，張宏馳大學畢業。1955年，想到當初結婚只拜了天地，王秀珠的父母為了鞏固兩人的婚姻，逼著兩人到民政部門登記結婚。

Zhang Hong-chih graduated from college in 1948 and registered his marriage with Wang Xiu-zhu officially in the Bureau of Internal Affair as an addendum to their original wedding ritual in order to solidify the knot, per the insistence of his parents-in-law.

20世紀60年代初，中國開始大面積鬧饑荒，北京也不例外。最殘酷的時候，走在路上吃饅頭都會被饑民哄搶。為了把糧食省下來給張宏馳吃，又不會被人發現偷去，王秀珠縫了個小布袋拴在腰間，把自己的口糧省下一半放在布袋裡，晚上睡覺都攥在手心裡，等著丈夫每週回來，讓他吃一頓飽飯。

In the early 1960s, China confronted a widespread famine. and Beijing was no exception. During the toughest days, the starving people might rob anyone who was eating buns on the street of his or her food. For the sake of sparing her rations of food to Zhang and keeping them away from coveting people, Wang knitted a small cloth bag, wrapped it around her waist, and hid half of her rations in it. She even slept with the bag held in her hands, waiting for her husband to come back to have a decent meal once a week.

王秀珠瘦得皮包骨頭，卻守著她的布袋，一直把食物留存下來。她無數次餓暈在大堆要漿洗的被服前，清醒後又拴緊她的布袋繼續幹活……聽著王佩娥的講述張成心裡波濤洶湧。如果一個人能在自己的生存都受到威脅的情況下，把活下去的希望留給另一半，那樣的愛情是多麼不容置疑！

Despite being as scraggy as she could be, Wang still protected her food. From dire hunger, she fainted and fell down in front of the stuff to be starched; nevertheless, when she came to, she grabbed the bag tight again and continued to work. Having listened to the story told by Wang Pei-e, Zhang Chen’s thoughts wandered and rippled. If a woman, who was under the circumstances that her subsistence was severely threatened, could leave her hope of survival to her alter ego, quite beyond any doubt, that was that kind of true love!

1961年，王秀珠告訴妹妹，自己沒有文化，怕將來被丈夫看不起，她也在自學，還想在北京城找一份工作。幾經申請，街道辦事處把王秀珠安排到一家工廠工作。為了更好地照顧丈夫和公婆，王秀珠毅然將公婆接到了北京。

In 1961, Wang Xiu-zhu told her sister that she was afraid of being looked down on by her husband because of her illiteracy. She was teaching herself and trying to get a job in Beijing. After she applied several times, the neighborhood bureau finally found her a job in a factory. In order to better tend to her husband and parents-in-law, she determinedly picked up all her family in Beijing.

而張宏馳卻在這時向上級申請到青海工作，夫妻兩人分居兩地。1962年的一天，王秀珠回到娘家，一進門就痛哭不止。她告訴妹妹，張宏馳不但不回家，並且慫恿父母與她分開住。直到那時，她才意識到，這段婚姻已經不能再靠她卑微的討好和無私的付出去維繫了。

But at this moment, Zhang Hong-chih applied to his superiors for a job in the remote province of Qing-hai, so the couple was separated. On one day in 1962, when Wang returned to her mother’s home, she blubbered and told her sister that Zhang not only never made a homecoming but also urged his parents to part with Wang. Not until then did she realize that she had been unable to maintain the marriage by humbly ingratiating herself with her husband and by unselfishly sacrificing herself without asking anything in return.

可即便是回娘家，王秀珠還是來到張宏馳的父母家幫忙幹農活。她卑微地愛著他，拼命打磨自己，希望與他比肩，和這個對她寡情的男人擁有天長地久的美好。

Even when she returned to her mother’s, Wang still helped Zhang’s parents do their farmland work. Her humble love, afflicted with drudgery for him, was in the forlorn hope that eventually she would stand by this cold-hearted man, side by side, sharing the beautiful things together till the end of their days.

1965年夏，王秀珠和王佩娥一起到青海去看張宏馳，發現他穿著時髦的的確良襯衫，頭髮梳得油光可鑒。張宏馳仍然很不高興，提出兩人之間已沒有感情，並且近親結婚是違法的。王秀珠想了想，對王佩娥說：“他要怎麼樣就怎麼樣吧，我不能拖累他。”就這樣，兩人平靜地在青海辦理了離婚手續。

In the summer of 1965, Wang and her sister came to Qing-hai to visit Zhang, and they found him spruced up with a chic shirt and kempt, oily hair. Zhang was still unhappy at seeing her, claiming that there had been no affection between them and that, besides, the near-kin marriage was illegal. Having thought it over, Wang told her sister, “Let him do what he likes; I just can’t be his burden.” In so doing, they divorced placidly in Qing-hai.

王秀珠將一個女人一生最好的年華都奉獻給了張宏馳，卻沒有一絲怨言。但王佩娥清楚地記得，姐姐回到娘家後，三天粒米未進，哭得天昏地暗。整個鎮子的人都知道她被讀大學的丈夫拋棄了。姐姐在家待了兩個月，出去還要替丈夫解釋：“不是他品性不好，是我們近親結婚，這是違法的……”

Wang Xiu-zhu devoted a woman’s golden days and her unrequited love to Zhang Hong-chih without any disgruntled words. But Wang Pei-e clearly remembered when her sister returned to her mother’s; she didn’t eat anything for three days in a row and sobbed her heart out. All the town folks knew that her college-educated husband had forsaken her. She had stayed in the house most of the time during her sojourn. When she went out, she had to explain to everyone she met, “Not that he is unkind to me; it was that we are cousins to each other, and our near-kin marriage is illegal."

不久，王秀珠回到北京上班。因為年輕時洗被服浸了太多涼水，她患了嚴重的風濕性關節炎，關節粗大，雙腿不能彎曲。王佩娥去北京看望姐姐，哭著幫姐姐按摩變形的雙腿，心裡為姐姐不平：當年，她為供張宏馳讀書，替人洗衣才落下了關節炎，難道姐姐一生的命運就是為了成就和成全張宏馳嗎？

Before long, Wang returned to Beijing, continuing to work. Owing to soaking her legs too long when she was young doing starching clothes, she then suffered from severe rheumarthritis, which made her leg inflexible due to the swollen joints. Her sister massaged her deformed legs indignantly with tears running and thought, “In her younger days, she did too much laundry to support Zhang studying and to get herself infected with that damned illness now. Was her fate destined for serving Zhang only, just helping him achieve his goal, nothing else?”

1967年，張宏馳與張成的媽媽馮華結婚。後來，張宏馳被調往北京任教。聽聞前夫結婚的消息，王秀珠終於在親友的撮合下，與一個離異退休職工結了婚。

Zhang Hon-chih remarried in 1967 to Fong Hua, Zhang Chen’s mother; later on, he was transferred to Beijing for a teaching job. Having been aware of her ex-husband’s remarriage, Wang Xiu-zhu, by the arrangement of some go-betweens, finally married a divorced retiree.

趙亮拿來姨媽和姨夫的照片，張成一看，驚呆了！照片上，王秀珠的丈夫，是深深刻在他童年記憶中的那位陳叔！
隨著真相被一層一層揭開，張成不禁淚水滂沱……

The flabbergasted Zhang Chen immediately recognized, from the pictures Zhao Liang showed him, that Wang’s second husband was Uncle Chen, who had been etched in his memory since childhood!

Zhang Chen’s tears flooded as the pieces of truth layered.

情深義重
Unswerving Devotion and Loyalty

照片上的男人，正是被爸爸稱為“鄉下親戚”的老陳，老陳常常給張成家送糧送面。那時，張成和張敢還小，但一見到陳叔，他們就知道，“世上最好吃的東西來了”。他上小學時，看到有小朋友穿軍裝，也想要一套。陳叔知道了，就將自己家半年的布票給了媽媽，媽媽用這些布票買布給張成做了一身軍裝。1977年父親赴英留學後，家中一時拮据，陳叔還曾送錢來。那些支離破碎的記憶像彩色的真實生活中忽然閃過的黑白鏡頭，溫暖而令人心碎。張成無論如何都想不到，幼年時記憶中那位陳叔，竟然是王秀珠的丈夫！他立刻打電話告訴弟弟：“你還記不記得，小時候家裡經常出現一個陳叔叔。他是王姨曾經的丈夫啊……”張敢在電話中得知了一切，沉默了許久，泣不成聲……

The man in the picture was Uncle Chen, an old buddy whom Father called “a relative from the countryside." He used to send grains and noodles to Zhang’s family. When the brothers were still little boys, they knew quite well that every time Uncle Chen brought them “the most delicious stuff in the world," When Zhang Chen was in elementary school, he envied the military uniform some other boy was wearing, and he liked to have one too. When Uncle Chen was aware of that, he gave half of his yearly vouchers of cloth to Zhang’s mother, who used these vouchers to purchase the cloth for a suit of uniform. After 1977, when Father was studying abroad in England, Uncle Chen even sent money to the tight-budgeted family. Those scattered memories were like monochrome images flashed past colorful real life, warm but broken-hearted. Zhang Chen would never imagine that Uncle Chen is Wang Xiu-zhu’s husband! In no time, he called his brother on the phone and said, “Do you know that Uncle Chen used to visit us when we were young? He was Auntie Wang’s second husband. At the other end of the phone, Zhang Gan listened to the whole story, crying speechlessly.

原來，“文革”期間王秀珠聽說張宏馳成了走資派，急得六神無主，她對妹妹說：“張宏馳從小就沒有吃過一丁點兒苦，我怕他熬不住啊！他沒了工資，兩個孩子吃什麼？”為了不讓馮華尷尬，她那同樣善良的丈夫老陳替她去看望張宏馳一家，每個星期都給張家送吃的。張宏馳赴英留學期間，王秀珠夫婦毅然表態：兩個孩子，他們寄錢來養。

The true story had been: during the Cultural Revolution, Wang Xiu-zhu was very apprehensive that Zhang Hon-chih was labeled as a “capitalist advocate." She said to her sister, “Zhang has never suffered any hardship since he was a child, and I’m afraid he just can’t survive it! Now that he has no income, how can he feed the two boys?” For the sake of not embarrassing Fong Hua, Wang let his likewise kind husband, the “old buddy” Chen, visit Zhang’s every week and send them something to eat. When Zhang Hong-chih was studying in England, Wang and her husband declared sternly that it was their responsibility to raise the brothers.

當時王秀珠的工資是每個月18元。他們每個月寄給馮華6元，還有一些糧票、油票。而她自己一件衣裳，卻是“新三年，舊三年，縫縫補補又三年”……

At that time, Wang’s monthly pay was 18 yuan. The couple gave 6 yuan to Fong Hua every month, plus some food stamps and oil vouchers. But her clothes were full of patches.

20世紀70年代末的一天，有學生送給張宏馳一罐麥乳精，他捨不得喝，拿給王秀珠。看到她家的枕頭上還打著補丁，張宏馳大約覺得刺眼，伸手拽過來給翻了個面，沒想到背面的補丁更多。張宏馳歎了一聲：“年輕的時候不懂事……我這輩子唯一對不住的人就是你，不知道還有沒有償還的機會。”王秀珠說：“等你有了出頭之日，就送我和老陳一對新枕頭。”

One day in late 1970′, Zhang Hon-chih received a can of condensed wheat milk from one of his students. He saved it for Wang. He noticed that her pillow still had patches on it. The scene seemed offensive to his eyes, so he turned the pillow upside down, but there were more patches on the opposite side. Zhang then sighed, “Those salad days of mine... In my whole life, not treating you nice was the only thing I felt guilty about and full of remorse. I don’t know if I could ever have chances to atone for it.” Wang said, "Someday, when you succeed in any way, just give me and your old buddy Chen a pair of new pillows.”

1990年，老陳因病去世。張宏馳前來為他送終。追悼會上，他老淚縱橫，送上親手寫下的挽聯：“手足情篤幾度生死未曾離左右，肺腑言箴從來榮辱不計守炎涼”。

“Old Buddy” Chen died of disease in 1990. Zhang Hong-chih attended the funeral. During the ceremony in memory of the deceased, with tears flowing from his aged eyes, Zhang submitted an elegiac couplet written in his own handwriting, depicting the solid, everlasting friendship between him and Chen.

此時，張宏馳和王秀珠都已年過花甲，再多恩怨都已被歲月打磨平整。那之後，王秀珠回到天津老家安心頤養天年，與妹妹一家住在一起。

Till then, both Zhang and Wang were over sixty; they should have gotten over any gratitude or resentment between them. Later on, Wang Xiu-zhu moved to her hometown of Tianjin to spend her last days there, living with Wang Pei-e and her family.

2001年初，趙亮忽然接到一個電話，是找王秀珠的。趙亮非常吃驚，誰會打電話給一個耳背的老人？見王秀珠在院子裡曬太陽，趙亮便大聲叫她：“大姨，你的電話！”70多歲的王秀珠顫巍巍地走進堂屋。電話的那一頭，是76歲的張宏馳。

One day in early 2001, Zhao Liang suddenly got a call for Wang Xiu-zhu. It was a surprising call for an old woman who is hard of hearing. Zhao yelled to Wang’s attention as he saw her sitting in the courtyard facing the sun, “Auntie, it’s your call!” Seventy-odd Wang staggered into the house to answer the phone; on the other side of the line was seventy-six-year-old Zhang Hong-chih.

王秀珠很快聽出是他，她把電話捧在耳朵旁邊大笑著說：“你大聲點兒，我耳朵聽不見啦！”眼淚卻一瀉而下。兩人又哭又笑，很多話不斷地重複著，趙亮站在邊上，忍不住流下淚來。

Wang soon recognized it was him. She held the handset close to her ear and laughed out loud. “Speak louder; I can’t hear you!” followed her cascading tears. Both of them cried and laughed, reiterating what they had said. Standing beside him was the tearful Zhao Liang.

張宏馳對王秀珠說，自己從一個老家朋友處打聽到她的電話。他的老伴在幾年前也去世了，兩個孩子都已成家立業，他卻感到了生活的孤苦。他說：“你到北京來吧，我們都是沒幾年光景的人了，我們一起過吧。誰知道人還有沒有下輩子呢？”王秀珠毫不猶豫地說：“好哇。”話一出口，哭得一塌糊塗。

Zhang said he got her number from a friend in his hometown and confessed to her that he was also a widowed old guy, a lonesome and pathetic empty nester. He implored, “Come to Beijing; let’s get together. We don’t have many tomorrows to expect, and who knows, there is another life for us.” Without any hesitation: “Okay.” That was the only word she could respond to Zhang with; the rest were nothing but tears.

2001

年3月，張宏馳親自到楊柳青鎮接王秀珠，趙亮送姨媽進京。晚上，張宏馳在學校的餐館裡請王秀珠和趙亮吃飯。因為王秀珠走路不方便，張宏馳怕她摔倒，一直牽著她的手。

In March 2001, Zhang came to Green Willow, Tianjin, to pick Wang up in person. Zhao Liang escorted his aunt to Beijing. On that evening, Zhang dined with Wang and Zhao in a restaurant on campus. He held the hand of limping Wang all the way, lest she tumble down.

趙亮每年都去一趟北京看望姨媽。在最後的兩年裡，兩人都有些糊塗了，但張宏馳有時會費力地俯過身去吻她，她還像少女一樣笑……

Zhao visited his aunt once a year, every year. In his last two visits, Zhao found either of the couple a little bit addled. Sometimes Zhang would bend laboriously and kiss her, and she still beamed like a teenage girl.

張成怎麼都沒有想到，他得到的是這樣一個纏綿悱惻的故事。這個平凡的女人貫穿了父親的整個生命歷程。如果連她都沒有資格繼承遺產，這世上就再沒有人有資格了！他眼含熱淚回到北京，與弟弟商議：遞交撤訴信。

It would never occur to Zhang Chen that his father and his auntie Wang got entangled with each other in such a bittersweet love story. This ordinary woman played the most important roles in each stage of his father’s whole life. Should she not be qualified to inherit his father’s legacies, no one else in this world should. With moistened eyes all the way back to Beijing, he discussed the litigation with his brother: revoke it!

2010年6月10日下午，張成得到撤訴通知後，立刻回到父親家中看望繼母。王秀珠還坐在陽臺上，像幾個月來沒有動過一樣。她靜靜地看著外面的世界，眯著眼睛，仿佛快要睡著了。陽光罩在她身上，有一種祥和的光輝。

On the afternoon of June 6, 2010, Zhang Chen hastened home to visit his stepmother after he had been officially notified of the revocation. Wang Xiu-zhu was still sitting on the balcony, like she hadn’t moved for months. Quietly, she beheld the outer world, getting into her eyes as if she were going to fall asleep. The sunshine covering her reflected a glow of peacefulness.

張成淚如泉湧，蹲下身，將臉輕輕放到王秀珠骨節已變形的大手上，喚了一聲：“媽媽……”王秀珠愣了一下，伸手摩挲他的頭髮。張成深情地說：“不管您的思維是不是清晰，我都想告訴您，我去過您的老家，瞭解了您和我父親的過去。您是一位偉大的母親……”

Bathed in tears, Zhang Chen crouched down beside Wang, laying his face on her joint-deformed hand and calling her "Mom." Wang was taken aback for a little while and then caressed his hair. Zhang said to her with deep devotion, “No matter if you understand me or not, I just want to tell you that I went to your home and realized your past with my father. You are the greatest mom."

如果王秀珠聽得懂這些話，那麼她一生的無私付出終於有了最有力量的幸福回報。假如張宏馳在天有靈，他一生未了的歉疚終於有了最美好的完結。

If Wang Xiu-zhu could understand those words Zhang Chen had said, her lifetime sacrifice would have eventually been rewarded with the biggest beatification she could get. If Zhang Hong-chih were aware of this happy ending, his lifetime remorse would have been eventually atoned, too.

August, 2010