Maternal grandad

Tua ee said that ah kong was a traditional Chinese man who was stern and silent, especially with his children. But he loved his wife and cared for her. Once, tua ee was reading her books to prepare for her high school exams next to ah mah, and didn't realize that ah mah had fainted ("beh jin lang"). She thought ah mah was asleep. Ah kong came into the room, saw what had happened, then grabbed tua ee's book and flung it across the room, saying, "someone's about to die, why are you still reading?!" (Lang ai si liao ko thak hami chek?!)

He rented rooms in various houses around Taiping for his growing family before finally building his own home out of scrap wood (discarded pieces and edges after trees were cut into straight planks), but was forced to take down his house and move to a New Village called Pokok Assam during the Emergency. Tua ee was five then. Most of the house still stands there today although tua ku has renovated parts of it since.

Since there were so many children, they all took turns to eat and tua ee and tua ku were careful to take only a little of the dishes so the younger children had some to eat too.

Tua ee once took a few of the younger children out to a nearby Hindu temple during a festival, and along with other merry makers, picked up pieces of coconut when they were thrown to the ground to bring home to eat. But when they got back ah mah pinched her thigh because she took the other children out to play. She's still miffed.

Once, in a confrontation with a younger sister's husband who had beaten her until she had to be sent to the hospital, tua ee had to be held back from punching the guy by tua tiau. (Apparently, just a few months earlier, tua ku had been transferred from his school because he punched the headmaster and tua tiau didn't want his wife to be transferred from her school.)

Whenever tua ee is accosted by estranged spouses or their families around town, they would complain to her about this or that and ask tua ee to say something on their behalf. Tua ee would calmly smile and nod and say yes, but never said a word to her younger sisters or their families.

Once, during my parents' younger days, my dad called tua ee to complain about my mom, and tua ee told him, "my sister is not round. She's shaped like a square, so she has edges. She can't fit into your life without poking you." After that, he never called her with his complaints.