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像小說一般的動人故事，最近又在美濃傳起，許多關心的人，都津津樂道。劉永壽，今年八十歲了，他專程回美濃過春節後，又回到日本愛知縣，照顧他那一家大醫院了（中山醫院），不過送行的老同學林亦榮先生及地方親友，都知道，他是含著淚水回到日本。
在五十六年以前，他是美濃的高中生，在日本唸書回來，奉養母之命，要早些結婚生子，傳宗接代，於是他們由美濃去廣林相親途中，意外的遇到一位名古炳妹的小姐，長得相當美，劉永壽不得不改變主意，央人說媒，最後，竟與古炳妹結婚，當時許多人都稱道這對年輕夫妻，郎才女貌天賜良緣。不久生了兩個女孩，叫美京、美惠，夫婦生活美滿。
後來劉永壽因考取了日本醫科大學，他就長期在外唸書，雖常常寫信回家，關切家事，但由於古炳妹不識字，所以有時收不到信，收到了又不能盡情回覆。因此在諸多家務事的閒言閒語中，也被家人認為二人身分不配的情況下，竟被迫離了婚，從此造成了五十年的遺憾，也掀起人生的另一面。
在美濃廣興的古炳妹當時三十二歲，回娘家又不見容於鄰里，議論紛紛怎樣生活呢？她自己還有八歲、五歲的兩個跟媽媽的女兒。
在三十五年前也就是光復前兩年，她攜帶二女兒爬在廣興後山窩，搭建竹屋永伴青燈，以老終身。當時許多人譏笑她的傻，漫長的歲月中以雙手支持生計，有好多歲月吃地瓜菜，有好多時間，兩個孩子去拾稻穗、小地瓜充饑。也有三年，大女兒不得已外出為人幫傭，以補貼家用。
有一次颱風很大，媽媽上房子修屋頂，竟摔在地上，暈了過去，二女兒不知如何是好，在山窩中抱著母親哭泣。後來被好心的地方人發現，以中藥救了過來。又有一年山洪暴發，三間茅屋盡毀了，他們束手無策對天長嚎。一直到四十五年並未安定仍很艱苦。但是孩子知道媽媽偉大，所以孝心很強，三人相依為命。
在日本的劉永壽，在大學畢業後，被征往南洋充當日本軍醫，幾經危險，還能幸運的回到日本，戰後他自己開了小醫院，刻苦努力，逐步擴展醫院規模，聲望也隆，每一天有好幾百患者上門，所以財運亨通，再加上地價高漲，他成了地方巨
富。不過他未忘掉前妻古炳妹，當然還惦念兩個女兒。可是大戰前後，並無消息。
他已與另一位日本小姐結婚，生有四個孩子。目前已唸大學及當醫生了。
在四十五年美濃一位溫彩信先生前往日本曾把古炳妹母女三人的現況，及守節精神告訴了劉永壽，他很感動。
四十五年以後，劉永壽曾寫信來，寄錢來，五十二年首次回國探望他們，也曾流了許多眼淚并協助母女三人完成磚瓦房屋及現有寺堂（福慧堂）。六十二年、六十三年、六十五年、六十七年、六十八年一月，每次回來，必登山探望她們三人。千言萬語，無法表達彼此之情，因為人生不能再回到青少年時代。劉永壽曾捐了五十萬元給美濃國小，也捐了十萬元給鎮公所，對地方盡心意，以補償某些地方建設之不足。
七十一歲的劉永壽，曾去過南洋各國，他說，什麼地方，也比不上臺灣安定。
今年春節，他特地回來過春節。在母女三人的寺廟中吃春節正餐。
每當劉永壽與古炳妹相見時，默默無言，一位七十一歲，一位六十九歲，有什麼好說呢？
但劉永壽見到四十五歲、四十二歲的兩個未嫁女兒，伴著媽媽，心裡卻很難過，她二人是無辜的！一生幸福喪失在父親的手中。劉永壽很重道義，並未因富貴而忘了前情。女兒也不埋怨爸爸，反儘量使爸爸快樂，以補償過去別離之情。
劉永壽臨行前說了：「我對不起孩子，怎樣也補償不平了！」他流淚了！
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Dharma Master Heng Cheng (Gu Bing-mei)
恆承法師【古炳妹】 |
民國三十一年三月的一個陰天上午，婚後八年，三十二歲的古炳妹本是醫生娘子，為了三姑六婆的作弄，提著兩個包袱，帶著八歲的美京、五歲的美惠，滿腔怨恨，陰沉失望的面孔，由美濃鎮下庄劉家，落魄的回到竹頭角娘家。
過去的一切，心中的激動，怎麼也不能平靜！但只能當作命運的安排吧！怨誰呢？為了孩子，為了能證明一切，要重視今後，她這樣決定了。
民國三十二年，母女三人，仍住在娘家，儘管吃住沒有問題，但終非永遠之計，古炳妹除協助娘家做工外，帶著孩子，利用空閒時間，到略微平坦的半山腰開地，盼望著，能有一個自己跟孩子生活的家，而這個家，應該是遠離社會的家。晚上常到善化堂唸佛經，打發痛苦，心靈上似乎獲得了一些平安。
民國三十二年秋天，在山腰上用竹材搭建的茅屋做好了，可以避風雨了，在娘家的祝福及鄰里懷疑的眼光下搬進了茅屋。這時古炳妹三十四歲，美京十歲，美惠七歲，美京入廣興國小一年級；一家三人都很瘦弱，生活難以支持，也常常回到娘家用飯。
民國三十四年，第二次世界大戰末期，在艱苦中淪陷五十年的台灣光復了，投入祖國懷抱。這一年秋天，母女三人也真正獨立開伙了，古炳妹白天為人工作，晚上挖山旁的土砂，以勞動排遣痛苦。
每當運土時，美京可以協助工作，而美惠陪伴在側，先則玩耍，每至深夜，雖已睏極，不敢回茅屋去，坐在地上打瞌睡之情景，母親姐姐心痛不已。
當時搬土運砂，缺少工具，不得已到廣興公墓拾取陪葬之竹畚箕用，在地方人說，雖甚忌諱，但又能如何？
民國三十五年，政府接收工作，尚未就緒，社會紊亂，青黃不接，一般物質缺乏，家家生活艱苦，而古炳妹母女三人更苦，終日以地瓜葉維持生活，有時一個月見不到一滴油水。
窮困又加上病，母親及美京患了一年的瘧疾病，而美惠竟拖了三年，也因此使她入學慢了三年。
（下期繼續）
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Prologue to the Story
This moving story is true, but it touches people as much as a piece of fiction. It took place recently in Mei Nung (Beautiful Hamlet). Many people who hear the tale find that it brings them inspiration on the Spiritual Path.
Dr. Liu Yung-show celebrated his eightieth birthday this year. After he returned to Mei Nung for the Spring Festival this year then flew back to Japan's Ai Jr County, to look after his large hospital (Nakayama Hospital). His old classmate, Lin Yi-rung, and the friends from the area knew that after they saw their friend to the airport, as he took off for Japan, his eyes were streaming with tears.
Fifty years earlier, Mr. Liu was a high school student from Mei Nung. After he came back from his studies overseas in Japan, he obeyed his mother's orders to get married. She wanted him to continue the family line and start a family early in life. One day en route from Mei Nung to Gwang Lin to visit friends, he unexpectedly met a pretty young lady named Gu Bing-mei. Liu Yung-shou immediately decided to change his plans and to find a go-between to set up a marriage. Shortly after, he married Miss Gu Bing-mei.
At that time many people praised the young couple, claiming that the handsome husband and beautiful bride were a match made in heaven. They gave birth to two young daughters soon after, whose names were Mei-jing and Mei-hwei. The couple enjoyed a full life, and before long, Liu Yung-shou successfully completed his entrance examination for medical college in Japan.
He began to spend more and more time studying abroad. Although he often wrote long, tender letters home, full of concern about family business, his wife could not read. She sometimes didn't receive the letters, or if she received them, she could not express her feelings adequately in a reply. As a result, more and more family matters went unmentioned, and unresolved. It seemed to those close to them that since the couple was separated in fact, that they should be encouraged to get a divorce.
This event began fifty years of dismay and regrets, and wrote a new chapter in their lives.
Gu Bing-mei was now a young woman alone. She lived in Mei Nung's Gwang Sying district. The social customs of the countryside did not permit a widow to return to her mother's home. Who could survive the rumors flying about? She still had five and eight-year old daughters at her side.
In 1946, two years before Taiwan was over-taken, she and her two daughters climbed up to the mountain valley behind Gwang Sying. She put together a bamboo shelter and prepared to live a pure life of eternal chastity.
Many people laughed at her resolve, and considered it foolish. She was forced by circumstances to find food where she could. For months at a time she had to forage wild plants to keep hunger away. She sent her daughters to gather rice stalks or dig wild sweet potatoes, as there was simply nothing else to eat. The oldest daughter was forced to work as a family servant for three years to earn a meager living for her family.
On one occasion a typhoon blew in hard and mother had to climb up on the roof to repair a hole. She slipped and fell to the ground, where she fainted. The young girl couldn't cope with the situation, and could only hug her mother and sob frightened tears in the rainy night. Sometime later when people in the town found out about the situation, they brought medicine for the mother, and she recovered.
On another occasion, a flood roared down the mountain and all three of their ramshackle huts were completely washed away. They had no recourse but to let the destruction happen as they stood by helplessly and cried to heaven.
Their difficulty, unrest and insecurity continued until 1956. The children were aware that their mother was truly a great person. They shared a keen filial respect for her, and the three women relied only upon themselves to survive.
Liu Yung-shou stayed in Japan, and after his graduation he was sent by the Japanese Government into military service as a doctor. He passed through many dangers, and fortunately was able to return to Japan. After the war, he opened a small hospital. He worked hard and endured great toil. Gradually his reputation and his operations expanded. Every day he treated several hundred patients and his fortune grew quickly. The value of the land he occupied also increased, so that before long, he became the richest man in the area. He never forgot his estranged wife, Gu Bing-mei, and naturally he still longed for his two daughters. But he heard no news of them for the duration of the war.
He married a young Japanese girl and they gave birth to four children, who went on to the University and became doctors themselves.
In 1956, a friend from Mei Nung, Mr. Wen Tsai-shin traveled to Japan and brought news to Liu Yung-shou of his wife's situation, and her resolute chastity. He felt deeply moved. After 1956, he wrote to them in Taiwan and also sent money. In 1963 he first went to Taiwan in person to visit them. He wept as he helped the mother and daughters finish the roofing tiles on their small dwelling and also on the present Blessings and Wisdom worship hall.
Each time he returned home to Mei Nung during the years 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, and 1979, he first climbed the mountain to pay a visit to his wife and daughters. No words could suffice to convey the depth of feeling and sentiment between them. But who can return to the springtime of his youth? Liu Yung-shou donated $500,000.00 (NT) to the Mei Nung Elementary School, and donated another $100,000.00 to the City Hall. He made a large contribution of financial resources to make up for his lack of public participation since he went abroad.
In 1982 Liu Yung-shou traveled through the countries of South East Asia and his comment upon returning was that none of the countries he visited could compare with Taiwan in security and stability.
The Present
This year he made a special return trip to pass the New Years holiday, and he ate the New Year's dinner in the temple with his wife and daughters. Each time Liu Yung-shou and Gu Bing-Mei meet, they pass a time of wordless silence. The man is seventy-one years old, his mate is sixty-nine, and after so many years, what needs to be said?
But when Liu Yung-shou sees his two daughters, aged forty-five and forty-two, both of whom never married, and who stayed with their mother through the hardships, he feels distraught. They are not at fault for their loneliness!
Their chance for happiness in this life was spoiled by their father's choice of career. Liu Yung-shou feels his duty keenly, and has not let riches and success make him forget his family duties. The daughters on their part, do not hold a grudge against their father, instead, they do their best to make him happy, to make up,for the distress he felt when they were separated for so long.
Liu Yung-shou said just before he left this time, that he had wronged his children and felt he could never make it up to them. Then he wept.
The Past
In March of 1942 on a cloudy morning, eight years after her wedding, Gu Bing-mei, then thirty-two years old, was the estranged wife of a doctor, but because of the troubles caused by gossip and rumors, she was forced to leave her own home. She carried two bundles in her arms. One was eight-year-old Mei-jing, and the other was five-year-old Mei-hwei. Her heart was filled with bitter injustice. Her face wore a grieved, disappointed expession, and her spirits fell in utter defeat as she returned from her home with the Liu family in Mei Nung to her mother's house in Bamboo Corners.
All of the past events, all of her mental turmoil and heart-felt grief, could not be put to rest. Her only choice was to assume that heaven had arranged fate this way. Who else could be blamed for the turn of events? For the sake of her children, for the sake of setting matters right, for the sake of facing the past and the present, she made her decision.
In 1943 the mother and her daughters were still living in her maternal home, and although food and shelter were not a problem, the arrangement was in no way permanent. Often after helping with the family chores, whenever she had a spare moment, Gu Bing-mei would take her daughters and walk up to the somewhat level and clear patch of land on the side of the mountain. She hoped for a home of her own for her daughters. But this home needed to be far apart from normal society. She would often go to the Shan Hua (Good Transformations) Temple in the evening to recite Buddhist sutras to relieve her miseries. She felt that this brought a little bit of peace of mind.
In the autumn of 1943 she built a small cottage out of bamboo on the side of the mountain. It was enough to keep away the wind and rain. Despite the blessings of her mother's comfortable house, and under the doubting, questioning stares of the neighbors, she moved into the ramshackle hut. Gu Bing-mei was thirty-four, Mei jing was only ten, and Mei Hwei was seven. Mei Jing entered the first grade at the Gwang Sying Elementary School. The small family was poor and destitute, and simple survival was difficult. They were often forced to retreat to her mother's home for food.
In 1945 before the Second World War was over, Taiwan had passed through fifty difficult years of occupation by Japan. Finally it returned into the embrace of their ancestral land. During this year the mother and her daughters established an independent partnership among themselves. The mother went to work during the day, and at night she cleared more of the hillside land at their homestead site in order to escape her grief.
Every time the mother set to work digging the earth, Mei Jing helped with the physical labor, while Mei Hwei stood by on the side, playing her child's games. When night fell, although she was extremely fatigued, the young daughter did not dare to go back to the hut alone. She simply slept wherever she was at the building site, under the sky. Her mother and older sister were extremely frustrated by this situation.
They had to move the earth, but they lacked proper tools, and were forced to sneak down to the Gwang Sying public graveyard to forage bamboo sections left at the grave sites to use as dirt-hods. This was taboo, according to the local customs, but what were they to do?
In 1946 the government drafted laborers, and things were in an uproar. Society was in chaos and turmoil. People lacked material goods. Many families found it hard to make ends meet, but Gu Bing-mei and her daughters had it even harder. They were forced to eat wild sweet potato leaves to keep hunger away. Often they would go for an entire month without a drop of oil for cooking.
Illness compounded their misery, as Mrs. Gu and her daughter Mei Jing suffered pneumonia that lasted a year. Mei Hwei fought it for three years, which delayed her entry into school for the entire period.
to be continued in the next issue...
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