Translated…
My eldest sister every year, would head to New York to visit with her daughter, last year, she was there, one day, she was shopping in Manhattan, all of a sudden, a heavy-built officer walked toward them quickly, my eldest sister was shocked, not knowing what was happening and what was about to happen, until the officer got closer, she’d found him, grinning ear to ear, called out to her daughter, “Chelsea, Chelsea, do you remember me? I was your student, Vincent!”, the two of them greeted one another passionately, and, my eldest sister heard them talking really fast, with the word “uncle” being repeated over and over again, waited until the officer left, my eldest sister asked, “Why did he keep saying ‘uncle’? Whose uncle?”, my daughter smiled and said, “He’s talking about your older brother, my uncle! He’d asked me how uncle is. Do you recall, that I’d told you, that a couple years back, I’d put uncle’s story into the text, and the students were all very impressed, and whenever I’d bumped into my former students, they’d all asked of the goings on of uncle, uncle doesn’t even know that he’s a bigshot here in New York now!” After my eldest sister heard, she could only smile on bitterly.
My eldest sister’s daughter graduated with a doctorate from Harvard, she’d taught in a university in New York for many years, a few years back, she’d put my second eldest brother’s story into the textbook she’d written for her classes, that, was why her former students kept asking her about him.
My second eldest brother, Beng started using the excuses of having failed in his business ventures, kept asking for more funding from our parents who’d owned a small-scale hardware store in the countryside of Chiayi. The first time they’d given it to him, paved ways for the times afterwards, after many times, my father had finally had it, and told him no, and so, Beng started asking the relatives for loans, and because he’d dressed himself up well, and with the title of the CEO of a construction company, he’d managed to scam a lot of people; and in the end, all of those who’d gotten scammed by him all came to my parents, started insulting them, cussing them out outside of their hardware store, it’d made my parents who’d made their living honestly shamed. My parents were forced, to pay up each and every single debt that my second eldest brother owed, my second eldest brother passed through his company going bankrupt, got sent to jail for fraud, broken marriage, started another company, remarry, the second company still went under, he was on the run, divorced again, and mom insisted, on giving every single last cent she’d managed to save up and earn, to help this son of hers, and dad didn’t want to, but, he couldn’t withstand my mother’s crying, ranting, and threatening to kill herself, and, as their daughter, it was, not my place to say at all. Recalling the series of events that occurred in my household over the span of a couple of decades, our story would do well, as a primetime soap, no wonder it’d sounded appealing, to the foreigners.
My eldest sister was curious at how her daughter turned her own uncle into teaching material, turns out, that in the process of teaching her classes, she’d allowed her students, to see the many sides of the society, from examining the life of a family in Taiwan, for instance, the upbringing of children, how different the values were, compared to in American societies. Most Americans, after high school, they’d either chosen to start working or continued their education, and becoming independent is considered normal; they’d never heard of an adult kept coming back to his parents for money endlessly. And there would be students who’d inquired, “what if, Beng was a girl, then, would his mother help him as much?”, my eldest sister’s answer was, “Very unlikely”. And so, the issues of gender inequality in the homes also got discussed in her class. It may have been, that my second eldest brother’s story was, very unique, and my eldest sister’s daughter’s lesson plans being successful, it’d made students from different years remembered.
Her students who’d graduated are mostly curious about how Ben’s story progressed, actually, under the results of our mother, using the name of love, keep on, providing the assets for him, my second eldest brother didn’t become successful, instead, his personality became even more distorted, continued to lie, to get more money for himself, and constantly blamed his own bad luck for his own downfall, he is still everybody’s nightmares to this day.
Picture from the papers…
It’s just, that I could’ve never imagined, that my second eldest brother could, become this small legend in the great metropolis of New York in this way!
So, because this son kept fucking (oopsy!!!) up his own life, and his parents kept, bailing him out, over, over, and over again, he doesn’t grow up at all, because oh, my parents are always going to be there, to bail me out of trouble, which made him into an indefinite LEECH, and, this professor was able to use her uncle’s story, to warn her students, and, because it’s the real-life tales of someone, that, is why the students are able to, understand and connect, and hopefully, they would’ve learned from what this woman’s uncle’s mistakes…
Life, the Obstacle Course 