Home / People
Wang Zhihua watched over Zhou Rong and Bai Shumin's eldest daughter for the first three years of her life.
"She was great with kids," Bai always said. "We are so incredibly grateful for her help."
The couple never forgot the debt they owed their friend, and the huge amount she had done for them. Time moved on, but when Wang needed their help, Zhou and Bai were right there for her.
Wang was in her seventies, widowed, and suffering from lung disease. She was lonely, sentenced to carry out the rest of her life by breathing from an oxygen tube up her nose. Movements and activities were restricted to her bedroom.
"[Bai and I] call her aunt," said Zhou. "The child calls her grandma. We're not from the same family, but we might as well be."
Zhou and Bai took her in. Day and night around the clock, they would watch over her, care for her, accompany her. The care included 5,000 yuan's ($806) worth of oxygen per month.
 |
|
The family changes Wang's oxygen two or three times a day. [Photo/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
"It's in difficult times like this when you begin to see clearly," Wang said, back then. "Bai Shuming's family are just like my family too."
Zhou and his daughter went to the hospital twice a day to refill the oxygen, supporting Wang's progressing disease. But the couple's pension could not support the bills that were piling up, and often they had to reach out to their daughter.
The oxygen tank needed changing every few hours, as soon as it was exhausted. It became impossible for the family to be separated from Wang, and often went to the point of arranging night shifts and rendering family walks impossible.
Zhou was often questioned about the old woman he nursed at home, and his friends would attempt to persuade him otherwise. He could not shoulder the burden of oxygen bills forever.
But Zhou always turned them away. "For every day that she is alive, we will make sure she eats well, and lives well." He never wavered from this ultimatum.
When Wang finally passed away at a ripe old age, Zhou and Bai were there to see her peaceful crossing. This was on January 17 2014. The couple stood behind her for 28 years.
 |
|
The couple gazing at Wang's picture, after her passing. [Photo/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
Edited by Wang Zili
