An old lady’s story / 一个老妇人的爱恨情仇

This old lady was the mother of my friend’s sister-in-law. She was also stricken by cancer around the same time as mama. But she was not as lucky as mama. She passed away last month.
She was born into a rich family with many siblings. Her parents had a jewelry shop before the Communist Party came to power. But it was not a good thing to be born into a rich family in China at that time as China was under Communist rule. Not only had all of their fortune been confiscated, but it also affected her marriage. Her husband left her when the Cultural Revolution had started.
Since their only daughter was under her care, the flat in which they still lived in was also left to her. She remarried after the end of the Cultural Revolution. They continued to live in that flat for many years. Her daughter had her own flat after she got married. After having learned a lesson from her own marriage failure, she suggested to her daughter."It’s better to put your flat under my name, so that if anything should happen to your marriage, at least you will still have the flat to fall back on."
A few years back, something odd happened. During her sleep, her second husband forged a thumb print on a document which stated that the old lady agreed to transfer the flat they were living in to him. After finding out she became angry and constantly argued with her husband until the man couldn’t take it any more, he moved out.
She was diagnosed with liver cancer at the end of 2007. Her daughter suggested that she divorce him. “At least you can get half of the property if you do so.” She refused. “That flat is mine. Even if I die, I must die inside. I won’t allow anybody lay his finger on it.” Last Sept, her condition worsened. Her granddaughter, who was studying in Australia, came back to see her for the last time. “Grandma, It’s better to divorce him as soon as possible. There’s already no hope. This man will never apologize.” “Not the time yet.” She said as usual. Last December, noticing that she's getting weaker, her daughter drafted a document (written by her daughter and not a legal document) proposing to divorce and brought it to the old man. Without any hesitation, the old man signed. When she came back and told this to her mother, suddenly the old woman suffered an internal organ haemorrhage and started vomiting blood. She was immediately admitted to ICU, where she struggled for one week. In the end, she succumbed to her death.
The daughter had brought her back just before she had passed away. Many areas in the flat were stained with this poor old woman’s blood, as if telling other people of her miserable story. After she died, a traditional Chinese wake was held at the flat. The old man refused to attend her funeral even though he was informed. As they had not legally divorced before she passed away, the old man is still considered as her spouse. This flat should belong to him by law. This is why the daughter had been trying to resolve the situation herself. If the old man and his sons come back to demand this flat, it would be difficult for them to sell as people will come to know that the old woman died inside miserably. Her soul wouldn’t be in peace. She would come back to haunt the house. As the father and sons are guilty in their hearts, they wouldn’t dare to live inside themselves. But they know that the market value is almost RMB 1m, and they won’t give up so easily.
As I mentioned before, the daughter's own flat remains under her mother’s name. By law, the first person to inherit will always be the spouse and not the daughter. The poor lady became depressed after just one week in her mother’s flat and now she’s worrying what if the old man and his sons will also be after her own flat. She won’t have any place to stay.
No one knows why this old lady always refused to divorce her husband. She always accused him but when she came to sign the document, she would always say, "it's still not time yet. " The daughter now blamed her for creating so much trouble. My friend told me that maybe it was because she had still loved the man and was hoping for him to come back to her. If this is true, I guess she was the most stupid woman in this world. Maybe she had some other strategy in mind at the time? It is now a mystery since her passing away. She has taken it with her to her grave.