追忆先人 IN MEMORIAL
王志芳老夫人
In Memorial of Zhifang Wang 文◎Zhi CHEN 陈志
译◎Helene FUNG 冯恺盈
2017年11月12日，著名抗日英烈陈中柱的 遗孀王志芳老夫人与世长辞，享年102岁。陈 中柱将军及王老夫人唯一的儿子，陈志先生特 在此“追忆先人“一栏，分享母亲王志芳的两、 三件事。 母亲王志芳，出身官宦之家。十岁时，从 盐城农村来南京就读黄浦军学校六期的二十 岁穷学生陈中柱，就租住在她家。一天，她看 到陈大哥钻进床下寻找他的最后一个铜板， 生活很不容易，就常常往他的床底就几个铜 板。陈大哥也知道这是大小姐在帮他，觉得这 个小姑娘心真好！ 陈中柱毕业后，分派到中央大学当军训 教官。随着年纪的增长，两个年青人的感情越 来越近了。原先王小姐已许配给另一户殷实人 家，当那家人看到身材魁梧、穿军服、别手枪 的陈教官后，只得作罢了。 两人结婚后，十年内书写下可歌可泣、英 雄无比的两人历史，广为人知。母亲的英雄事 迹，在诸多的将军级烈士遗孀中，可算是独一 无二的，这就成全了“烈士义妇”之美名。先父 在中国全国各地共有七处纪念地。 过去，曾有不少人给母亲说媒，我母亲的 一句“我有儿子，我不改嫁，我绝不让儿子做 拖油瓶。”我就冲着母亲的这句话，无怨无悔 地陪伴母亲到她102岁。
Zhifang Wang, the widow of anti-Japanese war hero General Zhongzhu Chen, passed away at the age of 102 on 12 November 2017. Mr Zhi Chen was the only son of General Chen and Mrs Chen, and would like to share a few things about his late mother in this column. My mother, Zhifang Wang, was born into the family of a government official. When she was 10 years old, a 20-year-old poor student, Zhongzhu Chen, rented a room with her family in Nanjing. Chen came from a rural village in Yancheng and was there to study in Wangpu Military School in its sixth cohort. One day, she saw “Big Brother” Chen looked all over and under his bed for his last
coin. She appreciated that life was difficult for him, so she would often throw a few coins under his bed. Chen knew that Miss Wang was helping him and thought that she was a really kind girl. After Chen graduated, he was allocated to teach military order at Central University. As their age progressed, the two youngsters grew closer. Originally Miss Wang was betrothed to another family member; however when his family saw that she had fallen for such a well-built Mr Chen, looking all sharp in his military uniform with a gun, they gave in. After the two got married, in 10 years of war, they wrote an unprecedented epic heroic history, which was well-documented. Among the widows of various generals back then, my mother’s courageous deeds were very unique, and earned my parents the fame of “heroic martyr couple”. There were seven memorials dedicated to my late father in different parts of China. In the past, there was no shortage of matchmakers who approached my mother. My mother’s response was “I have a son; I will not re-marry and won’t drag him into a new family.” For this, I have tirelessly accompanied my mother by her side until she passed away at the age of 102.
43
