Woman marries ex-son-in-law, welcomes new baby, house filled with laughter

After 2 months of having a "new daughter-in-law", sharing with PV, Mrs. Le Thi Sau (59 years old, Quoc Oai, Hanoi ) is completely satisfied with the warm, happy life of her children and grandchildren. Now she has a new grandchild - the stepchild of Dung, the new wife of her son-in-law Nguyen Van Lich. Not "complete" in her first marriage, Dung came to Lich with the hope of being loved, sharing and supporting each other in taking care of the children. Dung's son, 4 years old, has a grandmother, a father and siblings. Mrs. Sau said that since becoming a daughter-in-law, Dung has been transferred to work as a worker at a new company - working 12 hours of overtime a day, working 2 weeks at night every month, 2 weeks during the day. She feels sorry for her daughter-in-law's hard work, having to work at night, so she told her "work for a while longer, if you find it too hard, move to another place". Mrs. Sau said: “We don’t know what will happen in the future, but now Dung is obedient, greets everyone when she comes home, and after work she still cleans, cooks, and takes care of the three children. She still bathes and teaches both of Lich’s children. On weeks when they don’t work nights, the parents and children still sleep together.” She said the children are still as close to Dung as they were in the early days. “One day, the oldest son in grade 3 baked sweet potatoes and still remembered to save them for Dung’s mother. We are very close!” As for Lich, he is working as a security guard for a family business next door. His work and schedule are more flexible, so he takes on the task of picking up and dropping off the children, supporting Mrs. Sau with housework, raising livestock, and growing crops.

Mrs. Sau said that since having a new wife, Lich has been happy and has become much fatter and whiter. She told the story with a truly happy attitude for her son-in-law, not a trace of anger because "he forgot his daughter so quickly". But perhaps the thing Mrs. Sau is happiest about is the initial acceptance of Huong - her daughter. She sincerely shared that since she knew there would be a wedding, Huong was not completely satisfied with this. But after a period of analysis by her family, recently, she "spoke" to Dung to help take care of and instruct the children in their studies when she was not home. Every weekend, Huong stopped by the house to see the children, took them out to play. Sometimes she bought candy and fruit for all three children to eat together. Perhaps that image is what Mrs. Sau always longed to see. Just like she once shared that if Huong remarried, she would fully support and take care of the wedding like Lich. She also asked Lich to support and join her when his ex-wife had a new lover who wanted to marry her. To her, both of them were her children.

The love she had for Lich was also the reason she could not “kick him out of the house” after the couple divorced. Ten years ago, she was the one who suggested that Lich move in with her husband’s family so that she would have a place to rely on when she got old. Later, when the couple could not live together, she could not bear to let her son-in-law leave the house. She truly considered Lich as her son after all the time living under the same roof. Moreover, if Lich moved out of the house, it would mean that each of her grandchildren would have to live in a different place – one with his father, one with his mother, without her by her side. She did not want the situation of mother and son, grandmother and grandchild to be separated like that. After Lich and his wife divorced, she decided to accept him as her son. “If I don’t kick him out, you don’t have to go anywhere,” she told Lich. “Living together for ten years, mother and son have never raised their voices or had any conflicts. He has done nothing wrong, nor has he treated me badly. He is still raising and taking care of my two grandchildren…” Thinking so, she came to a rare decision to keep her ex-son-in-law, continuing to live with her and her grandchildren. Thinking back and forth, seeing that her son-in-law was too young to be a “single father”, she urged: “You should carefully find out who loves you, then I will marry you off. You should marry a wife and come here to be my daughter-in-law, together we will take care of the house and the children. I will have someone to rely on when I am old.”

Lich's wedding was prepared by her like a young man getting married, with all the items included: buying new beds, wardrobes, bedding, and pillows. At the wedding, she also gave her children a pair of gold rings, calling it "a little bit of mother's heart". Before the wedding day, the flower gate, backdrop, tables and chairs filled the yard. 50 wedding banquets just to invite relatives and the bride's family were also meticulously prepared with her own money. She said that what she gave Lich was worthy of the way he treated her and her daughter even when they were about to divorce and could not talk to each other. "His wife was sick in the hospital, he woke up at 4am, cooked chicken, cooked porridge, and brought it to his wife. At that time, they were about to divorce" - she said. Since the day her daughter left home, every time she was sick and had to go to the emergency room at night, Lich was also the one who took care of her and called someone to take her to the hospital. There was a time when Mrs. Sau was hospitalized for half a month, and her eldest daughter took care of her. Lich took care of the housework and the children by himself. She said that now that she had a daughter-in-law, if she was sick, there would be someone else to take care of her and her grandchildren. She felt much more secure. From now on, she would also consider Dung's stepchildren as her own grandchildren, just like she considered her grandchildren as her own children. The three of them lived together happily and harmoniously, to take care of the three children to the fullest. She considered "having more people means more wealth", as "the blessing of our family". Lich was a lucky man to live with two tolerant women, one who considered him as her son, the other who generously took care of her husband's two stepchildren. With the honest nature of a Muong ethnic man, Lich did not know how to say flowery words. He only honestly said that in the future, he and his wife would take good care of Mrs. Sau so as not to disappoint the kindness she had shown him. Lich said, on October 20th, he didn't know how to give fresh flowers or beautiful gifts. His mother also didn't like to eat out, so he went to the market, bought food and cooked a delicious meal for his two women. That was his most sincere thank you to them - the strange women who helped him have a complete home.