He was suffering from a stomach ailment, which could not really be properly diagnosed because of lack of medical facilities and technology, and after all there was no proper doctor around. so in reality according to many of our relatives he died from suffering a lot of pain. To relieve some of the accruciating pain, he drank a lot of home made wine. Every night he would drink until he fell asleep. That was for almost two years and finally he drew his last breath.
He would use a belt to tie his stomach area, to hold the stomach up and very tight too. Today an elastic abdominal brace would have suited him very well. Also, from what he heard, a doctor
(cousin )said that if he could have just a small surgery to remove whatever was inside his stomach or intestines, he would have probably lived up to a ripe old age. My poor maternal grandfather must have suffered a great deal.
Almost immediately after he passed away, a few Japanese soldiers came to the house and demanded a good lunch from my eldest Uncle, Lau Pang Ping. My uncle being a very simple guy was very frightened and dismayed. He could only offer watery sweet potato and rice porridge. And this meal was not good enough. There was no chicken big enough to be slaughtered due to the funeral.
However a good grand uncle quickly came to the rescue and he suggested that he would row his boat to get help regarding the lunch.
One hour later, Grand Uncle Lau Kah Tii, came over and explained to the soldiers that he would have a good lunch prepared in Ensurai for them. He also further explained that my mother's family, still in their mourning clothes, was too poor after the funeral to have any food to eat.
In no time, they drove off in their motor boat with our Grand Uncle. A great fear was lifted from the family.
They could all have been executed by the angry soldiers. It seemed that one of them was quite highly ranked. I am glad my mother lived to tell the story.
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