June 25, 2003. Contacted Tong Ranran's father, Tong Yun. Audio file: 02020030625.wav.
"Hello, Mr. Tong. We have a few questions about your daughter, Miss Tong Ranran."
"Mm. Ranran's situation... To be honest, I hadn't wanted to bring it up."
"We understand how you feel. We're very sorry Miss Tong passed away like this."
"Sigh... I'd known this day would come sooner or later..."
"Is that so? We thought Miss Tong had suffered a sudden shock and acted on impulse."
"No, she... Her mother was a little... How do I put it..."
"Please take your time. Say whatever comes to mind."
"Phew... Actually, her mother and I were largely responsible. She was our late-in-life child. We were both quite old when she was born. Before that, her mother had been in poor health and was always seeing doctors and taking medicine. She went through a lot carrying and giving birth to her. I hadn't been in favor of it. I thought, if we didn't have a child, that was fine... But she wanted one... When she gave birth, she nearly died in the hospital. Even now, thinking about it scares me. Fortunately, both mother and daughter were safe... Ranran was a little frail, but we took good care of her, and she did quite well. She used to catch colds and get fevers all the time, but she got much better as she grew older. Because of that... we spoiled her a little. Too much, really. My mother, my mother-in-law, and Ranran's mother used to worry she wouldn't live to adulthood. She was sick so often as a child. Her mother even regretted having her, because she'd made her suffer... The women in the family were a little superstitious, I suppose. They still took her to the doctor, but they also