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In 2005, Be Muoi, now 53, left her two-year-old daughter with her parents in Quoi An Commune, and went to Taiwan to work in a factory. Widowed at 31 and struggling on a meager income, she saw working abroad as her best chance to rebuild her family’s future.

Her first year in Taoyuan City was defined by unfamiliar factory routines, a language barrier, and a constant ache for her child. One weekend in 2006, while strolling through Zhongli District, she spotted a man carrying a little girl who looked about her daughter’s age and broke down in tears.

The man walked over to check on her. Relying on hand gestures and a few words of Taiwanese she had managed to pick up, Muoi explained her grief. “Come back here next Saturday,” he told her. “I’ll bring the child so you won’t feel so lonely.”

At their second meeting, the man introduced himself as Gan Liang Yu, a divorced construction contractor in Taoyuan, explaining that the toddler was his granddaughter. Moved by her situation, he offered to lend a hand.

A few months later, he stepped in to sponsor her workplace permit so she could secure long-term employment. Whenever Muoi called home to Vietnam, Gan made a point of chatting with her daughter on the phone. “Back then, I just wanted a shoulder to lean on in a foreign country, I wasn’t looking any further ahead,” Muoi says.

Gan, now 68, admits his initial compassion was due to sympathy for a fatherless girl forced to grow up far from her mother

Three years into their acquaintance, Muoi’s mother needed emergency heart surgery costing over VND50 million (US$2,000).

Upon hearing the news, Gan immediately guaranteed the hospital fees and withdrew over VND100 million to wire to Vietnam. “He didn’t hesitate for a second to withdraw a huge sum for my family, which touched me deeply,” Muoi says.

She then promised herself she would stand by him for the rest of her life. When Gan proposed moving in together in 2012, she accepted.

Just over a year into their joint life, tragedy struck when Gan suffered a severe workplace accident that left him with broken ribs and lung damage. As he lay in a coma, Muoi stayed by his bedside, whispering, “No matter what happens to you, I will stay by your side.”

During his recovery, Muoi split her days between keeping his construction business running and providing around-the-clock hospital care. Though doctors predicted it would take three years for Gan to walk again, he recovered and returned to work within a single year.

He confessed he had heard every word she spoke beside his hospital bed. Compassion and gratitude gave way to deep mutual love.

Even after they began living together, Gan’s two adult daughters initially kept their distance, harboring doubts about the relationship. But watching Muoi tirelessly care for their father during his darkest hours changed everything.

She won them over through gentle, everyday devotion. Whenever his children came over, even if they said they would bring takeout, Muoi insisted on cooking a feast.

She paid close attention to what fruits her stepchildren and grandchildren enjoyed, ensuring those exact treats were stocked for their next visit.

In Taiwanese culture, gifting food and clothes is a cherished expression of affection. When Gan’s younger daughter bought a cake for Muoi’s birthday and his elder daughter gave her a shirt, Muoi knew she had been fully embraced as family.

Be Muoi and Gan Liang Yu offer incense to her ancestors before both families. Photo courtesy of Muoi

In 2020, the couple planned to bring My Huyen, Muoi’s daughter, to study in Taiwan, but the pandemic delayed those plans. Despite the distance, Huyen felt constant warmth from her stepfather through daily phone calls, and both parents flew back to attend every major milestone in her life, including her high school and university graduation events.

Overcoming life’s hurdles only drew the couple closer as they aged. Today, they nurse each other through illness and share simple daily routines. “At mealtime, if one of them is out, the other always waits so they can eat together,” Huyen says.

Earlier this year, after 14 years together, Gan proposed traveling back to Vietnam to hold an official wedding and complete their legal marriage registration. “I felt shy, but overwhelmingly happy,” Muoi says.

On July 28, a wedding planned by Huyen took place in Vinh Long, surrounded by children and grandchildren from both Taiwan and Vietnam, alongside more than 70 guests.

Out of respect for his bride’s Mekong Delta heritage, the 68-year-old groom personally prepared six traditional betrothal gift trays. The ceremony honored every traditional rite, from asking for the bride’s hand and paying homage at the ancestral altar to receiving blessings from relatives.

During the ring exchange, Gan thanked his wife for every sacrifice she had made. “Thank you for giving me another daughter,” he told her.