Gao Ling
Only after Precious Auntie's death does Lu Ling learn that her nursemaid was actually her mother, and that the woman she had thought to be her mother is actually her father's sister. After Precious Auntie's death, Gao Ling marries Fu Nan and Lu Ling is sent away to a Christian orphanage where she completes her education, grows up and becomes a teacher. Here, she meets her first husband, Pan Kai Jing. Lu Ling lives in the orphanage as a teacher through World War II, often going to extreme lengths to protect the students from the Japanese soldiers and other dangers. A few years later, she is reunited with Gao Ling. The two "sisters" immigrate to America separately and marry a pair of brothers, Edmund and Edwin. Lu Ling's second husband dies from a hit and run accident when Ruth is just two years old.