Having been left without parents when a child, Fang-liang was always the caring mother. Her husband was a strict father in the traditional mold. He would beat the children when they did something wrong, to the sound of Fang-liang imploring him to stop in her Ningbo dialect.
自幼失恃的芳娘，一向被認為是一位呵寵孩子的慈母，而丈夫則是服膺「棒頭出孝子」古訓的嚴父，每當孩子做錯事挨打，就聽見她用寧波話在一旁嚷著：不能打啦，不要打啦。