A 65-year-old bak kut teh stall owner in Bishan had died in January this year of overwork, his wife revealed, with his last wishes for her to carry on the business.

Ang Yong Seh, owner of Xin Ming Road Bak Kut Teh, had worked tirelessly to repay a $100,000 debt incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic to keep their business afloat, his wife Lilian Chua, 66, told Shin Min Daily News.

Following the pandemic, he often worked 18-hour days behind the stove at his stall located at Block 36 Sin Ming Drive.

Speaking to Shin Min recently about her husband's sudden passing, Chua said her husband had been battling the flu for three weeks but still continued to work up till four days before his death.

"I was worried for his health at the time but he told me, 'Don't worry, I can still live for a few more years'," said Chua.

However, on Jan 9 this year, he suddenly experienced breathing difficulties and was rushed to hospital at about 11pm, but died several hours later.

In a June 4 interview with online food channel HappyCat, Chua indicated that the reason she held on to the stall was because of her husband's last wishes.

"I was at Tan Tock Seng Hospital just before he passed, I told him, 'You can't just leave me, to handle the stall alone... how can I sustain it, I'm just one woman,'" said Chua.

"I asked him, 'Can I let it go?' He held on to my hand very tightly, meaning that he didn't want me to."

The couple had started the business during the '90s after spending many years working at popular bak kut teh stall Rong Cheng Bak Kut Teh, which was started by Chua's brother-in-law, Shin Min reported.

Chua also shared that surviving the pandemic — where takings sometimes fell to around $100 a day — had significantly depleted their savings. To tide themselves through the period, they'd taken out a $100,000 bank loan.

Chua told Shin Min that times were tough as the rental of their stall was around $9,000 at the time, on top of their stall assistant's $4,000 salary.

In order to repay the loan, the couple opened the stall every day, only taking a break for four days during the lunar new year.

Ang would also wake up at 5am every day and only returned home at 11pm.

Chua added that her husband did not have any health problems and claimed that a doctor had said the likely cause of death was due to overwork, leading to a weakened immune system.

Knowing her husband's last wishes of wanting her to carry on the business, Chua told Shin Min that she took a break of just two weeks after his funeral before reopening the stall.

Source: AsiaOne.