Yu Shuyan's disease was finally diagnosed with bladder cancer.
As for how the disease came to be, he himself felt confused. But thinking that the disease belongs to the urinary system lesions, he recalled some clues that could be followed.
I still remember when I was 20 years old, whenever I was tired from the performance, I urinated with blood, Yu Shuyan did not care at first, and he did not tell people with the disease, but he never expected that hematuria would be uncontrollable after that, from youth to old age, almost accompanied his entire life. Therefore, it is not difficult to guess that the early "hematuria" cannot be cured, or cause the acquired bladder cancer lesions.
But even if the young Yu Shuyan knows that he suffers from urine and blood hidden disease, he is still energetically busy visiting the kiln, indulging in fireworks and playing with women in willow lanes. At that time, he was young and ambitious, singing Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, and his self-esteem was very high, and it was really difficult for him to maturely control his love life. It wasn't until he was overwhelmed and vomited blood and his throat was hoarse that he was forced to return to normal life, but at the cost of having to give up his stage career and become a ticket holder in the "Chunyang Friends Association" for several years.
Figure | Yu Shuyan
At the age of 23, Yu Shuyan was fortunate to be appreciated by Chen Delin, a tying yi taidou, and married his daughter Chen Shuming as a wife, making him a fast son-in-law of the East Bed. His father-in-law gave him infinite help at the low point of his career, and asked a number of famous teachers to guide his body and singing voice, laying a solid foundation for his comeback. He also warned him that if he wanted to be a good actor, he should be half a monk and cherish his body and voice.
Yu Shuyan deeply understood the teachings, was greatly moved, and decided to change his former wrongs. At the age of 26, he had the honor of worshipping Tan Xinpei as a teacher, his skills improved by leaps and bounds, and his voice gradually improved at the age of 29, and he was able to cooperate with Mei Lanfang, Yang Xiaolou, Xun Huisheng and other famous people. Among them, Yu, Mei and Yang were named Zhenjingcheng, and they were known as the "Three Sages", and by the age of 35, Yu Shuyan had ranked first among the four major students.
However, at the moment of his popular acting career, a health event occurred that he did not expect. After a performance that lasted for one hour, Yu Shuyan was anxious to go to the toilet to urinate, but he was shocked to find that he could not urinate, and after being transfused through the hospital, he was able to be unharmed. However, his urine and blood disorder cannot be hidden, and there are signs of deterioration, and he must start taking medication.
After this, Yu Shuyan's health was greatly reduced, and his voice was hoarse again, almost to the point that the song could not be sung. Even if it is rested for a year, the throat is still good and bad, and it cannot be restored. This time, he really had to say goodbye to the business performance with tears, and in the future, he could only cope with the private concert invitation of the capitalists, as well as the voluntary disaster relief charity performance.
During this period, Yu Shuyan should not have formed bladder cancer, otherwise he would not be able to survive for a long time. But what disease did he have that caused the symptoms of hematuria? There is no definitive diagnosis. But his illness is reminiscent of his fellow-patient Mr. Liang Qichao (Liang died in 1929), and the two of them also urinated blood, and the same long-term incurable and repeated attacks. Liang Qichao because of excessive blood in the urine, causing anemia, to rely on going to the hospital for blood transfusion to continue his life. Presumably, Yu Shuyan has lost blood for a long time, and there is also the possibility of anemia, otherwise it is in his prime, how can his body sunset on the West Mountain for no reason. It's just that he didn't go to the hospital for a comprehensive examination like Liang Qichao, so he neglected to find out.
Although the treatment of Yu Shuyan's "hematuria" with the medical means at that time seemed helpless, many diseases could be improved by changing their living habits.
However, Yu Shuyan paid the least attention to this. Speaking of his schedule, his routine is not the same as that of normal people. He has been "black and white upside down" for a long time, practicing singing late every night and falling asleep at dawn the next day. Sleep until noon, get up for breakfast, go to the courtyard after the meal to water the flowers and feed the pigeons for a little time, and then go back to sleep. Sleep until the evening when the lights are on, get up to have dinner with the family, and start working and practicing after dinner.
So the cycle goes on and on, it can't be said that there will be any damage to the body, but it always feels like he can't see the sun on his day, and how can a person lack the sunlight be normal. Such a routine, Yu Shuyan has not been corrected.
In the autumn of 1934, when the floods in Hubei were infested, Yu Shuyan was obliged to participate in the disaster relief charity performance in his hometown. After not appearing on the stage for many years, it is also considered to have taken a few years off to recuperate, but as soon as the charity performance ended, Yu Shuyan immediately saw blood when he urinated.
The concerns from the sick body accelerated the time for Yu Shuyan to completely bid farewell to the stage. In the spring of 1937, Yu Shuyan dedicated the last performance of his life to the 40th birthday of his best friend Zhang Boju, and that play "Lost Space" became his last echo, after which Yu Shuyan officially ended his stage career, when he was only 47 years old.
In addition to the hemophilia disease and the end of his career, there is even greater sorrow in Yu Shuyan's sorrow. In recent years, his family members have undergone significant changes.
The first is to have a son. Although his father-in-law's kindness is difficult to repay for a lifetime, Yu Shuyan still carries Chen Shuming, the wife of yuanpai, and a young girlfriend to have a son, solving the problem of childless succession (before that, only Yu Huiwen and Yu Huiqing had a pair of daughters). When the boy was 3 years old, he was secretly sent to Yufu in Beijing, and Yu Shuyan had no intention of tearing up the family, and did not take this girlfriend as a concubine, but gave her 3,000 pieces of ocean to coax her to find another good person.
This plan won Chen Shuming's forgiveness, but Yu Shuyan was overly ecstatic and caused sadness.
One afternoon, the nanny held the little boy and flirted with the male servant coachman at the gate, and accidentally threw the child's head down to the ground, and the little boy was eventually seriously injured. Yu Shuyan accepted the fate of cutting off his children and grandchildren, did not blame the nanny much, and gave him several months of salary when he was dismissed.
Secondly, shortly after the loss of her son, Yu Shuyan's wife Chen Shuming also died of illness in October 1933, and it is said that after her death, her eyes were never closed, and there was a strange phenomenon that she was dead and blind. Yu Shuyan was widowed in middle age, mourned a few times, and was alone for two years, before he regained his strength and married the daughter of Yao Wenfu, a former imperial doctor of the Qing Tai Hospital, as his successor.
Feeling the fear of the successive deaths of his loved ones, Yu Shuyan finally began to face up to his "hematuria" and was determined to spend money and time to fight this disease. He called his family to his side and discussed hospitalization. The eldest daughter, HuiWen, aspired to become a medical student, and she boldly supported her father's hospitalization for surgery; the younger daughter Huiqing was worried that her father was ill and unfit for surgery, so she held a neutral attitude; the successor Yao was born in a family of imperial doctors, and naturally opposed Western medicine surgery, believing that she should continue to take Traditional Chinese medicine for conditioning.
Yu Shuyan synthesized the opinions of his family and finally decided to believe in Western medicine. Around April 1937, he was admitted to a German hospital with high medical standards in Peking for thorough treatment. German doctors diagnosed through examination and informed Yu Shuyan that there was a tumor in the bladder, but fortunately there was no surgery, only an instrument was placed into the bladder and the tumor was sucked out. Yu Shuyan was deeply comforted after listening to it, and it should always be a good thing not to hurt his muscles and bones.
After two months in the hospital, Yu Shuyan received a discharge notice. Thinking that he had turned the crisis into safety, he was so excited that he immediately went home and wrote a plaque with four big characters of "Save me from dying" and sent it to the hospital, and then set up a banquet to invite the doctors and nurses of the hospital to have a hearty meal before expressing gratitude.
At present, the medical community's understanding of cancer is extremely superficial, what kind of mood do German doctors hold to eat a "celebration feast" for a "recovered patient"? Who knows?
One year after discharge, Yu Shuyan's condition tended to be stable, and he should eat and sleep, but it was still reported that every spring or slightly tired, the old disease of urine and blood would recur once. Look at it, isn't it just like before there was no cure? Then strictly speaking, it is not called "the recurrence of the old disease", and the lesion of the disease may not be solved at all.
Yu Shuyan did not realize this terrible problem, but instead thought that he had recovered a lot, so he suddenly accepted Two beloved disciples, Li Shaochun and Meng Xiaodong, in this year.
When Li Shaochun visited his teacher, he paid a large amount of tuition to Yu Shuyan, plus 50 taels of opium smoke, a precious otter leather coat, an otter leather hat, and many four seasons clothing. In addition, the Yu family, from the master and mother to the servant, received gifts from the Li family. After doing the human feelings, Li Shaochun in the form of worship was again swinging the feast, and this trip down, the disciples spent up to several thousand yuan on the ocean for Yu Shuyan.
Another beloved disciple, Meng Xiaodong, has the financial support of Du Yuesheng, a big man of the Green Gang, and does not lose the battle, a steady stream of money is sent to Yu Shuyan's hands, and he will send gifts to the teacher at both ends of the three days, and Yu Shuyan was embarrassed for a while.
The high price of the teacher fee maintains Yu Shuyan's excellent standard of living, but what needs to be stated is that it is not possible to spend money to set up the Snow YuMen, and Yu Shuyan does not lick at earning attractive apprentice fees. It is understood that Yu Shuyan's conditions for accepting apprentices are extremely harsh and strict, "he is very disgusted with the young people with oil heads and flour noodles (in the showbiz circle), he calls this kind of person "fried head", and he is very disgusted with the young people who are not men and women, and they are often severely criticized. ”
You know, most of the actors in the show business circle are not oily, and all of them have attracted the disgust of Yu Shuyan. It is conceivable that Li and Meng, the two beloved disciples, were selected by him through thousands of times to inherit the mantle for themselves. Especially Meng Xiaodong, Kun Ling, because she is an actress, when Yu Shuyan wanted to take back the door, she was obstructed by Yuan and Chen Shuming, and once wanted to give up. Later, Chen Shuming died, and Meng Xiaodong was able to visit Yumen. However, after entering the door, she was resisted by Yu Shuyan's step-room Yao Shi, who, in order to reduce the jealousy of the step-room and sweep away the gossip of the outside world, always invited two daughters to be present to supervise when teaching Meng Xiaodong.
Figure | Yu Shuyan took a group photo with Li Shaochun and Meng Xiaodong
After receiving the apprentice, Yu Shuyan's physical weakness was gradually exposed, and when he lectured to Meng Xiaodong, he often had to lie on the smoke floor, smoking opium while drawing a smoking gun to give Meng Xiaodong guidance. Opium undoubtedly made Yu Shuyan's illness worse, but only when he smoked opium could he shake his weak spirits. Meng Xiaodong often accompanied the side of the teacher, but also by Yu Shuyan, she was infected with a serious opium addiction, and her natural beauty and lifelong health were destroyed by opium.
In the early summer of 1941, Yu Shuyan's urine and blood suddenly intensified, and the blood color was rampant in the naked eye, and he wanted to find a German doctor to take responsibility, but found that the German doctor had already retired from Beiping. Helplessly, he could only transfer to The Union Hospital, which represents the highest level of Western medicine in China.
Xie Yuanfu, chief physician of the urology department of Concord, accused German doctors of playing with human life, and the so-called sucking tumor with instruments in German hospitals last time was simply, and the tumor did not suck out, but was stimulated to become malignant. Dr. Xie told Yu Shuyan, "This time the tumor must be cut clean. As soon as he heard that he was going to open the operation, Yu Shuyan was scared out of half his life, and immediately proposed to his family to make a will, and the nurses around him couldn't help but laugh sporadically when they heard it.
Looking at the current major medical institutions in Beiping, there is no hospital that is more reassuring than handing people over to Xiehe. However, it is worth mentioning that Liang Qichao was also admitted to Union Hospital for "hematuria", but he had a major medical accident in the diagnosis (mistakenly cut off a kidney), resulting in a decline in body immunity and shortening his life expectancy in his later years. But this matter has passed for many years, concord will not make such a low-level mistake again, and the fact is that Yu Shuyan's surgery was successful.
This time with the knife, Yu Shuyan was locked up in the hospital for three months. When he came out, he no longer stood in horror to see if his urine was blood red, because he could now sit. Doctors changed the way he urinated, and his urine was no longer passed through the urethra, but was exported through a leather tube inserted into the bladder. The tube needs to be cleaned once a day, and it needs to be replaced once every ten days and a half months. Although it was troublesome and the action was quite awkward, the pain of the illness was alleviated as never before, which made Yu Shuyan feel relieved.
With a good start, Yu Shuyan's spirit also recovered day by day. He followed the doctor's instructions to recuperate at home, staying at home every day, and the urinary catheter in his body was cleaned, disinfected or replaced by Dr. Xie, his assistant Dr. Li, who came to the door every day. Within half a year, Yu Shuyan could lecture again.
Figure | Yu Shuyan and his disciple Li Shaochun
Health is the capital of the future, Yu Shuyan will experience profoundly, after the operation he has long been missing a high-quality life without disease and pain, and then he hopes to pull out the tube and return to the stage as soon as possible. His fans were also looking forward to it, but unfortunately, the second year after the operation (spring of 1943), "hematuria" recurred, and it was fierce, and there was no trace of urine in the urine, and the naked eye was all blood.
His family immediately took him to see Dr. Xie of Xiehe, but since the Japanese confiscated Xiehe Hospital, Dr. Xie fled the hospital, and Dr. Li, who usually came to the door to clean the catheter for Yu Shuyan, did not know where to go. Forced to go to the home of an otolaryngologist, take a little emergency measure that has no effect, and then go home and wait for death.
On May 16 of that year, Yu Shuyan's condition worsened again, and sometimes fainted, the blood in the urine was not stopped, and the whole person was dying and entering a state of dying. In addition to his family, the beloved disciple Meng Xiaodong has always been with the attendant, not far away from the left and right, which can be described as a respected teacher like a father. Three days later, at 4 p.m. on May 19, a doctor came to Yufu for rescue, and at 9 o'clock that night, the doctor tied his hands, and Yu Shuyan, the grandmaster of the Peking Opera generation, gasped for breath at the age of 54.
Half a month before his death, Yu Shuyan had conveyed to his family the inheritance disposal plan, using two-tenths of the existing savings for funeral treatment, and then donating part to social welfare, and the rest was divided equally by one wife and three daughters.
Regarding the disposal of the tickets, Yu Shuyan was clearly arranged. But behind him there are a bunch of relics about the Peking Opera industry, such as ancestral scripts, Notes on Tan Opera, photos, costumes... These things, the old gentleman in the pear garden will usually order people to throw them into the furnace and watch them burn when they are not far from death. But Yu Shuyan did not know whether he had forgotten or had the heart to remain, he did not burn it, but he did not explain to whom he entrusted it, but if there was no accident, these "secret books" would be handed over to meng Xiaodong, the only yu pai beloved disciple he recognized.
Figure | Yu Shuyan and the two beloved disciples
Yu Shuyan was buried the day after his death. The coffin he slept in was a golden silk nan wood coffin that had been prepared for himself ten years ago, and it was said that only three coffins of this style were made that year, and the warlord Zhang Zongchang asked for one after his death.
On June 9, Yu Shuyan's coffin was moved to Fayuan Temple to hold a public festival. Leaders from all walks of life have sent a bang lian, of which the best friend Zhang Boju is the most rare, two months ago he prepared a pair of bang lian, Yu Shuyan has not closed his eyes and the bang lian has been sent to Beiping, afraid of sending late to the old friend.
After the public sacrifice began, the crowd of people who came to mourn was lined up in a long line, relatives inside and outside burned incense and paper, smoke filled the entire spiritual hall, and low sobs and loud cries were mixed together to form a wailing. This atmosphere caused everyone present to fall into silence, but at this moment, Yu Shuyan's widow, Yao Shi, coldly made an angry move in front of everyone.
She asked the maid to bring two large bundles of things wrapped in old quilts, and when they were unwrapped, they were a pile of old books, and before everyone could see what they were, she threw a copy of the incense burner into the copper incense burner that was burning vigorously. When these pamphlets were all reduced to ashes, a low uproar came from the Lingtang--Yao Clan was actually burning a pile of precious relics of Yu Shuyan. Meng Xiaodong watched the master's "secret book" being burned to the ground, and he was powerless in grief and anger, and could only condemn the master and mother in his heart like everyone else.
Yao Shi was an ignorant woman who was ignorant of Peking Opera and did not understand the value of her deceased husband's relics, and she believed that it was a matter of course and righteousness to burn and bury the beloved objects of her deceased husband after his death. But in her heart, she obviously used this sinister means to retaliate against Meng Xiaodong, and she has always over-interpreted the innocent master-apprentice relationship between Meng Xiaodong and Yu Shuyan, even if she witnesses Meng Xiaodong bowing down and taking care of the teacher to death, she does not want these "secret books" to fall into her hands.
If Yu Shuyan had expected such a show after his death, he didn't know how to feel, maybe these secret books were not as happy as his own personal fire.