The development of society is inseparable from the reproduction of the population, which is especially important in ancient times, so each generation of feudal rulers attached great importance to the problem of population increase, from the implementation of the early marriage system to various acts of recuperation and recuperation are all aimed at increasing the labor force and strengthening the strength of the country. From the small unit of the family, people at that time also hoped to have more children and blessings, the more children and grandchildren, the better, in contrast, girls will always be disliked.
Even the powerful people who do not worry about food and clothing are eager to have more sons and fewer daughters. Just like the family at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the same thing happened, the head of the family, Huang Zongyan, had not given birth to children for several years after marriage, and the family was very worried, especially the father was even more intolerable. Father Huang was once a powerful subordinate of Li Hongzhang, a major minister of the dynasty, and his status in the official arena was also very honorable, and he was once the admiral of the seven provinces and cities in Jiangnan. Unfortunately, of his three sons, only Huang Zongyan grew up smoothly, and the other two died prematurely. Therefore, for this only son, the father attaches great importance to not only giving him a rich material life but also sparing no effort to cultivate him in education, and finally making him a literati who learns to be rich and five cars, inheriting the family business.
Huang Zongyan accepted a marriage after he became an adult, although his wife was arranged by the elders, he was very satisfied whether it was from the point of view of character and emotion or from the aspect of getting along, and the relationship between the two after marriage has always been relatively good. The only deficiency is that the wife was not able to give birth to a child for the Huang family, which made Huang Father very worried, so he wanted his son to remarry, but the infatuated Huang Zongyan did not want his wife to be wronged, so he did not agree, which made the husband and wife's feelings more firm.
However, even the best feelings could not resist for long under the pressure of feudal thought, especially a large household like the Huang family, and it was even more impossible to accept such a thing as having no heirs. Therefore, under the pressure of the elders, Huang Zongyan made the decision to take a concubine, but in order to appease his wife, he chose an ordinary peasant girl, and he did not intend to give her any love except to give birth to children. After the original wife learned of this situation, even if she was dissatisfied in her heart, she put up with it, after all, her husband still considered her feelings.
Later, the concubine became pregnant, and when she was about to go to the pot, the whole family waited outside the door in anticipation, and with the cry of a baby, the midwife took out a baby girl. Just when the Huang family was disappointed, the cry of the baby came again, and there was a loud annunciation: This is a boy! In this way, Huang Zongyan suddenly had a pair of children, but the concubines who gave birth to them did not get the respect and treatment they deserved, so they died soon after.
The original wife saw this result and accepted it, and also took on the task of taking care of a pair of children. Although this is only a very common phenomenon in the family of feudal society, the later development of things exceeded the expectations of many people, because the girl who was disliked was Huang Yifan, and her daughter was even more amazing, her name was Zhang Ailing, a famous female writer throughout China, and Zhang Ailing was Huang Zongyan's granddaughter, which was admirable!