Zhang Xueliang was a very controversial person, in our modern parlance, a "second generation official", powerful and rich, he could have lived his life very comfortably, but the Japanese fought, the three eastern provinces were lost, touching Zhang Xueliang's fundamental interests, in order to force Chiang Kai-shek to unite with the Communists to resist Japan and recover the lost land, Zhang Xueliang launched the "Xi'an Incident." After the peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang insisted on personally sending Chiang Kai-shek back to Nanjing and was detained, and this detention was exactly 53 years.
Time flew by, and the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945 was also the 10th year of Zhang Xueliang's house arrest. Zhang Xueliang, who was under house arrest, learned of the victory of the War of Resistance and felt that the days of house arrest because of the War of Resistance should be over, but Chiang Kai-shek did not move for a long time, and Zhang Xueliang's conscience was burning, so Zhang Xueliang thought of a way to remind Chiang Kai-shek that he had sent a piece of his Swiss watch to Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek was an extremely intelligent man, and he understood Zhang Xueliang's meaning at a glance, and Zhang Xueliang was reminding him that the time had come and he could be released, right? Chiang Kai-shek immediately returned Zhang Xueliang with a gift, a 1936 annual calendar, and a pair of embroidered slippers. When Zhang Xueliang received these two gifts, his heart was half cold, and he also understood Chiang Kai-shek's meaning: the revenge of 1936 has not been forgotten, and the release will be delayed.
Zhang Xueliang saw that his wish to regain his freedom could not be realized, and there was no way but to wait for the opportunity. Zhang Xueliang was not depressed for a long time, thinking that the days would always be lived, and he always had to find a way to strive for a more comfortable living environment. So he wrote a letter to Song Ziwen, which did not involve politics or other aspects at all, but all about his private affairs, because the whole letter had only one core, that is, borrowing money.
Zhang Xueliang and Song Ziwen have a good relationship, are old friends for decades, the two are also as close as brothers, after Zhang Xueliang's accident, Song Ziwen ran around for him, during Zhang Xueliang's house arrest, it was also Song Ziwen who helped him take care of his family and children. In the letter, Zhang Xueliang introduced his life under house arrest to Song Ziwen, and the words also revealed Zhang Xueliang's casualness and trust in this old friend, as well as the slightest grievance against his own situation.
There is a passage that impressed me deeply, to the effect that Zhang Xueliang laughed and said that he had never been poor, and now he had nothing in his hands, and in the face of this situation, he also thought it was quite interesting to smile with Zhao Si.
From this paragraph, we can see that the so-called poverty in Zhang Xueliang's eyes is only compared with his previous extravagant life, he is actually not really poor, and he has not really been harshly reprimanded in life, otherwise how can he think that he is penniless and will find it interesting and fun? Let him try it, live a truly penniless life, and see if he can still laugh?
Zhang Xueliang's concept of "no money" is completely different from that of ordinary people, and he describes his "no money" life in this letter:
Now the quality of life is too poor, can only smoke "big and small" brand cigarettes, this is just a crappy goods, the taste is not good, he and Miss Zhao Si have the habit of smoking, two people add up, every month to smoke more than 1,000 cigarettes, Zhang Xueliang put forward a request hope that old friends can help, they can also smoke Chesterfield brand cigarettes.
You must know that at that time, the price of goods soared, 10,000 yuan is only equivalent to a few hundred yuan before the war, even so, Zhang Xueliang only smoked a crappy cigarette, and it cost tens of thousands of yuan every month. And the crappy goods in Zhang Xueliang's mouth are only relatively speaking, "big and small" brand cigarettes are veritable British imported cigarettes, and the big front door of the Republic of China period, the three batteries, and the Hardmen belong to the same first-line brand cigarettes.
During the period of house arrest, Zhang Xueliang, who screamed that he had no money, could also smoke cigarettes imported from britain, which he was not satisfied with, and felt aggrieved, and wanted to smoke better Chisterfield cigarettes, which is a world famous brand cigarette with a long history, the price is very expensive, it is estimated that a box will cover the living expenses of the Chinese people at that time for at least one month.
In the letter, Zhang Xueliang complained that his living expenses were a bit high, and the money was not enough. Every month, the purchase of magazines, books, and the cost of two servants, shoes, socks, quilts, etc., is a fixed cost of a few thousand yuan. In this regard, Zhang Xueliang also carried out account segmentation, changing a pair of new cloth shoes will cost more than 100 yuan, buying a new sheet will cost about 2,000 yuan, if you make a new set of cotton clothes, it will cost at least 3,000 yuan.
Seeing this, I sighed in my heart, the life of the rich is really luxurious, why do you have to buy shoes, socks and quilts every month? Don't bring any change? Month and month are used new? What a luxury!
The most classic is about the cost of brushing teeth, Zhang Xueliang said that the 4 of them just brush their teeth every day, and they have to spend 500 yuan per month. From the above description, it can be seen that during the period of house arrest, in addition to no freedom, Zhang Xueliang's life was actually very comfortable.
He can read books and magazines, there are two servants to serve him in life, and he can buy new clothes, shoes, socks and new sheets every month, and the standard of living is not to say that at that time, even now, many families cannot reach this level.
Zhang Xueliang finished talking about the high cost, and began to sell miserable, saying that he had now become a miser, smoking to the end, even the cigarette butt was reluctant to throw, and even when walking, he had to pick a soft road to go, so as not to wear out the soles of his shoes. When I saw this, I couldn't help but laugh, typical of which is to sell a miserable trick in front of a good friend.
However, from another aspect, it can also be seen that Zhang Xueliang did not care about money at all, smoking is estimated to smoke two or three mouthfuls and throw it away, and he will not deliberately look at the road when walking, because he does not have to consider what is expensive.
After the sale was miserable, Zhang Xueliang began to step into the theme to borrow money, because the two are good friends, in the letter Zhang Xueliang's borrowing requirements for Song Ziwen are very direct, he even listed the methods of borrowing money: you can borrow money from the Bank of China in the name of Zhao Si, you can also borrow from the Bank of China in the name of Zhao Si, the number is hundreds of thousands, as for how to repay the money, there are two ways: one is to repay by Zhang Xueliang himself in the future, and the other is to let the American family repay, that is, Yu Fengzhi to repay.
Then Zhang Xueliang was also afraid that Song Ziwen felt that borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars was too much, and he went on to say that he needed at least 20,000 pocket money every month, which sounded very scary, but in fact, it was only equivalent to one or two hundred yuan that year, that is, to tell Song Ziwen that he was actually very frugal. In addition, Zhang Xueliang also said that if you only send a few tens of thousands of yuan, you should not send it to me, because it will be used up. In other words, you don't have to send tens of thousands of yuan, I can't see it at all, it's really the most cattle borrower in history!
In the end, Zhang Xueliang was still very humorous at the end of the letter, and laughed at himself, he laughed at himself for becoming a real countryman, wearing a cloth robe and a white hat, and now that he sees me, he will definitely think that I am a believer in Mr. Feng.
In short, this alternative letter of selling miserable money still deeply touched Song Ziwen, after receiving the letter, Song Ziwen lived up to the trust of his old friend and immediately took action, not only sent 200,000 Taiwan dollars, but also sent a lot of luxury goods, including Zhang Xueliang's love and never forgot 10 Chesterfield cigarettes, etc., in short, Zhang Xueliang's quality of life in captivity has gone up to a higher level.
But even so, for Zhang Xueliang, this kind of imprisoned life is also very monotonous and boring, and Zhang Xueliang is even more eager for freedom, "I miss my home, I miss my home." This is the truest desire in the heart of Zhang Xueliang, a dying old man.