In 1912, Sun Yaoting, who had just turned 8 years old, burst into tears and begged his father to fulfill his wish to enter the palace to live a "good life". How to achieve it? The father sighed sadly, it was a "eunuch dream."
With the knife in his hand, the boy's future life seems to be doomed. The village with the news closed did not know that the emperor at this time had already abdicated the throne. After learning the news, the family had an emotional breakdown.
Why did this child insist on becoming a eunuch? What makes him feel that he can live a good life after completing the transformation of his identity? Listen to the Ziya childlike character Ji and then talk about it, and look at the last eunuch in China, who spent his life outside the palace.
It takes root and sprouts in the dark
Sun Yaoting, who was born in Xishuangtang Village, Jinghai County, Tianjin, has a family of six, but not much land. I couldn't eat enough, let alone want to get dressed. There was no comparison, and he might have lived his whole life in poverty.
But at the age of 6, he saw the life of a person who "has a job", and also knows the way that the other party "has a job", and his life will be rewritten.
One day in 1910, the villagers rumored that Zhang Lander, who had entered the palace as a young man, was going home to visit his relatives. There is both envy and a bit of contempt in the words. Why is everyone's attitude so strange?
Zhang Delan entered the palace when he was young, and took the name "Little Dezhang". After that, he crawled all the way into the eyes of the nobles, was appreciated, and was not only awarded the three pins of top wear, but later became the chief of the four divisions and eight places of the Changchun Palace.
On the day he returned to his hometown, he was richly dressed, full of spring breeze, and Zhang Delan, who was guarded by people, was deeply imprinted in Sun Yaoting's mind. From morning to night, everyone in a village can listen to it; the meat bun is managed door to door, and the arrogance of everyone's share makes Sun Yaoting envious into his heart.
When he asked his father, "Why is Lord Zhang so broad, and how did he enter the palace as a high official?" "Father pointed to his crotch and said that without this, he would enter the Forbidden City like him, and slowly boil out of his head as a great eunuch, and he would be able to enjoy such a beautiful scenery."
The little child did not care about the ridicule and jokes in his father's words, just thinking that I could also live a good life like this?
The obvious envy and eagerness in his eyes made the Sun family's father frightened. Castration is a pain that men can never forget in their lives, it is to make the family become a desperate household, to be poked in the spine, and there is no future.
Listening to his father's harsh words, Sun Yaoting temporarily shelved this road that seemed to be able to "fly yellow and tengda".
However, just after that, the few lands in the Sun family were forcibly occupied by people with hearts, and the father and eldest brother were instead imprisoned.
The Sun family was miserable all day, until his father and eldest brother were released, and the panic in Sun Yaoting's heart was exported. But the hatred that unconsciously arose reminded him of his dream of "getting ahead".
In 1912, Sun Yaoting was 8 years old. Under his bitter pleading and constant persuasion, the father found a day for his wife to go out, and completed the identity transformation for his son.
The dream came true
Sun Yaoting was extremely strong during his subsequent recuperation. Until one day in March, when the news people heard in Jinghai County was returned to the village, the words "the emperor abdicated" made the children who had just a little ability to walk stunned in place.
With his father's scolding and his mother's tears flowing, Sun Yaoting was extremely frightened. The dream in my heart was shattered, and my body was mutilated ever since. He asked his father in a trembling voice if he could pick it up, and then he heard his mother's heart-rending cries.
After the family struggled through this painful period, after some consultation, Sun Yaoting entered the private school and became a reader who the family fully supported, just for him to have a way out in the future.
Fortunately, the little boy was very angry and was praised a lot by Mr. Wang. Because mr. Sun Yaoting knew some medical skills, he wanted to take Sun Yaoting as an apprentice and add a guarantee for him. But at this moment, Sun Yaoting's dream had a chance to come true.
The Baylor Mansion in the capital was recruiting eunuchs to serve. 15-year-old Sun Yaoting packed up his things and set off overnight. With a few years of reading, an intellectual, and a clever man, he quickly gained Baylor's favor.
But because the world was different, even if he had a sesame big position in the royal palace, he didn't earn much silver. Thinking of the infinite scenery of the once "Little Dezhang", Sun Yaoting decided to abandon the Belle Mansion and only drill into the palace.
Constantly entrusting relations to the outside world, stuffing out the objects that were rewarded in his hand, Sun Yaoting entered the palace. What he got was to serve the work of Ren Dexiang, who was already old at that time, the deputy governor of the Nine Halls.
Ren Dexiang was very fond of "summoning" people at this time, and Sun Yaoting could really feel the heartache of the lowest people in the palace.
Fortunately, his single-minded desire to move upwards has never died. After inquiring, he learned that Princess Duankang loved to listen to plays, so he took out all the styles he had learned in Baylor House, and finally entered the opera team in the palace, and was also successfully appreciated by the nobles.
It may also be that fate has tilted towards him, and then Sun Yaoting ushered in the "peak moment of his career".
Puyi got married, and the new empress Wanrong chose Sun Yaoting as the steward. Because the empress was kind in heart and kind to her subordinates, Sun Yaoting was very loyal to the other party and formed a good master-servant relationship.
Unfortunately, when the time came to 1924, the arrival of Feng Yuxiang drove away most of the people in the palace at that time.
When the crowd fled to the regent Beifu, only Sun Yaoting was willing to give all the silver money he had quietly hidden to Wanrong, so that she could do it before and after. But only three days later, the "master-servant relationship" that he cherished in his heart was trampled on the ground.
The nobles all evacuated overnight, and Wanrong did not take him with her. In an instant, his heart was half cold, and Sun Yaoting returned to his hometown to settle down.
A few months later, the news of the establishment of a puppet Manchukuo imperial palace came, and Sun Yaoting "excused" the nobles in his heart, thinking that they were in too much of a hurry and did not deliberately abandon them, so he came to the palace again.
A lifetime of witnessing
But at this time, the person in front of you is no longer the person who used to be. Puyi, whose temperament has changed drastically, does not trust anyone around him, and "old people" like Sun Yaoting are often beaten and scolded. Later, after being transferred to the imperial court, after trying the poison before each meal, Sun Yaoting began to panic.
He not only had to endure the beatings that were inflicted on him from time to time, but he also had to endure the psychological pressure of daily shock. Fortunately, he was later diagnosed with infectious lung disease, which led to hundreds of oceans and left.
Instead of choosing to fend for himself in other places, Sun Yaoting returned to his hometown. His family, whom he had not seen for a long time, genuinely accepted him. But it was also during this time that the villagers who knew the details of each other exuded great malice towards him.
When met in the country lane, Sun Yaoting took the initiative to say hello, and some people would pinch their noses and withdraw far away, saying the word "obscure" in their mouths. The village children met at a distance, and the boys would point at him and shout "eunuch", talking about his physical mutilation and the family's evaluation of him.
Sun Yaoting's unabashed words gradually fell into pain, and then the family began to be pointed out. As if to bring trouble to the family, Sun Yaoting planned to go out and wander.
The first time he ran away, he was retrieved by his eldest brother, and he left in the evening for the second time, and never returned home.
Sun Yaoting came to the Xinglong Temple, where many poor eunuchs gathered, there was no discrimination and suppression between them, and the days of hugging and warming up were hard, but they were also very comfortable.
Because he had read books in his youth and could read, he later found a handwritten job in the temple, and he could get some money every month.
In 1996, Sun Yaoting was more than 90 years old. In the temple that had accepted him halfway through his life, he closed his eyes peacefully. The old man who lived for nearly a century witnessed the final end of the Chinese monarchy before his death, and also woke up from the illusion of his youth after the passage of time.
There have been moments of scenery and self-success, and there have been times when the troughs are full of confusion and fear. A choice that yearns for the highest place when he was young allows Sun Yaoting to spend his life remembering the mutilation of his body and trying to maintain the dignity of the soul.
In the decades after leaving the palace, his only insistence was not to bathe with others. Before his death, he also confessed that he did not need others to take a bath after death. The times are always changing, but some of the imprints of the times have always remained in the hearts of a certain group of people.
Do you think Sun Yaoting's choice was forced by the times and the environment? Did he have any other options in his life? Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.
If you like my article, please follow me, like and retweet for me, every encouragement from you will be my motivation to keep moving forward.
--END--
Ziya childlike character Ji