Before the collapse of the Republic of China government, Du Yuesheng saw that Chiang Kai-shek's general trend had gone, and in order to protect himself, he led his family to temporarily flee to Hong Kong, which was originally intended to move to France later, but because of economic reasons and physical reasons, the matter of moving to France was not implemented in the end.
Although Du Yuesheng was once in Shanghai, he was very popular and had countless assets in his hands. But when he left, it was a time of war, and many of the property could not be taken away at all, and Du Yuesheng brought only about $600,000 to Hong Kong at that time.
In the war-torn period, 600,000 US dollars was already an astronomical amount for ordinary people, but at that time, Du Yuesheng still had a group of aunts and sons to support, so 600,000 US dollars was not particularly generous.
Hong Kong is different from Shanghai, where Du Yuesheng does not have any industry at all, so after he came to Hong Kong, he began to squander his old days. Du Yuesheng's family has many people, and his group of children and aunts have long been accustomed to a luxurious life, so 600,000 US dollars cannot withstand the various tosses of the family.
In his later years, Du Yuesheng was plagued by diseases, and the cost of seeing a doctor and taking medicine every day was also very huge.
Before Du Yuesheng died in 1951, he actually didn't have much money in his hands, and When Du Yuesheng made his will, he only had about 110,000 US dollars in his hand, in addition to thousands of US dollars hidden under his pillow.
According to Du Yuesheng's will, Meng Xiaodong received more than 20,000 US dollars from Du Yuesheng.
Although twenty thousand dollars is not much for the upper class, the dollar was after all the world's hard currency at that time, so this money was still a very considerable wealth for ordinary people.
At that time, due to the civil war, 700,000 mainland people poured into Hong Kong, resulting in a surplus of Hong Kong's labor force and a lot of people's wages. Even a few thousand Hong Kong dollars can buy a bungalow in the suburbs of Hong Kong, not to mention that the exchange rate of the US dollar relative to the Hong Kong dollar is very high.
So at that time, Meng Xiaodong could spend thousands of dollars to buy a nice house in Hong Kong, and then use the remaining money to spend it was not very tight.
In fact, Meng Xiaodong's personal cost of living is very low, and in 1967, Meng Xiaodong came to Taiwan at the invitation of his fourth aunt. After arriving in Taiwan, Meng Xiaodong completely lived the life of a hermit, doing nothing except walk around the circle with his dog every day. From the time Meng Xiaodong came to Taiwan in 1967 until his death in 1977, he neither bought a large number of properties nor bought luxury cars or other luxury goods.
And it's a microcosm of her life. So even if she has no income, she can actually live well on this inheritance.
Not to mention that Meng Xiaodong still has many friends in Hong Kong.
After all, Meng Xiaodong was a famous actor in Peking Opera during the Republic of China period, and Du Yuesheng became a fan of Meng Xiaodong after seeing Meng Xiaodong's performance, and then frantically pursued Meng Xiaodong.
Meng Xiaodong and Mei Lanfang, the master of Peking Opera at that time, once had a relationship with each other. With such a star identity background, Meng Xiaodong has a certain star aura everywhere he goes, and of course, he will also have a certain popularity in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
During Meng Xiaodong's life in Hong Kong, the people who visited her have never been broken, after all, the relationship between contacts in any period is very important, with the help of these people, Meng Xiaodong's life in Hong Kong will naturally be very smooth.
In fact, if Meng Xiaodong wanted to make money at that time, there were many opportunities, after Meng Xiaodong moved out of Du Province, some TV stations in Hong Kong and some film and television drama publishing companies found Meng Xiaodong many times, hoping that she could record relevant videos and videos, and gave a very high fee.
Although Meng Xiaodong was older at that time, she could still circle a wave of fans in Hong Kong and Taiwan with her strength, but Meng Xiaodong rejected all media and distribution agencies, in fact, since Du Yuesheng died, Meng Xiaodong has hardly sung Peking Opera in public.
Some people say that Meng Xiaodong is influenced by traditional Chinese culture, Meng Xiaodong and Du Yuesheng before they got married, her identity is just a drama, the drama is that you can sing songs to please others, but Meng Xiaodong and Du Yuesheng are already married after marriage.
If she sang in public, she would appear particularly frivolous, and out of respect for Du Yuesheng, she never came forward to perform again. Du Yuesheng is precisely to give Meng Xiaodong a name, will insist on marrying Meng Xiaodong in his later years when he is seriously ill.
Of course, this is definitely a manifestation of Meng Xiaodong's not bad money. If you really have bad money, you will still go out of the mountains for the sake of life.
So what other sources of her money are there in addition to Du Yuesheng's help from her good friends?
In fact, Meng Xiaodong should also have savings.
Meng Xiaodong was after all a famous actor in Peking Opera when he was young, although he was a star in the Republic of China period, although he would not be as famous as the current Internet celebrity Xiao Fresh Meat, but at that time, Meng Xiaodong's appearance fee was still very high, and there was no shortage of local rich businessmen who threw thousands of dollars when performing.
In the years when Du Yuesheng did not pursue Meng Xiaodong, Meng Xiaodong could still accumulate a lot of wealth with his acting strength, and during Du Yuesheng's pursuit of Meng Xiaodong, the property given to Meng Xiaodong could not be ignored.
Although Meng Xiaodong fled to Hong Kong with Du Yuesheng after the civil war, there was not much cash and materials to take with her, but she still had some jewelry, not to mention that Meng Xiaodong had also contacted some foreigners that year, and she may also have some money in some foreign banks.
When she arrives in Hong Kong, she can bring up the money again, and Meng Xiaodong's own savings may be much more than the inheritance she received from Du Yuesheng.
Moreover, meng Xiaodong also made a sum of money by accepting apprentices in his later years.
After all, Meng Xiaodong was once a famous master in the country, and after she came to Hong Kong, there were many artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan who came to pay their respects. Meng Xiaodong is particularly harsh on art, she is also particularly strict when she accepts apprentices, in addition to being strict and picky about the apprentices' own conditions, the tuition fee is also particularly high, so Meng Xiaodong also got a lot of income through the tuition fee.
And the tuition fee of Meng Xiaodong's disciples can be saved up to a small amount of money.
Although Meng Xiaodong would not directly appear in the selection at that time, Meng Xiaodong's apprentices would also perform on stage when they were almost learning. When some art groups hire Meng Xiaodong's apprentices, they will also give Meng Xiaodong some funds.
Meng Xiaodong also had several more filial apprentices, and he often visited Meng Xiaodong after leaving the school. If Meng Xiaodong was short of money, her apprentices should also give Meng Xiaodong more or less.