After Yuan Shikai's death, no one had the ability to manage Beiyang well, and the long period of Beiyang warlord melee began. During the period of the melee, the two factions of the Anhui and direct clans successively came to power, and after the fall of the direct clan, the Feng clan controlled the real power and pushed out the leader of the Anhui clan, Duan Qirui, to rule. At that time, there was a little power to have three wives and four concubines, and Duan Qirui was no exception, he married several aunts and wives.
Duan Qirui also did something that was unimaginable in that era, his fourth aunt was too young and beautiful, and he liked it very much after marrying back. But this aunt had been frowning since she entered the door, and Duan Qirui knew that she already had a sweetheart. Where other dignitaries and nobles may ignore the ideas of their aunts, Duan Qirui is different, he let this aunt out to marry her sweetheart, which also became a good story at that time.
Although Duan Qirui has several aunts and wives, there are not many children. He had three flower-like daughters, whom he hurt so much that he grew older and began to worry about their marriage. The eldest daughter, Duan Shixuan, just reached the age of marriage, and Duan Qirui was in power at the time, knowing that he had daughters to marry, many people came to ask for marriage. Duan Qirui's status is higher than the requirements for marrying his daughter, and he requires that the family status be good, and he must also have the experience and vision of the foreign school.
He chose a Li Guoyuan, the grandson of Li Hongzhang's sixth brother. There is also a bit of a relationship between the Li family and the Duan family, when Li Hongzhang founded the Beiyang Wubei Academy during the Guangxu period, Duan Qirui became the first batch of preparatory students with excellent results, and was quite valued by Li Hongzhang, so Duan Qirui did not see Li Guoyuan or set up a marriage. Li Guoyuan was still studying at the Myrons Academy of Sciences in the United Kingdom, and only graduated, and most people who had received a new education would not accept the marriage contract of their parents' fate.
Li Guoyuan's mother, Ding Shi, worried that he would not accept it, just like Mr. Lu Xun's mother, let people say that she was critically ill, and only then tricked Li Guoyuan back. After Li Guoyuan returned, he found that it was not right, and he was distressed that his mother had been running the house alone for many years and agreed to her mother's wishes. Originally, he felt that the marriage between the two could only respect each other as guests, and the rest did not have to think.
Unexpectedly, Duan Shixuan was not a traditional lady, and he was very compatible with his personality, and the two lived happily after marriage and gave birth to a son and a daughter. Duan Qirui also liked this son-in-law very much, and after returning to China, he arranged for him to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the fifteenth year of the Republic of China (1926), Duan Qirui was expelled from power and then retired to Tianjin.
Li Guoyuan's family went to their hometown in Wuhu, Anhui, and Duan Shixuan died not long after his illness, leaving a son, Li Jiayao, and a daughter, Li Jiaming. After the September 18 Incident, Duan Qirui openly refused to interact with the Japanese, but Li Guoyuan married Chen Qiyu, Chen Zhen's sister, after Duan Shixuan's death. Chen Zhen defected to Japan in March 1938 and became a traitor.
Duan Hongxun, Duan Shixuan's third sister, has been managing the Duan Family Mansion, and after knowing it, she said that she missed her sister's children and took the children back to the Duan family. When Li Guoyuan went to pick up half a month, Duan Hongxun said that this was already her child. Duan Qirui is very fond of this daughter, and Duan Hongxun is really fond of the child. Helpless Li Guoyuan did not dare to say anything more, just like that, the child returned to the Duan family.
Reference: The Life of Duan Qirui