Photo of Huang Huilan
Behind every successful man, there is a great woman.
However, for Gu Weijun, the "first diplomat of the Republic of China", there are four women behind his diplomat honor, and Huang Huilan is about the one who has given him the most support among the four wives before and after Gu Weijun.
Without it, Huang Huilan gave him too much money.
On October 2, 1920, Gu Weijun and Huang Huilan married, a famous and well-born petite lady, a young and promising and handsome diplomat, and the marriage between the two was a match made in heaven.
Huang Huilan and Gu Weijun took a group photo
However, the beginning of this match of heaven did not go well.
Since her youth, she has often traveled back and forth between Britain, France and the United States, familiar with Western culture and life, proficient in English, French, Dutch and other six Chinese, and thanks to a good family situation and the cultivation of her mother, she has a good look at a young age.
Obviously, such a giant has a high vision and a high heart.
When I first met Gu Weijun, this delicate lady was a dazzling age, and there was no shortage of enthusiastic suitors around her. Gu Weijun, who is old-fashioned, not good at riding horses, dancing, and even driving, naturally makes her unable to raise a trace of interest, and she is only indifferent when chatting.
However, Huang Huilan's sister and mother were particularly optimistic about the diplomat, who had already had two wives.
Huang Huilan and friends
For them, although the Huang family is rich, in the end, they are only the last businessmen, and Gu Weijun's diplomat status is an admission ticket that can bring them into the upper echelons.
Gu Weijun has an interest in Huang Huilan, such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they must not give up.
Surprisingly, before they could act, Huang Huilan seemed to have been moved by Gu Weijun's fanatical pursuit.
In order to win Huang Huilan's heart, Gu Weijun almost put all the means of pursuit on her, in front of her, his behavior was gentle and elegant and quite gentlemanly, and when talking, his words revealed a unique sharpness and talent, such a contrast naturally attracted Huang Huilan's attention.
Gu Weijun photo
And this is only one, Gu Weijun, who is accustomed to seeing the upper echelons of power, is quite aware of the fatal attraction of the word "privilege" to the rich.
The place where he invited Huang Huilan to enjoy the opera was a state box dedicated to diplomatic envoys, and the tools carrying Huang Huilan out were specially provided by the French government to diplomats in a privileged car, and even special staff members would come to receive the two of them on outings.
With such painstaking efforts, Huang Huilan was naturally moved. But the more Gu Weijun's passionate pursuit, the more it made her sober, and Gu Weijun's "love" purpose was not pure.
As a diplomat, Gu Weijun naturally knows that using the privileges of a diplomatic ambassador with great fanfare is likely to attract criticism from others.
But at that time, he was 36 years old, the two children left by his two wives were in need of care, his diplomatic career also needed a wife to broaden for him, and more importantly, diplomacy needed social entertainment, and Gu Weijun did not have enough money to support his social activities.
Huang Huilan, who is young and beautiful and has a wealthy family, has naturally become his target.
It is undeniable that Gu Weijun's pursuit of Huang Huilan is also mixed with some sincerity, at least, Huang Huilan's beauty makes him fall in love at first sight. But such a meager friendship is only insignificant in the face of the huge benefits she can bring.
Thinking about it, Huang Huilan's intelligence allowed her to see the calculation behind the man earlier, but she still chose to accept it all. Of course, this is not because of the so-called "love" in everyone's mouth, she has always remained sober and calm.
Thanks to the family wealth, Huang Huilan's life is almost a dream, but she is never a naïve little princess living in a dream, and she will never be like the naïve gold in the novel, bent on rebelling against the will of her parents, just to pursue the so-called freedom and love.
She couldn't have been more clear about what rights a precious rose carefully raised by the family could enjoy and what kind of obligations she needed to shoulder, and consolidating the family's power through Gu Weijun was one of her responsibilities.
Thinking about it, at that time, Huang Huilan may also have occasionally had the idea of escaping in her heart, but either because the long-term traditional Chinese education had long allowed family thinking to be integrated into her bloodline, or because Gu Weijun deliberately showed a good fit that made her waver, Huang Huilan finally accepted his pursuit.
Photo of Gu Weijun youth
Come to think of it, Huang Huilan's consideration is nothing more than that even if the feelings are not deep enough, the three views between the two can be regarded as being able to get along harmoniously.
But at that time, she did not expect that as soon as Gu Weijun took off his disguise after marriage and no longer covered up his nature, the disparity between the three views between the two was suddenly exposed, and the marriage was destined to end in tragedy.
But this is all a later story, at this time this marriage called love, really for the benefit of the marriage has just set sail.
Huang Huilan's performance after marriage also lived up to expectations, and soon after her new marriage, she was fully integrated into the life of the upper elite, active in international diplomacy every day, participating in the first court ball after the war at Buckingham Palace, shaking hands with the British ambassador and the king, and attending the inauguration of President Truman.
For Huang Huilan, who was born with a golden spoon from childhood, such a staggered upper-class life is a battlefield tailored for her.
Participating in the noble lady's tea party to collect information for Gu Weijun, actively chatting with other diplomats' wives to maintain social interaction for Gu Weijun, and properly taking care of female magnates to win a favor for Gu Weijun, these things are handy for the sociable Huang Huilan.
Gu Weijun participated in diplomatic activities
With such a virtuous internal help, Gu Weijun's diplomatic road naturally became smoother, and the foreign envoy ambassador marveled at her as "the most beautiful pearl in the Far East", and even Song Meiling publicly affirmed the efforts of the ambassador's wife.
However, compared to Huang Huilan's help to Gu Weijun in her social career, her investment in money is even more shocking.
When Gu Weijun was a diplomat, China was in the midst of war turmoil, chaos in the internal regime, and weakness in foreign countries, and the specific manifestation was in the diplomatic embassy where Gu Weijun was employed, that is a word - poor, but Huang Huilan, who has been accustomed to a luxurious life since childhood and attaches importance to external image, can tolerate this.
The embassy where Gu Weijun works is dilapidated, and she renovates it out of her own pocket and uses it to maintain Chinese face.
Gu Weijun needed to return to China to work, so she spent 200,000 US dollars to buy the former residence of Chen Yuanyuan in Beijing Lion Hutong as a mansion, and used it to decorate the marriage of the husband and wife, and even the money gu Weijun needed to go out to socialize was fully borne by Huang Huilan.
Such a mode of getting along, even if it is put into a more open-minded modern era, Gu Weijun's behavior must also make people comment on a soft meal, but the arrogant Huang Huilan does not mind at all.
Gu Huang and his wife took a group photo with foreign envoys
After all, anything that could be solved with money was not a problem for her, and if she didn't have enough money, she could still ask her father to send her money again.
In fact, with Huang Huilan's description in her memoirs alone, the extravagance of her life can be seen.
Born on the Indonesian island of Java, she was originally from a well-to-do family, but after her father inherited her grandfather's inheritance, her extraordinary business acumen played a role and became the richest man in Java.
Their residence alone covers an area of more than two hundred acres, and the decoration is magnificent, comparable to the palace of a country. Such a large house naturally lacked the necessary special care, and in Xiao Huang Huilan's memory, there were hundreds of ordinary servants in the family.
The family's meals were even more extravagant, with their daily food brought from the sky in Australia, under the personal command of a chef who had served as the governor of the Netherlands, and a butler and six servants laying the food for them, and even the most inconspicuous tableware in their hands was carefully made of sterling silver.
Growing up in such a family, Huang Huilan's heart and vision can be imagined.
Photo of Huang Huilan
As early as huang Huilan was 3 years old, the necklace given to her by her mother weighed 80 carats of diamonds alone.
However, the mother, who regarded her as a pearl in her hand, was worried that such a heavy necklace would crush the young daughter's tender skin, so she put away the necklace for her, and it was more appropriate to wear it when Huang Huilan grew up.
The young Huang Huilan downplayed this, "I'm afraid that such a necklace, I'm afraid I will bring better when I grow up, I can't look at it." ”
At the age of three, he was able to have such confidence and insight, not to mention huang Huilan today. Come to think of it, for this famous gold and silver jewelry that is within easy reach of children, a thousand gold is not an exaggeration, but the most real portrayal of life.
However, Huang Huilan's extravagant lifestyle caused Gu Weijun's dissatisfaction.
Gu Weijun
Unlike Huang Huilan's rich family background, Gu Weijun's family is poor, and he can study abroad and step by step to ascend to the position of diplomat, all thanks to the help of the two old men.
However, in his bones, he is obviously a villain's servant, but on the face, he insists on supporting the purity of the literati.
Gu Weijun enjoyed the benefits of Huang Huilan's large-scale investment in money, but he used his husband status to demand that Huang Huilan "bring nothing but the jewelry I bought for you", canceled the car that Huang Huilan's mother ordered for them, and insisted on using the old car of the former minister.
Huang Huilan could not accept his act of pretending to be high, this arrogant lady needed to decorate her façade with expensive jewelry and a brand new car, and he could not accept that his image outside was disgraced.
And, although she grew up in Indonesia since childhood, she has always been a Chinese in her heart, and at a time when the country is poor and weak, Huang Huilan prefers to maintain the dignity of the country through the dignity of the diplomatic ambassador.
For Gu Weijun, he needs a wife who can be successful in the status of a diplomat's wife, but he also wants her to abide by tradition and rely on him. Obviously, Huang Huilan, who has been carefully cultivated by her parents since childhood and has an independent personality, is absolutely unwilling to accept such an identity.
The couple poses with diplomats
She has always enjoyed the eyes of the social scene, she does not hesitate to show her personality in public, and she is willing to do whatever she likes.
The first half of her life was spent so freely under the protection of her parents, how could she change for Gu Weijun, and Gu Weijun, who was Chinese feelings, did not compromise in the slightest.
Huang Huilan's performance in diplomatic occasions has become more dazzling, and his performance has become more and more cold.
But a good marriage needs to run into each other, and the stubbornness of both parties will only become a sharp blade, and the emotional bond that maintains the relationship between the two will be severed little by little.
Huang Huilan did not understand but did not care, she completely saw Gu Weijun's shrewd city servant, and became more and more certain that as long as her father could provide him with financial security, Gu Weijun would never be separated from her.
But accidents often come suddenly, and as the war continues to spread, the property of the family is either confiscated or destroyed by the war, and the real estate in many places can not play any role in such a war-torn era.
Faced with the increasingly bad financial situation of the family, Huang Huilan had to learn to live frugally, but the death of her father became a painful blow to her.
Although her father and mother have lived separately since childhood, and she lives with her mother, her father has never given her much care and love.
Even when Huang Huilan last met her father, his father was worried about her poor living and quietly stuffed $50,000 into her bag. Not long after the separation, she received the news of her father's death.
The love of parents in the world is always like this, even if they are not good at verbal expression, but every move reveals the love of father and mother, even if they learn that their lives are short, the most worrying thing is still whether the little daughter's money is enough.
However, unlike Huang Huilan's grief, Gu Weijun's heart could not help but burst with a hint of joy.
Yan Youyun photo
During the period when the relationship between the two became more and more estranged, Gu Weijun found a new lover early, Yan Youyun, the wife of Yang Guangxing. When Huang Huilan learned of the entanglement between the two, she immediately asked Song Xialing to transfer Yang Guangxin yan youyun and his wife to the Philippines.
And now, seeing Huang Huilan's father die, she can give Gu Weijun less and less help, and this shrewd man has gradually put his lover on the table.
Huang Huilan was extremely angry, perhaps her feelings for Gu Weijun were not even love, but her arrogance would never allow anyone to interfere in her marriage and provoke her dignity, and she made the only act in her life to break through the framework of the famous boudoir - poured a cup of tea on Gu Weijun, who was playing cards with Yan Youyun.
Gu Weijun also took out the most calm style in his life, and instead of accusing Huang Huilan of the same behavior as a shrew, he pretended that nothing had happened and continued to play cards and laugh with others.
Obviously, such behavior can hurt Huang Huilan more than accusations, she red eyes, but forced to endure the pain and anger in her heart, and left without a sound, and this 36-year-long marriage came to an end.
In 1959, the 66-year-old Huang Huilan divorced Gu Weijun, and the widowed man immediately married Xinhuan, and his status in the political circles also rose steadily, but Huang Huilan's life went downhill.
Gu Weijun and Yan Youyun took a group photo
Losing her father's support, the former Miss Qianjin fell into despair, and the servants who hugged her were scattered, and she had to start learning to take care of her own living. The days were not rich, but she enjoyed it.
Huang Huilan has seen too many gorgeous jewelry costumes in the first half of her life, and her extravagant life has not only cultivated her vision and pride, but also cultivated her tenacity and composure, and in the face of a sharp turn in fate, she has always been calm, and even optimistically regards the old solitary life as a new exploration.
In order to maintain her life in Manhattan, Huang Huilan chose to use out of the speech to earn money, and the salary was not much, but it was enough for her to be proud for half a day.
The beautiful and flamboyant Huang Huilan of the past seems to have long gone, those days of infinite scenery and spending money like dirt dissipate like bubbles in the blink of an eye, she used to be able to accept the gift of fate to her, and now she can also calmly accept the life that has taken a sharp turn.
Opening her memoirs, the language was calm and peaceful. The beautiful and good times that were once beautiful are not worth mentioning, and now there is no need to worry about the poor and poor life.
Memoirs "There Is No Unbroken Feast"
Even mentioning Gu Weijun, who used her more than he loved, he only said lightly, "He is a respectable person, someone China needs, but not the husband I want." As for the third party who destroyed her family, there was no mention of it.
As she herself said, good and bad are part of life and no one can avoid it. However, in a hundred years, no matter how colorful her life is, it will eventually turn into a cup of yellow earth and never exist again, and so will she.