What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
He was the widow of Yuan Shikai, who had died when he was born. Separated from his biological mother Ye Shi from childhood, he grew up under the care and care of his housekeeper Xu Donghai. Because of the war, Yuan Shikai's family moved away from his hometown in Xiangcheng, Henan, and he was the only one who persisted. He organized a vigilante group to resist Japan and protected the ancestral tomb of the Yuan family in an extremely difficult environment. During the Liberation War, he made a living by picking up animal skeletons to carve seals for people, and fled all the way to Tianjin. In 1953, he died in a hospital in Tianjin at the age of 36. This poor but skeletal Yuan Shikai's widow is Yuan Keyou.
Yuan Keyou, a native of Xiangcheng, Henan, the 17th son of Yuan Shikai, was born in 1917 in Anyang, Henan, the mother of Yuan Shikai's sixth aunt, Taiye.
Yuan Shikai's sixth aunt, Taiye Shi, was born in 1884 and was as beautiful as a flower, and was originally the object of Yuan Kewen, the second son of Yuan Shikai. However, because Yuan Kewen was a gentleman and showed mercy everywhere, Ye Shi felt that he was not a person, and Yin and Yang were wrongly married to Yuan Shikai. Ye and Yuan Shikai had two sons and three daughters, namely the fourteenth son Yuan Kejie, the seventeenth son Yuan Keyou, the ninth daughter Yuan Jiuzhen (who died prematurely), the eleventh daughter Yuan Xuan (Qi) Zhen, and the twelfth daughter Yuan Jie (Rui) Zhen. Yuan Keyou was the youngest son of Yuan Shikai, born in early 1917, and Yuan Shikai died as early as June 6, 1916, and Yuan Keyou was the widow of Yuan Shikai.
After Yuan Shikai's death, the eldest son, Yuan Keding, presided over the separation of the family. According to Yuan Shikai's will before his death: "The son each shared more than 10,000 yuan in cash, more than 8,000 shares of various stocks, plus more than 20 rooms per person, a total of more than 200,000 yuan." The daughters each shared more than 7,000 yuan in cash, and the other property had no share. Mothers live with their children and do not give money." Yuan Ke was not yet born when he had a separate family, so he did not share a huge amount of property like Yuan Shikai's other sons. He lived with his mother Ye Shi when he was young, and although he did not have the glory of Yuan Shikai's lifetime, he was also stronger than the ordinary gentry family.
In 1928, after Feng Yuxiang took charge of Henan, he confiscated Yuan Shikai's family property. The Yuan family was helpless and mostly moved to Tianjin to live. Curiously, Yuan Keyou, who was only 11 years old, did not follow his mother and brother to Tianjin, but stayed in Anyang with his old housekeeper Xu Donghai.
Because he had no financial resources, Yuan Keyou played the "Yuan Lin Management Office" brand and sold the trees in the tomb of the Yuan family's ancestors to maintain his daily life.
In 1934, under the cuisine of Xu Donghai, seventeen-year-old Yuan Keyou married Yu Ruying, a northeastern girl of the same age. Yuan Ke had a bad habit of smoking opium, and under his influence, Yu Ruying soon became addicted to drugs, and his family's situation was even more embarrassing.
After 1935, the eldest son Yuan Jiaxing, the eldest daughter Yuan Jiahui (milk name: Liuhai, born in 1936), the second son Yuan Jiawang (born in 1940) and the younger daughter Yuan Jiajun were born successively. There are many children, no income, the family often has no rice to cook, and life is very difficult. At that time, there was only one yuan ke family left in Anyang, but when the Yuan family had something to do, Yuan Ke had never shirked it because of his family's poverty.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, Henan fell. The Japanese army wanted to build a temporary airfield in Anyang, occupy the land of the yuan family's ancestral tomb, and possibly excavate the grave of Yuan Shikai's fourth aunt, Tai Wu. Before Wu Shikai died, when he was buried, not only did he have a large number of precious burial items, but it cost more than 700,000 yuan to repair the tomb for burial, and its luxury can be imagined. If the Japanese army dug up Wu's tomb, it would definitely rob the burial goods in the tomb. At that time, the people of the Yuan family were mainly in Tianjin, and the whip was beyond their reach, and they could not control the affairs of their hometown. Yuan Keyou, who was only 20 years old, took up the burden and not only asked someone to quietly dig up Wu's tomb and bury the body separately, but also did not move the burial items in the tomb. At that time, the villagers who participated in the digging and relocation of the grave recalled that Yuan Ke had given everything he had and invited more than 20 people to participate in the excavation. Because Wu's tomb was built very strongly, everyone dug it for many days before digging it. Yuan Keyou personally collected the remains and burial items, and then quietly buried Wu in a secret place.
In order to defend his homeland, Yuan Ke organized the villagers to set up a vigilante group organization, and it is said that he also became a leader of not much or too small. This militia group was mainly active in the Anyang area of Henan, fighting Japanese devils and fighting with local Kuomintang armed forces. Although it is not so remarkable, it is still very backbone compared to the more than 2 million "two devils" who defected to the Japanese as puppet troops.
During the Liberation War, Yuan Keyou's militia was captured by the People's Liberation Army. According to the policy at that time, either join the People's Liberation Army or collect some travel expenses to go home. After Yuan Keyou received the travel fee, he did not return to Anyang, but planned to go to Tianjin to rely on his relatives. But the road fare is not enough to get to Tianjin, a little clever Yuan Keyou picked up some pig bones, earned a little money by carving seals for people, and survived to Tianjin.
In 1953, Yuan Keyou died of stomach cancer in a hospital in Tianjin at the age of 36. His wife and children in his hometown of Anyang, Henan Province, were taken care of by the government after experiencing the hardships and hardships before liberation. Yuan Keyou's eldest son, Yuan Jiaxing, joined the People's Liberation Army at the age of 14, grew up to be an excellent commander and fighter, and joined the Communist Party of China. The second son, Yuan Jiawang, became an ordinary worker under the care of the local government. While working, he took care of his frail mother Yu Ruying, whose filial piety was praised by neighbors.