Speaking of Zhang Ailing, I think many people have some understanding. She was a famous female writer in the Republic of China period, began to write novels at the age of 7, began to publish works in school magazines and magazines at the age of 12, and was listed as the "Four Talented Women of the Republic of China" along with Lü Bicheng, Xiao Hong, and Shi Pingmei. Her life is full of legends, and some people still remember her. Compared with Zhang Ailing, her mother Huang Yifan is more legendary.
Huang Yifan was born in a family of eunuchs, and his grandfather Huang Yisheng was the admiral of the seven provinces of the Yangtze River in the late Qing Dynasty. When Li Hongzhang first founded the Huai Army, Huang Yisheng was Li Hongzhang's deputy in charge of managing the water division. Later, under the protection of Li Hongzhang, Huang Yi was promoted to the post of Admiral of the Seven Provinces of the Yangtze River. After Huang Yisheng's death, his only son, Huang Zongyan, inherited his title and went to Guangxi to serve as a salt road. Because Huang Zongyan had been childless since marriage, before he went to office, his family bought him a rural woman from Changsha as a concubine. And this woman is Huang Yifan's mother.
Huang Yifan's mother was left in Nanjing after she became pregnant, while her father, Huang Zongyan, went to Guangxi to take up his post, and died of miasma less than a year later, living only more than thirty years. After Huang Zongyan's death, everyone in the Huang family was paying attention to her mother's belly. Because once a daughter is born, the family property will be occupied by them. Fortunately, her mother gave birth to twins, and the family property was saved. Huang Yifan's mother named the two siblings "Huang Suqiong" and "Huang Dingzhu".
Although Huang Suqiong was born of a concubine, after all, she was born into a large family, so the family also found a very good family affair for her, the family of Zhang Peilun, a famous minister at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Zhang Peilun and Li Hongzhang's daughter Li Ju coupled only had one son, that is, Zhang Zhiyi. When Huang Suqiong and Zhang Zhiyi married, people called the two "Golden Boys and Jade Girls". Huang Suqiong also thought that she would be very happy after marriage, but she did not expect that her husband was a fool who liked to eat, drink and gamble, and every day was an endless quarrel.
In 1922, Huang Suqiong's adoptive mother died of illness in Shanghai, and she and her brother Huang Dingzhu divided up the ancestral property. His younger brother Huang Dingzhu asked for real estate and real estate, while Huang Suqiong asked for antiques. After having money in her hands, Huang Suqiong's waist rod also hardened, and she did not want to live under the same roof with her husband. At that time, when Zhang Ailing's aunt Zhang Maoyuan wanted to study abroad, Huang Suqiong used the excuse of being a guardian for her sister-in-law to study abroad with Zhang Maoyuan. And she also gave herself a romantic name "Huang Yifan".
Because her daughter Zhang Ailing was only 4 years old and her son Zhang Zijing was only 3 years old, Huang Yifan was also a little reluctant in her heart. According to Zhang Ailing's later recollection: "My mother always lay in bed and cried for a few days." However, Huang Yifan obviously would not be bound by family affection, and it did not take long to wipe away his tears and happily board the ship to Britain. Abroad, Huang Yifan and Zhang Maoyuan rented a house together, attended various occasions together, and went skiing in the Alps together. Huang Yifan, a traditional Chinese woman with her small feet wrapped, has traveled all over the European continent.
Just when Huang Yifan was happy and happy in Europe, her husband Zhang Zhiyi encountered a difficult situation in his life. Not only did he lose his official position, but his relationship with the concubines also became worse. At this time, Zhang Zhiyi remembered Huang Yifan's goodness, so he wrote a letter hoping that Huang Yifan would return to take care of a pair of children. Just at this time, the sister-in-law Zhang Maoyuan's studies have also ended, so Huang Yifan embarked on the way home.
After returning to China, Huang Yifan moved out of the Zhang family's old mansion with his children and moved into a new-style bungalow, the yard was full of flowers of various colors, and he also raised a lazy pet dog. This time is the happiest day for Zhang Ailing's siblings, they quietly listen to their mother humming popular songs, play with their mother for a while, and can also roll happily on the mother's customized wolf skin mattress. But the good times didn't last long, and the happy time was over.
It turned out that Huang Yifan found that her husband Zhang Zhiyi had not changed, and the pedantic thoughts in his mind were still as deeply rooted as in the past. The reason why she was called back was entirely because Zhang Zhiyi had encountered a barrier that could not be passed. Moreover, on the issue of children's education, the two also have great differences. Huang Yifan, who had received a Western-style education, could no longer stand her husband's rudeness and resolutely found a lawyer to file a divorce. She also became the first woman in the Republic of China to initiate a divorce.
Zhang Zhiyi did not want to divorce, but there was nothing he could do, because Huang Yifan said: "My heart is already like a piece of wood." Zhang Ailing was deeply influenced by her mother, but the relationship between their mother and daughter was not good. When Zhang Ailing was severely beaten by her father and stepmother at home, she ran to her mother. Huang Yifan did not greet her daughter like an ordinary mother, or pulled her daughter to hug her and cry, but in a proud posture, she smiled lightly and said: "If you think about it carefully, with your father, you are naturally rich; with me, but there is no money, you have to suffer this pain, there is no remorse." ”
When her temper came up, she also said to Zhang Ailing: "I regret that I used to carefully take care of your typhoid fever, and I would rather see you die than watch you live and make yourself suffer everywhere." When her son Zhang Zijing chose to run to her because she could not stand the harsh rebuke of her father and stepmother, Huang Yifan chose to refuse on the grounds that all the money was used to provide for her sister. After the divorce, Huang Yifan was always surrounded by all kinds of men. She often goes abroad, always carrying a large box with her. Inside the box were antique jewelry of all value, as well as a photograph. The photo shows her daughter Zhang Ailing when she was a student. Whenever she was short of money, she returned home to fill her suitcase and leave again.
After Huang Yifan's death, Zhang Ailing did not attend her mother's funeral, but she received her mother's box. Their mother and daughter are the same stubborn, the same fate, until death will not bow to each other...