As we all know, the "last emperor" Puyi has an autobiography called "The First Half of My Life", which records in detail the whole process of Puyi from ascension to exile to "transformation", through this book, we can directly witness Puyi's legendary life of ups and downs, and it is also considered to be the first-hand information with historical value.
In "The First Half of My Life", he wrote such a passage: "Wanrong became infected with the habit of smoking opium, and committed adultery with the guards, secretly married a beaded fetus, gave birth to a daughter, and later the child died, Wanrong remembered the woman's madness, and smoked opium to survive." Later, Puyi locked Wanrong in a dark room where there was no sunlight.
On June 20, 1946, Wanrong died alone in prison, wrapped in a roll of straw mat and thrown away, but fortunately was found by the Li family brother who was in charge of the prison and buried her. Later, when the catastrophe came, the Li brothers buried the "last empress" was exposed, and they were immediately criticized.
Guo Buluo Wanrong, born in 1906, is the Manchurian Zhengbai banner (Daur ethnic group), the father is the Minister of internal affairs Guo Buluo Rongyuan, Rongyuan this person is a rare enlightened person at that time, has always advocated the concept of "equality between men and women", so Wanrong has received a very good education from an early age, she reads and writes, plays the piano and paints, her father also invited her to be an American English teacher, this intelligent girl grew up rapidly.
By the age of 16, Wanrong had become a talented woman who knew everything about piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and the key was that she was still beautiful, and the children of the nobles rushed to befriended her, and even Emperor Puyi heard about her, and finally chose Wanrong to become his empress.
On the last day of November 1922, the gongs and drums in the Forbidden City were shaking, and the lights were colorful, and it turned out that the emperor was going to marry the empress, and on that day, Wanrong wore a big red splendid embroidered "dragon and phoenix contract robe" and a red hijab embroidered with dragon and phoenix on her head, and sat in a golden-roofed phoenix palanquin carried by 32 people, and came to the Forbidden City and began her life full of twists and turns.
On the night of the wedding, Puyi unveiled Wanrong's red cap, and after exchanging a glass of wine with her, he silently left the new house of Kunning Palace and ran back to his Yangxin Hall to sleep, leaving wanrong alone at the age of 16. But fortunately, Wanrong has received a new education since she was a child, and her personality is lively and cheerful, and she does not care about the husband's "strange behavior" at all.
Later, Wanrong continued to learn knowledge in the Forbidden City, and the people around her got along well, Puyi re-examined the empress, in the exchange, he felt that Wanrong "thought very right", and also specially invited her to invite several English teachers to teach Wanrong English, history, geography and other knowledge, Wanrong often wrote letters to Puyi in English, and the relationship between the two became better and better.
However, this life did not last long, 2 years later, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City, and Wanrong also drifted away with him and finally lived in Tianjin. But fortunately, life outside is free and pleasant, this pair of young empresses actually felt unprecedented happiness, they went sightseeing together, shopping, participating in dance parties in the summer, skating together in winter, so unhappy, but whenever night came, Puyi would let go of Wanrong's hand and go back to her bedroom to sleep, which made the young wife very dissatisfied, for a long time, Wanrong had her own thoughts, she cheated.
In fact, puyi did not find his wife and his bodyguard together at all, until Wanrong's belly grew bigger, Puyi of course knew that the child was not his own, in order to maintain the so-called royal dignity, Puyi directly threw the child that Wanrong had just given birth into the boiler, but said that she had handed the child over to Wanrong's brother to raise, Wanrong believed, but later she knew the fate of her daughter, remembering the girl became crazy, began to smoke opium madly, and soon, Wanrong's body collapsed. This once-magnificent beauty has become a smoker with a blue-gray face.
This chaotic life lasted until the surrender of Japan in 1945, when Wanrong was captured by the guerrillas while fleeing and sent to the prison in Yanji, Jilin Province. Here, WanRong was tortured to the end, often because of the onset of drug addiction and the pain, even scratching her face and biting her fingers.
The brothers Li Yantian and Li Yanxia, who were responsible for managing Wanrong, really couldn't stand it anymore, and could only take care of her as much as possible, and the brothers even tried to get some opium and mix it in the water for her to drink, so that Wanrong could survive. But even with the help of the two brothers, Wanrong, who was already terminally ill, died soon after.
The people in the prison did not care that Wanrong was the "empress", directly wrapped her up with a straw mat and threw her into the ditch, and the Li brothers immediately ran to find her after learning about it, made a simple coffin by themselves, and buried Wanrong. At this time, the brothers did not expect that their kindness would be exchanged for a tragic ending.
In the 50s, someone denounced the Li family brothers taking care of Empress Wanrong, they lost their jobs, and were criticized every day, the brother could not stand this life, died during the labor camp; the younger brother watched his brother die, resolutely decided to break off relations with all the family, he knew that only in this way, the family can be okay.
Finally, in the 1980s, the Li brothers were successfully rehabilitated, but Li Yanxia, who had been tortured for many years, died in the second year of rehabilitation. It's truly breathtaking.
References: "The First Half of My Life", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty"