Before the implementation of monogamy in our country, in the houses of large families, three wives and four concubines were normal, even if the original match was in love with the husband, but under the influence of the old idea, the man would still marry a few small concubines; if the original match did not give birth to a son after marriage to inherit the incense, it was also necessary to help the husband to take a concubine.
However, before the Republic of China, the status of the concubine room in the family was not high, usually the original match, is the door to the household, has the right to speak in the mansion, and the concubine room does not pay attention to the origin, only cares about birth and maintenance, the status is similar to the maid, to serve the mother-in-law, the husband and the husband's original match.
Tan Zhonglin, a native of Chaling, Hunan, was a mid-level soldier during the Xianfeng dynasty, successively serving as the inspector of Jiangnan Province, the prefect of Hangzhou, etc. When living in Hangzhou, a friend came to visit Tan Zhonglin with a servant, Li Zhonglin, who was not very old and timid, and accidentally knocked down a valuable vase of Tan Zhonglin's family.
Li Shi hid under the table for fear of being beaten, and refused to come out, but Tan Zhonglin felt pity and said that he would take it as a concubine, and his friend was no longer angry when he saw this, and then got up and resigned.
Li Shi was originally a low status, although it was Tan Zhonglin's concubine, but it was different from other concubines who had not been a concubine, so Li Shi was cautious in tan house, afraid of making another mistake and being driven out. Whenever he ate and put it, Li Shi stood at the table, adding food to the whole family, and never ate at the same table as the host's family.
Even if Li Shi is pregnant with a child, he still has to stand up on his stomach and serve the whole family, and he can't be sloppy in the slightest.
But Li's stomach was also angry, giving birth to a boy, the tan family's main mother and Tan Zhonglin were very happy, So Li got some things, but the situation was still the same as before, after giving birth to the child, he had to wash and cook, do all kinds of chores.
Li's son is named Tan Yanmin, when he was a child, watching his mother being bullied, his heart was naturally uncomfortable, but after bumping into each other, it was his own mother Li who was blamed, and Tan Yanmin could not call his birth mother "mother", which made Tan Yanmin understand that if he did not take the meritorious name, his mother could not be valued.
Therefore, Tan Yanmin was angry and strong, at the age of 13, he won xiucai, in 1904, 24-year-old Tan Yanmin participated in the last examination of the late Qing Dynasty, the first place in the examination, the temple test was listed as the thirty-fifth place of the second class, the shi was born, Tan Yanmin came out of the crowd, Li's mother was expensive, and when eating, Tan Yanmin invited Li to the table to eat.
But Li Shi was still afraid of the master mother of the family and Tan Zhonglin, until Tan Zhonglin said, "Sit down and eat together." "Li Shicai came to the table to eat with everyone, Tan Yanmin is undoubtedly a filial piety, extremely filial to his mother, and if he gets any good things outside, he must leave a copy for his mother."
In 1916, Li Shi died of illness in Shanghai, at that time Tan Yanmin was supervising Xiang for the second time, the political situation was turbulent, if he left Xiang, he was likely to lose the "throne" of Xiang Du, but after hearing the bad news of Li Shi, Tan Yanmin immediately rushed to Shanghai to mourn, and the following year, Tan Yanmin fuling was buried in Changsha.
According to the rules, concubines cannot be buried from the gate of the ancestral hall after death. Tan Yanmin broke the clan rules again, and when someone stopped him, he shouted: "I Tan Yanmin is dead, carry me out of the funeral!" "The clan has no way to take him, and the Li family will come out of the gate of the Tan Family Ancestral Hall."
And because of the Li family, Tan Yanmin vowed not to take a concubine, even if his wife died early, Tan Yanmin still did not remarry, when Song Meiling returned from studying in the United States, Dr. Sun Yat-sen intended to match Tan Yanmin and Song Meiling, but Tan Yanmin refused on the grounds of "I can't carry my dead wife and please the second wife".