In ancient times, men married wives and women's families had to inform their parents, and later developed into arranged marriages of "parents' words, matchmakers' covenants", but not all parents were sincerely concerned about their children, and in the Republic of China period, there were not a few women who opposed arranged marriages, but their fate was usually involuntary.
Yuan Shikai had a total of 17 sons and 15 daughters, but in the marriage of his children, Yuan Shikai had his own political considerations, and Yuan Shikai also thought of marrying his own woman to the last emperor Puyi.
Among them, Yuan Kejiu was the third son of the fifth aunt Yang Clan, and Yang Shi was the most popular aunt of Yuan Shikai besides the eldest aunt Tai Shen, and she also had some talent, so Yuan Shikai entrusted the task of managing the entire household affairs of the Yuan Mansion to the Yang Clan.
But the Yang family does not like politics, nor does it want their children to participate in politics, but the children of the Yang family cannot choose marriage independently. The only daughter of the Yang clan, Yuan Jizhen, married the son of Lu Baozhong, the official of the late Qing Dynasty, who was promoted by Yuan Shikai, but Yuan Jizhen was not satisfied, and the relationship with her husband after marriage was not good, and the Lu family also had a lot of criticism of Yuan Jizhen, Yuan Jizhen was depressed, and as a result, he left at a young age.
The fate of Yuan Kejiu's original wife, Li Shaofang, is very similar to Yuan Jizhen, who is the younger daughter of Li Yuanhong, the first vice president of the Republic of China. Li Yuanhong did not have as many children as Yuan Shikai, only two sons and two daughters, and his eldest daughter, Li Shaofen, was devoted to her studies until 1933, when she married Xu Biwen in Tianjin.
Originally, Yuan Shikai wanted to marry his daughter to Li Yuanhong's son, but Li Yuanhong did not agree, but Yuan Shikai was after all one level older than Li Yuanhong, Yuan Shikai wanted to marry his family, Li Yuanhong was actually happy, so he mated his youngest daughter Li Shaofang to Yuan Kejiu, which was fixed when Li Shaofang was eight years old.
Although Li Shaofang was young, she was intelligent and did not want her father to arrange her marriage, so she asked her mother to persuade Li Yuanhong, but Li Yuanhong could not cancel the marriage again, unless the Yuan family proposed it, Li Shaofang cried and made a lot of noise, and still did not get the result she wanted.
Later, Li Shaofang studied at Nankai University, and her age was not small, Li Yuanhong mentioned her doll kiss again to make her ready, but Li Shaofang was still unwilling to marry into the Yuan family, but Li Yuanhong still ignored her resistance and crying.
There was no way, Li Shaofang could only issue a statement, saying that she had suffered from neurological decline in recent days and had been diagnosed with mental illness. The purpose of the statement was to make Yuan Kejiu retreat from the difficulty and take the initiative to propose the termination of the marriage contract, but Yuan Kejiu would not know what the marriage was caused by.
Yuan Kejiu said: Even if Li Shaofang is mentally ill, he is willing to marry. At that time, Yuan Shikai had actually passed away, but Yuan Kejiu still completed the task of marrying Li Shaofang, and he did not have much affection for Li Shaofang, and after Li Shaofang helplessly married him, the two were like intimate strangers.
Li Shaofang was deeply unhappy in her marriage, depressed, and really suffered from mental illness, and later her condition worsened, and she was sent to a mental hospital, and in 1945, the 38-year-old Li Shaofang died, and Yuan Kejiu married another wife after Li Shaofang's death.
Perhaps the second marriage contract did not have many twists and turns, Yuan Kejiu and his second wife still lived a dull life after marriage, and spent the rest of their lives together, but the two did not have a son and a half daughter.