If taking care of Xu Zhimo and his family is called love, then I probably love him. Of the few people he'd met in his life, maybe I loved him the most. ——Zhang Youyi
Softly, I went, just as I came softly. I gently beckoned, making the clouds of the Western Sky...
The winter of 1928 was a cold and harsh winter, and in China, especially in Shanghai, it was particularly cold. Zhang Youyi has not read the poem for a long time, if it were not for the fact that the young man who had just arrived in the store took a copy of "New Moon" to Zhang Youyi's eyes, Zhang Youyi would not have seen this poem at all, nor would she have remembered the miserable past:
Talent flowers to marry
Born in Suzhou in 1900, Zhang Youyi received a lot of love from her parents and brothers from an early age. The Zhang family is a well-known local magnate, and her fourth brother Zhang Jiaxuan later became the secretary of the Governor of Zhejiang, so the Zhang family has always been relatively rich, and Zhang Youyi has also spent a happy childhood life.
In 1912, after the fall of the Qing court, Zhang Youyi, who had received several years of feudal traditional education, was sent to a new girls' school by her brothers to study, and when Zhang Youyi first started school, she felt that she had come to a new world, there were so many girls, they were as lively and lovely as elves, their eyes were full of happiness, and Zhang Youyi, who was quiet, introverted and even somewhat cowardly, seemed quite out of place in it.
In 1915, when Zhang Jiaxuan was inspecting the school, he found a talented student, it was Xu Zhimo, after the two exchanged, Zhang Jiaxuan was very appreciative of him, and when he asked, he knew that Xu Zhimo was 18 years old and unmarried, so Zhang Jiaxuan moved to match his sister Zhang Youyi and Xu Zhimo's mind.
When Zhang Jiaxuan found Xu Zhimo's father, Xu Shenru, and began to mention this matter, Xu Shenru was very happy in his heart. Although the Xu family was already a wealthy merchant in Jiangnan at that time, there was no political background in this turbulent era, and after all, the business could not last long. The Zhang family's political influence in the whole of Zhejiang was quite large, and Xu Shenru naturally readily agreed.
Therefore, without the knowledge of Zhang Youyi and Xu Zhimo, they became a couple. Zhang Youyi, who has not yet completed her studies, dropped out of school and became the young grandmother of the Xu family at the age of 15. And this is the beginning of the tragedy of the first half of Zhang Youyi's life.
Abandon other countries
Xu Zhimo hated the old feudal system and arranged marriages, but he could not fight against his father, so he could only target Zhang Youyi. In 1918, after the 18-year-old Zhang Youyi gave birth to a son Xu Jikai for the Xu family, Xu Zhimo also completed the task of passing on the xu family lineage, and it was not long before he ran abroad to study.
Zhang Youyi had to stay alone in the boudoir and help Xu Zhimo take care of a large family. She worked tirelessly and tirelessly to help Xu Zhimo take care of the family affairs, hoping to move Xu Zhimo in this way. As a result, Xu Zhimo's two years of no news were heard.
In 1920, her second brother Zhang Junjie could not read it anymore and sent a letter to England. After hearing about this, Xu Shenru was also very angry and had to ask Xu Zhimo to take Zhang Youyi over. Hindered by the persecution of the Zhang family and the Xu family, Xu Zhimo had to take Zhang Youyi to his side.
But couples are not always happy together. Xu Zhimo still ignored Zhang Youyi and left Zhang Youyi aside every day. At this time, Xu Zhimo had already met Lin Huiyin and was deeply in love with Lin Huiyin. Since then, Lin Huiyin has become a symbol of new ideas and new women, and Zhang Youyi has become the carrier of old ideas of the old system, and how Xu Zhimo, who has suffered from the oppression of feudal families, will choose is naturally needless to say.
Not long after, Xu Zhimo filed for divorce from Zhang Youyi. At this time, Zhang Youyi was pregnant again, and when he told Xu Zhimo about it, Xu Zhimo's first reaction was to ask her to beat it off. When Zhang Youyi heard this, she was also completely dead to Xu Zhimo, so she categorically agreed to Xu Zhimo's divorce request.
Just as a mother, Zhang Youyi was always reluctant to kill the child, and in early 1922, after Zhang Youyi gave birth to a child, she signed the divorce agreement. After that, Zhang Youyi took the child to defect to her second brother Zhang Junjie, who was in France at the time, and then followed him to Germany to start her new life.
Wonderful life
Xu Zhimo's abandonment made Zhang Youyi deeply understand a truth in her heart - the most reliable is only herself. So after arriving in Germany, Zhang Youyi began to study German desperately and entered the Pestaloch Academy. In 1925, after the death of her second son due to peritonitis, Zhang Youyi was heartbroken to death, but she stood up strongly, and became an independent, confident and beautiful woman with the posture of phoenix nirvana, abandoning the Zhang Youyi who was only a promise and a promise.
In 1926, Zhang Youyi returned to Shanghai, and then went to Beijing to study for a while. Unfortunately, not long after, she received the news of her mother's death, so she returned to Shanghai to pay her mother's funeral. After the filial period, Zhang Youyi entered the teaching of Soochow University, and later became the vice president of Shanghai Women's Commercial Bank.
At this time, her eighth brother Zhang Yujiu just opened a clothing company called "Yunsheng" with Xu Zhimo and four other people, at the invitation of Zhang Yujiu, although she knew that Xu Zhimo was also involved, Zhang Youyi was already strong enough not to be sad about the past, and gladly became the general manager of this company.
It was already 1928, and the winter in Shanghai was quite cold. When the employees put Xu Zhimo's "Farewell to Kangqiao" in "New Moon" in front of Zhang Youyi's eyes, Zhang Youyi read this romantic verse, but there was no pain in her heart, but she felt some irony:
As the woman who pays the most for Xu Zhimo, Zhang Youyi only gets snubs and hurts, Xu Zhimo's romance and gentleness are always someone else's, first Lin Huiyin, then Lu Xiaoman, in Xu Zhimo's love, there has never been her name Zhang Youyi.
But everything didn't matter, at this time, Zhang Youyi was already strong enough, not the little girl who would cry her nose for the betrayal of others. She now sees only herself and her family, only her own son.
Happy old age
Zhang Youyi's self-confidence and strength later also attracted a doctor named Su Jizhi. Su Jizhi is not very romantic, but he is down-to-earth enough and loves her enough. Therefore, in 1953, Zhang Youyi and Su Jizhi ascended to the palace of marriage.
In 1972, after the death of Dr. Su Jizhi, Zhang Youyi went to the United States and did not want to stay in her hometown to touch the scenery and be sad. In 1988, Zhang Youyi died in the United States at the age of 88. And on her tombstone, the big "Su Zhang Youyi" four words are engraved, just to tell the world that she is not Xu Zhimo's ex-wife, in addition to Su Jizhi, even Xu Zhimo is not worthy of her surname, and this is also Zhang Youyi's last defense, and the final punishment for Xu Zhimo.
The tragedy of Zhang Youyi and Xu Zhimo began, and its source was actually the old feudal system and arranged marriage. But at that time, Xu Zhimo was obviously not mature, he did not have the courage and ability to break the shackles of the feudal family, so he turned the gun to the equally innocent Zhang Youyi, fired wildly at Zhang Youyi, and cruelly killed the gentle, quiet, and naïve Zhang Youyi.
But he never thought that Zhang Youyi, who was deeply hurt by him, was actually a victim of this marriage relationship, a lamb in the arranged marriage and the old feudal system. Fortunately, Zhang Youyi actually had quite a lot of tenacity inside, and later became a confident and generous new woman, but her change, how it seems, also seems to be the tragedy of the entire era at that time.