When it comes to the love life of the famous Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang, many people must soon think of his legendary love affair with the "Winter Emperor" Meng Xiaodong, in fact, Mei Lanfang has three wives in her life, namely: the original Wang Minghua, Fu Zhifang and Meng Xiaodong. But there are not many people who know Fu Zhifang, and even fewer people who know Wang Minghua, this original wife silently dedicated her life to Mei Lanfang, but her children died twice, and she was alone in her old age, very sad.
Mei Lanfang and Wang Minghua
It all started in 1910. That year, Mei Lanfang, who was in adolescence, had to stop playing at home to recuperate her voice due to her development and voice change, and during this period, Mei Lanfang's mother also died tragically, and successive blows made Mei Lanfang depressed, and his grandmother and great aunt decided to marry him a daughter-in-law.
The daughter-in-law who was favored by Mei's parents was Wang Minghua. Wang Minghua was born in a Peking Opera family like Mei Lanfang, her father Wang Fushun played Danjiao, and her brother Wang Yulou sang Wusheng, but Wang Minghua's grandmother could not bear to let her granddaughter eat the pain of singing, and the social status of singing drama at that time was not high, so Wang Minghua learned to do housework at home from an early age, developed a diligent and capable character, could bear hardships, and could run the family. In addition, she is 2 years older than Mei Lanfang and can take care of Mei Lanfang, Mei Lanfang's grandmother and great aunt are ten minutes away from this daughter-in-law.
When she married, Mei Lanfang was not yet red, and the economic conditions of the Mei family were generally even a little bitter, but Wang Minghua, who was only 19 years old, did his best to manage the housework, and the family situation gradually improved. A year later, Mei Lanfang's voice recovered and began to perform on stage, and more and more popular, more and more income, Wang Minghua bought a large courtyard, took Mei Lanfang's grandmother to live together, the family was happy.
Wang Minghua
The year after marriage, Wang Minghua gave birth to a son, named Dayong, and another year gave birth to a daughter named Wushi. Mei Lanfang, who has both children, is overjoyed, and every time he comes home after singing, he plays with his children, completely looking like a winner in life. However, at this time, Wang Minghua suddenly put forward an idea that surprised Mei Lanfang - to do sterilization.
Wang Minghua not only arranged his home in an orderly manner, but also played a vital role in Mei Lanfang's career. Although Wang Minghua never sang on stage, he had a good vision, was very researched in dressing, not only dressed very well, but also often combed Mei Lanfang's hair and provided a lot of advice for his clothing.
As Mei Lanfang's reputation grew, Wang Minghua became more and more worried. Because Wang Minghua found that after many dramas became famous, they began to be tempted, lost themselves in the lights and wine, ate, drank, gambled and even contracted drug addiction, in case one day Mei Lanfang was damaged by the fox friends around her? Wang Minghua decided to personally accompany Mei Lanfang around, not only to take care of Mei Lanfang in life, but also to prevent her husband from contracting bad habits. According to the rules, women are strictly forbidden to enter the backstage of the performance, and Wang Minghua will not leave Mei Lanfang at all times when she dresses as a man.
In order to avoid the inconvenience of pregnancy, Wang Minghua put forward the idea of sterilization, and unsurprisingly, it was immediately opposed by all people, including Mei Lanfang. However, Wang Minghua had already made up her mind, she thought that she had given birth to a son and a daughter, whether it was from the perspective of inheritance or risk, sterilization would not have any impact, so Wang Minghua ignored the opposition and persuasion of everyone and insisted on sterilization.
The moon has clouds and clouds, people have bad luck, if Wang Minghua can predict what happens later, she may not make this decision. Not long after Wang Minghua's sterilization, a urticaria ruthlessly took the lives of two children, this sudden bad news like a thunderbolt on a sunny day instantly shattered her weak heart, her body and mind became increasingly haggard, washing her face with tears every day, often waking up in the middle of the night for a long time can not sleep, as soon as she saw other children playing, she would think of a pair of children who died early, followed by crying and weeping.
Since then, Mei Lanfang has returned home and can no longer see her lovely children, and the huge family courtyard has also lost its former joy and become deserted, and he has to comfort Wang Minghua in addition to his grief, in order not to affect Mei Lanfang's acting career, whenever this time Wang Minghua said: "I'm fine, you are busy with you." ”
Mei Lanfang's uncle has no children under his knees, so Mei Lanfang is actually a two-room house, and he has to consider the incense of the two families. Wang Minghua's mother-in-law proposed to adopt his nephew Wang Shaolou as a son, but was opposed by Wang Minghua, who believed that Mei Lanfang was still young and could fully marry and have children, and personally found a candidate for Mei Lanfang, Fu Zhifang. Fu Zhifang is very contentious, the second year after marriage gave birth to a son, Wang Minghua never competed with Fu Zhifang for jealousy, the two got along very well, and the Mei family began to gradually restore the atmosphere of celebration.
Fu Zhifang with children
Watching her husband Mei Lanfang happy again, Wang Minghua's heart was completely relaxed, but at the same time, her life also came to an end. The pain of losing her son plunged Wang Minghua's body and spirit into great grief, and the years of sorrow and depression caused her to suffer from severe tuberculosis, which was still incurable at the time. Mei Lanfang, who first knew, was afraid that she could not stand it, and had been deliberately concealing it, but the paper package could not hold the fire, and after knowing the truth, Wang Minghua first considered not herself, but her family, in order not to infect her family, she decided to run away from home alone.
Mei Lanfang invited famous doctors all over the capital to no avail, and at The repeated requests of Wang Minghua, Mei Lanfang invited a nurse to accompany her to Tianjin for isolation and treatment. In 1929, at the age of 38, Wang Minghua died alone in Tianjin. Because they were childless and childless, Mei Lanfang and Fu Zhifang asked their youngest son, Mei Baochen, who was only 3 years old, to "lead the soul veil" for Wang Minghua and perform the filial piety ceremony. In 1961, Mei Lanfang died and was buried with Wang Minghua.
Like many typical traditional original wives in the Republic of China period, Wang Minghua only had her husband Mei Lanfang in his heart, and he dedicated his life to his husband and family, but he himself experienced the misfortunes and hardships of life. However, compared with Lu Xun's original wife Zhu An and Guo Moruo's original wife Zhang Qionghua, Wang Minghua is also lucky, at least in Mei Lanfang's heart, she has been and loved her.