September 1953, Beijing.
A funeral had just been held in a small bungalow of about 10 square meters in Peichai Hutong, Xicheng, where the owner, Liu Zhendong, was an ordinary cleaner, who sent away his 44-year-old wife, Fu Yufang.
Such are the conditions of the family, as can be seen in the funeral. Fu Yufang's funeral was very simple, the coffin was made of four wooden planks, but because the husband and wife were kind to each other, the neighbors were willing to come and help, and the funeral was quite smooth.
After the funeral was completed, Liu Zhendong's heart could not be calm for a long time, and what made him sleepless at night was not only the pain caused to him by his wife's departure, but also the secret that his wife revealed before she died: My name is Wen Xiu, and I was once the imperial concubine of the Qing Dynasty.
At this time, some friends will wonder how the Qing Dynasty officially declared its demise in 1912, and Fu Yufang, who was 44 years old, that is, born in 1909, would be the imperial concubine of the Qing Dynasty.
Let's uncover this not-so-well-known history.
01 If you are a concubine, you must become a resentful couple
The full name of Wenxiu is Erdete Wenxiu, Erdete belongs to the Mongolian ethnic group with Orde characteristics, although it has the word Mongolian, it is the surname of an authentic Manchu nobleman. The Mongolian ethnic group with Ord characteristics is a yellow flag, which is the upper three flags of the eight flags.
Wen Xiu's father, Duan Gong, tried many times and only became the head of the Internal Affairs Office. Ke Wenxiu's grandfather, the official to the official Shangshu, the fifth uncle also inherited the wisdom of his grandfather, and also achieved the official Shangshu, and Wenxiu can also be regarded as a famous family.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the ministers of the Qing Dynasty lost their official positions and lost their stable economic resources, and Wen Xiu's fifth uncle was no exception. The Erdete family has been an official for generations, has no financial resources, and soon declined, and Wenxiu also lived a poor life.
Wen Xiu's mother Jiang Shi is a continuation of the string, the father's original match gave birth to a daughter after the death, Jiang Shi only had two daughters under the knee of Wen Xiu Wen Shan, originally when the family was not separated, the family had five uncles to take care of, but the fifth uncle is now difficult to protect himself, Wen Xiu's father died of illness when Wen Shan was not full-term, only Jiang Shi alone supported, Wen Xiu's infancy was quite difficult.
Even so, Jiang Shi, who was once everyone's bridesmaid, never relaxed the education of his daughter, and Wen Xiu still enjoyed an education that was not inferior to that of the aristocratic ladies in the past.
In 1916, Jiang sent Wenxiu to a private primary school to study, at this time Wenxiu was only 7 years old, in order to facilitate reading, he also changed the name of Wenxiu - Fu Yufang, which is the scientific name of Wenxiu in the school.
Wen Xiu also did not live up to her mother's painstaking efforts, Fu Yufang performed well in school, and learned all subjects very well, whether it was Chinese, nature or painting music, she was often praised by teachers.
At home, Fu Yufang is more industrious and sensible, the children of the poor have long been in charge, Fu Yufang has long known to help her mother reduce pressure, do housework, not to say, but also pick flowers to earn money as tuition. The neighbors all praised her as a rare good girl.
However, as a good girl, Fu Yufang did not have time to accumulate strength to start a new and beautiful life, and her peaceful life was broken by the sudden "draft".
In 1921, the last emperor Puyi was fifteen years old, and although Puyi had abdicated at the age of 6, he still retained the title of emperor and lived a luxurious emperor's life in the Forbidden City as usual, thanks to the provisions of the "Preferential Conditions for the Qing Dynasty".
Several concubines in the palace, the old princes and ministers, and Puyi's biological father planned to begin to select an empress for the little emperor according to the previous criteria for selecting show girls.
All this originally had nothing to do with Fu Yufang, but Fu Yufang's fifth uncle still had unrealistic illusions about the Qing Dynasty, believing that this was a good opportunity to restore the family, and took it upon himself to use the name of Erdet Wenxiu and Fu Yufang's photo and sent it to the palace. Without any suspense, Wen Xiu, who came from a famous background and was highly learned, entered the list of candidates for the empress.
The 12-year-old Wen Xiu is tall and rich, and she has already completed the appearance of an adult, which gives her a natural advantage in the candidates.
Wen Xiu was Puyi's first chosen concubine, who would have become an empress. However, due to the poverty of Wen Xiu's family and his appearance was even more mediocre, the four concubines led by Princess Duan kang asked the prince to persuade Puyi to re-elect.
After many controversies, Puyi, who had no real power, followed The Idea of Princess Duankang and chose WanRong, who had a prominent family, as empress. And the wen embroidery in the emperor's circle cannot be married separately, and can only become an imperial concubine.
After being selected as the Imperial Princess, Wen Xiu received a new house and a set of rosewood furniture, which were rewarded by Puyi, and the life of the Wen Xiu family was greatly improved. There are gains and losses, and the imperial princess is never easy to do.
Wen Xiu had to abandon the scientific name of Fu Yufang and give up her five-year studies, and she was about to learn the old Qing Dynasty royal rules and the Daughter's Classic, which she had never learned.
At this time, Wen Xiu still had a vision for the young Tianzi, and was also full of expectations for life after entering the palace.
In 1922, Wen Xiu and Wan Rong entered the palace one after another, and Wen Xiu's wedding was very solemn, and after entering the palace, she was named a lady concubine.
Losing the position of empress, Wen Xiu suffered a new blow on the wedding night, and after the ceremony was completed, Puyi did not enter the new room of the two, but let Wen Xiu himself rest and return to the Yangxin Hall.
On the wedding night, the two people who were supposed to spend the candles in the cave were separated. After the big wedding with Wanrong the next day, Puyi did not know what the reason was, nor did she have sex with the empress, and the marriage tragedy of the three had already been foreshadowed on this day.
Unlike the delicate and fresh Empress Wanrong, Wen Xiu did not know whether she had never been favored by Puyi because of her appearance after entering the palace.
Wen embroidery life in the palace is very monotonous, in the morning according to the rules of the Qing Dynasty royal family to the emperor, empress and concubines in turn to please peace, and then return to their own palace or embroidery or teach the palace women to recognize, because of this, the palace whether it is the concubines or palace eunuchs are full of praise for the embroidery.
Puyi was also gradually attracted by the talent and temperament of Wenxiu, and in order to show his love for Wenxiu, he also hired a female teacher who specialized in teaching English to Wenxiu.
Wen Xiu was very happy to get the opportunity to learn, she studied hard, made rapid progress, and at the same time stimulated her love for literature, quietly reading books for fun, and also accepted Western ideas.
The embroidery is indisputable, but the harem has never been wishful thinking. Wanrong satirized Wenxiu in English in the letter, and in the face of Wanrong's provocation, Wenxiu only silently circled Wanrong's typos, which shows that Wenxiu is not without temper.
Puyi in his later years
The Republic of China was always in turmoil, and the stability of the royal family did not last long. In 1924, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City by Feng Yuxiang, and the literary embroidery that had been in the palace for less than two years began a half-life of wind and rain.
When he was expelled from the palace, Wen Xiu and Puyi had a good relationship. Puyi is not willing to be a commoner, Wen Xiu hid scissors in his sleeve, willing to commit suicide with Puyi, which shows his integrity. However, Puyi's life in his heart was more precious than the throne, and he finally took his wife and concubines and treasures out of the palace, and Wen Xiu's martyrdom was unsuccessful.
Feng Yuxiang
However, just over twenty days after leaving the palace, Feng Yuxiang was driven away by the warlord Zhang Zuolin, and Puyi seemed to see hope again and dreamed of becoming emperor again.
Puyi needs to help him restore the power of the imperial industry, at this time, the bottomless politician Zheng Xiaoxu suggested that Puyi ask the Japanese for help, which is in line with Puyi's mind.
After Wen Xiu knew, he persuaded Puyi that the Japanese were extremely cruel, and cooperating with them was tantamount to attracting wolves into the room, and later it was indeed as Wen Xiu said.
Puyi and Wenxiu lost their honorific titles, and there were no imperial concubines and emperors, but the superficial class was gone, and the inner class was still there.
Where Puyi listened to Wen Xiu's advice, he was even more disgusted with Wen Xiu from then on.
In 1925, Puyi and his cronies were relocated to the Jingyuan Garden in the Japanese Concession under the arrangement of the Japanese, puyi Wanrong and Wenxiu lived in a small white bungalow with a height of three floors, he and Wanrong lived on the second floor, and Wenxiu was thrown downstairs by him.
Puyi and Wanrong are tender and sweet, shopping for dinner, facing wenxiu is to treat each other coldly, not only eating together with different literary embroidery, but also the reward of the New Year's Festival is not a share of literary embroidery. Eunuchs and maids are all people who see the wind and make the rudder, see Wenxiu fall out of favor, and often discriminate against and abuse Wenxiu.
On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve of a certain year, on this happy day, Wen Xiu chose to commit suicide with scissors, she stabbed the scissors into the abdomen, and was found by the eunuch and reported to Puyi, who actually thought that this was Wen Xiu's usual trick and did not let anyone pay attention to her.
Puyi's thin love has reached this point, Wen Xiu can no longer live with Puyi, and the two eventually become bitter couples.
02 Imperial Concubine Appeal, Divorced Emperor
Wen Xiu once made an article called "Laiyuan Deer". It shows her view of freedom: wild beasts cannot be kept in the house, so that elk cannot be free in the garden, is not like a prisoner, who cannot go out without forgiveness.
The article also quotes Zhuangzi's words: I would rather be born and tail in Tuzhong than die as a bone for Guiye.
It can be seen that although the new-style education received by Wenxiu is only a short period of 5 years, it has left an indelible mark on her heart, and her nature of yearning for freedom cannot be hidden.
How can such embroidery survive for a long time under the surveillance of the Japanese, Puyi's abuse, and the exclusion of Wanrong? Although there is no worry about food and clothing, the days of "abandoning concubines" are like elk in the garden, no different from prisoners.
Just as Wen Xiu lived every day washing her face with tears, by chance, Wen Xiu met the person who changed her fate - Yu Fen, she was Wen Xiu's distant niece, and her arrival opened a haze to Wen Xiu's dark and lawless fate.
Seeing that Wen Xiu's situation was so unbearable, Yu Fen told Wen Xiu: "Now unlike in the past, equality between men and women is written in law, Puyi is not an emperor anymore, he also has to abide by the current law." He has abused you so much that you should ask a lawyer to sue him and divorce him. ”
Yu Fen's words made Wen Xiu suddenly enlightened, the era she was in was no longer the era of imperial power supremacy and the emperor's words, Puyi was now just an "ordinary person", in law, they were equal.
Wen Xiu made up her mind to divorce Puyi, she has been pushed by fate, she has no right to choose, and now the opportunity to grasp her own fate is at hand, she does not want to be an "imperial princess" anymore, she wants to fight for the right to personal freedom.
Wen Xiu had to do something that had never been done before, and the imperial concubine's request for divorce would be a great shame for the emperor, and she must have a detailed and careful plan. The first step in the plan was to leave Jingyuan and leave Puyi's jurisdiction.
After some careful planning, Wen Xiu's sister Wen Shan came to JingYuan and took Wen Xiu out of Jing Garden in the name of taking Wen Xiu to relax her heart, and Wen Xiu took the first step to gain freedom.
The accompanying eunuch came in handy at this time, and Wen Xiu asked him to send a letter to Puyi and asked him to pass on the message: "Wen Xiu is going to the court to sue the emperor and decide to divorce him." ”
Subsequently, Wen Xiu and Wen Shan lived in the garden house provided by their friends, and through Yu Fen and Wen Shan, they invited three lawyers to file a divorce complaint with the court.
One of Wenxiu's accusations against Puyi is really irrefutable: Puyi is physically ill, has lived together for nine years, and has not been lucky.
The divorce lawsuit between the imperial concubine and the emperor can be described as a spectacle of eternity, and newspapers in Beijing and Tianjin have published reports on the divorce lawsuits of the two people.
And there are many supporters of Wenxiu, and "the imperial concubine wants to divorce" has become the headline for a while.
There are many supporters and many opponents, and among the pressures faced by Wenxiu, the pressure of her family is the first. Wen Xiu's sister Wen Shan has always stood firmly on Wen Xiu's side and is the only person in the family who supports her.
Wen Xiu's brother Wen Qi wrote a letter and published a newspaper to accuse her: "How can a family like us do something to divorce the emperor, our family has suffered the grace of the Qing Dynasty royal family for more than two hundred years, and the ancestors have four generations of officials to Yipin." And Mo said that the emperor did not abuse you, that is, he abused you, and you should also fight to the death to repay the emperor's kindness. ”
And Wen Xiu also wrote a reply without showing weakness: "I am different from your father and grandfather, and I have little contact on weekdays, I have never seen each other once in nine years since I entered the palace, and now you have openly let me endure death in the name of your brother in various newspapers, which is a violation of the law... I hope that my brother will read more legal books in the future and be careful in his words and deeds, so as not to break the law. ”
Puyi was furious and had no choice but to hire two lawyers to handle the divorce lawsuit, and the two eventually reached a divorce agreement in October 1931. The agreement stipulates that after the divorce, Puyi took out 55,000 silver dollars as alimony for Wenxiu, and the two had no further involvement, and Wenxiu could no longer marry others or do things harmful to Puyi's reputation.
The funny thing is that after the two divorced, Puyi also issued a "holy will" at the suggestion of his cronies, abolishing wen embroidery as a commoner.
In this way, Wen Xiu ended his nine-year career as an imperial concubine in name only, and finally gained his freedom.
03 Give up the past and be happy in the end
After the divorce, although Puyi gave a lot of alimony, the lawyers' fees of the three lawyers were also a large expense, and Yufen cheated a sum of money from WenXiu's hands, and wenxiu's hands had little money left.
Wen Xiu decided to return to Beiping to reunite with his family, but after Jiang's death, the family sold the mansion, and Wen Xiu had no choice but to rent a house with Wen Shan.
In order to completely sever ties with the royal family, Wen Xiu restored her scientific name, Fu Yufang, in 1932. Soon, Wen Xiu won a teacher position at a primary school in Beiping, where she taught painting and Chinese.
People are in good spirits, get a beloved position, and Wen Xiu is full of energy in teaching. Although she had no teaching experience, she was very successful.
When The embroidery lecture is thorough, the explanation is eloquent, the board book is neat, the voice is clear, and the students like this teacher Fu.
As Teacher Yang Dai said: "The good things in the world are not strong, and the glass is fragile and scattered." ”
Although Wen Xiu was no longer an imperial concubine, this identity accompanied her all her life and brought her endless pain.
Some good people found that the new Teacher Fu was once Puyi's imperial concubine, so he went out to publicize it, attracting many of the same good people to the school to surround and peep, and Wen Xiu's calm days were once again broken.
In desperation, Wen Xiu had to resign from his beloved teacher's position, and the previously rented house could no longer be lived in, so he took out the last sum of money and bought a house to live in seclusion with his sister Wen Shan.
Even so, people are in a chaotic world, and they are women, and the life of Wenxiu is quite difficult.
Later, Wen Shan married another woman, and Wen Xiu began her solitary career. Wen Xiu regained her interest in Chinese painting, she visited a teacher, began to concentrate on learning, made great progress in technology, and found new joy in life.
However, the good times did not last long, her identity was once again discovered, many people thought that the imperial concubine could live in a strange place, there must be treasures in the home, and they went to the door to harass, but they were all turned away by Wen Xiu.
In 1945, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, through the introduction of enthusiastic friends, Wen Xiu had a second decent job in the North China Daily, where he was responsible for proofreading the newspaper.
Former site of the newspaper
Wen Xiu cherished this hard-won job opportunity, after the July 7 Incident, Peiping fell, where there would be a good life under the rule of the Japanese. The Dog Legs of the Japanese have intensified, extorting and extorting money again and again, and after a few years, Wen Xiu has completely become poor.
In order to survive, she could only sell her physical strength, paste cartons, buy cigarettes, and even disregard her body to become a coolie of the tile team and taste the cold and warmth of the world.
The dawn will always come, and the suffering will pass.
It was gold that would shine everywhere, although it was only a proofreader, the president of the newspaper soon paid attention to this serious new employee, and the talent of Wen Xiu attracted the attention of the president. The president is also a matchmaker for Wen Xiu and Liu Zhendong.
Liu Zhendong was also born into poverty, read a few years of books, and is now in his 40s, a nationalist officer, and has not yet married a wife.
After the introduction of President Zhang, the two soon met. After knowing each other for half a year, Wen Xiu and Liu Zhendong admired each other, were attracted to each other, and decided to get married. After marriage, the husband and wife have a very good relationship, and Wen Xiu finally enjoys a sweet married life.
After the founding of New China in 1949, under the persuasion of Wen Xiu, Liu Zhendong took the initiative to confess his identity as a former officer of the Nationalist Army, and he did not pursue criminal responsibility, but only handed over to the masses for supervision and control.
Later, due to Liu Zhendong's good performance, the supervision and control were quickly lifted, and he was assigned a job. Since then, the two have had a stable source of income, and in order to facilitate Liu Zhendong's work, the two will relocate their family to the Chopping Wood Hutong in Xicheng.
Unfortunately, Wen Xiu suddenly suffered a heart attack in 1953, and when she died, she still confided her true identity to her husband: "I used to be called Wen Xiu, Erdet Wen Xiu, and was once the imperial concubine of the Qing Dynasty. ”
Although Liu Zhendong was shocked to hear this news, he still tightly held Wen Xiu's hands: "I know that your identity is extraordinary, but the truth is that no matter what, you are my beloved wife." Wen Xiu closed his eyes in Liu Zhendong's full of love.
It is worth mentioning that Liu Zhendong did not marry for life after Wen Xiu's death. Wen Xiu received all the love that belonged to her husband.
She was childless and childless in this life, saw the glitz of the end of the dynasty, experienced thrilling palace changes, tasted the hunger and cold of the world, and also harvested the most ordinary happiness in the world and obtained true freedom.