There are two kinds of people in the world, one is the poor and the other is the rich. The poor are worried all day about eating and eating, so they work hard to make money, and the rich people do not worry about eating and wearing, and eating and drinking all day without pressure.
The poor have been diligent all their lives, but they have not lived a good life, so they are ashamed of poverty. Rich people have cherished the taste of the mountains and the sea all their lives, and they do not know what it is like to be poor, so they are hated. But poverty is not shame, and wealth is not a sin.
When the poor and the rich are poor, it's just that things are different. When Lu Xun moved, he also sighed: The poverty of the poor is really poor, and the poor of the rich are swept away and eaten for three years.
The Zhou family declined
Lu Xun's home is xintaimen, a famous wealthy area in Shaoxing and one of the three taimen of the Zhou family. "Taimen" refers to a mansion with high steps. The children who live in Taimen are called "Taimen disciples".
When Lu Xun was thirteen years old, the family suddenly changed, and he had to live in a relative's house, and sometimes he was called a beggar.
Lu Xun's grandfather was named Zhou Fuqing. In the past, people paid attention to the title of the gold list and the bright door, and Zhou Fuqing was the same. Later, Zhou Fuqing passed the examination for the jinshi, although the rank was not high, but it was also a very gratifying thing.
After spending several years in Hanlin Temple, Zhou Fuqing became the Zhi County of Jinxi, Jiangxi. Zhou Fuqing, who became a county magistrate, was not well-liked in the official arena, because he had always been unscrupulous in speech, had a distinct personality, and had no scruples in doing things. Later, after a few years of sitting in Zhixian County's seat, Zhou Fuqing was taken by Shen Baozhen to participate in a "cabinet" and took off the black gauze hat on his head.
Zhou Fuqing was in the sea for nearly a decade, and it was not until 1888 that Zhou Fuqing was actually awarded the title of Cabinet Secretary. In 1893, Zhou Fuqing's mother died of illness, and according to the law of the time, after the death of his parents, officials had to leave their posts to keep filial piety for three years, so Zhou Fuqing returned to his hometown.
After Zhou Fuqing returned home, he was worried about the decadence of the family. Zhou Fuqing thought that he was over fifty years old, and he might not be able to reinstate himself after three years, although his ancestors had left a lot of property, but he could not sit on the mountain and eat the air.
His son is still young, and he is a talent, he should take the meritorious name to inherit his father's business, although several township examinations have not been successful, but this year's township examination examiner Yin Ruzhang is his own old knowledge, why not dredge it. In order to let his son get a meritorious name, he paid a bribe to the examiner, and it was this idea that made the entire Zhou family go in.
On September 7, 1893, Yin Ruzhang's ship docked at the Suzhou dock, and Zhou Fuqing's family went to hand over the letter, but the matter was revealed, and Zhou Fuqing was imprisoned. Hearing this news, the Zhou family sold their property and dredged up relations, only to save Zhou Fuqing's life.
Implicated by Zhou Fuqing, Lu Xun's father was stripped of his status as a Xiucai, and often borrowed wine to dispel his sorrows, and the Zhou family also declined.
Lu Xun's father later became ill, and Lu Xun often took the prescription to the pharmacy to get the medicine, or took something to the pawnshop pawn. In the past, the people around him looked at him with envy and kindness, and his words were also very gentle, but after the fall of the Zhou family, the attitude of the people around him changed by one hundred and eighty degrees, the eyes became cold, the words became cold, and even the face was contemptuous.
Such a gap left an indelible impression on the young Lu Xun's heart, and for the first time he felt the lack of sincere sympathy and love between people.
Until many years later, Lu Xun still did not forget this, he said: "Who has fallen from a well-off family into a difficult situation, I think that in this way, you can probably see the true face of the world." ”
In the author's opinion, although the Zhou family is poor, the skinny camels are bigger than the horses, and the children of the Zhou family can also pawn the goods in the family in exchange for a few silver. The real poverty is that Kuang Heng could not afford to buy lamp oil because of poverty, so he had to chisel the wall to steal the light. As Lu Xun said, the poor are really poor, the rich are poor, sweeping the cracks can still eat for three years.
Lu Xun moved
Before Zhou Fuqing had an accident, the lives of other families were miserable, but Lu Xun's family was the best in Xintaimen.
Later, the family could not maintain it, so they had to split up. When their respective lands were sold out, the families united to sell the sacrificial fields, and when the sacrificial fields were sold out, they joined forces to sell the great mansions of Xintaimen, which was enough to sell twelve thousand oceans. When Lu Xun's younger brother saw the situation, he couldn't help but sigh: The tree is scattered, and this generation is already the descendants of the last days.
Although the Zhou family has declined, the solidity of the family is also unimaginable to ordinary people. When Lu Xun moved, the old goods merchants rushed to buy the old things, and Lu Xun, who was busy moving, took two loads of calligraphy and paintings and sold them to the old bookstore, selling a total of ten yuan.
The calligraphy and paintings of ten yuan and two quintals are not waste paper, but some calligraphy and paintings of Xu Wei, Zhao Zhiqian, Ren Bonian and others. There are also paintings of Zhao Mengfu in Lu Xun's home, but they were taken away in the chaos.
Think about it carefully, Xu Wei, the founder of the "Splash Ink Freehand Painting School", Zhao Zhiqian, the pioneer of the "Maritime Painting School", Ren Bonian, one of the "Four Masters of the Hai School", and Zhao Mengfu, one of the "Four Masters of the Kaishu School", the paintings of these people are now auctioned at a great value, not to mention that Zhao Mengfu's paintings are already sky-high figures today, while Lu Xun has sold them for ten yuan and two quintals. There are still three thousand nails in the broken ship, and although the rich are poor, their foundation is really deep.
The two brothers have a conflict
In 1919, when Lu Xun's family moved out of Xintaimen, Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren already had jobs, and both Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren were working in universities, but one was part-time and the other was a formal job. At that time, university professors were well paid, and Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren often wrote articles and translated famous works from abroad, earning hundreds of oceans in a month.
Later, Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren took out their savings for many years and the thousand oceans from the sale of the house, and bought a courtyard in Badaowan Hutong in Beijing, with more than thirty rooms, a courtyard and a garden, although it could not be compared with the big house, it was also comfortable to live.
At that time, Shusaku married the Japanese Hatta Nobuko, and in order to make Hatta Nobuko's living in the courtyard comfortable, some of the rooms were Japanese style. Lu Xun did not like to take care of money and wealth, and his wife Zhu An could not read big characters, so Lu Xun consulted with Zhou Zuoren and jointly handed over the property of the two to Yu Taixinzi to take care of.
However, Yu Tai Nobuko was not a worry-free lord, and after she grasped the economic power, she invited a large number of servants, and when she went out, she had to pick up the car and send it, and she was profligate and extremely defeated. Not only that, Yu Taixinzi often lost his temper for no reason, and even provoked the brotherly relationship between Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren, which eventually led to contradictions between the two brothers.
At the beginning, Lu Xun put up with Yu Taixinzi again and again, but he couldn't stand the fact that this woman became more and more intense, and over time, Lu Xun could no longer bear it, and then moved out of the courtyard with his mother and wife.
Since then, Lu Xun has gained a lot of money by writing, and it is no longer a matter of supporting his family, although his life is not considered to be rich and noble, but it is also regarded as a well-off level.
brief summary
From Lu Xun's experience, what he said is really good, the poor are really poor, the rich are poor, sweeping the floor and eating for three years. But whether it is the poor or the rich, only by being down-to-earth can they walk through their lives safely, otherwise they will end up with a tragic end like Zhou Fuqing, and they will not be able to pay for the loss of an entire family.