After the victory of the Xinhai Revolution, Sun Wen was elected as the provisional president of the Republic of China, and his wife Lu Muzhen, who shared happiness and hardships, became the envy of everyone as the "mother of the Republic of China". However, she stayed in Nanjing for 20 days before returning to the village, and later waited for Sun Wen's divorce application. What's going on here?
(Lu Muzhen)
First, the daughter-in-law of the little foot who is cold.
On May 26, 1885, the sun family's old residence in Cuiheng Village, Xiangshan County, Guangzhou Province, Guangdong Province, was full of joy. As soon as the people who came to Hexi entered the door, they saw that on the couplets on both sides, there were eight gilded characters written on them: "Long hair and its auspiciousness, the fifth generation and its prosperity". It turned out that this day was the big day of Sun Wen, the second son of the Sun family. The new daughter-in-law, Lu Muzhen, is 1 year younger than Sun Wen and is the eldest daughter of lu Yaoxian, a fellow villager of the Yang clan.
Lu Yaoxian is an American overseas Chinese, he originally had a slight ancestral inheritance in his family, and when he was young, he wanted to study and enter the army. Helplessly, he failed the exam for a long time, so he traveled to Honolulu in the United States to learn to do business. The wealth is increasing, and the Lu family is gradually getting richer.
In fact, in the early years, the Sun family was not rich, but since the eldest son, Sun Mei, came to Honolulu in the United States to reclaim the famine and began to operate agriculture and animal husbandry and commerce, the Sun family's family became richer and richer day by day. By the time Sun Wen got married, the Sun family was in Cuiheng Village, and it was already a solid family.
In the view of the grandmother, the Lu family and the Sun family are economically equivalent, the portal is matched, and Lu Muzhen's age is also similar to Sun Wen. The most rare thing is that Lu Muzhen is a model figure cultivated according to the standards of old-fashioned women. Although she was thin and had a dark complexion, her small feet were very well wrapped. In addition, she also has the virtues of virtuousness, knowledge, and general good character. Therefore, the grandmother Yang Shi made the decision and booked this marriage for Sun Wen.
In fact, there is a reason why the Sun family is anxious to find a daughter-in-law for Sun Wen. This matter has to be said to his eldest brother Sun Mei.
In 1877, Sun Mei, who had become a rich man in Honolulu, returned to his hometown to marry relatives and prepared to take his parents to Honolulu for support. However, his father, Sun Cheng, resolutely refused to go along on the grounds of old age. Therefore, sun mei returned to Honolulu with her mother and younger brother Sun Wen after marriage.
then. Sun Wen has been reading books in the private school in the countryside for 7 years, and he can write and calculate.
Sun Mei initially asked him to apprentice at the rice shop, hoping that he would take the road of business in the future. However, Sun Wen had no interest in doing business and proposed that he wanted to continue his studies. Sun Mei, who had always loved his brother, sent Sun Wen to the best local church school to let him receive an education.
What Sun Mei did not expect was that although Sun Wen had excellent grades in all subjects in the church school, sun Wen actually had a strong interest in Christianity due to the strong religious atmosphere of the school. This made Sun Mei very uneasy, so he transferred him to another aristocratic school. As a result, it still does not change Sun Wen's desire to become a Christian believer. When the persuasion was ineffective, Sun Mei had to force him to withdraw from school and send him back to China.
Unexpectedly, Sun Wen, who was influenced by Christian thought, returned to Cuiheng Village, not only publicized Christian doctrine to the villagers, but also destroyed the idol in the North Pole Temple of the village temple, which caused public anger.
In order to appease the angry villagers, the Sun family had to pay for the restoration of the idol and said all the good things to the villagers, so that the villagers did not continue to pursue the matter. As for Sun Wen, the family was very worried that he would cause another catastrophe and had to temporarily send him to Hong Kong Central College to study.
In Hong Kong, lacking the constraints of his father and brother, Sun Wen finally became a Christian and set his ambition to become a missionary.
In early 1885, Sun Mei was uneasy that Sun Wen was alone in Hong Kong, and called him to Honolulu so that he could discipline him nearby. Unexpectedly, at this time, Sun Wen had greatly increased the world and had his own opinion. In the face of Sun Mei's discipline, he became more and more unwilling to give in. The relationship between the brothers is getting weaker and weaker. After an argument, Sun Wen simply did not say goodbye and returned to Cuiheng Village.
Sun Mei, who had no way to do anything about Sun Wen, was in this situation that he remitted a large amount of money to his family. On the one hand, it was used as a tuition fee for Sun Wen, on the other hand, Sun Mei suggested that his parents quickly marry Sun Wen. It is hoped that after Sun Wen gets married, he will be bound by his family and take responsibility and will not continue to be willful.
The grandmother Yang Shi thought that the eldest son's suggestion was very reasonable, so she looked around, and finally chose Lu Muzhen, who was a sage.
In fact, at this time, Sun Wen, because he had studied and lived abroad for a period of time, had already understood the importance of freedom of marriage and freedom of thought. He was disgusted by China's decadent feudal etiquette. But in those days, the freedom of marriage was a violation of customs, not only insulting the family, but also spurned by the world. Coupled with the fact that Sun Wen has always been filial to his parents, he did not disobey his parents.
After Lu Muzhen got married, she worked hard, filial piety and love for the young, and the Sun family loved her very much, and Sun Mei, as the eldest brother, gave her a gold bracelet and a string of gemstone necklaces.
Unfortunately, Sun Wen was very cold to Lu Muzhen, and after only 3 months at home, he returned to Hong Kong Central College to study.
Sun Wen
Second, slow-burning feelings.
In 1886, Sun Wen, who knew more about the world, began to have the ambition to save the country and the people. He believed that "medicine is also the art of saving people", so he gave up the idea of being a missionary and successively studied medicine at the South China Medical Hall affiliated to Guangzhou Boji Hospital and the Hong Kong Western Medical College.
Sun Wenqin studied well, and only during the holidays would he go home to meet Lu Muzhen. Even so, the two were polite and did not have the slightest love of young couples.
For Sun Wen's indifferent attitude, Lu Muzhen did not complain. She was a woman who grew up under the influence of feudal etiquette, and did not read much, so she did not care about Sun Wen's coldness. As long as Sun Wen returned from vacation, she took serious care of Sun Wen's life and life, and sewed new shoes and clothes for Sun Wen with an exquisite female red.
In fact, not only Sun Wen's clothes, shoes and socks, but also the wearing of her in-laws and mother-in-law are also worried about by her.
In 1888, his father became seriously ill. After Sun Wen and Sun Mei got the news, they gave up their work and studies and returned to their hometowns to visit. During that period, Lu Muzhen did not wear clothes every day, offered soup and medicine in front of the sickbed, and almost reached the point where he and her father-in-law were almost inseparable. This made Sun Mei praise this sister-in-law greatly, and Sun Wen was also very touched by Lu Muzhen's selfless efforts.
Since then, Sun Wen has gradually gained a deep understanding of Lu Muzhen and has slowly developed feelings for her. Whenever Sun Wen was away, he inevitably had to write a letter to Lu Muzhen, and the letter also had a lot of concern for her.
In 1891, Lu Muzhen, who had been married for 7 years, gave birth to the eldest son. Sun Ke's birth made Sun Wen very happy, at that time he had already graduated from the Western Medical College and practiced medicine in Macau and Guangzhou. Due to the precarious life and the elderly need to be cared for by her parents, Lu Muzhen still stays in Cuiheng Village. In addition to practicing medicine, Sun Wen often went home to visit.
In 1894, Lu Muzhen gave birth to her eldest daughter, Sun Jiao, in Cuiheng Village. At that time, Sun Wen was already practicing medicine at a Western medicine bureau in Macau. In order to take care of Sun Wen's life and for the sake of family reunion, Lu Muzhen moved to Macau with 3-year-old Sun Ke and Sun Jiao, who was still swaddling.
This year, the Qing army was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War. As the supreme ruler, Empress Dowager Cixi, despite the fact that China was already in a precarious situation of semi-colonization, actually labored the people and money soon after the defeat of the war, and held a grand birthday celebration for her 60th birthday.
The Qing government's disregard for the lives and deaths of the people caused anger and resentment, and Sun Wen, who had long been very dissatisfied with the Qing government, could not sit idly by. He wrote to Li Hongzhang in the hope of carrying out drastic reforms. However, his claim to save the country did not receive a response from the Qing government.
Disappointed, Sun Wen made a grand ambition to "overthrow the Qing government and establish a republic".
In order to open up the revolutionary cause, Sun Wen closed the pharmacy and sent Lu Muzhen and a pair of children back to Cuiheng Village. He traveled to Honolulu to secretly create the Xingzhong Society. His ideas on democratic revolution were quickly echoed by patriotic overseas Chinese, and the revolutionary contingent continued to grow.
Sun Mei was very appreciative of his younger brother Sun Wen's approach, and in order to support the revolutionary cause, Sun Mei gradually sold the shops, farms and houses he had accumulated over the years, and gave the proceeds to Sun Wen to buy guns and ammunition and form a revolutionary team. In this way, the life of the Sun family, who had been living on Sun Mei to send money, was bound to be greatly affected, and their lives were not as good as before.
Although Lu Muzhen did not understand what Sun Wen was talking about as a revolution, she understood the great righteousness and was very supportive of her husband's cause. At that time, the Sun family, the men were running around, in addition to the elderly is a child, Lu Muzhen in order to save money, with his own strength, to undertake heavy housework. Despite the hardships, the grandmother Yang Shi was still served very well by Lu Muzhen, and it can be said that Weng Gu and her young children lived very peacefully under Lu Muzhen's careful care.
A small-footed daughter-in-law, originally inconvenient to walk, but still have to do things from morning to night every day, and can not get a trace of liberation. But Lu Muzhen did not complain and always did it with all her might.
Whenever the night is quiet, she thinks of her husband who is running around, and she can't help but worry about her husband's safety and life, and often can't sleep at night. But in her letter to Sun Wen, she never said that she was hard, but only told Sun Wen that everything was fine at home, so that he could devote all his energy to the revolutionary cause.
Lu Muzhen's filial piety and virtuousness and not afraid of hard work also made the townspeople respect her very much. Historical records record her as follows: "Filial piety and honor, smell of the township party." ”
3. Family members who have been implicated.
However, the revolution was never a dinner party. If you want to struggle, there will be sacrifices.
In 1895, Sun Wen returned to Guangzhou, where he established the Guangzhou branch of the Xingzhong Association.
Subsequently, Sun Wen united with the JianghuHui Party and launched the first anti-Qing armed uprising. Unfortunately, due to someone informing, the uprising was brutally suppressed by the Qing army before the first shot was fired. Not only were Lu Haodong, Zhu Guiquan, and other revolutionary volunteers tortured to death by nailing and interfering in their feet, but the Qing army also went around frantically arresting revolutionaries in an attempt to wipe them out.
As the leader of the revolution, Sun Wen naturally became the number one criminal wanted by the Qing government. The situation was critical, and Sun Wen could not tell his family the news, so he fled from Guangzhou and then went into exile from Macau to Japan.
However, although Sun Wen escaped, the Sun family was in danger.
At that time, after Receiving the order, Xiangshan Zhixian immediately sent officials and troops to arrest the Sun family.
At this time, the Sun family already knew that the Guangzhou uprising had failed, and Sun Wen had become the news of the most wanted criminal. The family was panicked and helpless. After all, the rebellion will not only kill the head, but also be connected to the Nine Tribes. Time was pressing, and Lu Muzhen immediately packed up his softness and prepared to flee with everyone.
Unexpectedly, when Lu Muzhen packed up and was preparing to take everyone out, the officers and soldiers had already appeared outside the gate.
In fact, the officers and soldiers did not come very quickly. Before this, due to the clerical error of the Yamen scribe, "CuiHeng Village" was written as "Cui Wei Village". As a result, the officers and soldiers first went to Cuiwei Village, and after hearing that the surname Sun lived in Cuiheng Village, they rushed to Cuiheng Village with a fierce spirit. But it just happened to block the Sun family at home.
In the face of the menacing Qing army, the Sun family became more and more frightened. Instead, Lu Muzhen was calm and calm, collecting the gold jewelry and silver money of the women in the family, bribing the officials and soldiers, and saying endless good words. The greedy officers and soldiers only then withdrew their troops, and when they returned, they prevaricated Zhi County on the grounds that "there was no such person".
Of course, prevarication is only a stopgap measure. For the brutal Qing government, as long as Sun Wen is not caught for a day, Sun Wen's family cannot be spared for a day. Therefore, Lu Muzhen thought about going, and only by taking a family of old and young, running to Honolulu to run to the eldest brother Sun Mei, could he avoid disaster. Fortunately, at that time, the members of the Xingzhong Association happened to return to their hometown to do business, so Lu Muzhen entrusted him to take care of it, so he took the family and arrived safely in Honolulu by steamship, and reunited with Sun Mei after a long farewell. The family lamented the misfortune they had suffered.
(Sun Mei)
Fourth, work hard to become the mother of the country.
In December 1895, Sun Wen, who had already opened up a new revolutionary cause in Japan, also came to Honolulu.
When he saw that the family was safe and sound under Lu Muzhen's care, he couldn't help but be grateful to Lu Muzhen. But the revolution has not yet succeeded, and it is far from the time for reunion. Therefore, Sun Wen only lived at home for a few days, and then went to Europe to continue his revolutionary activities.
In October 1896, Lu Muzhen gave birth to a young daughter, Sun Wan.
Shortly after she gave birth to her daughter, it is said that Sun Wen was arrested and imprisoned by the minister in London, England, and his life and death are uncertain.
Soon after, the news of Sun Wen's death came again. This terrible news made Lu Muzhen mourn more than once, and he wanted to commit suicide several times. Fortunately, Sun Mei and others were on the side to enlighten and inquire about the news. After learning that Sun Wen had been released on bail and restored to freedom, Lu Muzhen turned from sadness to joy.
In 1904, due to a new regulation by the local government, the use of Honolulu land was completely nationalized, which greatly damaged the interests of ranchers like Sun Mei. Although Sun Mei communicated with the local government several times, it was to no avail. As a result, the ranch that had been operating for decades was no longer his own. Worse still, since most of his property was used to support the revolutionary cause, the family's life became increasingly difficult.
After bankruptcy, Sun Mei had no choice but to move to Hong Kong with his family.
But life there still hasn't improved.
However, Lu Muzhen had already tasted the hardships of life. And the miserable life also taught her how to cope strongly, at that time she not only had to take care of housework, she always took time to do some female red, entrusted people to sell it for oil and salt, in order to supplement the family. The hardships of life are still tolerable, but when she thinks of her husband who is far away and her son who is studying abroad, she can't help but burst into tears.
In 1910, her grandmother died of illness.
After Lu Muzhen buried her grandmother, she heard that Sun Wen was in Penang, Nanyang, so she took her two daughters to Penang and finally reunited with Sun Wen's family.
However, because Sun Wen was still a wanted criminal by the Qing government, the Nanyang authorities expelled him on the grounds that "organizing a revolution among overseas Chinese would affect local public order." Sun Wen had to bid farewell to his wife and daughter and go into exile in Europe again. Lo Mu Zhen and her two daughters remained in Penang. With no financial resources, life has become increasingly difficult. Fortunately, the local overseas Chinese raised 100 yuan a month as their living expenses, which allowed them to barely survive.
In February 1912, Deng Zeru, a Nanyang revolutionary, visited Lu Muzhen and told her that after the victory of the Xinhai Revolution, Sun Wen, as the leader of the revolution, had been elected as the provisional president of the Republic of China and took office in Nanjing.
The purpose of Deng Zeru's visit was to escort Lu Muzhen to Nanjing to reunite with Sun Wen.
After a week of drifting at sea, the ship finally arrived in Shanghai. There, Lu Muzhen was warmly welcomed by Chen Qimei, the governor of the Shanghai Army, and a group of revolutionaries. What makes Lu Muzhen very happy is that her son Sun Ke, who has been separated from her for many years, is also among them.
Accompanied by Sun Ke, Lu Muzhen and her two daughters soon met Sun Wen in Nanjing.
At this time, Lu Muzhen was 45 years old. Looking back on 28 years of marriage that gathered less and left more, she was overwhelmed with emotion. What she did not expect was that at this time, she was not only Sun Wen's wife, but also the "mother of the country" who was highly admired by the Chinese people.
(Lu Muzhen and Sun Wen)
Fifth, the last time to get together.
Many people believe that after Lu Muzhen's wife became the "mother of the country" by virtue of her husband, she was bound to enjoy endless glory and wealth after that, and she was very envious of her. But no one expected that this "mother of the nation" had only lived in Nanjing for more than 20 days, and she resolutely returned to Cuiheng Village alone, regardless of the retention of everyone.
It turned out that although Lu Muzhen came to Sun Wen's side, he still faced many difficulties due to the revolutionary cause, such as the Qing government had just abdicated under the persuasion of Yuan Shikai, and Yuan Shikai, who controlled the Beiyang army, constantly exerted pressure on the revolutionary party. For example, the Western powers are also eager to find a political puppet and press forward step by step. Therefore, in order to cope with the complicated situation every day, Sun Wen had to spend all his time on official affairs, and had almost no time to meet with Lu Muzhen.
Also, for the identity of the "mother of the country", Lu Muzhen has always been very unaccustomed. When she had to stiffen her scalp and accompany Sun Wen to political activities, in the political arena where the VIPs were like clouds, she could not understand what the topic of sun Wen and those people was talking about. At the same time, the little feet that she had been proud of also made her ashamed of herself at this moment. Her woodenness and lack of insight made her mentally tortured on that occasion.
In the more than 20 days of living in Nanjing, Lu Muzhen, who is isolated by nature, rarely showed her face. She found that she seemed to be able to play the role of "wife". At this time, however, the husband needs not only a wife, but also a virtuous helper who can help him politically and careerally.
After thinking about it, Lu Muzhen retreated in spite of the persuasion of everyone and went straight back to the old residence of the Sun family in Cuiheng Village.
Soon after, Lu Muzhen wrote a letter to Sun Wen. In the letter, she expressed the hope that Sun Wen could marry another intelligent woman who understood politics and the country as a concubine, and she would definitely be worthy of her as a sister.
For Lu Muzhen's suggestion, Sun Wen did not comment. Because I didn't know how to answer, I never wrote back to her.
In 1912, Yuan Shikai, who had already served as president, appointed Sun Wen as the national railway inspector in order to win over Sun Wen, who had given way to him. In order to develop industry and raise foreign capital to build railway trunk lines, Sun Wen went to Japan to investigate the status of industry and railways and raise funds.
Under Yuan Shikai's arrangement, Lu Muzhen and his second daughter also went with him. They were very warmly welcomed in Japan, and the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun published a large report entitled "Sun Yat-sen's Visit to Osaka", and at the same time published a report entitled "Mrs. Sun Yat-sen's Visit", in which they described in detail the meeting and itinerary of Lu Muzhen and Sun Wen in Osaka.
Although Lu Muzhen, who was influenced by feudal etiquette, was extremely uncomfortable with this kind of appearance, she never expected that this would be the last time she and Sun Wen would reunite.
(Song Qingling and Sun Wen)
Goodbye sir.
In 1913, after the defeat of the Second Revolution, under the direction of Yuan Shikai, the revolutionaries were persecuted by the Beiyang government. In desperation, Sun Wen had to go into exile in Japan again. Shortly after Sun Wen arrived in Japan, his revolutionary partner Song Yaoru was also forced to move his family to Japan for refuge. Because the two were originally close friends, when they were in Japan, the two often discussed the grand plan of building the country together, and Sun Wen became a frequent visitor to the Song family.
It was at the Song family that Sun Wen met Song Qingling, who was only 20 years old.
At that time, Song Qingling had graduated from the Westrian Women's University in the United States. Song Xiaoling, who had been Sun Wen's secretary, was about to marry Kong Xiangxi in Yokohama, so he recommended Song Qingling to succeed her and continue to be Sun Wen's secretary.
As early as childhood, Song Qingling had heard her father say many great deeds of Sun Wen, and in her heart, she had long admired Sun Wen. In the subsequent work contact, she gradually developed a love affair with Sun Wen.
For Sun Wen, Song Qingling, whether in knowledge or cognition, has a common language with him, and the two have a common heart and love each other. However, Sun Wen also knew that Song Qingling was a Christian and practiced monogamy. With Lu Muzhen, it was impossible for him to marry Song Qingling.
But at this time, Sun Wen found that he was inseparable from Song Qingling. After thinking about it, he had to write a letter to Lu Muzhen, hoping that Lu Muzhen could go to Japan to discuss divorce matters and explain the reasons for divorce to Lu Muzhen.
For an old-fashioned woman, divorce is tantamount to a great humiliation in life, not only will it be laughed at, but it will also be despised for life. When Lu Xun and Xu Guangping were together, Zhu An was still reluctant to leave the Zhou family, obviously because she had always been afraid of falling into shame.
Like Juan, Lu Muzhen did not take her face very seriously. Because of this, she was extremely aggrieved, and even complained to her eldest sister-in-law, why do you have to divorce, can't you take a concubine?
But Lu Muzhen was more open-minded than Juan, and she thought about it a lot and couldn't help but sigh:
I can't stop you from running to someone better, and the only thing I can do is support all your decisions. Goodbye sir!
”
Subsequently, she replied to Sun Wen with only a "can" in the letter.
In September 1915, the 48-year-old Lu Muzhen, accompanied by his daughter, went to Tokyo, Japan, and met her husband Sun Wen, who had been married for 31 years. Hu Hanmin, Zhu Zhixin, and other members of the League, learned that Lu Muzhen's visit was to handle divorce with Sun Wen, and they vigorously opposed it, and they spoke for Lu Muzhen one after another, hoping that the two would not sever the marriage relationship that had lasted for decades.
In the face of the kindness of the crowd, although Lu Muzhen was moved, he instead persuaded everyone:
I don't have enough common sense, I don't know English, I have my feet tied, and it is inconvenient to move, how can I help Sir? Since the existing person is willing to take care of his life, I am willing to fulfill it, and from now on, I hope that Mr. and I will find a good person.
Just over a month after the divorce, the 49-year-old Sun Wen married the young, beautiful and learned Song Qingling.
Lu Muzhen moved to Macau, and in the years that followed, Lu Muzhen, who had never married for the rest of his life, never saw Sun Wen again. Even when Sun Wen died, no one remembered to invite her to the funeral.
In 1952, Lu Muzhen completed her lonely duckweed life.
For an old-fashioned woman, the subordination to her husband is the golden rule by which they maintain their marriage. It's just that in this world, most of the women who have paid their hearts and forgotten themselves are mostly the bitter lords of fate.
No wonder some people sigh after learning about Lu Muzhen's life:
The world knows that the mountain is happy, and no one knows about Lu's sorrow.