When it comes to Lu Xiaoman smoking opium, the first victim that people think of is Xu Zhimo. Because he could not afford Lu Xiaoman's high consumption, Xu Zhimo ran around, in order to save travel expenses, took a cheap and risky plane, and finally died young because of a plane crash.
Where did Lu Xiaoman's opium come from? Why didn't Xu Zhimo stop her from smoking opium? Many scholars who have studied Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman believe that Lu Xiaoman's opium smoking was lured by Weng Ruiwu, and he wanted to make Lu Xiaoman inseparable from him in this way.
Picture | Lu Xiaoman and Weng Duanwu
Weng Ruiwu's daughter Weng Xiangguang once came out to explain: Lu Xiaoman smoked opium was the first thing her mother asked her to try, and her mother herself would smoke. Weng Ruiwu also smoked opium because of Lu Xiaoman's encouragement.
No matter how Weng Xiangguang explained, when Xu Zhimo was trying to persuade Lu Xiaoman to pick up his spirits and run around for a long time without being home, it was Weng Ruiwu who sent opium to Lu Xiaoman; after Xu Zhimo's unexpected death, it was also Weng Ruiwu who paid for Lu Xiaoman to buy opium.
In Lu Xiaoman's later years, Weng Ruiwu was her cohabitant and the person she relied on, but if there was love between the two, it was another matter.
I. "Treating the sick, there is nothing to avoid suspicion"
Weng Ruiwu was a protégé of Weng Tongqi and the governor of Wuzhou, Guangxi.
Weng Ruiwu is a talented man, and even if he can't be mixed into an artist today, he can be a versatile collector. He can play Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, and Commentary, and is also good at writing books and Xiao Kai, loving to play with flowers and plants, and exporting poems into chapters. He loves to collect and has a deep friendship with Zhang Daqian, Zhao Mianyun and others.
But now, he left the world with only "drama" and "masseuse".
Lu Xiaoman liked to sing when he was in Beijing, and when he came to Shanghai, he quickly met his ticket friend Weng Ruiwu.
Weng Ruiwu once studied tuina with the famous doctor Ding Fengshan, saying that it was the true inheritance of Ding Lao's Dantian luck. Weng Ruiwu's tuina is very famous, and many Kunling will also look for him to see a doctor.
Lu Xiaoman's health is very bad, when the old disease occurs, he can't eat rice, only eat rice noodles, often faint for no reason, lose his temper at every turn, and lose weight day by day. Xu Zhimo invited Weng Ruiwu to see his wife, and Weng Ruiwu's massage technique was indeed "people to get rid of the disease".
Pictured| Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman
Lu Xiaoman's temper is much better, the whole person's state is better, Xu Zhimo is also much more relaxed, even if Lu Xiaoman is not sick, he will ask Weng Rui to come to the house to play.
Weng Ruiwu is very talkative and has a wide range of knowledge, often making Lu Xiaoman laugh continuously. Xu Zhimo likes the lively atmosphere in his home, and he also hopes that Weng Ruiwu can accompany Lu Xiaoman more.
Lu Xiaoman's daughter He Lingyan recalled that during that time, Xu Zhimo was rarely at home, usually Lu Xiaoman smoked, and only slept at dawn, Xu Zhimo did not smoke, he hid behind Lu Xiaoman and snoozed.
The work and rest time of the two is completely different, Xu Zhimo is not like the host of this family, but like a less important guest, and the emotional communication with Lu Xiaoman is getting less and less.
But Weng Ruiwu came every day, the family was full of the voices of him and Lu Xiaoman laughing, and people who did not know entered this room would think that Weng Ruiwu was the man of this family.
When He Lingyan recognized Xu Zhimo as a dry father, he also recognized Weng Ruiwu as a dry father.
A song and a harmony on the stage, and the stage often meets below, and soon after, friends are also speculating about whether the two have an ambiguous relationship.
Picture | Lu Xiaoman
Xu Zhimo himself, on the other hand, seemed very open-minded, at least not showing a little jealousy to the outside world. He thinks that he and Lu Xiaoman are true love, and that there is friendship between Lu Xiaoman and Weng Ruiwu, so even if Lu and Weng are in the same room, he is also very calm, and feels that a good man should not prohibit or restrict his wife from making male friends.
"It's a medical treatment, nothing suspicious." Xu Zhimo explained to his friend like this.
At that time, all the rumors were limited to a small number of friends, but after Lu Xiaoman and Weng Ruiwu put together a play "Yutang Spring", the private space of Xu Zhimo, Lu Xiaoman and Weng Ruiwu was all exposed to the world.
II. "Stringing out uncomfortable "rotten" plays"
In early December 1927, the Shanghai Art Society Tianma Club held a two-day performance at the Xia Ling Pike Theater, and Lu Xiaoman performed two plays.
The first day was to co-perform "Yutang Spring" with Weng Ruiwu, Xu Zhimo and Jiang Xiaohu, and the second day was to co-perform "Qi Shuanghui" with the famous Kunling Qin Qiufang.
Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman have been living in Shanghai for more than a year, and their marriage is quite legendary, and there are many citizens who come to see the play for these two people, and many reporters of big newspapers and tabloids are blocked in the background.
Originally, there was no problem with Weng Ruiwu appearing as a good friend and this little couple, and the blame was that Lu Xiaoman played Su San and Weng Ruiwu played Wang Jinlong.
In this drama, Wang Jinlong fell in love with Hua Kui Su San at first sight, and after many ups and downs, Wang Jinlong finally married Su San as his wife.
Weng Ruiwu is Lu Xiaoman's "official match", while Xu Zhimo plays Xie Cha Chonggong. After the play was performed, the comments of the newspaper media focused on Weng Ruiwu and Lu Xiaoman, saying that they had a very tacit understanding, and even came up with such a comment: (Lu Xiaoman) The prince of Ruiwu was matched, and he suddenly felt a lot of color.
Someone asked Tang Ying's impression of Lu Xiaoman in "Yutang Spring", and she said: "The appearance is beautiful, the singing is also good, and a few 'adult Rong Yu' sounds make people blossom." ”
Pictured| Weng Ruiwu
Whether Tang Ying said that this "heart blossoming" means that the audience is full of flowers or Weng Gongzi is full of flowers, we don't know. But this sentence is enough to make people have unlimited reverie.
Xu Zhimo really didn't care about Lu Xiaoman and Weng Ruiwu getting closer, but he cared about people's gossip.
The combination of Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman was not under the blessing of friends and family.
Lu Xiaoman's ex-husband Wang Geng was a Kuomintang general, and he and Lu Xiaoman were in the right household and had a deep affection for his wife. But Wang Geng was a very decent soldier, did not know what is called wind and snow, only knew how to take money home to spend on his wife. He also saw Lu Xiaoman's loneliness after marriage, so he asked his friend Xu Zhimo to talk to his wife.
Wang Geng originally thought that the two literary and art circles would have some common topics. He also did not expect that their common topic would become: how to let Lu Xiaoman successfully divorce and Xu Zhimo together.
After Wang Geng learned that his wife had cheated on his friend, he let go very happily, and when Xu and Lu got married, Wang Geng also gave a big gift.
At the wedding of Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman, Xu Zhimo's mentor Liang Qichao severely reprimanded them for their infidelity to the marriage and warned them to keep their duties in this marriage.
And Xu Zhimo's parents, because they could not stand Lu Xiaoman's willfulness and contrivance, preferred to live with Xu Zhimo's ex-wife Zhang Youyi, and cut off Xu Zhimo's living expenses in a rage.
Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman came to Shanghai, an avant-garde and tolerant city, but the citizens of Shanghai under the lights and greenery are still traditional and conservative.
"Yutang Spring" seemed to let people witness Xu Zhimo become another "Wang Geng", and suddenly there were all kinds of sayings, which quickly reached Xu Zhimo's ears.
One day, Xu Zhimo went home with a tabloid called "Sherlock Holmes", on which there was a very vulgar article "Sister Wu Massaged a Greasy Friend", the words and sentences were incomprehensible, this Big Sister Wu obviously referred to Lu Xiaoman, and Yu Xinma referred to Xu Zhimo.
Pictured| Wang Geng
The four main actors of "Yutang Spring" sat down and talked well, and Xu Zhimo decided to sue "Sherlock Holmes". But the person who came forward to hire a lawyer was Weng Ruiwu.
On 11 January 1926, the court held a public hearing of the case.
The audience was full of people who came to see the liveliness, all from Shanghai's cultural circles. Originally a tabloid article, after such a fuss, Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman heard someone pointing behind their backs as soon as they arrived: "Is this Yu Xinma?" Sister Wu is so pretty! No wonder it's restless! ”
Xu Zhimo and his wife were confident that they could win this lawsuit, but they did not expect that the final judgment result was: it was rejected in court, and if they wanted to claim compensation for damages to reputation, they should file a separate lawsuit with the civil court.
This is Xu Zhimo's great shame, but he has no pain to say, and wrote in his diary:
I wanted to go alone to a remote church on the winter solstice to listen to a few folds of Christmas songs, but instead I put on my bloated robes and went to the stage to perform uncomfortable "rotten" plays.
And Lu Xiaoman lost his temper after this case, dropping things at home every day. She seems to have changed into a person, no longer singing on stage, and no longer keen to be a "social star". However, she still walked very close to Weng Ruiwu, listening to the drama together and holding the horn together.
Picture | Lu Xiaoman's dramatic appearance
Later, the media also rarely pointed out Lu Xiaoman's private life, most of which would reflect the harmony of marriage between Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman.
However, this farce has turned the scandal into a well-known scandal, and in October 1928, the "Friends of Lianyi" published "The New Shadow of the Famous Ticket Friend Weng RuiWu", next to Lu Xiaoman's inscription: Save of Mianyun's cousin, Weng Ruiwu Gift, Peng Chen July, when he was thirty years old, Xiao Man played a pen.
It was this little thing that the streets and alleys began to talk about their rights and wrongs again.
III. "Why Did You Hold On to My Father?"
Lu Xiaoman's expenses are large, and Xu Zhimo has a hard time providing her. Husbands run around all day, wearing old clothes and shoes, glasses are not willing to change, Lu Xiaoman still lives a luxurious life, there are many servants in the family, she also likes to buy things, when buying only care about likes, never look at the price.
Once Lu Xiaoman complained to Yu Dafu's wife, Wang Yingxia, "I spend at least 500 yuan a month on Yinyang, sometimes as high as 600 yuan." This family is difficult, I really can't be. ”
When Xu Zhimo really couldn't come up with money, Weng Rui would take the initiative to send money to their family to solve their urgent needs.
To tell the truth, so far there is no evidence to prove that Weng Ruiwu had an unclear relationship with Lu Xiaoman before Xu Zhimo's death, and he is actually a "selfless confidant".
He began to support his family at the age of 22, and he had 5 children to support, but as long as Lu Xiaoman asked for money, he would not refuse. Sometimes Weng Ruiwu's home can't be turned around, he will sell the antique calligraphy and paintings in the family, and he can pay for Lu Xiaoman regardless of everything.
Therefore, even though the gossip outside has drowned Xu Zhimo, he is still very kind to Weng Ruiwu and really regards him as a friend.
In November 1931, Xu Zhimo was preparing to go to Beijing via Nanjing, and before leaving, he met with Weng Rui and asked him to take good care of Lu Xiaoman for a while, and Weng Ruiwu solemnly agreed.
In order to save money, Xu Zhimo took a free postal small plane and later crashed in Shandong.
According to Zhang Youyi's recollection, in the middle of the night that day, the messenger first went to Lu Xiaoman's apartment in Shanghai, but Lu Xiaoman could not accept it and drove the person away. The messenger had to go to Zhang Youyi, and Zhang Youyi slowed down for a long time before calming down, and let her brother and son go to Jinan instead of her to collect Xu Zhimo's body.
And the person who Lu Xiaoman chose to go to Jinan to send Xu Zhimo on her behalf was Weng Ruiwu.
Pictured | Xu Zhimo and Zhang Youyi
At Xu Zhimo's funeral, Xu's father and Xu's mother refused to let her attend because they hated Lu Xiaoman. Out of morality, Xu's father agreed to give Lu Xiaoman some money every month for living expenses.
This series of blows made Lu Xiaoman, who was not in good physical condition, fall ill, and Weng Rui took care of her day and night.
People think that lu Xiaoman can be bright and righteous with Weng Ruiwu, but Lu Xiaoman explained to others: she and Weng Ruiwu were never involved at first, after Xu Zhimo's death, many people pursued Lu Xiaoman, and many people advised her to remarry, but Lu Xiaoman was unwilling, she always loved Xu Zhimo.
The reason why Weng Ruiwu has always been by her side is because she is too ill, Weng Ruiwu often has to come to medical care, and sometimes lives in Lu Xiaoman's house. In the long run, the two will have the fact of living together, but Lu Xiaoman and Weng Ruiwu have contracted three chapters of the Law, they cannot be officially married, and Weng Ruiwu cannot abandon his wife for her.
Lu Xiaoman's words seem to be "deeply aware of the great righteousness", but in fact, weng Ruiwu's wife has been forced to have no way to retreat.
Weng Ruiwu and his wife Chen Mingliu refer to the doll relatives who are married, and their feelings are actually good, and they gave birth to 5 children after marriage.
After Weng Ruiwu and Lu Xiaoman established a cohabitation relationship, Weng Ruiwu's eldest daughter was very angry. She has been following Weng Ruiwu in and out of the Xu family since she was 9 years old, and she is very familiar with Xu Zhimo and his wife, and she also likes Lu Xiaoman. But since her father moved into Lu Xiaoman's house, she often quarreled with her father, and once asked Lu Xiaoman: "Why did you catch my father?" ”
Weng Ruiwu explained to his daughter again and again that he and Chen Mingliu had feelings and had 5 children, and it was absolutely impossible to divorce.
At that time, Weng Ruiwu was still living on the second floor of the Lu family, and Lu Xiaoman lived on the third floor, and he took care of Landing Xiaoman and kept a distance. And once Xu Zhimo's father, Xu Shenru, sent three hundred yuan, saw Weng Rui living here, and angrily left a note: If Weng Jun has lived with you, it will stop next month.
This note made Weng Ruiwu angry, and directly moved to the third floor to live with Lu Xiaoman, but he built a small bed and did not sleep with Lu Xiaoman.
For Lu Xiaoman's condition, Weng Rui took pains to take care of it. Weng Ruiwu has a relative in Hong Kong, often send some food to Weng Ruiwu, Weng Ruiwu usually only keeps one-tenth of his own home, and the rest is given to Lu Xiaoman.
At this time, Weng Ruiwu was actually more difficult than Xu Zhimo was. She had to serve Lu Xiaoman's illness, paid lu Xiaoman to learn painting with famous artists, and raised 5 children, he served as the head of the accounting section of Jiangnan Shipyard, with a lot of income, but it was difficult to support the expenses of the two families, every time she could not come up with money, she began to sell ancestral calligraphy and paintings and antiques, and sold until there was nothing to sell.
4. "Mr. Weng is no longer able to do it, don't look at it"
Lu Xiaoman and Weng Ruiwu have lived together for 30 years, and many people are curious about the way Lu Xiaoman and Weng Ruiwu get along, and Lu Xiaoman's student Zhang Fanghan once said such a thing.
Once, Weng Ruiwu and Zhang Fanghan said something like this: "People call Lu Xiaoman sea, land and air, referring to her three men: the first man, Wang Geng, is from the army, I am from the navy, and Xu Zhimo died in the air crash." ”
After hearing these words, Zhang Fangqian immediately became disgusted with Weng Ruiwu and felt that he was not worthy of Lu Xiaoman at all in the spiritual world. After Lu Xiaoman learned of this, he said to Zhang Fanghan: "Mr. Weng has no mouth to cover his mouth, nonsense, you don't listen to his set." Don't be affected by his bad influence. ”
Wang Geng, Xu Zhimo, and Weng Ruiwu are three completely different kinds of men: Wang Geng is a successful man in the secular concept, educated, career, strict self-discipline, able to advance and retreat; Xu Zhimo is a young talent in the new era, with the wind and snow of the literati and wandering stubbornness; Weng Ruiwu is a clumsy disciple in the chaotic world, he is talented, but if he is proficient in one, he can at least become famous and become a family, but he is content with the status quo and pursues pleasure.
Xu Zhimo is indeed more compatible with Lu Xiaoman in terms of spiritual pursuit, but to live a life, Lu Xiaoman's rhythm is more similar to Weng Ruiwu, which is why they can live together for such a long time without incident.
In 1955, Weng Ruiwu, who was in his 60s, met a female student surnamed Guan. Xiao Guan came to learn painting with Lu Xiaoman, came more diligently, and after a long time, he recognized Weng Ruiwu and Lu Xiaoman as dry fathers and mothers. Unexpectedly, not long after, she actually fell in love with Weng Ruiwu and gave birth to a girl.
Because of this bizarre relationship, Weng Ruiwu was regarded as a typical example of "moral corruption", arrested and imprisoned, and also suffered from lung disease in prison. Xiao Guan threw the child to Lu Xiaoman and left, Lu Xiaoman expressed dissatisfaction with the behavior of these two people, but in the extremely difficult situation of life, he still raised the child as his own.
After Weng Rui was released from prison at noon, he still returned to Lu Xiaoman's side. However, because of the lung disease, he fell to the root of the disease, often vomited blood, and the medical expenses were very high. Weng Ruiwu was unemployed, and the two had no security in their lives, so they could only rely on Weng Ruiwu's relatives to send money from Hong Kong. Later, under the care of Premier Zhou, Lu Xiaoman entered the Museum of Culture and History, and the economic constraints were somewhat alleviated.
Picture | Lu Xiaoman's painting
Xu Zhimo's old friend Hu Shi came to Lu Xiaoman and suggested that she could start a new life in Nanjing. Lu Xiaoman refused, and her most difficult and painful time was when Weng Ruiwu was around to support her, and almost spent most of her family wealth on Lu Xiaoman's body. Now that Weng Ruiwu was so sloppy, she couldn't just walk away without mercy and injustice.
After Weng Ruiwu's original partner Chen Mingliu died of illness, Lu Xiaoman entered the Weng family as a continuation.
Many people do not know this detail, in the form Lu Xiaoman filled out in 1959, Weng Ruiwu was written into the column of "Family Personnel Situation", and they have become a family.
Weng Ruiwu's eldest daughter eventually accepted Lu Xiaoman as her stepmother, and she actually sympathized with Lu Xiaoman deep down, watching the beautiful people increasingly haggard, the Xu family did not recognize her as a daughter-in-law, and the Weng family also had the same attitude.
And she herself in her old age, has been trying her best to do the role of "stepmother", she made new clothes for Weng Ruiwu's 5 children, after Chen Mingliu's funeral, Lu Xiaoman asked Weng Ruiwu to bring the two children to the home, made a table of dishes to entertain, but also to comfort them. When Weng Ruiwu's daughter got married, Lu Xiaoman carefully selected gifts for her and gave her a set of white silk pajamas and bathroom porcelain.
Later, Weng Ruiwu's children learned that this set of porcelain was custom-made in Britain by Xu Zhimo before his death, and Lu Xiaoman had never been willing to use it.
In 1961, Weng Rui died at noon. Zhang Fangqian came to Lu Xiaoman's home and saw Weng Rui lying on the bed, surrounded by several strangers.
His eyes were wide open, but he couldn't speak. Zhang Fangqian shouted at Weng Ruiwu, Weng Ruiwu still had a reaction, she wanted to say something to Weng Ruiwu again, Lu Xiaoman said to her from a long distance: "Mr. Weng is not OK, you don't want to look." ”
At that time, Lu Xiaoman sat on a rattan chair, his face was unusually calm, and Zhang Fanghan wrote in his memoirs: "(She) does not seem to have any sad color of eternal farewell."
Lu Xiaoman did not feel that it was painful to say goodbye to Weng Rui.
She calmly raised the child he and his daughter gave birth to for Weng Ruiwu, and she showed an expression of indifference to herself when Weng Ruiwu was dying, these two details are enough to show that Lu Xiaoman can regard Weng Ruiwu as a relative, but definitely not a lover.
Compared with Lu Xiaoman, who has been using flowers to enshrine Xu Zhimo's remains, because Xu Zhimo's death made up his mind to quit luxury and quit drug addiction, Weng Ruiwu did not win Lu Xiaoman's love.
And the person Weng Rui was most worried about before his death was still Lu Xiaoman, and he entrusted people to invite the writers Zhao Jiabi and Zhao Qingge, hoping that they would take more care of Lu Xiaoman in the future.
Because of opium smoking, Lu Xiaoman was only thirty years old and sick, and when he was fifty years old, he was already very old, and only one or two teeth were left in his mouth. Weng Ruiwu took care of her and provided for her, not only obsessed with her beauty, but truly loved her as a person.
As for Lu Xiaoman, she and Weng Ruiwu are together entirely because she cannot live independently at all, with a never-dead Xu Zhimo in her heart and a worldly infatuation around her.
Pictured| Lu Xiaoman in his later years
She is crazy, contrived and willful in Xu Zhimo's marriage, while in Weng Ruiwu's story she is secular, realistic, and even indifferent.
Lu Xiaoman was a beautiful and talented young lady in the Republic of China period, and Weng Ruiwu was also a young talent with a cheerful style, and the two obviously relied on each other for half their lives, but they did not get the sympathy and affirmation of many people, and they did not fall into a good reputation.
In 1927, Zhang Youyi returned from studying in Germany and taught German at Soochow University; And Xu Zhimo's first love, Lin Huiyin, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in this year and entered Yale University for further study; and many Chinese women who accepted advanced ideas have embarked on the revolutionary road without hesitation...
Lu Xiaoman, however, was still standing on the stage and singing, lying on the bed and sucking opium, Xu Zhimo was overwhelmed, and she lived the life of a rich wife. If it were not for Xu Zhimo's death, she would not have been able to feel the pain of life, and finally changed.
And Weng Ruiwu, Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Pingtan, Calligraphy, Poetry, Collecting, for him are all interested, but not proficient; his wife and daughter, who are his family, but rarely accompany him... He was born in a chaotic world, born rich, a dignified man, and his reputation for a woman was reduced to this point, and his infatuation was unknown to no one, and his confusion was lamentable.