In the early 1950s, a couple over 40 years old lived in a house of less than 10 square meters in a remote West Hutong Exit in Xicheng, Beijing. Life is poor, but the two live a very happy and loving life.
The man's name was Liu Zhendong, a cleaner in Xicheng District. His wife's name was Fu Yufang, who was a teacher before liberation and later went to work as a text proofreader at the North China Daily Newspaper. The two couples are sincere and have good feelings. Liu Zhendong was very satisfied with his wife, believing that Fu Yufang was intelligent and intelligent, and very virtuous.
In September 1953, Fu Yufang died. Before dying, Fu Yufang confessed to Liu Zhendong and said: "I am sorry that I did not give birth to a son and a half daughter for you, in fact, I was once the Imperial Concubine of the Qing Dynasty, Fu Yufang is only my Chinese name, and my real name is Erdete Wenxiu." After saying that, he died, leaving only a look of disbelief on Liu Zhendong's face.
If women were really late Qing Dynasty princesses, why would they be reduced to marrying a sanitation worker? Listen to me slowly answer your doubts.
The picture | embroidery
Wen Xiu, born in the Eight Banners of Manchuria, entered a private school in September 1916 and changed his name to Fu Yufang. She is talented and proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and is deeply loved by her teachers.
In the blink of an eye, in the spring of 1921, Puyi, the late Qing emperor living in the Forbidden City, was 16 years old, and both the princess and the prince and the chancellor were choosing an empress for Puyi in Zhang Luo to complete the big wedding. Although Puyi had abdicated, he still maintained the previous tradition at that time, and Puyi was still the emperor of the "Nine-Five-Year Dignity". In the Forbidden City, everyone up and down was worried about this marriage.
The good news that Puyi is going to hold a wedding is announced to the world, and everyone wants to send their daughters to the Forbidden City. When Fu Yufang's uncle Hua Kan heard the news, he thought that this was an opportunity for the revitalization of the declining Erdet family, so he took it upon himself to report Fu Yufang's photo and the full name of Erdet Wenxiu. Fu Yufang is not a country and a city, but she is tall and tall, and her appearance is dignified.
The harem concubines all wanted to push their families to the throne of the empress, and after a long dispute, they still did not decide on the queen's candidate, so they took it to Puyi to choose. Due to the limited technology at that time, the photos were very blurry, and it was almost impossible to see the specific appearance, Puyi casually picked a piece and could see it, drew a circle and handed it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Wen Xiu was so accidentally selected by Puyi.
For this result, the harem concubine was not satisfied, and Puyi negotiated many times, and finally selected Wanrong as the empress, Wen Xiu as the Shu Concubine, and Wen Xiu was married the day before the Wanrong Empress. After Wen Xiu was designated as a Shu Concubine, Puyi bought a large courtyard with good feng shui and gave it to Wen Xiu's mother's family.
Wen Xiu, who had only been studying for a few years, no longer went to study, and was locked up by her uncle at home to learn the etiquette of the monarch and the rules of the palace, and was familiar with poetry books such as the "Daughter Sutra", and the name Fu Yufang did not let her continue to use it.
On November 30, 1922, Wen Xiu, who was under the age of 14, was solemnly married into the imperial palace by Puyi. This made Wen Xiu very nervous, and she was full of thoughts about this person who wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, what was he like? After performing the tedious gifts such as three kneeling and nine kowtowing, Wen Xiu quietly stared at Puyi and looked at it carefully.
Only to see Puyi sitting in the Yangxin Hall, facing the look of Wen Xiu, Puyi just said to Wen Xiu lightly: "Go down and rest!" So he left the embroidery one person in the Yangxin Hall and went out by himself. Seeing Puyi go out, Wen Xiu stood in the same place at a loss, thinking that it was his own staring at Puyi, which caused him to be angry, and he couldn't help but quietly cry.
The next day was the wedding of Empress Wanrong, and Puyi did not share a room with Wanrong, which made Wanrong very puzzled. It turned out that Puyi did not sleep with them, not because he hated them, but because he could not have sex. Perhaps Puyi was very good to them out of guilt.
The Zhishu Dali of Wen Embroidery has a great attraction to Puyi, and in the first year, Puyi will often talk to Wen Xiu to promote his knees, but whatever is rewarded to Wan Rong will leave a copy for Wen Xiu. Even if you ask Wan Rong for an English teacher, you will also ask for one for Wen Xiu.
The picture | Wanrong
Puyi's good treatment of literary embroidery naturally aroused Wanrong's disgust. After all, Wen Xiu's family background and appearance are not as good as Wanrong, but Puyi is so good to her. The queen concubines competed for favors, and Wen Xiu was inferior to Wanrong, and gradually fell behind. Puyi and Wenxiu also went farther and farther.
Puyi alienated Wen Xiu and did not affect Wen Xiu reading. Under the guidance of English teacher Ling Ruowen, Wenxiu is more open-minded, no longer entangled in Puyi's attitude towards her, but concentrates on learning knowledge. But what Wen Xiu did not expect was that her happy study time was so short.
In less than two years, there was Feng Yuxiang's "forced palace". A large number of troops entered the Forbidden City and drove Puyi and others out of the palace, and Puyi, who had no military power in his hands, could only take a large son to live in the palace of his biological father. After repeated requests from Puyi and others, it was finally agreed that Puyi would take away 6333 pounds of silver dollars.
In the process of moving out of the palace, Wan Rong and Wen Xiu and others also took a large amount of gold and silver jewelry, precious porcelain and calligraphy and paintings out of the palace in their clothes. The Puyi family moved out of the palace, which meant that they would be like ordinary people. This gap, Puyi could not accept for a while, but he had no choice but to keep looking for the opportunity to start over.
More than 20 days later, the Fengzhi warlord Zhang Zuolin led troops to drive Feng Yuxiang out of Beijing. Feng Yuxiang was expelled from Beijing, and although Puyi could not move back to the palace, she could also move freely.
When Zhang Zuolin first started leading, a man named Zheng Xiaoxu, who was an official in Hunan before, quietly found Puyi and told him that he could consider finding Japanese help.
After Wen Xiu learned of this matter, he immediately persuaded Puyi, but Puyi could not listen to the advice at all and continued to collude with Zheng Xiaoxu.
On November 29, 1924, Puyi, under the guidance of Zheng Xiaoxu, secretly went to the Tianjin Japanese Mansion in China to find Japanese help. Because Puyi sneaked out and did not tell his family, Wen Xiu and others frantically searched for him, and even thought that Puyi was held hostage, and was hesitating whether to call the police. A few days later, Puyi sent someone to pick up Wanrong and Wenxiu to live in the Japanese legation.
It turned out that in the few days after Puyi disappeared, he secretly reached an agreement with the Japanese and tried to use the power of the Japanese to achieve his own delusions. After that, Puyi and others quietly left Beijing and came to live in the Tianjin Japanese Concession.
Wen Xiu saw that Puyi was in contact with the Japanese every day, and he was distressed and repeatedly advised Puyi not to do this. Puyi not only did not listen, but also gradually alienated Wen Xiu.
Despite this, Wenxiu still insisted on persuading Puyi to deal with the Japanese less, which made Puyi even more disgusted with Wenxiu. So that Puyi and Wan Rong are together every day, whether it is playing on the street or eating daily, and even when receiving guests, they do not bring embroidery together.
Not only that, Wan Rong saw that Wen embroidery was not favored, so she began to exclude Wen embroidery. Under the provocation of Wan Rong, Wen Xiu suffered many unreasonable insults and humiliations for no reason, and some slaves often discriminated against or abused Wen Xiu.
At this time, Wen Xiu washed her face with tears all day, and although she received traditional education since she was a child, she was not a person who went against the grain. Under the influence of the English teacher, Wen Xiu has a spirit of resistance, and since he is not welcome here, he simply leaves.
Figure | Fu Yi
In any case, Puyi is Wen Xiu's husband, let Wen Xiu leave Puyi, she can not make this determination for a while. Just when Wenxiu was still struggling, a person named Yufen came to Wenxiu's side and completely strengthened her belief that she wanted to leave.
Yufen is a distant relative of Wen Xiu, she is a solid beauty embryo, but her marriage is very unhappy. She married a delicious and lazy kid, who did nothing all day and often searched for flowers and asked for willows. This made Yufen very unhappy, so the relationship between the two was not very good, so they simply divorced.
Through this failed marriage experience, Yu Fen's feminist consciousness began to awaken. She believes that if the marriage is not happy, then it is better to separate, and women should also have the right to initiate divorce.
When Yu Fen learned that Wen Xiu was struggling with whether to separate from Puyi, she persuaded her to divorce her if she was unhappy, and said bluntly: "Now is the period of the Republic of China, it is no longer the Qing Dynasty, the law writes equality between men and women, and Puyi has moved out of the palace, he is not the 'high on top' son of heaven before." Now that he is a commoner, he must obey the law and treat people equally. ”
Wen Xiu nodded in agreement, and Yu Fen continued: "You should hire a lawyer and write another complaint to sue him for abusing his wife, file a divorce from him, and ask him for maintenance." Yu Fen's words completely awakened Wen Xiu, and she decided to stand up and resist Puyi, divorce him, and fight for her right to personal freedom.
Soon, Yufen began to popularize the content of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China to Wenxiu.
"The Civil Law of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulates that voluntary divorce is permitted. And citizens..."
These words ignited Wen Xiu's fighting spirit and gave her hope of liberation. For a while, the two got together to discuss how to successfully escape Puyi.
Finally, on August 25, 1931, Wen Xiu found a good opportunity. Because Puyi and Wenxiu had a conflict a few days ago, Wenxiu covered his face and cried, Puyi knew that he was at fault first, and it was not good to take the initiative to admit his mistake, so he called Wenxiu's sister Wenshan to accompany Wenxiu to chat. Wen Shan talked to her sister in the room for a long time, and then said to Puyi: "My sister is still crying and does not listen to my advice at all." It is better that I accompany my sister to go out to see the play, she loves to listen to the drama the most, I accompany her to go out for a walk and relax. Do you think that's okay? ”
Puyi thought in his heart that Wen Xiu had indeed not gone out for a long time, so he sent a small eunuch to follow him and continue to study the current situation. In this way, Wen Shan took her "crying and crying" sister Wen Xiu out and took a special car to the Tianjin National Hotel.
As soon as he got out of the car, he went straight to Room 37, turned to the eunuch who came with him, and said, "Go back by yourself today, we will live here and not leave." Go back and tell Puyi that I want to divorce him, and I have hired a lawyer. ”
When the little eunuch heard this, he hurriedly knelt down and said, "Lady Lady, don't make trouble, go back with the slaves." If you are like this, I am not good enough to explain to the emperor! Wen Xiu's heart had already been decided, and the little eunuch said, "If you bring this letter back to Puyi, you will prove that this matter has nothing to do with you." The little eunuch took the letter and hurried back.
After the little eunuch returned, he hurriedly showed the letter to Puyi and said, "Lady Lady said that she will not come back, let me give you this letter." After Puyi listened, his face darkened, he tore open the envelope and looked at it, saw the divorce note, trembled with anger, and immediately arranged for someone to go to the National Hotel to arrest Wen Xiu.
How could they wait foolishly in the hotel? As soon as the little eunuch's front foot left, Wen Xiu's back foot left and went to the home of a widow surnamed Zhang. Widow Zhang's family is rich and kind, and she is very sympathetic to Wenxiu's plight and leaves Wenxiu at home.
When Puyi's entourage arrived at room 37 of the hotel, they found that Wen Xiu had long gone, leaving only three lawyers waiting for them. The three of them said in unison: "Ms. Wenxiu asked us to tell you that if you go back and tell Mr. Puyi, please follow the requirements in the letter, otherwise you will meet in court, and Ms. Wenxiu will not see you." ”
Puyi was so angry that he stomped his feet, he didn't want to be the first emperor to be suspended by a concubine, it was really humiliating. And I don't want Wen Xiu to tell the secret of his inability to do anything, if it is known to everyone, it is really faceless to see the ancestors.
Puyi sent someone to negotiate again, but he still didn't even see Wen Xiu's face. There was no way, Puyi found Zheng Xiaoxu and others to come to discuss, and decided to send two lawyers to negotiate with Wen Xiu's lawyers. Puyi demanded: no divorce, no prosecution, no publication in the press.
For Puyi's requirements, Wen Xiu was very dissatisfied. The next day, major newspapers published major news such as Wen Xiu's departure from home and Emperor Hugh's concubine. This made the people of Beijing enjoy it, which was called the "Daofei Revolution" at that time.
At this time, it was a crucial time for Puyi and the Japanese to cooperate, less than a month before the September 18 Incident. Puyi felt that her face could not be hung, and everyone supported Wen Xiu and encouraged her to divorce!
The people all supported Wen Xiu, and Puyi panicked and immediately said that he was willing to pay 55,000 yuan as a living support fee, but did not agree to the divorce. Just when Puyi thought that the peace talks were going well, he received a summons from the court, asking him to go to the court for mediation at two o'clock in the afternoon of September 2, 1931.
Finally, on October 22, 1931, the parties signed a divorce agreement. The agreement was in four copies, one for Puyi and his lawyer, and one for Wen Xiu and her lawyer. After Wen Xiu's divorce, her cousin also wrote a letter to publish in the newspaper criticizing Wen Xiu, and Wen Xiu did not flinch and wrote a letter to shake him back.
Wen Xiu returned to Beiping and wanted to go back to his hometown. But his mother died of illness, the family was not managed, the old house was sold by a relative, and Wen Xiu could only take his sister Wen Shan to rent a house in Beiping.
Puyi compensated Wenxiu 55,000 yuan, but after paying the fees of the lawyer and the lawsuit and renting the house, there was not much left. Wen Xiu continued to use the name of Fu Yufang and went to a primary school to work as a Chinese language teacher.
This job Wen embroidery is particularly liked, but the good times are not long, some people found that her name is Erdete Wen Xiu, once Puyi's concubine, immediately attracted a large number of reporters to report, to Fu Yufang brought great trouble. In desperation, Wen Xiu could only take out the last sum of money, buy a small house in a remote place, and live a secluded life with his sister.
Later, Wen Shan remarried and moved elsewhere, and Wen Xiu, who lived alone, fell in love with painting and began to learn painting techniques from Fu Ru, the master of Chinese painting. After rekindling his interest in life, painting technology advanced by leaps and bounds.
Not long after, some officers and merchants courted Wen Xiu, believing that Wen Xiu, as the imperial concubine of the Qing Dynasty, must have some rare treasures or famous books, and they came to visit and ask for Wen Xiu. However, Wen Xiu had already seen through their purpose and resolutely rejected their courtship.
After the July 7 Incident, Beiping was no longer stable, and Wenxiu was not at peace. Wen Xiu, who had no source of livelihood, had to sell his house and rely on hard work to maintain a basic life. At first, he pasted paper boxes at home, and then he also worked as a coolie, but his body could not bear the burden, and eventually he sold cigarettes to survive.
Until the liberation of Peiping, Wen Xiu was introduced by a friend and worked as a text proofreader at the daily newspaper. Because of her careful and conscientious work and outstanding talent, she was appreciated by the president of the daily newspaper. The president was also sympathetic to Wenxiu's plight, so he introduced Wenxiu to his cousin Liu Zhendong as his wife.
Liu Zhendong grew up in poverty at home, and after a few years of studying, he went to join the Kuomintang army. Because of his courage and strategy, he was soon promoted to major. At the age of 40, he has not yet started a family, and under the mediation of his cousin, Liu Zhendong is also deeply attracted by literary embroidery.
In 1947, the two married and rented a house in Beiping. After marriage, the two have a harmonious relationship and a happy marriage. In addition, Liu Zhendong voluntarily confessed his history as a Kuomintang official and was assigned to the urban area as a sanitation worker. It wasn't until September 1953 that the scene at the beginning of the article appeared.
Because Liu Zhendong's family was relatively poor, even Wenxiu's coffin could not afford it. So, I bought four wooden planks and nailed them into a coffin and buried them in the Gongyi cemetery outside Beijing's Anding Gate.
Wen Xiu's life has ups and downs, from a famous woman who fell into disgrace to a sad and cool imperial concubine, and then to the common people. Her life was tormented, but wonderful. For the sake of freedom, rebelled against the imperial power, and did not hesitate to tear his face with Puyi; In order to make a living, he had to sell his cheap labor. But fortunately, she eventually found her own happiness.