In 1968, Xu Guangping was about to die soon after due to a heart attack.
Before dying, Xu Guangping took his son Zhou Haiying's hand and explained his last words with tears: "Don't bury me with my husband, scatter my ashes all over the place." After saying that, he passed away.
You know, the ideal love situation of every couple who carry each other to the end of their age is "life and death".
But why didn't Xu Guangping want to die in the same cave as Lu Xun?
Maybe if you read her story, you can understand her choice.
01 Lu Xun was pregnant out of wedlock
In 1898, Xu Guangping landed in a large family in Panyu, Guangdong, and there were many talents in the family, his grandfather was the governor of Zhejiang, and his cousin participated in the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy.
In that feudal era, Xu Guangping received a high-quality education from a wealthy family.
It was Xu Guangping who had the opportunity to contact new ideas that led her to meet her teacher Lu Xun later.
Xu Guangping
Three days after Xu Guangping was born, his father drunkenly made a mistake at the party and betrothed her to a doll, which could have been regarded as a joke, but the other party admitted the truth, and Xu's father had to fulfill the marriage contract.
But Xu Guangping swore to death, and finally ended this farce after Xu's father lost a large amount of money to the other party.
When he was in school, Xu Guangping had excellent grades and often got to the top of the exam. In 1922, Xu Guangping was admitted to the Beijing Women's Normal School.
In his sophomore year, Xu Guangping read a book called "A History of Chinese Novels", which was written by Lu Xun, who was famous in Beijing, and Lu Xun was also a teacher who taught Chinese language.
Since then, she has been obsessed with Lu Xun, and in order to get close to the idol in her heart, every time she takes Lu Xun's class, Xu Guangping goes to the first row of the classroom early to occupy a seat.
The content of Lu Xun's lecture was vivid and interesting, which made this young girl feel a little more favorable to him, and she was also very active and active in class.
In March 1925, the female teacher's university broke out against the remarks of the principal Yang Yinyu, and Xu Guangping, as a student representative, she was anxious and plucked up the courage to write a letter to Lu Xun, an admired idol, for help.
She said: "Mr. Lu Xun, I am writing to you now with a student who has admired you for a long time..."
Xu Guangping
After writing, Xu Guangping walked through several intersections in Shanghai with an envelope in hand, passing two noisy courtyards, smiling, like a child, and threw the letter into the mailbox of the post office.
Xu Guangping thought that Lu Xun would definitely not pay attention to her, but Lu Xun responded quickly, which made her very moved. Since then, the two have exchanged frequent letters, ranging from work to personal love life.
Gradually, the topic of the two broke the boundary between teachers and students and became good friends, caring for each other in life, comforting each other, and secretly feeling each other.
Xu Guangping's love for Lu Xun is bold and warm, and in the face of this young and wonderful female student, although Lu Xun also loves her, he is both restrained and forbearing.
After all, the age difference between them was more than ten years, and Lu Xun at that time had already married his original wife Zhu An, and he could not give Xu Guangping any title, which was unfair to Xu Guangping.
But Xu Guangping didn't care about the name, she boldly confessed to Lu Xun: "Sir, do you really not understand my heart? ”
Lu Xun said: "I don't dare, I have all kinds of shortcomings, for fear of insulting you." ”
Lu Xun and Xu Guangping
In the face of Lu Xun's rejection, Xu Guangping became more and more courageous, knowing that Lu Xun's marriage was not happy, and also understood Lu Xun's love for her, she only wanted the two to be together.
Finally, an opportunity came, in 1925, after Xu Guangping was expelled from the school for participating in the movement against Principal Yang, there was no place to live, Lu Xun took the initiative to let her live at home temporarily, so they naturally cohabited.
The two worked and lived together on weekdays, and gradually developed a deep relationship, and in 1927, the two made their relationship public.
However, not long after, the Beiyang government ordered Lu Xun to be arrested, and he fled Beijing for Guangzhou, where he taught at a university.
At that time, Xu Guangping, who only had love in his heart, willingly gave up everything in Beijing, came to Guangzhou to join Lu Xun, and also found a job as an assistant at school, and the two had a very sweet life.
Later, a little life came quietly, Xu Guangping was pregnant, and the two were looking forward to the birth of the child.
Lu Xun and Xu Guangping and friends
In September 1929, Xu Guangping was admitted to the hospital because he was imminent.
During the prenatal examination, the doctor found that the baby's heart rhythm was irregular, so he nervously asked: "Keep the child or the adult?" ”
"Stay sama!" Lu Xun said without thinking, and then comforted Xu Guangping and said, "Don't be afraid, just take it out." ”
Fortunately, it was just a false alarm, and the mother and son were safe. Lu Xun smiled and said to Xu Guangping: "It's a man, no wonder it's so hateful!" ”
In the following time, Lu Xun stayed by his wife's side step by step.
Twelve days later, Xu Guangping was discharged from the hospital, and their lives were on track.
Lu Xun's family
Sometimes Lu Xun's work is too busy, there are not many opportunities to get together, every time he chats with Xu Guangping for a few minutes before going to bed like atonement, when she is about to fall asleep, he always says to her: "I'll accompany you to smoke a cigarette, okay?" And she said, "Okay."
At this time, he would lie next to him and calmly talk about some national affairs, or friends and students. When the conversation got up, he said, "I'll have another one, okay?" Xu Guangping agreed, and he was even happier to talk.
The days are passed happily and slowly in an ordinary life.
02 Economic distress and near dislike
Since then, Xu Guangping has not only had to take care of the children at home, but also took care of Lu Xun's food, clothing, and living, and has no time to go out to work, so all the expenses of the family have fallen on Lu Xun's shoulders alone.
Lu Xun has many students and friends, and they often come to eat at home, so Xu Guangping often handles meals for seven or eight people alone.
Xu Guangping worked in firewood, rice, oil and salt every day, and in his day-to-day life, the cheerful and intellectual girl gradually became a housewife buried in housework, and her sideburns also grew a little gray hair visibly.
The advantages that attracted the two the most at the beginning were gradually worn away by life, and the emotional concentration of the two gradually faded.
One evening, Lu Xun's student Xiao Hong came to visit, Xu Guangping began to open the meal, Xiao Hong on a whim, in order to express her heart, she went down to the kitchen to make a few leek boxes.
Then, Xiao Hong brought a plate of bright yellow and crispy leek boxes, Lu Xun hurriedly tasted a few bites, and praised: "I didn't expect you to write well and make northern snacks, which really surprised me!" Then I ate a few more leek boxes.
For fried food, Lu Xun should eat less, Xu Guangping immediately persuaded: "You have to quit smoking and alcohol, eat less fried food, your health is not good." ”
After Lu Xun listened, he said with a slight displeasure: "The cooking skills of the guests, I eat a few more to show politeness and respect, can't you understand?" ”
Xu Guangping's nose was slightly sour after listening to it, and he felt a sense of grievance, originally cooking was tired and dirty, and he was complained by Lu Xun, taking care of him for most of his life, and in the end he was not as good as a few oil pancakes of a student.
Subsequently, Xiao Hong planned to leave at night, and Lu Xun told Xu Guangping to send her downstairs and pay for Xiao Hong's car. Over time, small families already in financial distress are unable to afford large and small expenses.
Not only that, but also to provide better nutrition for children and subsidize the family, the cost is huge, Xu Guangping can only save food and clothing to get by.
Seeing the threads and holes in the clothes, I was reluctant to buy new clothes, but only sewed layers of large and small patches on the clothes.
When the child was over the moon, a friend sent a quilt as a gift, Xu Guangping had not bought new clothes for many years at that time, and she was reluctant to make such a beautiful cloth into a quilt, so she used this cloth to make a cheongsam.
Lu Xun's family
This cheongsam is Xu Guangping's only cheongsam after marriage, and even if the color and fabric are not superior, it has become a bright color in her future life.
In 1936, Lu Xun fell ill, and Xu Guangping took care of Lu Xun day and night, but there was a photo of another woman next to Lu Xun's pillow.
The woman in the photo is dressed in a long skirt with a beautiful face, and Lu Xun often stares at this photo in fascination.
Xu Guangping pretended not to care, and did not ask who the woman in the photo was, after all, she was the one who accompanied Lu Xun, and taking care of Lu Xun was also her responsibility as a wife.
One night in October 1936, every time Xu Guangping gave Lu Xun a sweat, he tightly held her hand, as if he wanted to hold his own life.
In the early morning of the next day, Lu Xun predicted that he was going to say goodbye to his wife, tightly held Xu Guangping's hand, and instructed: "Forget me, live your own life!" Lu Xun passed away in his wife's tears.
03 He was brutally arrested and tortured by electrocution for 76 days
After Lu Xun's death, the Japanese sent many people who had been friendly with Lu Xun to lobby Xu Guangping and persuade her to publicize Sino-Japanese friendship.
But Xu Guangping understood the righteousness and said to them: "If Lu Xun knew that you were doing this, he would regret treating you as friends." ”
In December 1936, Xu Guangping was feeding his children medicine at home. The maid hurriedly rushed in and said: "Madame is not good, the Japanese are coming!" ”
Xu Guangping had long expected this day, she asked the maid to take the sea baby to a friend's house to take shelter, and she went to deal with the Japanese.
After the Japanese came in, they immediately took out a rope to tie her, turned the house upside down, and found two books and Lu Xun's diary. Fortunately, Lu Xun's manuscript had been hidden by Xu Guangping and was saved from disaster.
Xu Guangping and his son
In the following days, Xu Guangping was detained with a group of prisoners, and more than a dozen people were squeezed in the small and humid space, one of whom saw Xu Guangping's face and taught her his own experience of torture, which made Xu Guangping mentally prepared.
Sure enough, in order to learn about Lu Xun's handwritten manuscript from her, the Japanese army whipped her, and Xu Guangping, who took off his clothes, was beaten to pieces.
Next is electrocution, high-voltage electricity nourishes through the whole body, making Xu Guangping faint again and again, but Xu Guangping's will has not been destroyed, he is still struggling to support, and he has never let go.
The Japanese army was helpless against her and had to imprison her at the Wang Pseudo-Statistics Bureau.
Compared with the ferocity and brutality of the Japanese, the methods of the Wang Pseudo-Statistics Bureau are even more heinous, since torture is useless, then use slander and framing this trick.
Therefore, whenever the Japanese military police went out to hunt down progressives, they would put Xu Guangping on a car, creating the illusion that Xu Guangping defected to the enemy.
But their wishful thinking fell through, because no one believed that she would really defect to the enemy.
Xu Guangping and his son
At the hands of the Japanese army, Xu Guangping was detained for 76 days, she was beaten to the bone, blood coagulated and blocked the wound, the old and new injuries had long been mixed and could not be scored, and her skin was blackened by repeated electrocution.
These 76 days of inhuman treatment are unbearable for ordinary people, not to mention that she is a woman, but Xu Guangping gritted his teeth and persevered, without the slightest waver.
It was not until the spring of 1942 that the dying Xu Guangping was released on bail by Lu Xun's former friend Uchiyama.
04 Restart your career and strive to be a progressive
At the end of 1941, Shanghai became a hell on earth, and Xu Guangping insisted on staying in Shanghai, where she lived with Lu Xun for many years and had many good memories.
Moreover, Lu Xun left a lot of manuscripts before his death, and if he went to take refuge in other places, he would definitely lose a lot on the way.
Xu Guangping believes that the more difficult the place, the more someone needs to stay, and as Lu Xun's widow, she has the responsibility to stay in Shanghai and make a little contribution to the War of Resistance.
Xu Guangping and his son and daughter-in-law
Xu Guangping, who used to be immersed in household chores, disappeared and became a progressive, and she firmly joined the Shanghai Women's Refugee Relief Association organized by He Xiangning, and in addition to properly relocating refugees, she also took to the streets to gather people to collect materials for frontline soldiers.
In addition, Xu Guangping vigorously publicized culture and published many articles commemorating Lu Xun, which greatly boosted the morale of the Chinese military and people.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Xu Guangping wrote a book about his experience over the years and published it as evidence of the crimes of the Japanese invaders.
After the founding of New China, Xu Guangping was invited to go north to serve in important posts such as the All-China Women's Federation and the China Association for the Promotion of Democracy, and made tremendous contributions to the construction of New China.
Xu Guangping in his later years
On June 6, 1961, Xu Guangping officially joined our party and wrote in his diary: "June 6, 1961 is my most historic day, and I want to do something meaningful in my life. ”
Unfortunately, on March 3, 1968, Xu Guangping died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 70.
05 is written at the end
The love encountered in her student days is often sincere and passionate, and Lu Xun is a light in the dark for Xu Guangping, allowing her to come out of the feudal family and see a bright future.
She loves desperately, loves vigorously, loses her reputation and ideals, and finally has little left.
Although Xu Guangping did not get rid of the shackles of feudal thinking in those decades of married life, she was also briefly lost in the frivolity of the family.
Fortunately, Xu Guangping later insisted on his dream, dedicated himself to serving the country and the people, not seeking anything in return or gain, and finally returned to the spirited and determined intellectual woman of his student days.
It is precisely because of this that after Lu Xun's death, Xu Guangping no longer had a lover, she had an unswerving faith, and her later years were spent participating in the rescue of survival.
The love between Xu Guangping and Lu Xun, they achieve each other, and each is not an accessory of the other, not an ornament.
Xu Guangping is great, she chose to inherit her husband's last wishes in the last decades of her life, stood on the interests of the family, took care of the overall situation, took a road that is difficult for ordinary women to take, and also made the prosperity of the family and country continue.
Author| Eva