In 1946, there was a woman in prison, covered in sores, smelling foul, skinny to bones, and screaming frantically from time to time, but no one paid attention to her.
Not long after, she died in prison, and her body was casually thrown in the stinking gutter, and it was the two prison guards at the time who took pity on her, so they secretly tied her up with two broken wooden boards and buried her in a mass grave, where she was buried is still a mystery.
You must not think that this woman is the last empress ~ Wanrong, who was once prosperous and wealthy, and was prominent for a while.
She was originally an aristocratic lady, her father was the minister of internal affairs, and her mother was the granddaughter of the king of Dingjun, and if she did not have the circle that Puyi drew at will, she might also have found a good son-in-law and lived happily for a lifetime.
But there are no ifs in life, life is not repeated, and if she did not have such a noble origin, she may not have experienced such a tragic life.
In 1921, although he died early in the morning, the Manchu imperial family still received preferential treatment, and Puyi still brought a group of clansmen, harems and retinues to face his emperor in the Forbidden City.
The concubines and ministers were still racking their brains for power, and there was nothing else to do, so they set their sights on the position of empress.
They chose among the maids of the sect, and finally decided on 4 candidates, and the two concubines wanted to let the girls of their families sit in the position of empress, but according to Puyi's recollection: At that time, the girls in the photos looked the same, so they had to choose two brightly colored clothes and draw a circle on them.
It is this circle that has become a cage for a lifetime of grace.
The two people circled are Wanrong and Wen Xiu (the concubine who divorced Puyi. Because Wanrong had a higher status, she became empress, and Wen Xiu became a concubine.
As the last empress, although the momentum of the big wedding is much lower-key, it is also empty and very luxurious.
1. Newlyweds
At the beginning, Wan Rong and Pu Yi also had a sweet time, and Pu Yi also liked Wan Rong very much.
Because Wanrong's father was very open-minded, he believed that girls should also receive an equal education, so he hired a teacher for her from an early age, and she was proficient in piano and chess books and paintings.
Wanrong is also very interested in Western culture, self-taught English, French and other Chinese, and his father often does business with foreigners, and he also knows all kinds of Western novelties very well, and his thinking is relatively open.
After entering the palace, under the influence of Puyi, the Westernization became even stronger, and the two were tired of being together all day, riding bicycles, playing ball, and writing letters to each other in English, calling Puyi "Henry" and Puyi calling Wanrong "Elizabeth".
Wanrong also taught Puyi various etiquette for eating Western food.
Although Puyi, the emperor, is an empty shell, there should be a lot of treatment, so the life of this empress is also very luxurious.
Because she is an aristocratic lady, she has been accustomed to luxury since she was a child, and even more so after entering the palace.
The eunuch Sun Yaoting recalled his experience of serving Wanrong to take a bath: Wanrong took a bath, from undressing, to wiping her body, to applying sesame oil massage to her body after taking a bath, and finally cutting her nails for massage, all done by the palace maid, she herself did not move.
After taking a bath, she would sit naked in the bathtub and carefully examine every inch of her body, and she would not get up for a long time.
Although the small imperial court no longer has much money, Wanrong still spends lavishly, usually spending one or two hundred oceans a day, and holidays and birthdays are even more expensive.
She even contracted the habit of smoking a lot of smoke, and according to the eunuch Sun Yaoting, she lay there, taking three puffs on her left and four on her right.
Puyi also managed it, but then he didn't care if he couldn't manage it.
But a peaceful life is always short, and soon the life of the husband and wife becomes a chicken and a dog.
Second, out of the palace
In 1924, Feng Yuxiang attacked the city of Beijing, Puyi and they were driven out of the Forbidden City, and Puyi had to take Wan Rong and Wen Xiu to live in Tianjin.
Wanrong was originally enthusiastic, and when she went outside, she released her nature, and her competition for favor with Wen Xiu also kicked off.
When she was in the palace, because Wanrong and Puyi were more playful, Puyi was also closer to her, but Wen Xiu was a traditional woman who only liked to read and was not interested in Western culture, so Puyi also snubbed her, and there was no competition for favor.
But after coming out, after contacting the outside world, Wan Rong and Wen Xiu's hearts have undergone tremendous changes, and Wen Xiu is no longer unknown.
Wanrong is the eldest miss, after coming out, she can't change her habit of being extravagant, going to the mall all day to buy things, anyway, it is also Puyi's money, Wen Xiu will ask Puyi to buy it for herself when she sees it.
But in order to show her identity, Wanrong will continue to buy more expensive things back, and the two fight back and forth, and the little money left is also squandered.
Pu Yi was fed up with this kind of life and gradually distanced herself from them, and Wen Xiu was tired of such days, so she filed for divorce, Pu Yi did not agree, she made trouble with the media, and Pu Yi had to compromise.
Wen Xiu became the first woman in history to divorce the emperor.
Wen Xiu left, but Wanrong did not wait for Puyi's exclusive favor for herself, and the two became even more estranged.
It turned out that Puyi thought that if Wanrong did not compete with Wen Xiu for favor, he would not have made today's situation and disgraced himself, and he began to gradually snub Wanrong.
Wanrong was destined to become a victim of feudal society.
Third, the truth
In 1935, 29-year-old Wanrong became pregnant, married for more than ten years and pregnant for the first time, it stands to reason that Puyi should be happy, but the opposite is true.
Pu Yi was furious when she heard this, and wanted to let Wanrong beat the child away, why is this? What's the inside story?
Because Pu Yi knows that this child must not be his own, and the two have never had sex since they got married! In other words, the two only have the name of husband and wife, but there is no husband and wife!
What's going on here?
On the night of the wedding, it was supposed to be a candle in the cave room, but Puyi did not spend the night in the new house. Wanrong thought it was because the ceremony was too tired, but later she found out that this was not the case.
No matter how good and close the two were during the day, Puyi never spent the night, and although he was willing to let Wanrong accompany him to his bed while sleeping, the two never shared a room.
Every time, she stayed for an hour or two and left, which made Wanrong very sad, thinking that she was dissatisfied with the emperor, but later she found that things were not so simple, and the truth was like a basin of cold water poured down.
She discovered the inhumane fact that the emperor was not only not staying overnight here, but all the concubines he had never favored.
In fact, Puyi does not want to, but does not have this ability.
4. Childhood
It started when Puyi was 3 years old.
Pu Yi was only 3 years old when he ascended the throne as emperor, and there were no elders around him to teach him. Puyi grew up slowly, and in order to please him, the eunuchs found many beautiful and young palace maids to accompany him.
According to historical records, Puyi's dragon bed is particularly large, and five or six people sleep on it without problems, it is when he is young and strong, and he is at the beginning of his emotions, and he is young and ignorant.
In the face of countless beautiful and passionate palace maidens, they couldn't hold it at all, and they were unrestrained in this matter, which was very absurd.
In his later memoirs, he wrote that when he woke up in the morning, his legs were weak and his walking was unstable. Such a long life quickly hollowed out his body, and even inhumane.
There were many concubines in the palace, but they could only be widowed. According to the eunuch Sun Yaoting's recollection, Puyi later had the good of Long Yang, which further aggravated his symptoms.
5. Pregnancy
Such a reality is like a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Wanrong, she is young, lonely at night, and can only rely on the smoke to obtain temporary satisfaction. Wen Xiu also blackmailed this matter at the beginning, so that Puyi had to compromise.
So at this time, the appearance of a person gave Wanrong a taste of being a woman, and she was out of control ever since.
Puyi was a lackey of the Japanese at that time, and Wanrong did not approve of such a practice, which was tantamount to plotting with the tiger and dissuading him many times, which made the relationship between the two like thin ice.
After many times of dissuasion, Puyi finally became impatient and beat Wanrong into the cold palace, and also sent a guard (Qi Jizhong) to guard him, and the guards had long coveted Wanrong's beauty.
The two dried firewood and soon got together. Later, Qi Jizhong was sent to study in Japan, and Wanrong cheated on his bodyguard (Li Sports) again, but this time she was unexpectedly pregnant.
Puyi was furious, although he couldn't touch it, he couldn't let others touch it, such a big green hat, he wanted to beat this child who made him shame.
But the Japanese wouldn't let him kill the child, so the story would spread and affect their plans.
A few months later, Wanrong gave birth to a daughter, and Puyi said that he would give the child to Wanrong's family to raise, and when he turned around, he threw the child into the boiler.
He gave two more guards 400 oceans each, telling them to leave, go to a place no one knew, and never return.
6. The end
Wanrong was locked up in a closed room by Puyi and sent two eunuchs and two palace maids to serve her.
After losing her daughter, she became crazy, coupled with the pain of the onset of drug addiction, Wanrong was tortured to the point that no one was a ghost or a ghost, and she had long lost the glory of the queen.
In 1945, while fleeing with others, Wanrong was captured by guerrillas and imprisoned.
She was already tortured to the point of not being human, and after she was imprisoned, she would roll all over the ground and howl in pain every time she had a smoking addiction, she was skinny and covered with poisonous sores.
Not to mention, she was also used as a negative teaching material for the puppet Manchukuo for onlookers to watch, and she had long lost her dignity as a human being.
The double torture of body and spirit finally broke this once beautiful woman.
In 1946, Wan Rong died in prison and was randomly thrown into a stinking gutter. Among the jailers guarding her were two brothers, who felt that Wanrong was too pitiful, and risked their lives to secretly bury Wanrong in a mass grave with two broken wooden boards.
She had laughed, she had been beautiful, she had been noble, but she had fallen victim to an era.
The last queen Wanrong left this world with such a embarrassing attitude, if there is an afterlife, will she regret spending her life like this?
Reference: "The Biography of Sun Yaoting, Eunuch in the Late Qing Dynasty"
"The Last Emperor Puyi"
PS: The rumors about Wanrong having a child come from autobiography, there is no historical record, just for reference.