Figure 丨 text embroidery
preface
In 1953, a newspaper worker died of a myocardial infarction, and before she died, she confessed her life to her cleaner husband, she was not an ordinary woman, but the last imperial concubine - Wen Xiu.
Fortunate and unfortunate imperial concubine - Wen Xiu
Wen Xiu was born in a declining Manchu aristocratic family, surnamed Erdete, and the Chinese name is well remembered, called Fu Yufang. Her mother, Chiang, was a Han Chinese and the second wife of Erdet Duangong, who died shortly after Chiang gave birth to his next daughter, Wenshan, so Chiang alone led two young daughters to live a life of poverty.
In 1921, when the 16-year-old Puyi reached the age when he should marry his wife, too many photos of young girls were sent to the palace, which simply made Puyi pick a fancy eye, including photos of Wen embroidery.
It turned out that in order to climb the royal family, the fifth uncle of Wen Xiu secretly sent the photo of Wen Xiu to the palace candidate without the knowledge of the Jiang family, and after several rounds of screening,
The 17-year-old Guo Buluo Wanrong was elected empress, and the 14-year-old Erdet Wenxiu was elected imperial concubine (淑妃).
Figure 丨 Wanrong, Wen embroidery, Puyi
On November 30, 1922, Wen Xiu was married into the palace with a grand wedding ceremony of the royal family, and she could not imagine the royal life she was about to face, but she still involuntarily held expectations until she met Puyi in the Yangxin Hall.
Wen Xiu saluted Puyi three times and nine times, and then heard a cold voice: "Go down and rest." ”
On the night of the wedding, Puyi did not enter Wenxiu's new house, and the next day, he married Wanrong, nor did he share a room with Wanrong.
In the palace, Wen embroidery brocade, these are the luxuries she did not experience when she was a child, but there are also many troubles, graceful appearance is more beautiful than Wen embroidery, she often competes for puyi's favor with the posture of the main palace, plus she advocates monogamy, so the existence of literary embroidery cannot be tolerated.
In most days, Wen embroidery is a sad face and a lonely lamp, basically similar to the cold palace
Fortunately, Puyi hired an English teacher to teach her English, in addition, there are famous Confucians who teach literature, famous teachers and painters teach painting, in the days of the Cold Palace, Wen Xiu spent time learning, and more and more feel the charm and fun of books.
However, the peaceful days were very short, and less than two years after entering the palace, Wen Xiu encountered Feng Yuxiang's "forced palace incident".
In November 1924, Lu Zhonglin, commander-in-chief of the Beijing Garrison, was ordered by Feng Yuxiang to forcibly order Puyi, his concubines, and all the people in the palace to move out of the palace.
Picture 丨 Feng Yuxiang
Later, under the tolerance of Lu Zhonglin, Puyi was allowed to take away a large amount of silver as a family's living expenses, at the same time, the clothes they usually wear were also allowed to be taken out of the palace, and in the process of transportation, the palace people hid a large number of celebrity calligraphy and paintings, gold and silver jewelry, antique treasures, etc. in the wardrobe.
Puyi, Wanrong, Wenxiu and other people's departure from the palace represents that their imperial titles of emperor, empress, imperial concubine, etc. have been abolished, and they are now like ordinary people, Puyi needs to plan for the future, and Wenxiu also wants to advise her husband as an "equal".
More than 20 days later, Zhang Zuolin led his troops into Beijing, drove away Feng Yuxiang, and Puyi was free, at this time, Zheng Xiaoxu, a scholar of Hanlin, offered a plan to Puyi:
"If you want to restore the cause of the Qing Emperor, you need to rely on the strength of Japan."
Wen Xiu can not agree:
"The Japanese were extremely brutal, and during the Russo-Japanese War, there were countless massacres Chinese, and we absolutely could not listen to Zheng Xiaoxu's lies and lure the wolves into the house, and the consequences were unimaginable."
Puyi, whose obsession with restoration had penetrated deep into the marrow, naturally could not listen to WenXiu's kind words and persuasion, and on November 29, 1924, under the planning of Zheng Xiaoxu, Puyi secretly came to the Japanese legation in Beijing.
Figure 丨 Zheng Xiaoxu
Puyi did not tell anyone about this, so that his family thought he had been kidnapped, and a few days later, he finally received a letter from Puyi, asking Wanrong and Wenxiu to go to the Japanese legation to meet him.
In order to know that Puyi is all right, Wenxiu came to the Japanese legation, and the Japanese minister, Fangze Kenkichi, cleaned up a two-story building where he lived and let Puyi and his family live, while Wanrong and Wenxiu were personally entertained by his wife.
Not long after, Puyi formed a working group here with pro-Japanese elements headed by Zheng Xiaoxu, planning to restore the Qing Dynasty and re-ascend the dream of the imperial industry.
In February 1925,
Puyi's family left the Japanese legation and moved to the Japanese Concession in Tianjin, first living in Zhangyuan and then moving to Jingyuan, no matter where they lived, Puyi always listened to the Japanese.
Wen Xiu looked at such Puyi, more and more disappointed, during this time, she more than once persuaded Puyi Japanese not to be credible, Zheng Xiaoxu and other ghost words are even more ridiculous, must be restrained from the cliff, but Puyi not only does not listen to Wen Xiu's good words and persuasion, and even because of these remarks, more and more disgusted with Wen Xiu.
Figure 丨 WanRong and Puyi
In daily life, Puyi only accompanies Wanrong, two people are born into pairs, Wen embroidery is a single shadow in a human form, when receiving guests, never see the figure of Wen Embroidery, even if there is any reward for the New Year's Festival, there is no part of Wen Embroidery.
Wanrong's attitude towards Wenxiu became more and more domineering, and the eunuchs and palace women saw that Wenxiu had lost favor and became more and more indifferent to her service, while the eunuchs and palace women around Wanrong were favored by their masters, and even dared to speak ill of Wenxiu, and later, Puyi put Wenxiu under house arrest and did not allow her to move around at will.
In August 1931, a desperate Wenxiu tried to stab herself in the abdomen with scissors, but was stopped by a eunuch next to her, and two days later, she stabbed herself in the throat, but still failed.
When Wen Embroidery is on the road to extinction,
Sister Wen Shan brought a woman named Yu Fen
She is a few years older than Wen Xiu, and she is also a beautiful but unhappy married woman, her husband is Feng Guozhang's eldest grandson, with a prominent family lineage, but she is only a clumsy child who can eat, drink and gamble, so Yufen has a lot of insight into divorce and maintenance of women's rights.
When Yu Fen knew about Wen Xiu's tragic experience, she said to Wen Xiu very frankly:
"Now it is the era of the Republic of China, the law says that men and women are equal, Puyi has long been expelled from the palace, a commoner, has long been not an emperor, he also has to abide by the law, wait for people, you can hire a lawyer, accuse him of abusing his wife, divorce him, and ask for maintenance."
Because of this remark, Wen Xiu felt that her life was rekindled with hope, and on August 25, Wen Shan successfully helped Wen Xiu escape from Jing Garden on the pretext of taking her sister out to relax.
Divorce case of the Emperor's family
After Wen Xiu left the gate of Jingyuan by car, he instructed the driver to drive the car to the Tianjin National Hotel, and after arriving, Wen Shan said to the eunuch: "You go back first, Lady Shufei is here, she is ready to file a lawsuit with the court and divorce the emperor." ”
The eunuch was stunned and knelt down to beg Wenxiu to go back with her, Wenxiu was resolute, she took out the three letters that she had prepared long ago, "This matter has nothing to do with you, you take these three letters back to the emperor and tell it." ”
In fact, Wen Embroidery has long been well prepared,
Yu Fen helped her find three lawyers, who helped her draw up a complaint, and Wen Shan helped her bring out the jewelry that had been counted earlier
All this is done unconsciously.
On the eunuch's side, after returning to the Jing Garden, he immediately handed the letter to Puyi, who looked at his face and was blue, and he couldn't imagine that a concubine dared to divorce him, and immediately sent a large number of eunuch palace women to the National Hotel to look for it.
And Wen Xiu they had already planned, had already moved to the home of a widow surnamed Zhang who was very sympathetic to Wen Xiu's plight, and when the eunuch palace ladies arrived, there were only three lawyers, and the lawyer said to the people who came to look for them: "Madam Wen Xiu asked us to inform you, please go back and tell the emperor, or handle it as the letter says." ”
Figure 丨 Puyi
After Puyi knew, he felt that his face was lost, and his "Ninth Five-Year Dignity" was actually fired by a concubine, and he called a meeting of the old ministers, and the "old gentlemen" who knew about this matter were also indignant.
Everyone felt that this was the most disgraceful shame and humiliation for the royal family, and could not be tolerated and accommodated, Puyi sent a representative to see Wen Xiu, asking Wen Xiu to return to JingYuan first, and then say that the lawyer refused.
"In this case, Ms. Wenxiu refuses to see anyone. If Mr. Puyi has sincerity, acknowledges that she is completely free, allows her to choose another residence, and gives her permission, we will try our best to mediate and settle it peacefully, otherwise, there is no other way but to file a lawsuit with the court. ”
After several discussions, the two sides held their own views, and the gap was too large to reach an agreement:
Puyi insisted on no divorce, no prosecution, and no declaration in the newspaper, and Wenxiu said that he insisted on not returning to the palace and demanded that Puyi pay 500,000 yuan in alimony.
The emperor's family was still arguing endlessly, not knowing that the outside world had already exploded, because on the second day after Wen Xiu left, the news went away, when revolution was a fashionable word, and the departure of Wen Xiu meant progress and new trends, and many people at that time said that this was a "concubine revolution".
Figure 丨 Puyi and Wen embroidery
The pages of major newspapers also reported the incident in the most prominent position, and the content given in the newspaper was also very interesting, saying that the reason why the concubine wanted to divorce the emperor was because Wen Xiu and Puyi had been married for 9 years, had never lived a married life, and were bullied in the marriage relationship.
Around Puyi, Wanrong has also been making trouble with him, on the grounds of respecting human rights, asking him to divorce Wenxiu, and everything in political and family affairs is not smooth, and Puyi is in a mess.
On August 28, the lawyer took Wen Xiu to a French law firm to meet with Puyi, and Wen Xiu proposed three points to Puyi:
1, completely detached, do not interfere with each other; 2, the daily use of clothing has been opened a list, should be paid according to this order; 3, Puyi paid himself 500,000 alimony.
As for Puyi's side of the statement that divorce is not allowed, Wen Xiu did not agree to it, and on the issue of alimony, the two sides continued to argue endlessly.
On August 29, the lawyer filed a lawsuit with the Tianjin District Court, and the court issued a summons on the same day, and Puyi blamed Wen Xiu for filing a complaint while mediating, not keeping his word, and this is the lawyer's intention.
In the name of mediation, the truth of the complaint was carried out, forcing Puyi to agree to the divorce.
Sure enough, Puyi, who received the summons, was anxious like an ant on a hot pot, and Puyi was really afraid of WenXiu's accusations, and the Nine-Five-Year-Old zun and the concubine confronted the court, becoming a system, and then he colluded closely with the Japanese and did not want to make trouble, so Puyi agreed to divorce.
On the issue of alimony, the parties bargained several times,
The final figure was set at 55,000 yuan. After Wen Xiu made a big concession, he only asked for a one-time payment in cash, and Puyi agreed.
On October 22, Puyi and Wenxiu agreed to completely disassociate themselves, and at this point, Wenxiu was free.
Puyi after getting the relevant agreement of divorce, but also a long sigh of relief, in order to save dignity, he did not hesitate to spend a lot of money, the newspaper said:
"Lady Shufei left the garden without permission, removed her original title, and abolished her as a shuren."
This vigorous royal divorce case finally ended in such a somewhat comical way.
Start a new life
After divorce,
Accompanied by Zheng Xiaoxu, Puyi traveled from Tianjin to the northeast under Japanese occupation and continued to act as a puppet emperor of Japanese imperialism.
Fortunately, Wen Xiu escaped from the bitter sea one step ahead of her, did not betray the motherland with Puyi, and after the divorce, she returned to Beiping
I wanted to return to my mother' side, reunite with my family as a free person, and enjoy the joys of heaven, but unfortunately, Jiang Shi has long passed away, and the previous house has been sold by a family member without authorization, there is no way, Wen Xiu had to go with Wen Shan, who has been divorced, in the Beiping Home.
And the 55,000 yuan of alimony that came from Puyi's side, Wen Xiu herself did not actually get much, she first gave Wen Shan and Yu Fen 5,000 yuan each, and also gave 5,000 yuan to the widow surnamed Zhang who took her in at that time, three lawyers, 1,000 yuan each, and the intermediary who spoke for both sides at that time, 1,000 yuan for each person for 3 people.
Repay the debt of 5,000 yuan, reward the next person and piecemeal expenses of 3,000 yuan, all of which are calculated down, Wen embroidery finally only 20,000 6, it can be seen that Wen Embroidery is not a vitriolous and mean woman, for the sophistication of the dot is still very atmospheric.
In 1932,
Wen Xiu revived his fu yufang name and became a teacher of Chinese language and painting at a primary school in Beiping
This is the first work of Wen Embroidery, so she is very happy and very attentive, every day her voice is loud, answering questions for the children, and the children also like this kind and gentle teacher.
It didn't take long,
Some good people know that this teacher named Fu Yufang is Shufei Wenxiu, who previously fought with the last emperor Puyi
Many reporters came to the school gate to chase and intercept, and many citizens wanted to see the style of the Imperial Princess, which made Wen embroidery in an embarrassing situation of being exhibited.
There was no way, she could only quit her beloved teacher job, bid farewell to the children who already had feelings, because her identity was exposed, the place where she lived was also full of people, Wen Xiu took out the last sum of money, bought a bungalow in the alley, and lived in seclusion with her sister.
Picture 丨 Wen Shan, Wen Embroidery
Later, the sister remarried, a new home, living alone Wen Xiu began to learn Chinese painting from the imperial painter Fu Ru, life has a sustenance and fun, soon after, some officers and officials, rich business bureaucrats thought that the imperial concubine's family must have a lot of rare treasures, they began to propose to Wen Xiu, Wen Xiu all turned away.
After the July 7 Incident in 1937, Peiping fell under the iron hooves of the Japanese Kou, and wenxiu was even more unstable.
Relying on the dog legs of the Japanese and the puppet Manchu officers, they came to the door one after another and extorted money from Wen Xiu
Over the years, Wen Xiu was truly penniless, and even became a relatively poor commoner.
In order to make a living, she sold her property, found another place to rent, and sold her physical strength for a living, first pasting cartons at home, and then working as a coolie in the bricklayers' team, because her physical strength was not enough, and finally she could only sell cigarettes in the streets and alleys for a living.
In 1945, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the rule of the Kuomintang in Beiping, Wen Embroidery was introduced by a friend.
In the North China Daily newspaper, he became a newspaper school team member, because of his serious work, plus outstanding learning, he got the weight of the president Zhang Mingwei.
Zhang Mingwei was very sympathetic to Wen Xiu's experience, out of concern, introduced his cousin Liu Zhendong to Wen Xiu, Liu Zhendong's ancestral home in Henan, joined the Kuomintang army at the age of 17, because of the bravery of the battle, all the way from a small soldier to a major, he was a straight man, did not cause trouble, and did not start a family at the age of 40.
After half a year of understanding and getting along, Wen Xiu gradually fell in love with this loyal and honest man.
In the summer of 1947, they married in Peiping and settled a new home
After marriage, the husband and wife lived a harmonious life, so that Wen Xiu experienced the warmth and happiness that he had never felt before.
In 1948, Liu Zhendong retired from the army and started a freight car dealership.
Before the liberation of Peiping, Liu Zhendong was worried about his former status as a national army and planned to take Wenxiu to Taiwan, but the situation changed too quickly, and the sea route to Taiwan was not accessible, so the two men stayed in Beiping.
After the liberation of Peiping, out of revolutionary needs, it was necessary to register the personnel left over from the former Kuomintang, and under the persuasion of Wen Xiu, Liu Zhendong truthfully registered and confessed his historical problems, and the people's government said that it would not pursue Liu Zhendong's criminal responsibility, not arrest or detain him, but just wore a counter-revolutionary hat and was supervised and controlled by the masses.
In 1951, Liu Zhendong performed well, and the Beijing Municipal People's Government lifted supervision and control of him.
Assigned to the cleaning team in The Xicheng District of Beijing as a worker
With a fixed salary, the lives of two people can be regarded as secure.
After discussion, they moved together to a small room of 10 square meters in the alley near the cleaning team in Xicheng District, where Wen Xiu had completed her life.
In September 1953, Wen Xiu died of myocardial infarction at the age of 44, and before his death, Wen Xiu revealed his identity to Liu Zhendong:
She is the last imperial concubine and Puyi's concubine.
Liu Zhendong only said:
"I can marry the emperor's daughter-in-law, I am worth it"
Wen Xiu listened to Liu Zhendong's sympathetic words and closed his eyes in relief.
After Wen Xiu's death, Liu Zhendong asked the cleaning team for four wooden planks, beat a coffin, and with the help of two team members, buried his wife, the last imperial concubine Wen Xiu, in a different place in Tucheng, outside the Anding Gate of Beijing, there was no monument in front of the grave, and a handful of loess covered up the life of Wen Xiu from the nobles to the last imperial concubines, to the common people.