A hundred years ago, women who came from noble families were often called "celebrities". Their families are very prominent, and the family's rich economic strength means that they are usually well-educated, open-minded, and dare to defend their basic rights. Yan Renmei is a typical representative of that period, and she is also known as "China's last celebrity".
1. The family is illustrious, and his grandfather loves him
In Shanghai at that time, the Yan family was already a well-known family. Yan Renmei's great-grandfather, Yan Xiaofang, was a hard-working person, and his diligence and studiousness coupled with the strong relationship of the family made Yan Xiaofang appreciated by Li Hongzhang.
This young man with broad horizons and ideas has been vigorously cultivated by Li Hongzhang. Yan Xiaofang, who was proud of officialdom, soon founded a bank in Shanghai and invested in many enterprises.
By the generation of Yan Renmei's father, Yan Zhiduo, the Yan family has become a well-known family in Shanghai, and it is the object that many dignitaries want to get acquainted with. The Yan family attaches great importance to the education of their children and grandchildren, and the children in the house have read poetry and books since childhood, and they are also comfortable in interpersonal communication. As the grandson of Yan's family, Yan Zhiduo is naturally a talent, and his marriage has also been highly valued by the family.
In the society at that time, marriage was very particular about family origin, and the Yan family chose and chose among all the daughters of famous families, and finally determined the granddaughter of the wealthy businessman Liu Yong, and the two got married soon after, and their married life was also sweet. Soon Yan Zhiduo's wife became pregnant, and the whole family took care of her carefully, but an accident still made her give birth prematurely, and she gave birth to a baby girl.
Looking at her dying daughter, Yan Zhiduo's wife was not happy. She felt that she had not been able to give birth to a son to the Yan family, and besides, the premature baby girl was very ugly, and she was very worried that she would be ridiculed by others.
Fortunately, Yan Zhiduo's father loves this baby girl very much. Because her mother thought she was ugly, her grandfather added the word "beauty" to the baby girl's name and named her Yan Renmei, hoping that she would grow up and become more beautiful in the future.
Second, slim and elegant, love to read
When she was a child, Yan Renmei was very thin, and she was born prematurely with less hair. Mothers have heard from others that when children shave their hair when they are young, they will have more hair when they grow up.
So Yan Renmei was shaved by her mother before she was 2 years old, but it basically had no effect. Later, a relative took her to England to see a professional doctor, and by the time she returned home at the age of six, she had thick hair.
Soon after Yan Renmei returned to China, her mother died of illness, and Yan Renmei has been living with her maternal grandparents. Yan Zhiduo later married another wife, and Yan Renmei had a stepmother, and it happened that the stepmother's relative was the principal of a girls' school, so Yan Renmei went to this middle school to study.
Yan Renmei met many children of official eunuchs at school, and they went on outings and parties together, and Yan Renmei slowly found her own way of behaving in social situations.
However, the good times did not last long, when there was an incident of running away from marriage in the Yan family, Yan Zhiduo thought that the girl who escaped from marriage had read too many books to do this kind of thing that disgraced the family, so he strictly forbade Yan Renmei to go to middle school.
Her father's ignorant decision made Yan Renmei feel very aggrieved, and she strongly opposed her father's approach. Under Yan Renmei's strong protest, her father agreed to continue her study at school, but on the condition that Yan Renmei must score more than 90 points in every subject.
Since then, Yan Renmei has studied harder, and soon won the first place in the grade, and at the same time speaks fluent English.
But even if Yan Renmei is so good, Yan Zhiduo still doesn't want her to continue reading. In order to prevent Yan Renmei from going to school, Yan Zhiduo married her to the Ma family in Suzhou.
Although the Ma family has a rich village and a solid family, Yan Renmei still disagrees. Yan Renmei, who was angry and anxious, went on a hunger strike and almost lost her life. Later, under the protection of her grandmother, Yan Renmei left her father and returned to her grandmother's house.
3. Unfortunate marriage, bold rights protection
Under the care of her grandmother, Yan Renmei left her father to live in Hangzhou for a year, and her health slowly improved. Yan Renmei, who didn't want her father to be embarrassed, finally agreed to marry into the Ma family, but only if her father let her continue to go to school.
At the beginning, the newlywed Yan'er's little couple had a decent life. A year later, Yan Renmei became pregnant, and the Ma family hired several tutors for her.
But the suave son of the Ma family is not a reliable person at all, he carries Yan Renmei behind his back and messes with flowers and grass, and he is even more unscrupulous during Yan Renmei's pregnancy.
Yan Renmei, who has received a new education, can't accept her husband's half-heartedness at all, and Yan Renmei, who can't bear it, filed for divorce. Yim In-mei's decision was supported by many people, who encouraged her to find true happiness.
After the divorce, Yan Renmei thought that she would return to her previous good life, but the Anti-Japanese War broke out and a large number of Japanese invaders came to Shanghai. In order to escape the war, the wealthy people in Shanghai left Shanghai one after another. But Yan Renmei has a deep affection for Shanghai since she was a child, and she left home at the age of 2 and no longer wants to experience the pain of displacement, so Yan Renmei chose to stay in Shanghai.
Fourth, I would rather die than obey the Japanese, and regain happiness after my second marriage
The Yan family couldn't convince Yan Renmei, so they had to agree to her stay in Shanghai. Yan Renmei's aunt left her a bungalow before leaving, not only to provide Yan Renmei with a place to live, but also to consider that she could sell the bungalow to raise money when she was short of money. Yan Renmei liked this bungalow very much, and planned to have people renovate it, and then lived in it herself.
After the Japanese occupied Shanghai, they became very arrogant, burning, killing, looting and doing all kinds of evil. Yan Renmei, who has a prominent family and is young and beautiful, attracts the attention of a Japanese officer. This Japanese officer kept harassing Yan Renmei, and shamelessly told Yan Renmei that when the bungalow was renovated, he would live in the bungalow with Yan Renmei, and kept sending people to follow Yan Renmei.
Although Yan Renmei was very afraid of the threat of the Japanese officer, she also secretly decided that she would rather die than obey him. Desperate, Yan Renmei had no choice but to seek help from her father, Yan Zhiduo was very worried about his daughter's safety, and after thinking about it, Yan Zhiduo could only marry his daughter to Li Zumin, another young master of another very famous local family, hoping to make his daughter no longer harassed.
On the day of the wedding, the Li family sent a lot of bodyguards to protect Yan Renmei's safety, and the Japanese did not dare to make trouble, and the wedding went very smoothly. The object of this marriage, Li Zumin, is a person of excellent character and learning, he never spends all day drinking, and he respects and takes care of Yan Renmei, who is knowledgeable, and the husband and wife respect each other like guests, live a happy life, and have a son and a daughter soon after marriage.
At the end of the last century, Li Zumin died of illness, but Yan Renmei's body was very healthy, and she is now 102 years old. Yan Renmei, who is knowledgeable and understands righteousness, is also deservedly titled "China's last celebrity".