Xu Zhimo
In the literary circle of the Republic of China, loyalty is dedicated to the homeland, romance is left to the ideal, and this background color fits off the multi-faceted nature of the times, and the deep love and abandonment that happen to the same person will not violate it.
Xu Zhimo's love for Lin Huiyin echoed in the willows of the Kangqiao evening wind, and his care for Lu Xiaoman was also portrayed in a series of letters with words flowing from the tip of his heart. Even if his friends are quite critical of his attitude towards marriage, they rarely accuse him of using his romantic talents for improper purposes.
In the memories of his wife Zhang Youyi, Xu Zhimo has been indifferent to her for several years, has a brief greeting that has been forced by her parents' urging, has the calmness of talking and laughing freely after divorce, and has the right respect for her ability, but there is no trace of love.
Judging from the climax of Zhang Youyi's career, she is by no means the person who prays for shelter in the feudal leaky eaves under the torrent of modern times, but the shell of this arranged marriage hides the freedom and freshness that she could have presented in front of Xu Zhimo from the beginning.
It is wrong for two people to combine in any way by this premise.
Their love is like the unwilling return of the old era when it retreats behind the scenes, and it is also like the unpolished embryo of the new era when it steps forward, chasing what they want in a deformed and staggered reunion.
Zhang Youyi
Zhang Youyi has a prominent life, her father and brother are well-known in the political, commercial, financial, and ideological circles, and the Xu family is also a wealthy businessman of Kip shek, and the marriage is naturally right. In the world of the new wind, they did not expect that the blessings of their children had left the traditional covenant of matchmaking.
The fourth brother, Zhang Jiaxuan, read an article called "On the Relationship between Novels and Society" in a middle school, and his views were sharp and his penmanship was so old that he could peek into the hills in the chest of the person who lifted the pen. Zhang Jiaxuan immediately wrote a marriage letter to Xu Shenru, the father of Xu Zhimo, the author of the article.
Zhang Youyi, 15, saw the elegant teenager in the photo next to her father, and her father asked her how she was, and she said slightly shyly: "I have no opinion." But on the other hand, it did not go well, and Xu Zhimo did not expect that an article could bring himself an unshirkable marriage.
Zhang Jiaxuan
The 17-year-old Xu Zhimo was full of resistance, and his dislike of the arranged work shifted at the moment he saw the other party's photo. He has never twisted his parents, this wedding is huge, Qin Jin is good, ten miles of red makeup, the Ming media is marrying, lively and lively to achieve a local beautiful talk.
Under the bright hijab of Xianyan, the bride was in a worried mood and full of expectations. But he was stunned to watch the groom enter the cave room with the frolicking guests, look around for a week, and then leave silently with the guests.
Zhang Youyi stood alone in the empty room, looking around the strange mansion, the quietly burning candle seemed to predict the future life of the two people, silent and hard, until the tears ran out to be relieved.
Perhaps from the brother's unsparing appreciation, or from the joy of her father's clapping, or from the mother's thousands of instructions, or from the kind of elegant and handsome beauty in the photo, Zhang Youyi believes that this is the happy home that the family has chosen for her, and simply worships and loves this husband.
Zhang Youyi and Xu Zhimo
She conscientiously performed the duties of a bride of all, dignified and decent, filial piety and virtuousness. Even if her husband does not say a word to her, she is willing to figure out what a respectable wife in her husband's heart looks like day after day.
A few weeks after the marriage, Xu Zhimo couldn't wait to go to Tianjin to study, and then transferred to Peking University. Here, his talent is beginning to shine, and he yearns for freedom in an inclusive environment.
He sat quietly with his wife in his bedroom and talked: "The times will usher in a big change, and everyone will be free under this change." ”
Zhang Youyi, who stepped into the school door from the boudoir and hurriedly became a wife, may not have understood this unprovoked opening statement at the beginning, but Xu Zhimo's next sentence has a very clear meaning: "I want a divorce." ”
Throughout the whole process, Zhang Youyi rarely spoke, and she found that she could neither communicate with her husband about the new trend of the times, nor could she refute his divorce demands. In Xu Zhimana's not euphemistic comfort, he could not return to God for a long time.
Xu Zhimo entered Liang Qichao's door, and the new bourgeois ideas made him have the ambition to explore the road of his home country, and the idea of studying abroad became more and more urgent. The father was a little angry in the face of his only son's confession, and told him: "Don't want to go abroad without leaving your children!" ”
In 1918, the eldest son, Xu Jikai, was born.
Zhang Youyi on the bed was still relieved to see Xu Zhimo holding her son, this kind of father-son warmth would make her and him connect with him with a bond that could no longer be broken, but this could not stop Xu Zhimo's determination to stay in Yang.
Zhang Youyi, who was wearing a cheongsam and holding her head in a pan, did not know how to keep it. He turned away without any hesitation, leaving her lonely figure at the door of the house, leaving only the murmuring memories of many years later: "When I said goodbye to him, it was as if he had long gone." ”
Letters from across the sea are full of what they have seen and heard abroad, and Xu Zhimo greets his parents and sons, but ignores his wife alone.
So much so that in the winter of 1920, when Xu Zhimo wrote a letter inviting Zhang Youyi to come to England to accompany her, she was surprised and overjoyed.
Zhang Youyi and her son
The in-laws took care of Zhang Youyi's going abroad properly, and entrusted acquaintances to take care of them all the way, joyfully looking forward to the reunion and reconciliation of the two. Zhang Youyi was very worried in her heart, and at the first sight of meeting after the gangway, she was keenly aware that this reunion was just the wishful thinking of Xu Father and Xu Mother.
"He was the only one in the pile of people who didn't want to look there." She wrapped her shawl in the cold sea breeze, and her shirts and skirts were carefully selected when she disembarked, but her husband was impatient.
Zhang Youyi followed Xu Zhimo's footsteps, and he took her straight to a dress shop, picked out clothes and threw them at her, and urged her to quickly change into them.
Zhang Youyi, dressed in a dress, seemed to not know herself in the mirror. Xu Zhimo pulled her to take a picture, and in the photo he showed a rare tenderness. The flash went out, her husband's expression returned to his usual indifference, and when she looked at the photo again, the faint harmony only made her feel trance.
This precious group photo was sent to Xu Zhimo's home for an errand.
During their study abroad, the two lived in Shaston, without a maid, and Zhang Youyi, who had been dressed since childhood, had to carry all the chores. She still feels that even if the budding of love between the two is slow, the marital relationship that can support each other is firm after all.
Therefore, even if the English letters that were often sent made Zhang Youyi suspicious, they never cared much. The in-laws cherished and the eldest son, Kang Jian, knew that her position as the young lady of the Xu family was unshakable, and firmly believed that no foreign woman was willing to commit herself to being a concubine.
At the Xu Mansion, she obeyed the ancestral ceremonial law and could not leave the gate. In britain, she is so entangled in housework that she has no time to go out to increase her knowledge, and Xu Zhimo, where she does not understand, is her main contact with the outside world.
So she couldn't imagine how charming her husband on the cambridge university drama stage was, how romantic and funny her husband who was strolling on the banks of the Kang River, and how he confided in another family lady.
The second from the left is Lin Huiyin
In 1921, Zhang Youyi became pregnant again. The life that came in the emotional tug-of-war did not make Xu Zhimo pity her more, but became a catalyst for the marriage to accelerate to the end.
"Knock him out." Xu Zhimo did not have any expectations for this life and was anxious to get rid of this marriage. He met his soul mate at a time when he was in full bloom, how could he let this fate be lost.
As a husband, I don't care about my wife's life, and as a father, I don't care about the life of flesh and bones. If his snub had made her reflect on herself before, now she had to look at the man in front of her seriously.
She wouldn't beat up the kids and refused his renewed divorce request.
But Xu Zhimo did not go home for several days, books and clothes were not taken away, and Zhang Youyi only went to visit friends. It wasn't until a few months later that a gentleman came to visit and asked, "Would you rather be the daughter-in-law of the Xu family than Xu Zhimo's wife?" ”
The first on the right is Xu Zhimo
With absolute affection and his self-righteous compromise in this sharp message, Zhang Youyi finally collapsed. Trembling, she wrote a letter asking for help from her brother in Europe, went to Berlin to give birth, and signed a divorce agreement with Xu Zhimo.
From the age of 15 to 22, she has been circling around her husband arranged by the world, busy with no way to distinguish how much hope her youth should have hoped for premature death due to feudal shackles.
At that time in Xu House, her father-in-law relayed the contents of Xu Zhimo's letter to her, and her husband, who completed three majors at Clark University in ten months and obtained a bachelor's degree certificate, and spent only half a year to obtain a master's degree from Columbia University.
She pondered the vocabulary of history, economics, sociology, and literature mentioned in the letter, which she had heard in her boudoir, so she also invited tutors to study history and economy, secretly expecting that he would be impressed by herself when we met again.
But he turned a blind eye to his wife's academic efforts and was not willing to accept any shining points outside of Zhang Youyi's inherent impression.
Her husband regarded her as a heavy obstacle to the pursuit of freedom and advancement, forcing the two to submit to the old custom, which was initially regarded by Xu Zhimo as the original sin brought about by Zhang Youyi's innate.
Later, when asked whether she loved Xu Zhimo, Zhang Youyi said: "If taking care of Xu Zhimo and his family is called love, then I probably love him." She couldn't tell whether that expectation and disappointment were given to her husband or to her longing self.
The world does not give her ease, and the other side awakens on its own. She enrolled in Pestaloch to study early childhood education, learn German, and devote herself to childcare and busy studies. Seriously peel off the plastic seal that marriage puts on her, and calmly excavate herself.
"Before I went to Germany, I was afraid of everything. After going to Germany, I was not afraid of anything. She downplayed her summary of the dividing lines of her life, and only she herself knew how much life's grief it took to have the courage to start all over again.
On the other hand, after returning to China, Xu Zhimo pursued Lin Huiyin fruitlessly and fell in love with Lu Xiaoman.
The Xu family's parents did not like Lu Xiaoman's arrogance and arrogance, and bluntly said that the Xu family's daughter-in-law only recognized Zhang Youyi. The teacher and friend also have many accusations about the combination of the two. But the two are like two tailed fish that feel sorry for each other in the dry water, desperately hugging each other.
In 1926, Xu Zhimo Lu Xiaoman married. Zhang Youyi was still immersed in the pain of the death of her younger son, and returned to her homeland after many years of absence at the request of Xu's father and mother.
Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman
Her brother asked her to take over the Shanghai Women's Commercial Bank, which was on the verge of collapse, and her management talent was beginning to emerge. Subsequently, the revitalized Yunsheng clothing store made the world even more amazed. At this time, Xu Zhimo may have also realized that the woman he had never looked at before had such a talent.
But even if you appreciate it, it has nothing to do with love. Similarly, at Hu Shi's dinner party, the invited Zhang Youyi watched Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman affectionately address each other, and she was also accustomed to being unfazed.
In the year of divorce, Xu Zhimo promised to pay 5,000 yuan in alimony, but Zhang Youyi refused. Instead, Xu's father gave Zhang Youyi, who was far away in Germany, 200 yuan a month for living expenses. This makes Zhang Youyi extremely grateful for the maintenance and respect of her in-laws. After the divorce, she also had close ties with the Xu family.
Lu Xiaoman was obsessed with socializing, infected with opium, and was confused with Weng Rui, which made it difficult for the two old men to hide their anger, and they told Zhang Youyi: "This home is ruined, we want to live with you!" ”
Xu Mu
Zhang Youyi did not refuse, she built a house for the two elderly people in the open space a few hundred yards from her home, so that she could take care of them herself and make it easier for them to visit their grandchildren. They often chatted and ate together, and they were as close as they were as a family.
Later, Xu's father and Xu's mother returned to their hometown of Jiaoshi, And Xu's mother was critically ill with asthma, and Xu's father called Xu Zhimo and Zhang Youyi to let them go back. Zhang Youyi hesitated, and under careful consideration, she could only let her son return to his hometown.
No one presided over such a large mid-feed affair, Xu Zhimo was anxious, and he repeatedly electrified Zhang Youyi. Zhang Youyi was finally anxious: "I go back, in what capacity do I go back?" Did I go back and you asked me to attend the funeral? Makes people laugh at the shame that the Xu family has two hostesses? ”
She never shied away from her responsibilities, but her family background did not allow her to give up her due pride. In the end, Zhang Youyi arranged the funeral as a daughter of Gan, and Lu Xiaoman, who was the young lady of the Xu family, was late the night before the funeral.
Zhang Youyi (right)
Xu Zhimo was romantic all his life and once disdained the housekeeper's financial management. It was precisely these chores that made him realize how helpless he was in his naked reality.
After marriage, Lu Xiaoman is still addicted to socializing and has extremely high requirements for the quality of life. Dissatisfied with this marriage, Xu's father cut off their living allowance, and Xu Zhimo had to stop teaching at several universities to earn living expenses in order to meet Lu Xiaoman's requirements.
In the speeding train in the field under the moonlit night, in the dew-stained rickshaw under the morning light, Xu Zhimo may not feel tired. But this is the free love he has sought in a sense of rebellion, and he cannot give up easily.
Zhang Youyi is not a desperate person from beginning to end, every time Xu Zhimo comes to borrow money, she says when she gives him it is Xu Father's money. Xu Zhimo may not not understand, but the respect after the breakup is just right under the silence at this time.
Lu Xiaoman
After the divorce, Zhang Youyi and Xu Zhimo can talk and laugh. In a letter to a friend, Xu Zhimo admitted: "C (Zhang Youyi) is a woman with ambition and courage. ”
After a fruitless quarrel to persuade Lu Xiaoman to quit smoking, Xu Zhimo embarked on a flight with no way back. He was 34 years old.
Zhang Youyi's communication with Xu Zhimo stayed in the kind greeting of the day before he left. She watched him leave the shop with his freshly made clothes and quietly bid farewell without warning.
Lu Xiaoman refused the postman who delivered the letter. The postman could not, so he had to go to Zhang Youyi's door. After taking care of Xu Zhimo's affairs, no one gave her a word of explanation and explanation for love and marriage.
Half a life in the mall, Zhang Youyi's children and grandchildren are full of halls, the stability of the twilight years is like an image folded from the mirror of time, she is surrounded by children, and in a trance, she seems to be able to remember holding her young son in a corner of the Xu family garden.
Zhang Youyi and grandchildren
People can look back on many things, but rarely have a complete awakening in the process.
There was too much confusion between her and Xu Zhimo. Xu Zhimo's works are ethereal, and years of overseas study and national changes have made his life full of idealism.
When Zhang Youyi is trapped in the mud of marriage and cannot extricate herself, Xu also needs to find sustenance for her ideals. A big net of the world is everywhere, and he needs to fall to the ground to breathe when he is vibrating, but it is clear that their marriage is not his place to live.
The world has a lot of regrets about this marriage, but looking at it, this is just a microcosm of the misfortune of the times. The struggle between the two men is already a rarity, pushing the story to a less sad ending in the dark.
Regarding Xu Zhimo, Zhang Youyi actually said very little. It wasn't until after her death that the relationship was glimpsed in her niece's articles, but many words that didn't exist in writing also commemorated the silence they had.
Zhang Youyi later helped Xu Zhimo sort out the anthology, edited and published it, and was also able to read this person's voice in detail in the hurried years, not knowing whether she found only a few words about her in this stack of words, which was more relieved for the silent and repressed marriage of that year.
In "By Chance", Xu Zhimo wrote: "You and I meet on the sea of darkness, you have yours, I have mine, direction; you remember it, it is best that you forget, the light that is put on each other at this rendezvous." He wrote this poem to bid farewell to Lin Huiyin, and also made a footnote to the end of the first marriage.
In addition to the love of Xu Zhimo's life, there is also a patriotic heart and a long literary love. In addition to that heart-wrenching past, Zhang Youyi also has a female legend of the business world that wields fangs.
People in the play have looked down on it, and outsiders do not have to indulge. One is different and two wide, and the first sign of happiness. The statement of the divorce agreement may have already pointed out a way out for the lives of the two people.