There is an old Chinese saying: "Friends and wives, do not be deceived." ”
But Zhang Daofan, a man with great power who sat on a high position in the Kuomintang, fell in love with the wife of his brother Xu Beihong and remembered it for decades.
Zhang Daofan
Speaking of the love-hate entanglement between Zhang Daofan, Xu Beihong and Jiang Biwei, we must start from the first time they met.
In 1921, Xu Beihong, accompanied by Jiang Biwei, studied in France, and the two attended a cocktail party at the Chinese legation in Germany as representatives studying in Europe.
At this time, Zhang Daofan was studying fine arts at University College London, and happened to travel to Germany, and when he heard that Xu Beihong, who was also a foreign art student, attended a cocktail party in Berlin, he came to him and wanted to talk to him about his views on art painting.
The first time they met, Jiang Biwei attracted the attention of Zhang Daofan.
He wrote in a courtship letter to Jiang Biwei later:
"You impressed me so much that day. You wear a bright and chic dress. The top is a big red background, gray yellow flowers, the long skirt is a gray yellow bottom, big red flowers. You stand on the red carpet, standing tall, graceful, and so graceful. ”
A man's ability to remember a woman's dress so clearly shows that this woman already has a place in his heart.
Jiang Biwei
Just one side of the fate, so that Zhang Daofan can not forget for a long time, he feels that Jiang Biwei has a unique beauty of oriental women, attracting him to keep getting closer.
Xu Beihong and Zhang Daofan, both painters, have many similar insights in art, and the collision of artists can always inspire new creative inspiration.
Xu Beihong introduced his friends Xie Shoukang, Shao Xunmei and others to Zhang Daofan.
A group of young people studying alone on the other side of the ocean, met in a foreign country, naturally close to a lot, they often get together to talk about painting, art, domestic situation, and life hardships.
In the midst of laughter and small talk, a small group of paintings called the "Tengu Society" was formed, and the members of the group were all called brothers.
Xie Shoukang is the eldest, Xu Beihong is the second eldest, Zhang Daofan is the third, and Shao Xunmei is the fourth.
From then on, Zhang Daofan called Xu Beihong the "second brother" and Jiang Biwei the "second sister-in-law".
Xu Beihong
In the later relationship, Zhang Daofan learned that Jiang Biwei was originally a miss of Qianjin, in order to pursue love, she would rather give up her rich and noble life, at the expense of running away from marriage, eloping with her second brother, to Japan and France, even if she suffered a lot along the way, she still did not give up.
This could not help but make Zhang Daofan appreciate Jiang Biwei even more.
He once jokingly said to Xu Beihong: "Where to find such a good wife of the second sister-in-law, the second brother, you should cherish, don't hurt the heart of the second sister-in-law, let others rob it!" ”
Later, Zhang Daofan was admitted to the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, France, and the members of the "Tengu Society" all went their separate ways, and the three of them briefly lost contact.
It was not until Xu Beihong and his wife also came to France that the connection between the three was re-established.
Xu Beihong and Jiang Biwei
Xu Beihong, who had just arrived in Paris, was full of curiosity about this "art city", and he plunged into painting, eager to show all his creative inspiration, often entering the studio for several hours.
Immersed in painting, Xu Beihong gradually ignored his concern for Jiang Biwei.
For Jiang Biwei, Paris is like a "city of pleasure", with shopping malls lined up one after another, a variety of goods and clothing, reminding her of the days when she was a miss in China before eloping.
Xu Beihong was originally funded by the Beiyang government to study at public expense, originally the cost of giving him one person was to be divided between two people, he was strapped for money, and he could barely live in Germany, where the consumption was low, but when he arrived in Paris, where the rich gathered, the life of the two was even more difficult.
Jiang Biwei is always meticulous and does not dare to spend a penny indiscriminately, but the family still cannot make ends meet.
Zhang Daofan, who learned that Xu Beihong and his wife had also arrived in Paris, was very happy, so he wrote a letter of condolence.
Jiang Biwei could not help but complain a little in her reply:
"When I first arrived in Paris with Misery, I was not familiar with life, he often devoted all his enthusiasm to creation, rarely spoke to me, I had no friends here, and I often felt lonely. Also, the consumption in Paris is too high! Once I went to the mall with Misery Hong, saw a trench coat, very good-looking, even the counter lady directly boasted of the appropriate, but the price is slightly higher, and finally I was not willing to buy. ”
Soon after receiving the reply, Zhang Daofan went to visit him.
Seeing his old friend visit, Xu Beihong was very happy. In the gap between Jiang Biwei's preparation of the meal, Zhang Daofan told Xu Beihong of Jiang Biwei's concerns in the letter and advised Xu Beihong to pay more attention to the "second sister-in-law".
After that, although Xu Beihong still concentrated on painting, he would often take time to chat with Jiang Biwei and comfort her.
Once, Xu Beihong's painting was bought by a rich French wife who bid 1,000 francs, and the first thing Xu Beihong did was to take his wife to the mall to buy the trench coat she had long wanted.
In 1925, Xu Beihong became acquainted with Huang Menggui, who traveled to France, and in order to change the status quo of the two people's lives in Paris, Xu Beihong decided to accompany Huang Menggui to Singapore and other places to promote paintings, leaving Jiang Biwei alone in Paris.
This walk was more than a year, so that Zhang Daofan had an opportunity to take advantage of it.
Xu Beihong traveled around this time, Zhang Daofan often wrote letters to care about Jiang Biwei's life, occasionally went to visit her, provided her with some help in life, and gradually the two exchanged more and more letters, and more and more contacts.
Xu Beihong and Jiang Biwei in France
In 1926, Zhang Daofan could not contain his feelings and confessed to Jiang Biwei.
In his letter, he wrote:
"Why do I love a woman so much that I don't dare to show my heroism and say to her: 'I love you'?
……
Why do I love her without even knowing if she has the same feelings for me?
Why has reason that reason has always been able to suppress me, and now that I have left her, my feelings cannot be controlled?
Why do I know that even if she loves me, this love must be painful and fruitless, but I can never forget her?
You don't have to ask who she is? Don't have to think about who she is?
Suppose I show my heroism and say to her, 'I love you.'" What will happen to her?
If I were to ask her directly, 'I love you, do you love me?' How will she answer me? ”
Portrait of Jiang Biwei by Xu Beihong
In the face of Zhang Daofan's confession, Jiang Biwei was overwhelmed.
On the one hand, there are lovers who have spent ten years together, ups and downs, and they will not abandon, and on the other hand, they are friends who have known each other for many years and know each other.
She didn't expect Zhang Daofan to have a crush on her for so long.
After thinking about it for a while, she wrote back and rejected Zhang Daofan's courtship.
The reason is that she and Xu Beihong have been in love for ten years, have experienced a lot together, and they love each other deeply and have long become an indispensable part of each other.
Zhang Daofan is a confidant and a friend to her, but the relationship between the two must not exceed friendship.
And Jiang Biwei also proposed that in the future, the two will still have less contact as well, so as to save being criticized.
Zhang Daofan, who saw the reply, was very sad, not only was the courtship rejected, Jiang Biwei still had mustard in her heart for him, and she was afraid that even her friends would not be able to do it in the future.
The best medicine to heal a love wound is to soothe it with a new relationship.
Zhang Daofan, who was emotionally injured, also chose such a path.
Soon after, he married a French girl named Susan.
But Zhang Daofan has no feelings for Susan, just because Susan likes him, and Susan's father is a French civil servant with a solid family, which is of great benefit to Zhang Daofan's development in France.
Even when proposing relatives, Zhang Daofan did not come forward in person, but entrusted his friends to help.
On the wedding day, the bride waited shyly in the room, the groom was drunk, and the night of the candles in the cave room passed.
Zhang Daofan then returned to China with his wife and renamed her Guo Shuyuan.
After returning to China, Zhang Daofan abandoned painting to enter politics, and he originally joined the Chinese Kuomintang as early as when he studied in France, and after returning to China, he was directly assigned to work in the Kuomintang government, and then he has been concentrating on political work and holding important positions in the Kuomintang government.
But his feelings for Jiang Biwei did not disappear because of marriage, and he always paid attention to Jiang Biwei's dynamics in France.
In 1927, Xu Beihong, who had returned from travels around the world, returned to Shanghai with his wife, and was invited by the National Fourth Sun Yat-sen University to serve as a professor in the art department, earning 300 francs per month, making Xu Beihong and his wife's life still very rich.
During this time of teaching at the university, Jiang Biwei gave birth to a son and a daughter, Xu Boyang and Xu Jingfei, and the family's life was happy and harmonious.
However, the good times did not last long, Xu Beihong met Tian Han, Ouyang Yuqian and other people in Shanghai, a group of artistic youths with strong patriotic enthusiasm, and together founded the "Nanguo Society".
Later, the Shanghai Nanguo Art Academy was established, and Xu Beihong resigned from the position of professor in the art department and went to the Nanguo Art Academy as a painting teacher for free.
This behavior made Jiang Biwei very dissatisfied.
Xu Beihong's daughter Xu Jingfei said in an interview in her later years:
"My mother felt that she had suffered a lot of hardships in studying in a foreign country with my father for ten years, and that she could have lived a stable and prosperous life after returning to China, but my father wanted to give up a stable job and let the family continue to live a hard life.
When Zhang Daofan learned about it, he asked someone to help her find a job, which was enough to support her family.
But later, Xu Beihong's derailment completely destroyed her self-confidence.
While working as a teacher at nanguoshe, Xu Beihong met Sun Yunjun, a 19-year-old female student.
Sun Yunjun is lively and studious, and has a talent for painting, which makes Xu Beihong particularly fond.
He often instructed her to paint alone and painted a portrait of her himself.
Portrait of Xu Beihong for Sun Yunjun
As the contact between the two became more and more, the rumors of the two began to circulate in the school, and soon reached Jiang Biwei's ears.
She questioned her husband, and Xu Beihong not only did not defend herself, but instead made peace with her.
At first, Jiang Biwei asked her husband and Sun Yunjun to cut off contact, thinking that life could be restored to its original state.
But Jiang Biwei's friend told her that Xu Beihong was planning to send Sun Yunjun to study abroad.
Now the two are still teachers and students, under their own eyes do not dare to do anything, once out of the country, foreign countries, mountains and high roads, she can not manage it.
In a fit of rage, Jiang Biwei found Xu Beihong's friend Chu Minyi to explain the origin of the matter and prevented Sun Yunjun from going abroad.
After Sun Yunjun's plan to go abroad was in vain, he wrote a letter to Xu Beihong very angrily, which probably meant that he should draw a clear line with Xu Beihong and be independent and autonomous in the future. He then went to Guangxi.
Xu Beihong, who received the letter, angrily rebuked his wife and packed his bags to follow Sun Yunjun.
Before Xu Beihong left, Jiang Biwei said something like this:
"As for you and me being separated like this, I also feel very good that you want it. But you and I have two children, and I will never give up on the family and at the same time I will not remarry. If one day you break up with someone else, you will be ready to welcome you whenever you come back. But one thing I must explain is that if someone else dies, remarries alive, and wants to go home after you have failed, then I absolutely cannot accept it. ”
In this way, Xu Beihong went to Guangxi, and the two separated.
Zhang Daofan, who heard the news, could not bear jiang Biwei's suffering so much, so he often came to visit her and give her some living support.
At this time, Jiang Biwei Jiang Biwei raised two children alone, and there was no better choice than acceptance.
Mr. and Mrs. Xu Beihong and their children
After that, the two often corresponded, and Zhang Daofan often explained to Jiang Biwei in the letter many unhappiness in the family feelings.
To avoid right and wrong, both men communicated under pseudonyms.
"Zong, beloved, I miss you, I think of you in action, I think of you as I sit, I think of you all the time, I think of you toward twilight."
"Snow, if you take me and burn it to ashes, and examine it carefully, you will see that my smallest grain of ash also has your shadow imprinted on it."
"Zong" represents Zhang Daofan, and "Xue" represents Jiang Biwei.
If you have to give a name to the relationship between the two at this time. I prefer to call them spiritual lovers who are frustrated in their feelings, feel sorry for each other, and warm each other.
In 1937, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, Jiang Biwei hid in Zhang Daofan's house with a pair of children, and then moved to Chongqing under his arrangement.
If it is said that before this, Jiang Biwei and Zhang Daofan only exchanged heartfelt complaints through letters and comforted each other.
So this time, when Jiang Biwei was most helpless, Zhang Daofan gave her help, and after years of separation from her husband, she felt the feeling of being cared for for the first time.
Jiang Biwei accepted him, but because Jiang Biwei was not divorced, the two could only live together in secret.
Jiang Biwei and Zhang Daofan
In this way, Zhang Daofan often ran at home with Jiang Biwei at both ends.
Every time he was particularly tired at work, he would come to Jiang Biwei, and she would prepare a pot of hot tea for him early and pinch his shoulders and beat his back.
Even if he had to go out to do things, Zhang Daofan would write letters to Jiang Biwei every day to send lovesickness.
Until 1942, Xu Beihong, who had been running away for several years, proposed to go home, which made Jiang Biwei panic.
Although she had promised to wait for him, now was different from the past, her heart was completely occupied by Zhang Daofan.
She wrote to Zhang Daofan for help, and Zhang Daofan gave her four pieces of advice: "One or two divorced separately and then remarried. Second, give up all the elopement that is now. Three, the two broke off. Fourth, divorce Xu Beihong and be his secret lover. ”
This answer, which seems to have many options, has only one way for Jiang Biwei, choosing to wronged herself and being Zhang Daofan's secret lover.
Subsequently, she filed for divorce with Xu Beihong, and after some twists and turns, she finally went through the divorce procedures in 1945 and received 100 paintings and 1 million yuan as compensation.
Since then, Jiang Biwei is no longer Xu Beihong's wife, and has only one identity - Zhang Daofan's lover.
She didn't want a name, she only hoped to be able to accompany Zhang Daofan.
When the relationship between the two was detected by Guo Shuyuan, she asked Zhang Daofan to cut off contact with Jiang Biwei, but this was impossible.
Zhang Daofan did not want to divorce, nor could he divorce.
It happened that his daughter was ill, so he sent his wife and daughter to Australia for recuperation, and it was ten years after he left.
Since then, Jiang Biwei has been with him as a mistress, and she has never publicly attended any public meeting with him for ten years.
For Guo Shuyuan, her heart was ashamed, but she had to do that.
She once received a letter from Guo Shuyuan from Australia:
"Dao Fan has a romantic idea, that is, the love of two places, each room is in one room, you are also a woman, understand a wife, how much perseverance and tolerance it takes to overcome the unevenness in the heart."
When the heat of all feelings recedes, only long-term companionship remains.
In 1958, Zhang Daofan proposed that he wanted to take his wife and daughter back to live together.
How could the sensitive Jiang Biwei not know that Zhang Daofan had the intention of returning to the nest of a tired bird.
She offered to visit her nephew in Nanyang, and before leaving, she left a letter, probably meaning that she hoped to regain their feelings, but if zhang Daofan had not been able to handle the relationship between the three after she returned, the two would be separated and would never see each other.
Zhang Daofan and Jiang Biwei
Sure enough, when he was young, he pursued a vigorous and fierce fire, and when he was old, he only sought family harmony and enjoyed the joy of heaven.
In the end, Zhang Daofan still chose family.
After all, for him, who is more than half a hundred years old, nothing is more important than a complete family.
What's more, at this time, he already hid his merits and fame deeply, and he didn't want to cause more trouble because of his feelings.
After leaving Zhang Daofan, Jiang Biwei lived by the paintings left by Xu Beihong, and she was also rich.
In 1966, she published "Memoirs of Jiang Biwei", the first part of "Me and Sorrow" is full of resentment, while the second part of "I and Daofan" is full of love and gratitude.
In her later years, Jiang Biwei
After the two were separated for 8 years, Zhang Daofan took the initiative to write to Jiang Biwei for the first time, hoping to see her again.
The signature is 'Zong'.
In 1968, Zhang Daofan died of illness in Taipei, and before he died, he left a last word to his family: "I have thoroughly reflected that although my life is not a loss of public morality, I am burdened by private feelings." ”