Zhu Ziqing and Chen Zhuyin
A "back shadow", a "lotus pond moonlight", let us remember a name from the middle school period, Zhu Ziqing.
And this great writer of the Republic of China period, the impression in my mind, at first there were only these few words: prose master, father, integrity, and so on.
Needless to say, the term "master of prose" is self-explanatory; "father" is mostly because of his famous work "Back Shadow";
As for "integrity", it is because of an article by a generation of great people, "Farewell, Stuart Redden".
It is also for this reason that we remember Zhu Ziqing's last story: starving to death and not receiving "relief food" from the United States.
However, behind these well-known "labels", Zhu Ziqing's life also has many little-known stories.
His story, if you have to use any word to describe, probably the most appropriate, there are only two words "miserable".
Zhu Ziqing calligraphy and painting
So, we will share with you today that Zhu Zi has cleared another side of life outside of "dignified prose writers".
"Back Shadow" is one of Zhu Ziqing's representative works and the most familiar work for most people.
Generally speaking, most people who read this article for the first time experience the touching feelings between father and son.
But in fact, behind this article, it is the father-son estrangement between Zhu Ziqing and his father Zhu Hongjun that is almost broken.
The Zhu family is also a family of scholars who have been officials for several generations, but by the time of their father's generation, they have gradually declined.
In addition, what is less known is that Zhu Ziqing and the great literary hero Lu Xun are actually relatives, although the intersection between the two is not much.
The Zhu family was originally from Shaoxing, and they were fellow villagers with the Zhou family where Lu Xun was located. In addition, Zhu Ziqing's mother is of the same ethnic group as Lu Xun.
At that time, the Zhou and Zhu families were both large local households, so there were marriages from time to time.
Lu Xun's original wife, Zhu An, was also a distant relative of Zhu Ziqing's own family.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Hongjun, Zhu Hongjun, had been a "petty official", so the conditions of the Zhu family at that time were still quite good.
Even in the years after the Xinhai Revolution, Zhu Hongjun also found a fat gap, the director of the Xuzhou Yuyun Bureau.
Zhu Hongjun has three sons, Zhu Ziqing is the eldest son, so since he was a child, his father has placed high hopes on him, extremely pampered but extraordinarily strict, especially in learning, which can be described as strict discipline.
This also caused Zhu Ziqing's feelings for his father when he was young, which was more fear than love.
Zhu Hongjun's personality is a typical feudal society "big man".
In his thinking, the three principles and five constants, three wives and four concubines, are all social norms.
Therefore, in the case of power and wealth, several aunts and wives were married into the door.
Second row, second from right: Zhu Ziqing
However, it was precisely this that led to the decline of the Zhu family and also caused the estrangement between Zhu Ziqing and him.
In 1917, Zhu Hongjun, who took office in Xuzhou, married a new aunt.
Women in the old society, especially those who were wives and concubines, lived on men all their lives, of course, no one was willing to "fall out of favor".
Therefore, Zhu Hongjun's aunt surnamed Pan, who was left at home, heard the news and ran to Xuzhou and made a big fuss.
Before long, word spread and it was published in the newspaper.
Although the matter of taking concubines in society at that time was really common, after all, it was already a "new period" of the Republic of China. Usually it is just a matter of concealment, but it is well known to everyone that the impact is always bad.
The misfortune was that soon after, Zhu Hongjun was found to have embezzled public funds.
As a result, his public office was poor and he was lost.
Zhu family portrait
Not only that, but the embezzled public funds must also be replenished, otherwise I am afraid that there will be some prison disasters.
In order to fill this hole, Zhu Hongjun had to sell some family property before things were settled.
However, after this pile of things, Zhu Ziqing's grandmother also fell ill and soon died.
After the incident, the situation of the Zhu family began to take a sharp turn for the worse.
Zhu Ziqing, who had a very good relationship with his grandmother since childhood, also buried dissatisfaction with his father in his heart.
Subsequently, the deterioration of the relationship between the father and his wife Wu Zhongqian further deepened the contradictions between the two.
In this year, Zhu Ziqing, who had just turned 20, was admitted to Peking University, and also married his original wife Wu Zhongqian in the words of his parents.
Wu Zhongqian's father was a well-known doctor in Yangzhou at that time, named Wu Weisan.
Wu Zhongqian
Once, Zhu Hongjun suffered from typhoid fever and could not be cured for a long time, so the Zhu family invited Wu Weisan to come to him for treatment.
It was also for this reason that Zhu Ziqing's mother, Zhou Shi, learned that the martial family had a daughter, who was exactly the right age for her son.
Zhou Shi, who was already keen to find relatives for his son, immediately sent someone to look at it.
In the end, I thought it was quite appropriate, so I set this protégé for my son.
Speaking of literati in the Republic of China period, it can be said that they are versatile and sentimental, but Zhu Ziqing is an exception.
Although he and his wife had never met before marriage, and the two belonged to the blind marriage and dumb marriage of the old society, Zhu Ziqing was good to his wife and was very sorry after marriage.
Wu Zhongqian, on the other hand, is a typical "virtuous wife and good mother" in the old society, and is instinctively in awe and obedience to her husband and in-laws.
But perhaps it was this character that led to her later misfortune.
Because Wu Zhongqian married in soon after, Zhu Hongjun had this series of events.
Therefore, the parents of the Zhu family, who were deeply influenced by feudal ideas, believed that it was because their son married Wu Zhongqian that the family's decline was caused.
In the in-laws' at every turn, "broom star" and "mourning star", such insults, Wu Zhongqian's life in the Zhu family is like walking on thin ice.
Originally, Wu Zhongqian was a little girl who loved to laugh, but this smile that should have brought happiness to people was particularly dazzling in the eyes of Zhu Hongjun, who had just lost his official position.
Because of his in-laws' displeasure, Wu Zhongqian had to slowly narrow his smile.
But even if she was careful, she did not get the slightest satisfaction from Mother Zhu.
Even if she inadvertently shows a smile, she will attract the white eyes of her mother-in-law and the insults of her father-in-law.
In the first two years of marriage, Because of academic reasons, Zhu Ziqing spent most of his time alone in Beijing.
Zhu Ziqing calligraphy
He had never noticed what had happened to his wife.
And Wu Zhongqian, on the other hand, never mentioned it to him.
Perhaps it is because, in the eyes of this ordinary old society woman, filial piety to the in-laws is the duty of being a daughter-in-law.
And for her husband who is away from home, she is even more "considerate" not to bother him with these things.
Maybe Zhu Ziqing is still a "person with a heart", occasionally when he returns home, he finds his wife's disappearing smile, and occasionally in the room, Wu Zhongqian secretly weeps.
But by the time Zhu Ziqing learned the specific reason, Wu Zhongqian had already been driven back to his mother's house by his parents.
However, Wu Zhongqian, who returned to his mother's house, did not have an easy time.
Due to the early death of his mother, his father later continued to marry his wife.
There is an old saying: With a harem, there is a stepfather. Especially a woman like Wu Zhongqian, who was driven back by her in-laws, she would herself be subjected to some bad gossip in the neighborhood.
Manuscript of Zhu Ziqing's Nineteen Interpretations of Ancient Poems
It wasn't until Zhu Ziqing returned from school and learned of the situation that he took his wife back.
In 1920, Zhu Ziqing graduated early from Peking University.
After graduation, he first taught at the First Normal School in Hangzhou, and later returned to his hometown for family reasons, where he worked at the Provincial Eighth Middle School, which was also his former alma mater.
At this time, Zhu Ziqing, as the eldest son in the family, has become the main source of income for the family.
As a teacher, Zhu's salary is not low, and he also consciously gives a part of his salary to his father.
However, what Zhu Ziqing could not accept was that his father actually used his personal relationship with the school principal to take away all his monthly salary.
As a young man who had received a new-style education, Zhu Ziqing could not accept his father's approach at all.
However, as an old-fashioned intellectual, Zhu Hongjun's feudal concepts were deeply rooted.
In his opinion, Lao Tzu took his son for granted.
Zhu Ziqing
As a result, the conflict between old and new ideas also caused Zhu Ziqing and his father to erupt into the most serious contradiction in history.
In order to get rid of his father's cage, Zhu Ziqing left his alma mater and came to Hangzhou.
A few months later, without the consent of his parents, he took his wife and children out of the house and set up his own small family in Hangzhou.
At this point, the contradiction between Zhu Ziqing and his father was out of control.
Even in 1923, when Zhu Ziqing took his wife and children home to the province, Zhu Hongjun was unwilling to say a word to him.
In this way, the relationship between father and son fell to a freezing point.
It was not until 1825 that Zhu Ziqing, who was in Beijing, received a letter from his father.
The letter said: "I am in good health, but my arms are in severe pain, and I am holding up a pen, and there are many inconveniences, and the period of about a big departure is not far away." ”
Zhu Ziqing with his family
Seeing the letter, Zhu Ziqing's emotions were inexplicable, but the complaints he had about his father in recent years had gradually disappeared a lot.
It was at this time that he took up his pen and wrote down the "Back Shadow" of his father's past.
In 1928, Zhu Hongjun, who was far away in Yangzhou, finally saw his son's article in the press.
He put on his reading glasses and read word by word, his hands trembling unceasingly, and even his dim eyes seemed to suddenly glow.
It was also after this that the relationship between father and son gradually eased.
After leaving home, Zhu Ziqing went to Taizhou and later went to Tsinghua University to teach, all with his wife and children.
After getting rid of the oppression of his in-laws, Wu Zhongqian's face finally slowly returned to a smile.
However, the peaceful life did not last long before it was broken by the turbulent situation and the sudden chaos of war.
In order to avoid trouble, they can only take their children to hide around.
It was also this unstable life that made Wu Zhongqian's body suffer a blow.
Even during pregnancy and confinement, Wu Zhongqian did not get a good rest.
Not to mention, in daily circumstances, in order to let her husband work with peace of mind, Wu Zhongqian took care of all the housework in addition to taking care of his five children.
Under the pressure of life, Wu Zhongqian's demeanor deteriorated.
Later, when her younger son died prematurely, under the psychological pressure of extreme self-blame, her body became weaker and weaker.
But in order to save money, but also in order to take care of children, even if he feels that his physical condition is not good, Wu Zhongqian has always been reluctant to go to the hospital, always feel "small problems", and the resistance will pass.
However, when she finally couldn't hold back and fell, Zhu Ziqing sent her to the hospital, only to learn that her lungs had rotted out of a big hole.
As for his wife's condition, Zhu Ziqing blamed himself.
But by this time, it was too late. A month later, Wu Zhongqian, who was only 30 years old, left her husband and five children and quietly left.
After Wu Zhongqian's death, Zhu Ziqing was deeply saddened.
Feeling guilty, he originally planned not to marry another wife. However, in the face of the "torture" of 5 children, Zhu Ziqing still decided to "compromise".
In 1930, under the introduction of a friend, Zhu Ziqing met Chen Zhuyin.
Chen Zhuyin, who was 28 years old at the time, was originally born in a book, but his family had long since fallen.
Chen Zhuyin, whose parents died early, was able to study at the Normal School by relying on self-reliance and self-reliance, and was later admitted to the Beiping Art College and studied under Qi Baishi.
After meeting Zhu Ziqing, Chen Zhuyin felt that he was steady and simple, and the article also revealed a deep but delicate feeling. So, the two began to communicate.
Two years later, Zhu Ziqing, who had returned from a study tour in Europe, and Chen Zhuyin held a wedding banquet in Shanghai and officially married.
Zhu Ziqing (sixth from left) with friends and family
However, the life after marriage was unexpected by the two.
For Chen Zhuyin, he suddenly became a mother of 5 children.
Originally a lively and sociable personality, she had to completely focus on a bunch of trivia at home after marriage.
Coupled with Zhu Ziqing's personality of not caring about everything, she is really a bit busy.
For Zhu Ziqing, he was already accustomed to the silent giving nature of his ex-wife Wu Zhongqian.
Chen Zhuyin's complaints and complaints after marriage also felt unbearable.
There are constant contradictions between the two. After a while, faced with the life of a chicken feather, the two even had the idea of separating.
However, after the run-in of time and mutual adjustment of each other, the marriage continued in constant quarrels until Zhu Ziqing died in 1948.
Zhu Ziqing and his remarried wife and children
In addition to the above-mentioned rupture with his father and the discordant relationship with his wife Chen Zhuyin.
In the second half of Zhu Ziqing's life, the biggest pressure he faced was "poverty."
Zhu Ziqing, who is full of books and anger, is probably one of the most unskilled and not good at managing his livelihood among the talents we are familiar with with the Republic of China.
His youngest son, Zhu Siyu, recalled his impression of his father at the commemoration of the 120th anniversary of Zhu Ziqing's birth, using four words: Too hard!
On the one hand, because of his father, he began to take on the responsibilities of the family prematurely; on the other hand, it was probably because there were too many children.
In addition to the 5 children with the original Wu Zhongqian, Zhu Ziqing and Chen Zhuyin, later also had 3 children.
Although as a university professor, his salary is not low.
But on the one hand, he has to serve his parents and support 8 children, and his salary is also stretched.
Zhu Ziqing (third from left)
Especially in the war-torn years, Zhu Ziqing's work was often unstable.
But apart from the pen in his hand, Zhu Ziqing had no other means to make a living. So he could only rely on some substitute school, or write some articles to subsidize his family.
In 1941, in order to save some money, Zhu Ziqing left his wife and children in Chengdu, where the price level was slightly lower, and returned to kunming on his own to work at the Kunming Institute of Liberal Arts.
In the winter of that year, Kunming was extremely cold, and Zhu Ziqing, who had no spare money to buy cotton jackets, bought a felt cape worn by horse herders, both as clothes and mattresses.
Walking on campus, Zhu Ziqing's "alternative" outfit has attracted the attention of everyone.
In addition to being poor, Zhu Ziqing also suffered from a serious stomach disease.
In 1942, zhu Ziqing wrote to his friend Yu Pingbo that "his health is gradually deteriorating, his stomach diseases are often worse, and his energy is sharply reduced."
At that time, Zhu Ziqing, who was only forty years old, was in decline and seemed to be half old. However, in the face of the pressure of his family, he still worked hard.
I even have to walk 20 miles a day to teach in a middle school to earn some extra money.
By the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhu Ziqing weighed less than 45 kilograms due to illness.
However, Zhu Ziqing, who was poor and sick, faced with the "insults" of the United States, still resolutely signed his name in the declaration of refusing to accept the "rescue grain" from the United States.
Just a month after he signed it, Zhu Ziqing died of illness at the age of 50.
After Zhu Ziqing's death, his body was cremated at Guangji Temple in Beiping. And the reason why he took cremation was because the coffin was too expensive.
Zhu Ziqing, who had worked hard for half a lifetime, completely left with this fire.
But his "back", as well as the "few oranges", are also like his father in his memory, which has always remained in the memory of future generations.