On the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1984, in a dilapidated courtyard in Beijing, 70-year-old Zhao Biyan had just arrived home after sweeping the ground, and when she entered the door, she called her family together, and today she made a major decision.
I decided to donate 80% of all my family's possessions to the state. Atone for the deep sins of your Father.
Zhao Biyan in his old age
The children were shocked to hear this, because they knew that 80% of the property in the mother's mouth was worth 2.4 billion yuan. At the time, workers were paid just $81 a month, and for most people, 2.4 billion was an astronomical amount.
In the eyes of neighbors, Zhao Biyan is just a poor old man who wears tatters and can afford to buy turnips and vegetables by sweeping the street. Where did 2.4 billion yuan come from to donate to the country? Why do husbands commit 2.4 billion deep sins?
It seems that the answer to the mystery lies in Zhao Biyan and her husband. Their story begins with a photograph.
Factory in the 1980s
"This girl is so beautiful!" Fifteen-year-old Geng Weifu looked at the photo in his hand and sighed. Geng Weifu is the original name of Zhao Biyan. At this time, she was still just a little girl who had just opened her heart.
The "girl" in the photo, wearing a mid-sleeved shirt on the upper body, a long skirt on the lower body, and the short hair with ears is very beautiful.
Hearing Geng Weifu's words, Shen gladly patted the bed and laughed, "He is not a girl, he is my brother, Zhao Xinbo." ”
Shen Xinran's words made Geng Weifu stay for half a day, how can a man's facial features be exquisite. Although it is somewhat absurd, a photograph of Zhao Xinbo's women's clothing has become Geng Weifu's dream lover.
Shen Xinbo not only has a delicate face, his elegant speech, humorous language, and standard Beijing accent all attract Geng Weifu. Such an excellent man, Geng Weifu can only put his own thoughts in his heart.
Zhao Xinbo
Geng Weifu knew that Zhao Xinbo had a sweetheart, Wang Biyan. The two became acquainted because of the drama, and quickly fell in love after meeting each other. But Wang Biyan was a prostitute from an aristocratic family, and the love between the two not only did not receive the blessings of the elders, but also obstructed them in every way.
So the two decided to elope to Japan. Years of working outside the home have given Wang Biyan a certain amount of savings. So she single-handedly supported the lives of the two of them.
Wang Biyan said that at that time, China lacked a perfect legal system, and he was asked to study law well and serve the country after completing his studies. Without thinking, he obediently did it.
The two lived very happily in Japan, and Zhao Xinbo's path of jurisprudence also went smoothly. Just when he was full of ambition, he got a bad news.
In 1921, Wang Biyan suffered from uterine fibroids, and when he was treated in Japan, because of the doctor's error in judgment, Wang Biyan left Zhao Xinbo forever, which made him sad.
After a period of depravity, he regained his strength and was determined to fulfill his wife's last wish.
Wang Biyan's heart was related to her homeland, so Zhao Xinbo was instructed by her to bring the ashes back to China for burial.
This time back to China became the beginning of the story of Geng Weifu and Zhao Xinbo.
After returning to China, Zhao Xinbo used Wang Biyan as a template and published a marriage revelation in the newspaper.
Geng Weifu has been concerned about Zhao Xinbo for many years, but she has always known how to divide inches, and has not bothered or had the opportunity to disturb Zhao Xinbo and Wang Biyan. Until she saw the marriage notice, she had waited for many years and finally saw hope. She couldn't wait to dress herself up and apply.
Geng Weifu put on a fresh dress, his hair was braided into a strand behind his head, and a black hair looked just right against the background of the shiny hairpin.
When Zhao Xinbo saw Geng Weifu's outfit, he immediately panicked; between his eyebrows, he saw Wang Biyan's shadow.
He was very satisfied with Geng Weifu, which made 21-year-old Geng Weifu shyly bow his head and dare not look directly into Zhao Xinbo's eyes. When the affection was strong, Zhao Xinbo put forward three requirements for marriage.
Zhao Xinbo with his trophy
Zhao Xinbo slowly said three requirements in a nice Beijing accent
1. Divorce cannot be obtained after marriage
2. Go to Japan after getting married
3. Changed his name to Wang Biyan
Hearing the third request, Geng Weifu was aggrieved. She knew that she was just a stand-in for Wang Biyan, but she had loved this man for 6 years, as long as she refused, she would not be herself when she stood by his side in the future.
In the end, geng Weifu lived in the name of a prostitute for love, changed his name and surname, betrayed his ancestors, and followed Zhao Xinbo to live in Japan.
In Japan, Geng Weifu lived in the former home of Zhao Xinbo and Wang Biyan, and over the past few years, Zhao Xinbo rejected Geng Weifu countless times on the grounds of study, and Geng Weifu not only received snubbed from her husband, but also the servants of the family bullied her.
Geng Weifu is smart, but she is not smart enough.
Geng Weifu in his youth
To get Zhao Xinbo's heart, the only way to believe that the mother is precious to the child. Geng Weifu tried everything he could to finally give birth to a son for Zhao Xinbo.
Geng Weifu's only request was: I want to change back to my mother's family name. But Zhao Xinbo did not compromise. Because he had taken the hand of his deceased wife and swore that he would not marry Wang Biyan in this life. Si Ren is dead, he wants a woman, but also does not want to break the promise, so there is a drama of Geng Weifu changing his name.
The two stalemated for a long time, and Zhao Xinbo made the biggest concession: change his surname to Zhao. Geng Weifu saw Zhao Xinbo's compromise for the first time, and she felt that she had finally won the battle. After officially changing their name to Zhao Biyan, the two lived a seemingly peaceful life.
In 1925, Zhao received a doctorate in law from Imperial University of Japan, becoming the first Chinese to receive this degree. He excitedly returned to China with this title, eager to make a career in China, just to fulfill Wang Biyan's wishes before his death.
However, after returning to China, Zhao Xinbo is walking step by step into the abyss.
In 1926, Zhao Xinbo, through the Japanese Kenji Doihara, took Zhang Zuolin and asked for the position of legal adviser to the Headquarters of the Security Army.
At that time, the country was in a period of warlord chaos, and various new ideas were constantly coming, and the students were very dissatisfied with Zhang Zuolin because he was a pro-Japanese party, and Zhang Zuolin's killing of Li Dazhao and other literary celebrities completely annoyed the students.
Zhang Zuolin thus put on the hat of a traitor, and Zhao Xinbo, who worked beside him, was also implicated. He was beaten to the head and bled by the students during the haircut, and he had no power to fight back in the face of the students, and finally he could only stumble home with his half-straightened head.
This was contrary to his expectations, and he had hoped that he could find a hot position in the legal profession and break out of the world in the legal profession, but the reality was that everyone shouted and beat the appearance of a prisoner.
Zhao Xinbo only had one strong thought left in his mind, which became more and more intense: he wanted to be a man and a man, only a man. In 1928, Zhang Zuolin was killed while moving to the northeast. Zhao Xinbo thought that the time had come, and then Zhang Xinbo made a decision to regret his life.
Zhang Zuolin
Although the reputation of the traitor was not good, when he fell, several powerful Japanese people promoted him. Seeing that the Japanese occupied the three northeastern provinces, Zhang Xinbo gritted his teeth and simply recognized the Japanese as the master.
In order to retain his place in the Japanese community, he decided to withdraw his salary and express his pro-Japanese stance in major newspapers.
After the September 18 Incident, Zhang Xinbo, in spite of the people's indignation, actively joined the Fengtian Local Autonomy Maintenance Committee and joined forces with other traitor groups to issue a declaration of independence, announcing that the four northeastern provinces would break away from the National Government in Nanjing and establish a new independent regime.
After Kenji Toihara stepped down, Zhao Xinbo took over as mayor of Shenyang, a high-ranking official he dreamed of, with supreme power. When he took office, he went crazy.
Zhao Xinbo (first from the left) is a han traitor
Gaining power, amassing wealth, selling opium, and framing innocent people are all evil deeds. Under his command, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo in the northeast, with the capital changchun and renamed it Xinjing.
After the establishment of the puppet government, he became president of the legislative court of the government. During his tenure of office, Zhao Xinbo, while serving as an official for the Japanese, currying favor with the puppet Manchurian government, scavenging the people's fat and people's ointment, and living a good life left and right.
However, his actions were met with jealousy by his friend Kenji Doihara. After the stabilization of the northeast form, Kenji Doihara accused Zhao Xinbo of corruption to the Japanese army, and Zhao Xinbo was forced to step down.
At this time, Zhao Xinbo had completely blackened, and after resigning, he first used his long-term relationship to contract transportation projects in the northeast region, and then imported a large number of military drugs from Japan and sold them to the anti-Japanese army at a high price. For this reason, he made a fortune of national disaster.
Although the money piled up more and more, he was a traitor, and without the protection of the Japanese, everyone would shout and beat him on the street. He was afraid, so he took Zhao Biyan back to Japan.
After arriving in Japan, he began a different kind of business.
Kenji Toihara
Zhao Xinbo took those ill-gotten gains, and his heart was always unsteady. So he began to buy a lot of Japanese real estate, jewelry. While the money is not clean, the property jewelry is clean. He had promised Wang Biyan (Zhao Xinbo's original match) to do things cleanly and be worthy of the motherland.
However, he has always been obsessed: he went to Japan to become a high-ranking official, that is to fulfill his promise; although the Japanese look down on themselves, the money is earned by themselves, perhaps not very clean, but as long as the money is exchanged for clean real estate, it is not a violation of the agreement with Wang Biyan.
Zhao Xinbo's ridiculous thoughts made the disappointment instantly fill Zhao Biyan's heart. But she still had a little joy in her heart, because most of Zhao Xinbo's real estate was written with Zhao Biyan's name.
Only later did I learn that she was more ridiculous than Zhao Xinbo; writing Zhao Biyan's name on the property was just a trick for Zhao Xinbo to hide his ears.
In 1939, during the War of Resistance Against Japan, Zhao Xinbo returned to China with Zhao Biyan. When Zhao Biyan knew zhao Xinbo's reason for hurrying back to China, she was completely desperate.
Zhao Biyan
Zhao Xinbo's return to China has only one purpose: to continue to be a Japanese lackey. After enjoying the life of a paper drunk gold fan, Zhao Xinbo did not want to return to a dull life. After returning to Beiping, he made some connections everywhere and finally became the legal adviser to the North China Political Council.
Zhao Biyan felt that her husband was completely hopeless, and although she also liked the lights of high society, her complicity with the traitors completely crossed her bottom line. This time, she decided to live separately from Zhao Xinbo and live alone in a small house in the hutong of the old Gulou Street.
Zhao Xinbo did not pay much attention to it, and the two had been separated for a long time. It was not until the eve of the Liberation War that Zhao Xinbo took the initiative to find Zhao Biyan: return to Japan to continue to buy a house.
When she watched Zhao Xinbo put the thick land title deed in the iron box, Zhao Biyan was shocked, she knew that Zhao Xinbo was greedy for a lot of dirty money, but she didn't expect it to be so much.
After returning to China, Zhao Xinbo secretly buried the iron box filled with land title deeds in the backyard, so that no one would know, but the retribution would come.
Zhao Xinbo Zhao Biyan family photo
In 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally, and Zhao Xinbo, a traitor who betrayed the people and the country, was naturally taken back to prison.
When he was first arrested, Zhao Xinbo naively thought that Japan was still a reliable mountain, and he did not appear in court to identify Japan's crimes and denied his traitorous behavior. After the founding of New China, he was arrested for the second time, when he suddenly woke up, and in fear and shame, he died suddenly in the detention center.
Zhao Xinbo's death not only failed to exchange the forgiveness of the people, but the Zhao family also began to fall. Although Zhao Biyan loved Zhao Xinbo deeply, she always understood that there was no turning back from the time he chose to betray the people and betray the motherland.
She could not stop the fate of the arrangement, but silently changed back to her mother's family name (Geng Biyan) and worked as a sweeper in Beijing to maintain her family's livelihood.
Twenty years passed in such a plain way, until 1963, when a few strange guests came to the house.
Zhao Xinbo in trial
These guests were dressed very similarly to the cadres, and the elderly man in his 60s who led the way was Liao Chengzhi, director of the State Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.
Hearing the identities of several people, Zhao Biyan was very scared in his heart, thinking that the government would arrest the family members of the traitors and ask them back for questioning. Seeing Zhao Biyan's expression, Liao Chengzhi knew that he had found the right person, so he no longer turned around: "You don't have to be afraid, we are discussing with you how to deal with the property that Zhao Xinbo bought in Japan." ”
Zhao Biyan was relieved, but sighed without a trace: "After so many years, do I still have the opportunity to get the property back?" ”
Liao Chengzhi said solemnly: "You are a citizen of the People's Republic of China, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office will never allow the property of its own citizens to suffer losses, and we will do our best to help you fight for the property rights back!" ”
Despite organized help, Zhao Biyan did not hold out much hope. Because after Zhao Xinbo was arrested for the second time, in order to alleviate her husband's crime, she burned all the land titles that Zhao Xinbo buried in the backyard.
However, this is not the worst.
Liao Chengzhi (first from left) family photo
In the 1960s, the Cultural Revolution began. In order to recover the Japanese real estate, Geng Biyan could only change his name to Zhao Biyan. In this way, the identity of the traitor's family will be exposed to the public, so Zhao Biyan is often pulled by the Red Guards to criticize the fight.
On the other hand, Reiki Yainosuke, who had been in charge of Zhao Xinbo's property, forged a document in which an additional payment was:
"Once the Zhao couple dies, the property in their names will be given to Reimu Yazhi for free."
After the document, there is also a signature of Zhao Xinbo, who cannot distinguish the authenticity.
Because Zhao Biyan changed her surname and lived for more than 20 years, Reiki Yanosuke has always insisted that Zhao Biyan is dead. Sino-Japanese relations did not ease up at that time, so the case was shelved for ten years.
In 1976, things finally took a turn for the better.
Zhao Biyan and her son Zhao Zongyang took a group photo
In 1976, Reiki Yainosuke died of illness, and after China and Japan had established friendly diplomatic relations, Zhao Biyan's huge real estate in Japan finally had hope of returning. Soon, Accompanied by relevant personnel of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Zhao Biyan took a boat to Japan.
But things didn't go smoothly. Five Zhao Biyan appeared in one trial, and the real Zhao Biyan was nervous and vague about many key points, so that the trial lasted for several years without any results.
Until 1979, lawyer Fu Zhiren received instructions from the Central Foreign Affairs Leading Group to serve as the lead lawyer for Zhao Biyan's recovery of a huge amount of real estate in Tokyo, and at the same time issued a death order: Zhao Biyan must be helped to recover his assets.
Fu Zhiren knows that the case is very difficult, but he is also a smart lawyer. After he briefly understood the matter, he grasped the core of the whole thing, that is, to prove that Zhao Biyan was Zhao Xinbo's wife.
Over the next 8 months, Fu Zhiren traveled to Beijing, Shenyang, Changchun and other cities, obtaining a total of 19 testimonies from witnesses, including Zhao Xinbo's subordinates and male servants delivering meals.
When everything was ready, Zhao Biyan had a problem.
Before the trial, Zhao Biyan suddenly fell ill. In desperation, she could only let her son Zhao Zongyang appear in court for her.
The person who appeared in court changed Zhao Zongyang, which will prove Zhao Zongyang's identity. Fu Zhiren spent a few more months looking around for Zhao Zongyang's birth certificate in Japan.
On September 7, 1984, the Tokyo Family Court issued a final ruling on the case, and the huge real estate worth 3 billion yuan finally returned to Zhao Biyan' hands.
Zhao Biyan was very excited in his heart, and after more than ten years of trial, he finally took back what belonged to him. Thinking of this, Zhao Biyan felt a wave of gratitude and guilt for the country.
Without the country's non-abandonment, without Fu Zhiren's perseverance, perhaps these properties would remain in the hands of the Japanese forever. So she made an important decision.
Zhao Biyan (middle)
During the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1985, Zhao Biyan decided to donate 80 percent of the property she had acquired, or 2.4 billion yuan, to the country's education cause. Most of the rest was given to those who had helped her, and a very small part was left to the descendants, and she did not take any of it.
The children were shocked by what their mothers had done, and after reflection they thought it was reasonable, because it was an ill-gotten gain, taken from the people, and finally should be attributed to the people.
In order to thank Zhao Biyan for her contribution, the state arranged to spend her time in the Sino-Japanese friendly intensive care ward in the later years of her life. Although she didn't have an official position, she was given the treatment of a senior cadre.
In June 1989, Zhao Biyan completed her life of suffering.
Suffering almost filled Zhao Biyan's life. The husband who regarded her as a substitute was lost as a traitor, but the insult let her bear it. But she still understands the great righteousness and takes the initiative to donate to the country, which is worthy of respect. At the same time, Zhao Biyan was also lucky, and when she was in the most difficult situation, the great motherland spared no room to help her.