In 1931, China was in the midst of an eventful autumn. Japan brazenly launched the 918 Incident, and the three eastern provinces fell one after another. At the same time, the civil war was in full swing. Just when the people of the whole country were panicking, the Confucius House, the "first in the world", ushered in a happy event. Confucius's 76th grandson, the eldest daughter of Kong Lingyi, the 17-year-old Kong Deqi, is about to leave the cabinet. The Kong family had chosen two loyal servants for the eldest lady: one was the male servant Wu Jianwen, and the other was the maid Xi Concubine. The two will follow the big lady to Beijing. Since then, a period of touching master-servant love has brought tears to people's eyes. The servant's loyalty and righteousness to his master have been deeply rooted in his bones.
In front of the gate of Confucius during the Republic of China
As the eldest lady of the Confucius House, Kong Deqi's dowry was hundreds of lifts. Two of the most dazzling of the hundreds of dowries are the "Hundred Sons of King Wen" that has been circulating in Kongfu for thousands of years, and the large golden bell studded with pearls and diamonds. As the first of hundreds of dowries, the great Kaimu Ruyi is not only because of its preciousness and symbol of marital happiness, the meaning of auspicious ruyi, but also its special significance in the Confucius Palace. This begins with Confucius, the "Most Holy Prophet."
Kaimu Ruyi
In that year, after The death of Confucius, his beloved disciple Zigong was extremely sad and insisted on guarding the tomb of his teacher Confucius for six years. At the end of the six-year period, when Zigong was leaving, he wept bitterly while inserting the wooden mourning staff used during the mourning period into the ground. Tears fell into the ground, and the tree sprouted and gradually grew into a tree. The descendants of Confucius then used the wood of this tree to make a ruyi gift for the VIPs. For ordinary guests, only gold and jade and other ruyi will be sent. Even the ruyi given to the VIPs is very small, and the two largest ruyi made of kai wood have been stored in the Confucius Mansion for posterity.
There are extant trees in the Kong Forest
When word reached Kong Deqi and his sister Kong Demao, the two eldest Kaimu Ruyi were carried to their respective in-laws as dowries for the sisters. The in-laws of the eldest sister Kong Deqi are the famous Feng family in Beijing. At that time, the head of the Feng family was the famous calligrapher Feng Shu of the Qing Dynasty. Feng Shu's calligraphy is extremely profound. In old Beijing, there was a word of mouth of "no plaque and no forgiveness". The plaques at Zhang Yiyuan Tea House, Tongheju Restaurant and other places are all handwritten by Feng Shu. The Feng family's connections were extremely extensive, and Feng Shu had served as the director of the Military Cardinal Department of the Admiralty and the Commander of the Naval Association in the late Qing Dynasty.
Feng Shu
Kong Deqi's husband is Feng Shu's younger son. This son has been pampered since childhood, like a clumsy boy's face, spending all day outside drinking. When he was shy, he reached out to his wife, Kong Deqi, for money. In the end, Kong Deqi's dowry was squandered by the young master's husband. Even so, she did not dare to stop her husband's arrogant and evil behavior. Because, from an early age, she accepted the traditional idea of following her father at home and marrying her husband. In her heart, no matter how muddy her husband is, he is also her man, and even more her heaven. She suppressed herself as she carefully served her man.
Kondezy with his sister and brother
In order to meet her husband's expenses, she secretly took gold from her mother's house several times. She was also afraid of the jokes of her mother's family, so she could only give it to the servant Wu Jianwen to carry on her. When she handed the gold to her husband, it was the only chance she could see him smiling at her. The relationship between the couple seems to be sustained by gold. Kondez originally thought that after giving birth to two sons for her husband, the mother and son could tie up her husband's heart, but that heart would always float in the sky and wine.
master
As a male servant around him, Wu Jianwen is anxious about the affairs between the husband and wife of the big miss, although he is anxious in his eyes and in his heart, it is inconvenient to interject and intervene. As a maid who followed her mother's family, Sister-in-law Xi was really not used to being bullied. Sometimes, she would disregard her identity to help Miss Wei Nono's accusations against Aunt Feng. However, she was always a maid. Her whereabouts in Feng Mansion depended entirely on Young Master Feng. In the end, the Feng family sent Xi Sister-in-law back to the Confucius Mansion on the grounds that it was difficult for the family to spend. Since then, in the Feng Mansion in Beijing, only the male servant Wu Jianwen is Kong Deqi's mother's family. Wu Jianwen's loyalty to the eldest lady is no less than that of his sister-in-law.
A male servant with status
At the beginning, when Kong Deqi went to school with his younger sister Kong Demao and younger brother Kong Decheng, Wu Jianwen was responsible for working as an errand boy at home. He was more than ten years older than the three siblings. Whenever the three sisters and brothers read seriously, he would carefully wait next to them. In winter, the three sisters and brothers also have to go to "lamp study", that is, they also have to read after holding the lamp. School didn't end until eight or nine o'clock in the evening. The large courtyard of hundreds of houses in The Confucius Mansion was pitch black. Whenever after school, Wu Jianwen would always carry a small pony lamp, lead the three sisters and brothers to walk in the long, winding corridor at night, and constantly gently instruct them to pay attention to the steps under their feet, or talk to them, afraid that the three sisters and brothers were afraid. Later, Miss Kong Jia'er recalled, "That scene left a deep impression on our sister and brother, and we must not forget it for decades." ”
Three brothers and sisters with sir
Kong Deqi married into the Feng family for eight years, leaving two sons for the Feng family, but finally depressed, at the age of 25, he completed his short life. When he was dying, he said the last "no need to feed" to the second sister who was accompanying him to feed the medicine, and the two young sons were still most worried in his heart. She understands that the man she marries is neither a good husband nor a qualified father. However, the two youngest sons are both flesh and blood of the Feng family, and it is inconvenient to entrust them to their sister and brother.
Two young children
After Kong Deqi's death, the coffin stopped at Fayuan Temple in Beijing. As the closest servant to the eldest lady's side, Wu Jianwen cried very sadly and spent a long time alone in the temple. Although the two are more than ten years apart, Kong Deqi can be said to have grown up under the service of Wu Jianwen. The feelings between master and servant are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. What is even more touching is that Wu Jianwen has been taking care of the two "little young masters" left by the big miss until he died of old age and illness. When the master and servant meet in another world, Wu Jianwen can smile and face the big lady without regret.
Fayuan Temple on a map of Beijing, Republic of China
There is also a very special kind of servant in the Confucius Palace. Although their relationship with the young lady and the young grandfather is not blood affection, it is better than blood affection. That is the miss and the little grandfather's respective nurses. The grandmother of the little grandfather Kong Decheng is surnamed Zhang, and the house is generally called Zhang Ma. Mama Zhang and Kong Decheng have to say that there is a certain fate. On the fourth day of the first month of January 1920, Kong Decheng was born. But after birth, Kong Decheng cried unceasingly, and Kong Fu successively found more than a dozen nurses, but they were not suitable, either not enough to eat or upset. This is the inheritor of The Holy Father, and at birth, the military police, in order to ensure safety, once surrounded the delivery room with three floors inside and three floors outside.
Maids and nurses of large families
In this way, after about a month, I have never found a suitable nursing mother, which has made the Confucius house up and down the heart. Just when everyone was in a hurry, Liu Mengying, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Confucius Province, found a young woman sitting at the gate of the Confucius Temple asking for food, holding a small boy, dressed in rags, but the little boy in his arms looked chubby. Liu Mengying brought the woman in, took a bath, changed her clothes, and gave her a large bowl of sea cucumber soup, and asked her to feed Kong Decheng, who was crying. Strange to say, Kong Decheng slept quietly after eating milk. At that time, the Head of the Confucius Family, Tao, was very satisfied with it and let him try it out for three days.
Kong Decheng as a child (right)
Three days later, Mama Zhang qualified. Confucius then signed a contract with her, which stipulated: Within three years, even if her father died and her mother died, she would not be allowed to go home, raise her grandfather and repay her mother; every day she would send one pound of steamed bread and four or two white sugars to raise Zhang Ma's young son; in addition to managing Zhang Ma's meals, she would also be given grain and rice every month. In order to ensure that Zhang Mama's milk is sufficient, Kong Fu specially prepared a small stove for her, stewing an elbow every morning and a chicken stewed in the evening. At the same time, the Kong government also gave Zhang Ma's husband a vegetable garden and built several huts so that their family could settle in Qufu.
Nurses and children of large families
Mama Zhang milked Kong Decheng until she was nine years old. During this period, the three siblings lived with Tao in the east room of the Qiantang Building. The eldest lady and the second miss lived in the inner room, one person in the warm cabinet had a bed, and Decheng and Tao lived in the outer room and slept in the same bed. Mama Zhang slept with a small sheet in Tao's room. When Mama Zhang sleeps, she cannot take off her clothes, and she must get up on call and serve the little grandfather.
After Kong Decheng was weaned at the age of nine, Mama Zhang did not leave the Confucius House and has been living in it for more than thirty years. Mama Zhang was even closer to her baby Kong Decheng than her own son. At the end of his life, his mouth kept saying "Xiaocheng is coming!" Xiaocheng is coming! At this time, Kong Decheng was far overseas.
Comte into a family
Whether it is Wu Jianwen, the servant of the eldest lady, or the nurse of the little grandfather Kong Decheng, the reason why they are loyal to the master and righteous to the master is enough to show that the master has kindness and affection for him (her). Although there is a strict order of honor and inferiority between the master and the servant, grace is boundless, affection is boundless, loyalty is infinite, and righteousness is endless. The master's kindness, the servant would rather spend his life to repay. Wu Jianwen was willing to raise the eldest miss's child until he was old, and Zhang Mama did not forget her own breasts before she died. Such kindness and faithfulness, which is not experienced by those who have not experienced it, are difficult to understand.