Born in the late Ming Dynasty, Li Xiangjun was a native of Suzhou and was born into a family of military attachés. Because her father supported the Donglin Party in the DPRK and was victimized by Eunuchs such as Wei Zhongxian, and her family suffered a lot, Li Xiangjun could only avoid disasters with his relatives at a young age.
When Li Xiangjun was 8 years old, Li Zhenli, a famous prostitute in Qinhuai, saw that she was lonely and lonely, so he accepted her as a righteous daughter, and since then Li Xiangjun has changed her surname to "Li" and relied on Li Zhenli for her life.
(Li Xiangjun stills)
Li Zhenli is the top card of Meixiang Lou, she is proud and cheerful, and she is elegant in nature, so the literati Yashi likes to sing and sing with her.
Li Zhenli saw that Li Xiangjun was born handsome, intelligent and well-behaved, so she asked a famous teacher to teach her piano, chess, calligraphy and painting at a large price, and also specially asked someone to teach her to learn to sing Kunqu opera.
Under the tutelage of Li Zhenli, Li Xiangjun silk bamboo pipa, rhythm and poetry are all exquisite. She was born petite and graceful, especially Nanqu, so she soon became the object of admiration among the merry princes, and her fame also resounded on the banks of the Qinhuai River.
In 1639, it was time for Li Xiangjun to comb through. The so-called "combing" refers to the prostitute's first stay with the guest.
Perhaps due to fate, Hou Fangyu, one of the "Four Princes" of the late Ming Dynasty, happened to stay on the banks of the Qinhuai River.
Hou Fangyu was born in a family of eunuchs, and his father was Hou Gong of Hubu Shangshu. Because of his participation in the Donglin Party, he was squeezed out and deposed by Wei Zhong, who was in charge of the dictatorship, and the Hou family was defeated.
When Hou Fangyu first arrived at Meixianglou, he was overwhelmed by Li Xiangjun's moving posture and gentle singing voice, and then talked about the lives of both sides, and there was also a feeling of being a fallen person in the end of the world.
16-year-old Li Xiangjun is also a newcomer to love, she saw Hou Fangyu personable, erudite, but also very admired.
Unfortunately, combing is to pay a large amount of money to the old bustard, Hou Fangyu has talent and appearance, but there is no money. So he could only sigh long and short.
At this moment, Hou Fangyu's friend Yang Longyou funded him in time, and he finally became the first overnight guest received by Li Xiangjun.
After a night of grace, Hou Fangyu gave a white silk-faced palace fan as a promise to Li Xiangjun. Li Xiangjun was also impressed by his affection and left him in the Meixiang Building.
(Hou Fangyu stills)
However, soon after, Ruan Dacheng came to the door and wanted to ask Hou Fangyu to be his staff.
Ruan Dacheng was originally a member of the Donglin Party, but later saw that Wei Zhongxian gained power and defected to Wei Zhongxian's minions, so he was deeply despised by the Donglin Party.
Ruan Dacheng admired Hou Fangyu's talent and was bent on wooing him for his own use. Therefore, when Ruan Dacheng learned about Hou Fangyu and Li Xiangjun, he funded Yang Longyou to promote good things on his behalf.
After Hou Fangyu learned the truth, he was still hesitating, but Li Xiangjun, who knew that he hated Wei Dang to the bone, directly scolded Ruan Dacheng back, and raised money around, pawned jewelry, and forced Hou Yanyu to return the money to Ruan Dacheng.
In 1644, Li Zicheng led the Dashun army to attack the city of Beijing, and the Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself at Coal Mountain, and the Ming Dynasty fell.
In the same year, Zhu Yousong, the Prince of Fu, was proclaimed emperor in Nanjing, as the Hongguang Emperor.
Ruan Dacheng was attached to Ma Shiying, who held the power alone, and was reused and was given the title of Bingbu Shangshu.
With his power, Nguyen Da Cheng immediately took revenge on the soldiers who had always abandoned him. Among them, especially Hou Fangyu, who had humiliated him, made him hate him the most, so he framed him in many ways. In order to protect himself, Hou Fangzha had to go to Nanjing and turn to Shi Kefa.
After Hou Fangyu left, Li Xiangjun washed away the lead, closed the door to thank guests, and from then on, he looked forward to reuniting with Hou Fangyu.
Who knew that Ruan Dacheng was so bad that he instigated Tian Yang, the right attendant of the army, to force Li Xiangjun to be a concubine.
Li Xiangjun was not willing to die, and seeing that she was about to be pulled onto the flower palanquin, she had to grit her teeth and crash into the pillar, and for a moment she hit her head and broke into blood, dying.
Tian Yang was afraid of causing a human life, so he took the people away.
Ruan Dacheng saw that one plan could not be achieved, and another plan was born. He was originally the one who filled in the lyrics for Zhu Yousong, so he took the opportunity to recommend Li Xiangjun to Zhu Yousong, and Li Xiangjun had no choice but to enter the palace as a prostitute at the palace according to the holy oracle.
(Ruan Dacheng stills)
As the Qing army marched south, Soon Nanjing fell, and Zhu Yousong also fell into the hands of the Qing army.
Li Xiangjun escaped from the palace gate with some palace people. But at this time, the city of Nanjing was in chaos, and the MeixiangLou where she used to live had long since turned into ashes. In desperation, she had to flock to Suzhou with the fleeing people.
The following year, because he did not know the whereabouts of Hou Fangyu, Li Xiangjun suffered a lot and only became a nun in a nunnery.
Fortunately, Hou Fangyu did not forget his old feelings for Li Xiangjun, and after some investigation, he finally found her and took her back to his hometown in Henan as a concubine.
Li Xiangjun has not mentioned anything about his identity, and in the Hou family, he not only has filial piety to his in-laws, but also has great respect for the original match of Hou Fangyu, so he has been recognized by the Hou family. Coupled with Hou Fangyu's deep affection for her, she lived a stable life here.
However, her identity was still known to Hou Fangyu's father. Regardless of her pregnancy, Hou's father threw her out of the house.
Later, under the persuasion of his family, Hou's father took out a deserted garden in a remote place and let Li Xiangjun live.
Hou Fangyu did not dare to disobey his father, and only occasionally went to the desert garden to visit Li Xiangjun.
Due to discrimination and Hou Fangyu's weak attitude, Li Xiangjun eventually became depressed and died soon after.
However, what Li Xiangjun did not expect was that after the Qing Dynasty seized power, it resumed the imperial examination. Hou Fangyu, whom she had loved all her life, rushed to take the exam with her back. However, this exam he lost his name to Sun Shan.
Although he was not welcomed by the Qing court, Hou Fangyu helped the Qing army suppress the anti-Qing rebel army. Under his strategy, the Qing army dug up the embankment of the Yellow River, and for a time the water flooded countless cities and pools, and the people and rebels in the city also died in the waterlogging.
After the Qing court relieved the threat of the largest rebel army, it was supposed to reward Hou Fangyu well, but they felt that Hou Fangyu's heart was too poisonous, so they did not reward him.
In this way, Hou Fangyu's opportunity to become an official was gone, and he was quite depressed in his heart, and he soon fell ill and died.
(Reference historical materials: "Biography of Li Ji" and "Collected Writings of Zhuang Repentance Hall")