Text: Mu Mu (Columnist for Reading History)
At the southern end of Yanqiao, there is the former residence of Li Xiangjun, the Jiangnan building of chalk Dewa, and the quiet of the self-preservation side in the bustling hustle and bustle of the Qinhuai River.
Qin Huai Bayan, each outstanding, and Li Xiangjun is the most popular word of mouth is her loyalty to love and national affection, but also because of Kong Shangren's "Peach Blossom Fan", Li Xiangjun is world-famous - singing Yang Liu Lou Xinyue, dancing low peach blossom fan bottom wind.
Lin Yutang, who was only willing to write biographies of Su Dongpo and Wu Zetian, once wrote a poem for Li Xiangjun in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, borrowing Li Xiangjun to satirize those who did not resist the war.
"Inscription Poem for Xiangjun"
Author: Lin Yutang
Xiangjun is a lady, blood-stained peach blossom fan, qi righteousness shines through the ages, shame to kill the bearded eyebrow man.
Xiangjun, a lady with a barbarian personality, hung on the wall of the jai, teaching me to know what to control.
For example, today's men, who are a barbarian, everyone is going to Qin Twilight Chu, what kind of a person.
Sons in this world today, are all liars and traffickers, I think of ancient beauties, not to make a mess.
Suzhou is a beautiful woman, Li Xiangjun was born in Suzhou, originally Miss Wu family, there are two older brothers, the father is a member of the Donglin Party, a military attaché.
Because of her father's guilt and the family's fall, the eight-year-old Miss Wu drifted to Nanjing, was adopted by Li Zhenli, the mother of the Meixianglou bustard, changed her name to Li Xiang, and called Xiangjun, because of her small and exquisite figure, lively and intelligent temperament, nicknamed "Xiangfan Pendant".
MeixiangLou is built by the water, exquisite and chic, the most outstanding Li Xiangjun in meixianglou, like other famous prostitutes in Qinglou, versatile, musical poetry, silk bamboo pipa are all proficient, especially good at playing and singing "Pipa Record".
Fortunately, Li Zhenli treated Li Xiangjun very well, and Li Zhenli herself was also righteous and proud and elegant, so most of the guests who came to MeixiangLou were literati and honest and loyal ministers.
Therefore, although he is in the Qinglou, Li Xiangjun, who sells his art and does not sell himself, still has a loyal and patriotic heart, a proud bone, and is a dusty woman.
At the age of sixteen, Li Xiangjun met Hou Fangyu, who fell in love at first sight.
The talented Hou Fangyu, together with Fang Yizhi, Chen Zhenhui, and Mao Peijiang, was collectively known as the four princes of the Ming Fu Society, and together with Wei Xi and Wang Wan, he was called the three masters of the early Qing Dynasty.
Hou Fangyu, a young man of the Ming Dynasty, was the son of Hou Shangshu Hou of Hubu, a loyal servant of the Ming Dynasty and a prince of Hubu Shangshu, who came from Nanshangqiu and won the first place in the boy examination at the age of fifteen.
Twenty-two-year-old brother Hou Fangyu came to Nanjing to participate in the ceremonial capital test, self-esteemed and did not need to review homework, wandering in the Qinhuai Building all day, so as to meet and meet Li Xiangjun, and soon both fell in love, inseparable.
Legend has it that when they first met, Hou Fangyu was attracted by a "Hanjiang Xiaopan Map" in Li Xiangjun's living room: on the Qingjiang River filled with cold snow, a lonely boat swayed in the heart of the river, the sky was clear, the water was vast, there were few people, and there was a long and indifferent mood.
There is also a poem inscribed on the painting:
The west wind is clear and far away, and the country and mountains are hanging in the mirror.
Out of nowhere, sunrise hu'er pan fishing boat.
Knowing that this was Li Xiangjun's painting, Hou Fangyu was very surprised that the sixteen-year-old girl in front of him could actually paint such a painting.
Talking about speculation, Hou Fangyu made a poem as a greeting gift to Li Xiangjun:
Nicknamed a little celestial immortal, born sixteen years;
Yushan half-peak snow, Yaochi a lotus.
The evening courtyard is fragrant, and the spring supper moon is accompanied by sleep;
Linjie was speechless, and Amu was beside her.
Compared with the straightforward rendezvous of modern people, the ancients' implicit practice of conveying affection through poetry, calligraphy and painting is really more suitable for that slow era.
Two people who love each other want to stay together, they have to marry, and the wedding is an oath and a ceremony.
Li Xiangjun was a famous prostitute, and according to the rules of the game at that time, a famous prostitute of her level, who wanted to be married to Hou Fangyu, also needed a ceremony, that is, combing - funded by Hou Fangyu, holding a ceremony, and at the same time giving Mei Xianglou a heavy amount of money, Li Xiangjun could "marry" Hou Fangyu.
Ceremonies and heavy gold are the rules of the game and the face, but the gongzi brother Hou Fangyu actually has no money and cannot pay the gift money to Meixianglou.
Hou Fangyu's friend Yang Longyou paid the money for him, and the combing ceremony was successfully completed, and Li Xiangjun and Hou Fangyu became "husband and wife".
On the "wedding night", Hou Fangyu gave Li Xiangjun a skeleton ivory bone white silk palace fan with an aluminum fan pendant inherited by the Hou family.
Since then, Li Xiangjun has only loved Hou Fangyu alone, and he wants to grow old with him.
If the story ends here, it is a good story of the talented woman, but unfortunately it is not, and the tragedy has laid the groundwork.
Yang Longyou sent charcoal in the snow but a disaster, and the money was not Yang Longyou's, but Ruan Dacheng.
Ruan Dacheng was a late Ming opera composer and literary scholar, but he had a less literary and artistic soul that had been promoted to a higher rank and made a fortune, he was a member of Wei Zhongxian's party who had become a sworn enemy of the Donglin Party, although he was currently idle, but his official heart was not dead, and he wanted to win over Hou Fangyu, so he borrowed Yang Longyou's hand and gave Hou Fangyu this money.
Hou Fangyu was a little confused after learning the truth, he had always hated and despised Ruan Dacheng's personality, but he never expected that he had actually used Ruan Dacheng's money in a vacuum, what could he do?
Hou Fangyu was still at a loss, and Li Xiangjun took off the hairpin on his head with his sharp hand, and the robe on his body also took off: "Take off the tunic, poor may as well be poor; Bu Jingren, named Zixiang." "Even Bu Yi Mu Hao is not willing to accept Ruan Dacheng's money."
At this time, it can already be seen that Li Xiangjun and Hou Fangyu may not be suitable people for each other with three views, although Li Xiangjun is a little girl, she loves and hates clearly, has a clear view of right and wrong and a strong sense of boundaries, and although Hou Fangyu is a member of the Donglin Party and the backbone of the Restoration Society, in fact, his position is not so firm, and what he enjoys is more of a feeling of being looked up, praised, and shrouded in aura.
Their love for each other is only because they meet beautiful people, plus they are so young, good-looking, pleasing to the eye, and can recite poems against each other, so they think that they are each other's favorites.
While selling jewelry, Li Xiangjun borrowed money from his sisters and friends and returned the money to Ruan Dacheng.
Ruan Dacheng, who was punched in the face, held a grudge against Li Xiangjun and Hou Fangyu.
Li Zicheng invaded the capital, the Chongzhen Emperor martyred himself, the Ming Dynasty collapsed, and the Later Qing soldiers entered the pass in a big way.
The Fu King Zhu Yousong, supported by a group of old courtiers, established the Hongguang New Imperial Dynasty in Nanjing, and after Ruan Dacheng was used by the imperial court, he became the Shangshu of the Bingbu, wantonly retaliated against the Donglin Party and the Fushe people, and even took the opportunity to frame Hou Fangyu.
Hou Fangyu was forced to leave Nanjing for Yangzhou to join his father Hou Ke's protégé, the loyal and upright Shi Kefa.
Hou Fangyu followed Shi Kefa to resist the Qing army, he and Li Xiangjun were forced to separate, and their thoughts grew, and the two frequently exchanged letters, poured out their thoughts, comforted and encouraged each other.
Li Xiangjun washed away the lead, closed the door to thank the guests, and had an iron heart to wait for Hou Fangyu to return, but Ruan Dacheng, who could not catch Hou Fangyu, would not let Li Xiangjun go, and he took advantage of the opportunity of Ma Shiying's attempt to co-opt Tian Yang, the governor of Huaiyang and the red man of the Hongguang Emperor, and offered a plan to say that it was better to buy Li Xiangjun and give it to Tian Yang as a concubine.
Li Xiangjun vowed not to marry, the flower palanquin arrived at the door of the Meixiang Building, planning to marry forcibly, seeing that it was going to be forcibly stuffed into the palanquin, Li Xiangjun bumped her head and committed suicide, and the blood splashed on the palace fan that she never left her hand all day.
The palanquin had to be withdrawn, and Li Xiangjun did not die. Yang Longyou, who was nearby, picked up the palace fan on the ground stained with Li Xiangjun's blood stains, and dyed it into a few peach blossoms - this is the peach blossom fan.
Li Xiangjun entrusted the people to take the peach blossom fan to Yangzhou and give it to Hou Fangyu.
Ruan Dacheng almost forced out his life, but still refused to spare Li Xiangjun, and he took Li Xiangjun to the palace as a singer under the pretext of arranging the "Swallow Notes" for Emperor Hongguang.
The Qing army captured Yangzhou and approached Nanjing, and the Hongguang Emperor fled in the wind, and was eventually abducted by the generals and dedicated to the Qing army, and then the city of Nanjing was destroyed without attacking.
Li Xiangjun escaped from the palace with some palace people in the night, and she returned to the Meixiang Building with difficulty, but found that the Meixiang Building had been burned into a sea of fire by the chaotic soldiers.
Li Xiangjun, who was desperate, was found by the master of the song and fell on the side of the road, and she was lifted up, and the two ran to Suzhou with the flow of fleeing people.
At this time, Hou Fangyu had returned to Nanjing from Yangzhou, and when he rushed to MeixiangLou, he also happened to see meixianglou burning, but unfortunately, they were near Meixianglou, and the two people did not find each other, so they missed it.
Li Xiangjun, who was seriously ill, went through several twists and turns and found Bian Yujing, a former friend and also Qin Huai Bayan.
Bian Yujing took Li Xiangjun in and asked her for medical treatment, and Hou Fangyu, who had received the news, found Li Xiangjun and took her back to her hometown in Shangqiu, Henan.
Li Xiangjun concealed the identity of a famous prostitute, changed his surname to Wu, and entered the Hou family as Hou Fangyu's concubine.
In the Hou family, Li Xiangjun was filial to his in-laws and was very respectful to Hou Fangyu's yuanbei wife Chang Shi, and the family got along harmoniously.
These eight years may be the happiest and calmest years in Li Xiangjun's life.
However, there was no impermeable wall in the world, and Li Xiangjun was indeed too famous before, so her identity was still exposed, when Hou Fangyu just happened to leave home for Nanjing, and the father-in-law Hou Ke was greatly angered and drove Li Xiangjun out of the Hou family.
Later, after intercession, Li Xiangjun was allowed to live in the Hou's Chai Cao Garden, a fifteen-mile away from the city, the Chicken Garden, and the pregnant Li Xiangjun lived alone in the desolate Chicken Garden, because of the sympathy and intercession of his mother-in-law and Lady Chang's wife, Hou Ke sent a little girl to serve Li Xiangjun in the chicken garden.
Hou Fangyu, who returned from Nanjing, repeatedly knelt down in front of her father and confessed her mistakes, defending Xiangjun, explaining that she did not sell herself for her art, and begging her father to take back her life, but in the end she was still ruthlessly reprimanded.
Li Xiangjun gave birth to a son in the chicken garden, but this child could not be surnamed Hou, but could only follow Li Xiangjun's own surname Li, in depression and despair, a few months later, Li Xiangjun died of illness, only thirty years old, the following year, Hou Fangyu, who was only thirty-seven years old, also died.
Li Xiangjun's illness and death, or the cause of her illness, on the one hand, is because she is not tolerated by the Hou family, and her children are not accepted by the Hou family, on the other hand, it is also because she is a loyal woman with a strong iron bone, with a strong national complex, and is unwilling to accept the fact of the Qing Dynasty's rule, but Hou Fangyu participated in the township examination of Shunzhi for eight years, which is equivalent to defecting to the Qing Dynasty, which makes Li Xiangjun very disappointed.
And the peach blossom fan with Li Xiangjun's blood and tears, condensing her true feelings for Hou Fangyu and a piece of infatuation, is only a prop after all.