Xu Zhimo, who is romantic by nature, is undoubtedly an important presence that cannot be mentioned in the history of Chinese literature. In addition to his talent, his personal emotional life is often criticized and criticized by the world, because of his "shameless behavior" of abandoning his original wife Zhang Youyi and sabotaging the marriage of Lu Xiaoman, the "wife with a husband".
But if you carefully read the information of celebrities and literati of that era, you will find that such things are actually very common, such as Xu Zhimo's "brother-in-law" and Zhang Youyi's brother Zhang Junjie also "abandoned his wife and remarried", and his two wives were not very happy.
So, why does the world never harshly rebuke Zhang Junjie for "flower heart" and "thin affection"?
Born in 1887, Zhang Junjie came from a wealthy family when he was a teenager, entered a private school at the age of 6, was talented, diligent and hardworking, especially Zhu Xi's "Recent Thoughts", which laid a favorable foreshadowing for his lifelong concept of gentle temperament and dignity.
At the age of 12, Zhang Junjie obeyed his mother's arrangement and entered the Cantonese Dialect Hall, where few parents wanted their children to attend at that time, to learn English and Western classics.
In 1902, the 15-year-old Zhang Junjie easily passed the township examination and became a showman in the old era. In 1903, he accidentally saw the Aurora University admissions message and related articles sent by Liang Qichao himself, and his heart was touched, and he worked hard to enroll in school.
But unfortunately, due to the lack of family and the inability to pay the tuition, Zhang Junjie only stayed for half a year and was forced to interrupt his studies.
In 1904, at the age of 17, Zhang Junjie suffered another setback in his studies, because he had participated in the organization of protesting russia's illegal occupation of Chinese land, and the Nanjing Higher School insisted on firing him. Deeply devastated, Zhang Junjie entered Hunan Middle School as a teacher with the help of friends.
In 1906, Zhang Junjie obeyed his parents' arrangement and returned to his hometown to marry Shen Shi, who had no emotional basis. Two months later, Zhang Junjie and his younger brother Zhang Gongquan, with the financial support of the Qing government, crossed the ocean to study in Japan.
Because Zhang Junjie did not listen to the Qing government's arrangement to study physical and chemical subjects, but chose to be more interested in law and politics, the Qing government interrupted zhang Junjie's funding after half a year, resulting in his study abroad career once falling into a Qing poverty.
However, Zhang Junji did not give up lightly, and while continuing to study the English classics of politics and law, he began to contact German-related works and had the idea of going to Germany to study.
In 1910, Zhang Junjie returned to China and took the examination of the Qing Imperial Court Academy, becoming one of the last Hanlins in China. In 1913, under the arrangement of Liang Qichao, Zhang Junjie fulfilled his wish and went to the University of Berlin in Germany to study politics.
During this period, he learned of the chaos caused by Yuan Shikai, and he resolutely gave up his studies and returned to China to participate in the anti-Yuan struggle. After Yuan Shikai's death, Zhang Junjie, who had suffered political setbacks, studied in Germany again.
This time, worried about the domestic situation, he still failed to obtain a doctorate and returned to China. In 1923, Zhang Junjie was invited to give a lecture at Tsinghua University.
At the same time as the Chinese cultural scene caused an uproar, he also met a person who was extremely important to him for the rest of his life, that is, Wang Shiying. They met at a meeting preparing to greet Tagore, and Zhang Junjie fell in love with Wang Shiying, who was in full bloom and talked well, and then launched a fierce love letter attack.
Why would Zhang Junjie, who had never been moved, fall so easily under Wang Shiying's pomegranate skirt? In fact, the reason is very simple, they are people on the same road, they have all bent over to the old times, and they have been trying to break free from the shackles of the old times.
Similar souls always resonate when they approach. Wang Shiying was 12 years younger than Zhang Junjie, born in 1899, and was a young lady of an official eunuch family. She studied at Fuzhou Normal School and had a close relationship with the children's writer Bing Xin.
At the age of 20, Wang Shiying fell in love with his fellow countryman Zheng Zhenduo. Her parents prevented the two from falling in love on the grounds of a huge family difference, and Wang Shiying, who was unable to resist her parents, was forced to break up with Zheng Zhenduo.
After that, Wang Shiying remained single until he met Zhang Junjie. For Zhang Junjie's pursuit, Wang Shiying was very entangled, she wrote to her friend BingXin who was far away in the United States, asking her in an understated tone, can you consider combining with Mr. Zhang Junjie?
Although Bing Xin did not know Zhang Junjie, she had read Zhang Junjie's articles, peeked at her character with literary style, and felt that Zhang Junjie was worth entrusting for life, so she tried her best to promote the two.
In 1924, Wang Shiying, deeply touched by Zhang Junjie's love words and supported by his friends, accepted Zhang Junjie's pursuit. During that time, Zhang Junji was very busy, but he still insisted on daily appointments with Wang Shiying.
Ten days of getting along day and night, frequent correspondence, so that the feelings of the two people quickly warmed up, but also more firm Zhang Junjie's belief in marrying Wang Shiying.
However, for Zhang Junjie at that time, if he wanted to ask to marry Wang Shiying, he had to solve a very important matter first: divorce his original partner, Shen Shi.
Zhang Junjie found his sister Zhang Youyi and sought her advice. Zhang Youyi smiled and said to her brother, "I know you will be able to handle it properly." ”
Zhang Junjie did not live up to his sister's high hopes, he personally wrote a letter to Shen Shi explaining the divorce request, and promised: "You can arbitrarily mention the conditions of divorce, as long as I can meet, I will try to do it." ”
Shen Shi and Zhang Junji did not have any feelings to speak of, heard the news, did not resist, directly agreed to Zhang Junji's request, and the two were able to break up peacefully. After the divorce, Zhang Junjie paid Shen a maintenance payment to ensure that she had no worries for the rest of her life.
However, according to the old concept of the times, Shen Shi, who divorced her husband, did belong to a category that did not have a good ending, and since then she has gradually disappeared in front of people, and no one knows what happened to her. In 1925, Zhang Junjie, who was restored to singleness, and Wang Shiying officially entered the marriage hall.
The world often wonders: What does a marriage with love look like? Privately, Zhang Junjie and Wang Shiying are typical representatives.
After marriage, Wang Shiying put the focus of her life on the family, she no longer engaged in literary writing, but regarded Zhang Junjie as the only one in her life, while taking care of Zhang Junjie's daily life, while serving as his right-hand man, assisting him in academic research.
Others feel sorry for Wang Shiying's choice, because she is indeed a young woman with outstanding literary talent, who has won praise from Chinese and Japanese education circles for a "Travel Diary" of more than 50,000 words, and if she continues her literary career, she will surely be famous in the future.
Zhang Junjie was very grateful for his wife's efforts, and later he wrote in a translation: "Translating books is a difficult task, and after every translation of this book is completed, I will ask my wife to help me proofread." In the preface to the book, Lasky declares that he has the help of his wife, and so do I. ”
He deliberately marked on the title page of the translation of the book: "I would like to dedicate this book to Ms. Shiyin", who is Wang Shiying.
In the autumn of 1926, Wang Shiying gave birth to her and Zhang Junjie's first child, Xiaohu, who happened to be bingxin returning to China to visit the couple and record that ordinary day.
Because Wang Shiying was still in confinement and needed to lie in bed to recuperate, it was Zhang Junjie who went downstairs to greet Bingxin. His warm and cordial attitude left a deep impression on Bingxin, and the equally internationally renowned female writer had the illusion that the two of them were not strangers, but had long been separated from each other and reunited with old friends.
Entering the house, Wang Shiying, who had first seen his friend, was a little happy and a little shy. She and Bingxin chatted idly by the bedside for half an hour, and Bingxin was worried about affecting her rest and took the initiative to quit and leave.
Since then, Bing Xin has met with the couple many times, and each time seems to be able to feel the deep and compatible friendship between the two in their attitudes.
In 1929, the arrival of an accident once again allowed others to see the true feelings of suffering and sharing between Zhang Junjie and Wang Shiying. The day before the Dragon Boat Festival that year, Zhang Junjie, as usual, finished teaching at the Zhixing College in the Shanghai Concession and walked home.
Unexpectedly, halfway down the road, a strange car suddenly stopped beside him, and several Biaohan rushed down and took him into the car and quickly left. Subsequently, the robbers called the Zhang family and demanded that the Zhang family take out a huge ransom in exchange for Zhang Junjie, otherwise Zhang Junjie's ears would be cut off.
In response to this change, the relatives of the Zhang family were all panicked and uneasy, and only Wang Shiying was calm and self-assured, and gave a sober judgment: "Junji is extremely influential in the domestic literary circles, and his personality is strong and clear, and the robbers kidnapped him is definitely not for money, I am afraid that there is a political purpose, and he wants to use Junjie's safety to force the dissolution of Shanghai Zhixing College." ”
The facts were indeed as Wang Shiying expected, because Zhang Junjie had always opposed and criticized the Kuomintang dictatorship, so the Kuomintang side tried to threaten Zhang Junjie with life and death to be soft, but Zhang Junjie put his life and death on the outside and never moved.
The kidnappers had no choice but to continue to threaten Zhang Junjie's safety, asking the Zhang family for ransom, claiming that if they could not receive any more money, they would cut off Zhang Junjie's head and throw it on the Great West Road.
While resolutely refusing to pay the ransom and stalemating with the robbers, Wang Shiying secretly joined forces with the relatives of the Zhang family to ask du Yuesheng, Zhang Taiyan and others for help, and finally successfully rescued Zhang Junjie.
In the same year, Zhang Junjie briefly went to Germany to escape the suppression of the Kuomintang. At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Junjie was placed under house arrest by the Kuomintang for more than 2 years for promoting the constitutional movement. During this period, Zhang and Wang experienced one of the misfortunes of life: the early death of their young son Guokang.
Time and again, the tribulations and blows did not consume half of the deep friendship between Zhang Junjie and Wang Shiying, but made their hearts closer to each other.
In 1934, Zhang Junjie, who had returned from a study tour in Germany, received an invitation from Yenching University and took Wang Shiying to settle in Yanyuan and live next to each other with Bingxin and his wife, spending a comfortable and leisurely time.
Bing Xin said in the article that her husband and Zhang Junjie are both bookworms, and often talk about books until midnight, and she and Wang Shiying will travel hand in hand with Wang Shiying to visit Beiping, enjoy the scenery and talk about their hearts, and feel very comfortable.
Unfortunately, the cruel world never allows people to steal too much quiet time, and the eternal separation is still staged between Zhang Junjie and Wang Shiying.
In 1944, the 45-year-old Wang Shiying became pregnant again, and relatives and friends advised her: "You are already an elderly child, if the family affairs are complicated, you must not be strong." And in the production, be sure to let Zhang Junjie accompany him. ”
But at that time, Zhang Junjie's career was at a busy juncture, and even if there was a little sense of foreboding in his heart, Wang Shiying did not disturb his work.
She forcibly endured uneasiness and thoughts, and personally poured wine and sent Zhang Junjie to San Francisco to attend the founding meeting of the United Nations. The brothers and sisters of the Zhang family all laughed at their brothers and sisters-in-law, "The old husband and wife, but the feelings are more prosperous than those of the young people", but they do not know that this is the trick of the couple.
In 1945, the bad news of Wang Shiying's difficult birth and death reached Zhang Junjie's ears, which made him extremely sad. Bing Xin recorded the various things before and after the death of his friend in the article.
At the beginning of March of that year, she was very happy to learn the news that Wang Shiying was about to give birth, and felt that the couple might be able to forget the sadness of losing their young son because of the arrival of the newborn.
Bing Xin wrote to her husband in the United States, hoping that he would convey this good news to Zhang Junjie. Unexpectedly, more than ten days after the letter was sent, Mei Yiqi, who did not know Wang Shiying and her friendship, accidentally mentioned a sentence at the dinner table: "I heard that Madame Junjie died the day before yesterday, as if it was because of difficult childbirth." ”
Bing Xin heard the words, and immediately froze, and Han Yan did not say a word. After the meal, she immediately wrote a letter to Zhang Junjie's two younger siblings to inquire about the truth, and in June of that year, she personally met with Zhang Junjie's sister-in-law, Zhang Jiazhu's wife Zhang Xiaomei, to talk about Wang Shiying's affairs.
At the end of December 1946, Wang Shiying was buried next to the tomb of his ancestors in his hometown. Zhang Junjie specially wrote a "Narrative of the Lady of the Dead House" to pay tribute to his deceased wife.
For the rest of his life, Zhang Junjie did not remarry, and held the remembrance of Wang Shiying until his death. Others advised him not to "indulge in the sorrows of the past", and he shook his head and replied: "My heart, in this life, can only contain one person who is relieved of the cause." ”
In 1969, Zhang Junjie, who had been separated from Wang Shiying for 24 years, told his family on his deathbed that he must be buried with Wang Shiying, but this wish could not be realized in the end.
The couple, thousands of miles apart, sleep at opposite ends of the earth. However, I believe that in another world, they must have been reunited long ago, and there will be no difference since.
Back to the beginning, why is it that Zhang Junjie, who is also the representative of "abandoning the original match and remarrying", can get the tolerance and understanding of the world? In fact, the reason is related to Zhang Junjie's personality and style of conduct.
Before he met Wang Shiying, he had always been clean and self-sufficient, and never had intimate contact with any woman. When he fell in love with Wang Shiying, he was devoted to her, even if Wang Shiying left the world early, he did not betray his sincere friendship with Wang Shiying.
At the same time, in the attitude towards the original Shen family, Zhang Junjie also followed the "gentleman's style", not only frankly and explicitly stated the divorce request, but also promised that the Shen family could make requests at will within his own ability, and try to ensure the stability of the Shen family for the rest of his life.
Such behavior, in stark contrast to Xu Zhimo's "desperate love" of divorce when Zhang Youyi was pregnant, is naturally easier to win the favor of the world.
It can be seen that the world does not harshly condemn men for "divorcing and remarrying", but looks down on the thin attitude of some men towards the "original match", such as Xu Zhimo and Lu Xun, who regards the original Zhu An as a "gift that has to be accepted".
The ignorance and ignorance of women in the old era were never their own faults, and it was reasonable that men with new ideas would dislike them, but no matter what, malicious abandonment and disregard were disrespectful to women, wasn't it?
Text/Yu Xin