Throughout the ancient and modern times, no matter how the dynasties change and how the times change, love has always been a topic that people talk about. Innocence will never fade, romance to death, has always been the same people's pursuit of true love, different is only attached to the idea of the times of love concept.
Then in the era of the collision of new and old ideas in the Republic of China period, various love stories came into being.
There are like-minded people like-minded Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin; there are also ephemeral flashes of Yu Dafu and Wang Yingxia. Qian Zhongshu and Yang Dai's hearts are imprinted; there are also the poignant regrets of Xu Huimin and Lin Shuhua. There are the shocking customs of Lu Xun and Xu Guangping, and there is also the quiet beauty of Shen Congwen and Zhang Zhaohe.
Some people follow the rules like Hu Shi, and some people let go of themselves like Xu Zhimo. At this time, some people cocoon themselves, some people try to fly high, and some people experience all the joys and sorrows. He is Jiang Menglin, the president of Peking University, who has twice opposed the public for love, but the ending is completely different.
Born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, Jiang Menglin has been reading poetry since childhood, studying abroad, specializing in education, and has received the baptism of more enlightened ideas in the West.
But in those days, it was useless for a family and only one person to be open-minded. Jiang Menglin will not escape her parents' arranged marriage in the end. Before Jiang Menglin went abroad, his father forcibly told him a daughter-in-law Sun Yushu who was right at home.
Sun Yushu is a rural girl, industrious and decent, but the big characters do not know a few, and Jiang Menglin has no emotional basis, and there will not be too many common topics in the future, which is doomed to their marriage will not be happy, but at that time Jiang Menglin was powerless to resist, he could only be forced to accept, and Sun Yushu gave birth to three sons and a daughter.
Although Jiang Menglin's thinking and pursuits after returning to China were already different from Sun Yushu's thoughts and pursuits, Sun Yushu was diligent and earnest, respected his in-laws, raised his children, and was an impeccable good wife.
Jiang Menglin is grateful for Sun Yushu's efforts, but he can't feel affection for her because of this, so he can only devote himself to education.
Marriage without spiritual support makes Jiang Menglin often feel lonely, so he devotes most of his energy and time to work and making friends.
He has made great contributions to China's education cause in several positions, and has also made many friends like Hu Shi and Gao Renshan who have common pursuits, adding some comfort and fun to his ordinary and lonely life.
In 1926, Jiang Menglin was persecuted by warlords and had to flee Beijing, and in order to protect the safety of his family, he could only send his family back to his hometown. In the past, even if he and Sun Yushu had a gap in thought, they could occasionally talk about homely things and talk about children, so that the two were separated from the two places, and they completely broke off contact.
Jiang Menglin saw the warlords fighting and the country was in disarray, and he knew that the country needed to develop education, and Gao Renshan and other friends actively devoted themselves to the cause of education, and also took the initiative to participate in various political activities, hoping to lead all the enthusiastic young people to fight back.
Under their leadership, many insurrectionary movements came into being, and their series of actions violated the interests of the great warlord Zhang Zuolin.
In April 1927, the whole city of Beijing fell into a white terror, and many intellectuals had to flee Beijing, but Gao Renshan and others were not afraid and resolutely stayed in Beijing and persisted in the struggle.
In September of the same year, Gao Renshan was arrested by the warlords, and in January of the following year, he was shot and killed at the overpass. Gao Renshan is a close friend of Jiang Menglin who fought side by side, and although the two are eight years apart, they are like-minded and understand each other, which is a rare friendship.
To the tragic death of Jiao, Jiang Menglin was devastated and physically and mentally exhausted, but he could not completely indulge in grief, the deceased was dead, and the living still had many heavy responsibilities.
At the memorial service, Gao Renshan's young wife, Tao Zenggu, wept into tears. The sudden death of her husband, the young children, the need for care, and a bunch of public opinion messages waiting for her, how does this make her a weak woman face it? Tao Zenggu was eager to die in place of her husband.
Jiang Menglin believes that only by continuing to fully develop the cause of education, fulfilling the wishes of his friends, and taking care of his friends' wives and children can he comfort his friends' spirits in heaven, so he does his best to take care of Tao Zenggu, whether it is the big and small trifles in life, or the sorrow and sorrow in his heart, Jiang Menglin carefully enlightens and helps.
The two support each other and slowly come out of the pain, Tao Zenggu found that Jiang Menglin was delicate and righteous, and Jiang Menglin also found that Tao Zenggu was beautiful and wise, and in the days of mutual healing, the two had feelings for each other and loved from the heart.
However, Tao Zenggu is not only the surviving person of Jiang Menglin's former friend, but both have children and daughters, and this love will eventually be guided by the public. But what did the two people who fell in love care of?
Especially Jiang Menglin, if he hadn't met Tao Zenggu, a woman who fit his soul, maybe he could endure an ordinary life with Sun Yushu for a lifetime, but the reality was not if, he met Tao Zenggu.
Therefore, Jiang Menglin resolutely filed for divorce with Sun Yushu. Sun Yushu was a simple woman, and since she couldn't get it back, she could only let go. Jiang Menglin's heart was full of mixed feelings, joy and guilt, he retained Sun Yushu's position in the Jiang family, and also undertook all the expenses of his children, hoping to make up for Sun Yushu a little.
Although the world has a lot of discussion about this marriage, his good friend Hu Shi is very supportive, in his view, this is an earth-shattering wedding, is full of love. Under the witness of his friends, Jiang Menglin finally married his beloved, and realized that he had never had a sweet life in the palace that had never been seen before.
After marriage, the two worked together to work hard, take care of both children together, and enjoy each other, although there were occasional quarrels, but the love of the two for each other only increased. However, the good times did not last long, in 1958, Tao Zenggu died of illness, and before she died, she nagged and asked her relatives and friends to find someone to take care of Jiang Menglin instead of her.
Although the widowed Jiang Menglin has children to accompany him, he still often feels lonely, and relatives and friends go around helping Jiang Menglin find new people, but after several twists and turns, Jiang Menglin only feels that erer, until the appearance of Xu Xianle has changed this situation.
Xu Xianle was born in Xiangmendi, his every move was elegant and generous, although he was 50 years old, he still had charm. Xu was in her, as if seeing the former Tao Zenggu, the 75-year-old Jiang Menglin was once again moved, he felt that his true love had come again, so he decided to marry Xu Xianle as his wife.
Despite the difficulties, he was confident that his friends would understand what was in his heart.
Unexpectedly, however, no one agreed to his wedding. Chen Cheng, Song Meiling, daughter Jiang Yanhua and others all vigorously opposed it, and even used the severance of relations as an admonition.
Even Hu Shi, the best friend who inspired him to bravely pursue love at that time, wrote a letter with illness to urge him not to get married, but unfortunately, Hu Shi's pure heart was torn to pieces by Principal Jiang, who was obsessed with love.
Jiang Menglin's heart is haggard, but he firmly believes that Xu Xianle is the same true love as Tao Zenggu, so he hides everyone from getting a license to marry. Jiang Menglin looked forward to the happy life of her husband and wife, but Xu Xianle immediately revealed her true face after marriage.
She was lazy and lazy, spending a lot of money, holding all the money tightly in her hands to limit Jiang Menglin's expenditure. The president of The Great Hall Of Peking University could not eat enough because his wife was too strict. This kind of pain he could not and facelessly talk to his friends, and could only rub rice around in the name of visiting.
Once Jiang Menglin attended the event, because of malnutrition, did not stand firm and fell injured, Xu Xianle refused to take care of the injured Jiang Menglin, spending days and nights drinking, singing night and laughing. Jiang Menglin endured the torment of illness, poverty and loneliness, and he finally remembered the advice of a group of friends, regretting that he was not in the beginning, but it was too late.
Xu Xianle not only took Jiang Menglin's salary for himself, but also embezzled the money that Jiang Menglin left to his daughter, Jiang Menglin tried to fight back, quarreled, sued uselessly, he was even willing to spend a sum of money to send away this big Buddha Xu Xianle, but Xu Xianle was unwilling to divorce.
After several mediations, Jiang Menglin was finally relieved, but was blackmailed by Xu Xianle for a large sum, and most of the property was transferred by her design, more than two years, about 700,000 yuan.
For the so-called true love, Jiang Menglin lost not a large amount of money, but also a lot of sincere friendship, at that time, Hu Shi, who had painstakingly advised him, had passed away, jiang Menglin wanted to apologize and thank him, he could not hear it. Xu Xianle also stood on the moral high ground to condemn Jiang Menglin for having no conscience.
In the end, Jiang Menglin died in endless regret and controversy. In his life, he has had ordinary and boring marriages, there have been love affairs, and there have been profit-oriented scams.
It can be seen that love is a big gamble after all, either blossoming or losing. But if we can keep our sanity and listen to the opinions of relatives and friends, we will not be blinded by the so-called love.