Whenever we talk about the two idioms of "closed moon shy flowers" and "sinking fish and falling geese", we can naturally think of the four beautiful women in ancient China. "Closed Moon" represents the mink cicada, "Shy Flower" represents Yang Yuhuan, "Sinking Fish" represents Xi Shi, and "Falling Goose" represents Wang Zhaojun.
Most of these beauties have tragic endings, which also has to make us sigh. Since there are four beautiful women, there must be four ugly women, but unlike the beautiful women, although they are not beautiful, they have become enviable winners in life by virtue of their own abilities and virtues.
The first is the grandmother. From her alias "Ugly Girl", you can see what her appearance is. Her husband was the Yellow Emperor, and legend has it that at that time the tribal "marriage robbery" system was prevalent, and when she saw a beautiful woman, she forcibly married her regardless of whether the other party wanted to or not. The Yellow Emperor did not want to see this situation, and decided to lead by example, and deliberately chose his beautiful but gentle concubine as his fourth wife.
Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor once used the appearance of his mother to drive away evil spirits, and later, the mother became a god who could expel the epidemic and ghosts, and the evil mask worn by people in later generations to expel the plague was said to be the appearance of the mother-in-law.
However, although the grandmother is not beautiful, she is not inferior, she has a good relationship with the Yellow Emperor, and often uses this to comfort the girls who are not beautiful, telling them that virtue is more important than anything. And the Yellow Emperor also said that people who are truly virtuous value virtue and despise appearance.
The Yellow Emperor attached great importance to his mother-in-law and entrusted the affairs of the harem to her mother-in-law. And the mother-in-law not only manages the harem, is good at organizing talents, but also has a very strategic, the Yellow Emperor unified China, defeating the Yan Emperor You all have a credit to the mother-in-law.
The second is Zhong Lichun, a Qi person during the Warring States period. Maybe we are not familiar with this name, but if we say "Zhong Wuyan", we must all know, and the name Zhong Wuyan has appeared in film and television dramas and novels.
Zhong Li Chun Fu surname Zhong Li, name Chun. Because he was born in the State of Qi without salt, some people at that time also called Zhong Lichun "Zhong Li No Salt", or simply referred to as Zhong Wu Salt, so later generations also evolved "if there is no salt" to describe the appearance is not good.
In the opera, Zhong Wuyan was changed to Zhong Wuyan, because the word "Wuyan" was more suitable for Zhong Lichun, who was not at all beautiful. This name was widely spread with the spread of opera, so now everyone knows Zhong Wuyan but does not know Zhong Lichun.
Because he was not beautiful and could even be said to be ugly, no one dared to marry Zhong Lichun at the age of forty. But Zhong Lichun did not care about these, she read poetry and had lofty ambitions, bent on serving the country, and saw that after Qi Xuangong came to power, she was bent on having fun and ignoring the government, and her heart was burning after domestic complaints, so she went to the capital to risk her life to advise Qi Xuangong.
Zhong Lichun's words greatly moved Qi Xuangong, and he decided to marry Zhong Lichun as his queen and let her supervise him at all times at his side.
The third is Meng Guang in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Meng Guang was not originally called Meng Guang, but was called "Meng Shi", and Meng Guang was the name of his later husband Liang Hong. Although Meng Guang is not good-looking, she has great strength and is also quite virtuous, so she is not unable to marry, but no matter how many people come to be matchmakers, she does not agree. When she was thirty years old, Meng Guang's parents asked Meng Guang what kind of husband he wanted to find, and Meng Guang replied that I was willing to marry someone like Liang Hong.
Liang Hong's appearance and virtue are very outstanding, many families want to marry their daughters to him, but he politely refuses, after hearing Meng Guang's words, he decided to ask Meng Guang to marry. The two lived in seclusion in the mountains and lived peacefully and happily, but later because Liang Hong's "Five Songs" was learned by the imperial court, they had to go to other places to arrest Liang Hong. When working as a domestic worker in Wudi, in order to show respect, Meng Guang always brought food to her husband by leveling the plate and eyebrows, which is also the origin of the case.
The fourth was the Nguyễn clan of Cao Wei. She and her husband Xu Yun did not know each other originally, and her husband Xu Yun did not know that his wife was an ugly woman. Therefore, on the wedding night, when he first saw Nguyen Thi Xu Yun, he was startled and left the cave room in a hurry. Just at this time, his friend Huan Fan came to visit and persuaded Xu Yun Nguyen to marry his ugly daughter to him, xu Yun felt justified, and went back to Ruan.
But as soon as he returned to the room Xu Yun regretted it, and quickly turned around to leave, Ruan Shi stopped him and did not allow him to leave, and Xu Yun, who wanted to get out quickly, asked Ruan: "You don't let me go, so which one do you say you conform to the four virtues of women?" Nguyen said, "I just don't have beauty, so which one do you fit into?" Xu Yun thought that he was in line with any point, and Ruan Shi retorted to him: "A gentleman's hundred actions are headed by virtue, but you value appearance, where is virtue?" Xu Yun was persuaded by Nguyen Thi and never with her husband
Summary: Judging from the stories of these ugly women, beauty does not mean everything, and they have obtained a happy life by virtue and intelligence.