Go out of Shangzhuang, cross Yanglin Bridge and walk ten miles northeast, which is Zhongtun. Shun Di's father is a farmer in the village, named Feng Zhenshuang, nicknamed Jin Zao. When I joined the Taiping Army when I was young, all the tailors in the army learned good tailoring skills. He works hard on weekdays and makes clothes and things for others in his spare time. He is diligent and honest, and is called the Golden Furnace Officer.
Jinzao's wife gave birth to a daughter at the first birth. In the old society, boys were preferred to girls, and girls were unpopular. Farmers especially wanted to have labor. Therefore, Jinzao named her daughter "Shun Di", which means giving birth to a younger brother. Sure enough, the second child gave birth to a son, and later gave birth to two daughters in succession. A family of six, although life is difficult, is also harmonious and dear, and has a natural and simple sense of happiness.
But Feng Jin has always had a stone in his heart. The old house handed down by our ancestors was destroyed in the war of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He vowed to revive his family business and build a bigger and more elegant new house on the basis of the old house. However, this is not easy! Mr. and Mrs. Jinzao worked hard to scrimp and save, but the wood and bricks were still nowhere to be found and there was no money!
Shun Di is getting older and smarter than other children. She looks-
Round face, a little freckles, long hair ... face is not beautiful, but very stable, not like a child of a crop family.
At home, she serves her parents and helps her younger brothers and sisters. She is diligent and virtuous, and she is most loved by her parents. Everyone in the village says that Jinzao is a good daughter. Shun Di is also considerate of his parents. Looking at her father's sad face and dreaming of a new house, she often hates that she is not a man and can't help her father to work, make money and build a new house.
In the spring of 16 years old, Mrs. Xing Wusao of Shangzhuang came to Zhongtun Jinzao's house to give a matchmaker and told her about her eldest nephew, who was called "Mr. San".
This year, Hu Chuan was 48 years old. His ex-wife Cao Shi has been dead for more than ten years, and his children have grown up. He is an official outside, and it is really inconvenient to have no family, so he plans to continue to marry a house.
The Jinzao couple were embarrassed when they heard the purpose of Xing Wusao. On the one hand, I am afraid that if I don't become an official, I will make others laugh in the future; Secondly, Mr. San is 32 years older than Shun Di, and he is also filling the house, fearing that his daughter will not; Third, Mr. San has many children, and his eldest daughter and son are several years older than Shun Di, so it's hard for his stepmother to do it, for fear of harming her daughter for life. So Jin Zao told Xing Wusao that this matter must be discussed with her daughter, and the matchmaker was sent away.
After dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Jinzao told their daughter that Mr. Shangzhuang San wanted to get married to make up the house and Mrs. Xing Wusao wanted to be a matchmaker. He also said that parents are also in a dilemma and want their daughters to make up their minds. Shun Di listened, bowed his head and refused to speak for a long time, but his heart was tense. She has met Mr. San, and people say he is a good man. She thought that to fill the house, she could ask for more money; The ex-wife has many children and is an official, so the bride price should look better. This is a good opportunity for her to repay her parents and help her father build the new house he has dreamed of all his life. So Shun Di secretly made up his mind and agreed.
The eight characters have passed and merged with Hu Chuan's eight characters; The gift list has been delivered; Engaged in February and married in March, Feng Shundi, a peasant woman, became the official wife of Hu Chuanjia in Shangzhuang. The Feng family in Zhongtun also built a new house.
In the second year after marriage, Hu Chuan took Feng Shundi to live in Shanghai. In the winter of the third year, a boy was born, a little Hu Shi; But it was not called "Hu Shi" at that time, but "Er". He is Hu Chuan's youngest son and Shun Di's only own flesh and blood.
Just 90 days after the baby was born, Hu Chuan was transferred to Taiwan Province Province. 1in the spring of 893, Feng Shundi went to Taiwan to visit relatives with his family, and stayed in Tainan and Taitung where Hu Chuan was an official for nearly two years. At that time, Hu Chuan, who was over 50 years old, cut some convenient red paper labels in his spare time and wrote with a brush to teach Feng Shundi, who was only 20 years old, to read. Together, they teach children over two years old to become dumb and literate. Their father is a teacher and their mother is both a student and a teaching assistant. The old man, wife and children are enjoying the most sacred family happiness in the world. By the time she left Taiwan Province Province, her mother had learned nearly 1000 words and her children had learned more than 700 words.
Happiness is so short and fleeting, but sadness comes so suddenly and so heavy. In the second year of Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Hu Shi's mother and son just left Taiwan Province Province and returned to their hometown in Jixi. Soon after, there was the bad news that his father Hu Chuan died in Xiamen. The great changes and misfortune of this family left the first memory in Hu Shi's young mind:
I was only three years and eight months old. I seem to remember that when my father got home, my mother was in the front hall of the old house and she was sitting in a chair at the door of the house. When she heard the reader reading my father's dead letter, she leaned back and even the chair fell on the threshold of the house. Aunt Jane sitting in the east gate also burst into tears. At that time, there were cries all over the room, and I just felt that the world had turned upside down! I seem to remember only this sad situation, but I don't remember the rest.
Hu Shi's mother suffered such a heavy blow. At that time, she was only 22 years old and two months 17 days, and she was only 23 years old in vain! She has just taken a few steps on the road of life, just tasted the sweetness of life, and thus lost her husband and became a widow. This is the greatest misfortune of a China woman! And she "takes a teenager as a stepmother and associates with her children", coupled with the decline of family wealth and economic distress, as her son said, "there are outsiders who can't compare."
She was widowed at the age of 23 and kept it for 23 years. She suffered the pain and suffering of life. The greatest pain is the death of many relatives. In these 23 years, only my husband's family and her mother's family lost seven relatives:
The third son Hu Hong died on 1904.
1905 Father Feng Zhenshuang passed away.
1909 Xifeng passed away.
Brother Feng Chenghou died.
19 15 The eldest daughter Hu Daju passed away.
Hubert Wu, the eldest son, died.
19 17 Grandson Hu Siming passed away.
Siblings, children and grandchildren, so one after another died, constantly tormenting Feng Shundi's spirit and body. Among them, her brother's illness and death are the most miserable. Schistosomiasis is prevalent in Zhongtun. Her younger brother Cheng Hou, who studied medicine as a child, went home to farm in the busy farming season and was infected with schistosomiasis. Shortly after his death, Cheng Hou's condition worsened, his abdominal distension persisted, and he couldn't bear to let his old mother know, so he went to her sister's house in Shangzhuang for treatment. Hu Shi's mother served the soup and undressed at night. Cheng Hou's condition has not improved. I'm afraid that if anything happens to her brother, the old mother's twilight years will be even more embarrassing. According to rural legends, stock trading can cure diseases. One night, she burned incense and prayed to heaven and earth. She cut a piece of meat from her left arm with a sharp knife and fried it in medicine. My brother couldn't eat any more, so she burned the meat and put it in a rice cooker for his brother to eat. Sister is so sincere, but with ignorance, it is naturally impossible to come back to life. Cheng Hou finally left his old mother, young wife and young children and left, adding only one widow and three orphans to the world. How can Shun Di not be sad!
23 years of widowhood, long and painful, she actually survived! What power is supporting her? Just because of her own blood-her only son-Hu Shi. Because of this blood, she pinned all her hopes on her son's uncertain future. For this bloody future, she is willing to endure everything, pay everything and struggle for 23 years!
What should the son's future be like? She doesn't know exactly. She just wants her son to learn from his father and follow his father's path. She often tells her son about the benefits of his father and reminds her:
"You always set foot on your Lao tze's footsteps. I have only known this complete person all my life. You should learn from him and don't lose his shares. " A falling stock means losing face and making a fool of yourself. ) When she talks about sadness, she often cries. ...
Although she only got along with her husband for six years, three months and two days1day, she didn't really understand Hu Chuan's ideological career, but she worshiped, respected and loved her husband devoutly, which can be said to be a husband supremacist. Hu Chuan personally wrote those big characters on red paper, and she kept them all her life, and regarded them as "the most sacred commemoration of group life" with her husband and son. In her mind, her husband Hu Chuan has simply become a lofty and sacred idol. Moreover, with pious and nagging narration and persuasion, she gradually established this idol in her son's heart.
For the sake of her son's future, she is very disciplined. She didn't read a book, but tried her best to fulfill Hu Chuan's last wish and send her son to school. In Shangzhuang area of Jixi, the scholarship of Mongolian Museum is very low. Generally, each student only gives two silver dollars a year. Teacher Wang naturally refuses to devote himself to teaching. He only teaches students to read and recite dead books, and often punishes students. In this way, students are not interested in learning, so they often play truant. Hu Shi's mother, on the other hand, is willing to spend money on learning. According to Hu Shi's memory:
I am not alone in this "secondary" class. My mother is eager for me to study, so the scholarship is particularly rich. Six yuan was given in the first year, and it was increased every year, and it was increased to twelve yuan in the last year. Such a scholarship is "record breaking" in my hometown.
As a result, Mr. Hu showed special respect and preferential treatment to Hu Shi, carefully studied for him, and the meaning of every word was clear. This made Hu Shi get great benefits. He later recalled that "the most effective thing in his life was to tell books", which was a great benefit of his mother's increasing knowledge.
During Hu Shi's study in the United States, his family's economy was extremely embarrassed. Several brothers broke up noisily. Hu Shi's mother supported the portal alone, and all the relatives celebrated together. The burden is really not light, even the Chinese New Year depends on jewelry, which can be seen. Just then, Hu Shouhuan, a member of the imperial clan, was willing to sell a big book "Book Integration" at a reduced price because of the decline of his family. Knowing that her son wanted the book, Hu Shi's mother borrowed money to buy it. She would rather be embarrassed by herself, but she still thinks of her son everywhere. It can really be regarded as an enlightened mother who pays attention to intellectual input.
But when it comes to her son's marriage, she is very open-minded. She made lifelong arrangements for her son very early, perhaps expecting to have a grandson as soon as possible.
In June191811,she experienced the hardships of widowhood. When she died, although she was only 46 years old, she should be relieved and satisfied inside. Her son has returned to China to become a professor in Peking University and a famous figure who advocated the literary revolution. She may regret that she didn't have time to have grandchildren in the end.