Chapter 1: Zhang Family Simplified Music
Text/Radiandu
During the Qianlong period, Zhang Dai, the ancestor of the Zhang family, brought his wife Zhang family from Dongchangfu, Shandong Province. Yangpi Village in the county fled famine to Guandong to cultivate and start a business. After father begets sons, sons begets grandchildren, and endless generations of descendants work hard on the fertile black soil, they are finally reborn from the ashes and transformed into a wealthy local man.
The hard-working Zhang family continued their efforts and attacked in all directions, purchasing real estate in Acheng, Binxian, Hulan, Shuangcheng, Wuchang, Bayan, Suihua, Keshan, Lanxi, Mingshui and other places. , real estate, and is widely involved in businesses such as oil mills, wineries, grocery stores, banks, and pawn shops that make money quickly. After several hard work and painstaking efforts, the Zhang family finally became one of the most famous families in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.
When the ancestral business of the Zhang family was passed down to Xiao Hong’s grandfather Zhang Weizhen and other generations with the “Wei” name, it was already the fourth generation. As the saying goes, you can only be rich for three generations, but the Zhang family can be rich for the fourth generation. This is already very difficult. With the decline of his family and the continuous division of property, Zhang Weizhen was only allocated more than 40 tracts (in the northeast, one tract is about fifteen acres) of good and bad land in Hulan, more than 30 There are houses of varying quality, plus a winery, an oil mill, and a pawn shop. However, due to poor management, he was repeatedly tricked and abducted by the gangs, and the winery, oil shop, and pawn shop closed down one after another. Since then, the old Zhang family in Hulan can only live by renting out land and houses and collecting some rent.
Zhang Weizhen had been studying poetry and books for more than ten years. He originally planned to take the imperial examination and find an official position to honor his ancestors. However, the imperial examination was abolished in the late Qing Dynasty, so he could only give up with regret. Zhang Weizhen has poetry and books in his belly, has a mellow personality and a kind heart, but Qu Tao is a rare person with a good temperament among the wealth. In ancient times, he would have been a knight, in modern times, he would have been an expert. However, in an era where old trends have not gone away and new initiatives are difficult to take, he can only be regarded as half a useless person at best. Mr. Zhang didn't mind this at all. He was so preoccupied with his leisurely life that he didn't even bother to ask about housekeeping.
Fortunately, Xiao Hong's grandmother Fan was indeed a shrewd and capable person. She decisively took over the power inside and outside the family, took charge of all the family business and housework, and managed to support a lot of complicated affairs. After Mrs. Zhang came to power, Mr. Zhang's role became to grow vegetables when he was busy, recite poems when he was free, and listen to the housekeeper's instructions to wipe a set of tin utensils placed on the floor when he was half busy and half free. The wife complained naggingly: "You are so stupid that you can't even wipe a tin pot clean. I think you are just lazy! What do you think you have accomplished in all the years I have been married to you? I am busy with everything. What have you gained?" Mr. Zhang remained silent and endured it silently. Alas, who told us to have a gentle temperament and receive traditional education? It is obvious that traditional education is outdated and it is women’s turn to hold up half the sky.
Zhang Weizhen and Fan had one son and three daughters. Unfortunately, their only son died in infancy. Without sons, it is impossible to continue the family line, and without sons, it is impossible to raise children to provide for old age. This is a taboo in traditional society! Therefore, Mr. and Mrs. Zhang made some calculations and chose Zhang Tingju, the third son of the fifth brother Zhang Weiyue, as their heir.
Zhang Tingju lost his mother at the age of three, and at the age of twelve he officially entered the family of his fourth uncle Zhang Weizhen and became his stepson. Zhang Weizhen changed it to "Xuan San", so Zhang Tingju was also called Zhang Xuansan. Mrs. Fan believed that reading too many books was useless, so she tried her best to persuade her step-son to drop out of school to help her run the business and run the family business. Unexpectedly, this boy had other ambitions, insisting that a good man must first study for further education, and clinging to a job that was neither salty nor salty. A weak family fortune has no future. After all, Fan was unable to contain her stepson's stubbornness, and his stepfather Zhang Weizhen also supported him in seeking a greater future, so the matter was settled.
Zhang Tingju lived up to expectations. He graduated from Heilongjiang Provincial Normal School and was awarded the title of Normal Examiner. He successively served as an agricultural school teacher, principal of a junior high school and a high school primary school, president of a popular publishing house, and chairman of the Compulsory Education Committee. , county education director, secretary of the provincial education department, etc. No more, no less, he can be regarded as one of the prominent figures in Hulan County.
In August 1909, Zhang Tingju married Jiang Yulan, the eldest daughter of Jiang Wenxuan, the landlord of Beijiangjiabao, Hulan County.
The landlord's son marries the landlord's daughter, which really coincides with the positive theme of traditional society - well-matched families. After marriage, the couple gave birth to three sons and one daughter. The second and fourth sons unfortunately died young, but only the eldest daughter Ronghua (Xiao Hong) and the third son Liangui (Zhang Xuanke) survived.
On June 1, 1911 (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), Xiao Hong was born in the Zhang family compound on Longwangmiao South Road, Nanguan, Hulan City. Grandfather Zhang Weizhen named his eldest granddaughter Zhang Xiuhuan, her nickname was Ronghua. (Note: Xiao Hong was the pen name she used when she published "The Field of Life and Death". However, in order to avoid causing reading trouble to readers, it is more appropriate for us to use the name Xiao Hong from the beginning.)
Clinker , one wave after another, Zhang’s mother Jiang Yulan’s third sister’s name was Jiang Yuhuan. This pungent third aunt felt that using the word “huan” with the younger generation had spoiled the feng shui - there was an obvious conflict. My yin and yang, no matter what, I want my niece to remove the annoying "huan". Under the unyielding interference of the third aunt, the old grandfather had to change the name of his eldest granddaughter to Zhang Naiying.
Sigh, there are so many rules in traditional society! Not only do the names of the royal family and relatives have to obtain exclusive certification rights - whoever dares to violate taboos will be jailed, but even the common people are following the same example and constantly playing new tricks. In this case, who do you want the little people born after to complain to?
Since Xiao Hong was born in a wealthy family with no worries about food and clothing, does it mean that she must have a carefree childhood? In my opinion, this is actually a false proposition. There is no unified weight or measure for happiness. Whether a person is happy or not, the person concerned has the most say. After all, the person involved is Xiao Hong, and we must listen to what she has to say.
As an adult, Xiao Hong wrote sternly in her works: "My father often lost his humanity for greed", "My mother doesn't love me very much, but she is still my mother"... .It shows that he does not really appreciate his parents.
When Xiao Hong was six years old, her grandmother passed away. When she was eight years old, her biological mother died of the plague. A hundred days after his mother's death, his father, who was so entangled in housework, had to urgently renew his relationship - find a woman to take care of the housework. Stepmother Liang Yalan came into the family and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. At this time, the situation of the Zhang family was deteriorating day by day.
With a large number of children in the family, and the death of her biological mother, one can imagine the injustice Xiao Hong suffered. As the eldest daughter, her position in the family became increasingly awkward. It is impossible to obtain grace alone. On the contrary, loneliness, sadness, and loneliness accompany her like a shadow. This allowed her to develop the habit of looking at the world from a different perspective since she was a child, and her works always reveal a different fragrance.
? (To be continued)