It's true.
Zuo Tang Zong is a native of Xiangyin, Hunan, and his father's name is Zuo Guanlan. Zuo Guanlan was elected magistrate of a county and sentenced by Shaanxi Wulangtang. As an official family, Zuo's family used to get by. But in his early years, Zuo spent money to buy a diploma in order to take the provincial examination as soon as possible. Zuo Guanlan took the lead in donating the left ancestral temple and spent a lot of money. Subsequently, Zuo's grandfather, eldest brother, mother and father died one after another, which not only exhausted his savings, but also owed hundreds of taels of silver.
At that time, only he and his second brother Zuo Zongzhi were left in Zuo's family. Faced with a poor family, Zuo and his second brother Zuo Zongzhi made a very kind decision: they gave all the remaining 48 stone fields to their eldest sister-in-law, so that their orphans and widows could solve their living problems. The two brothers took the initiative to assume the debts at home.
1832, Zhou Xiyu from Xiangtan wrote a letter urging Zuo to marry his daughter Zhou.
At that time, Zhou Xiyu and Zuo Guanlan, Zuo's father, were classmates and had a good relationship. Zuo and Zhou have long been engaged. Zhou Xiyu is a famous family and scholarly family in Fiona Fang. However, his family has only two daughters and no man. In the old society, a family without men was often bullied.
"Men are married and women are married." There is no problem getting married. A very realistic problem lies before Zuo: he can't afford to get married at all.
What shall we do? Zuo's mother-in-law, Wang Ciyun, is a smart and capable woman. She proposed to take Zuo into the Zhou family and be a door-to-door son-in-law
Zuo certainly doesn't want to be a son-in-law, but he has no choice. So, this year, Zuo, who took part in the provincial examination, went to Xiangtan to get married and became a son-in-law under the leadership of his second brother Zuo Zongzhi.
From the secular point of view, it is not a good thing for a man to be a son-in-law. When you arrive at your parents' home, your family status is relatively low, and you will inevitably be rejected and supercilious. Will a confident person like Zuo, who is appreciated by celebrities such as He Changling and He Xiling, accept the life of relying on others?
Fortunately, Zuo met a generous in-laws and a considerate wife.
In the Zhou family, my father-in-law Zhou Xiyu and my mother-in-law Wang Ciyun treat the left as their own, taking care of everything. Wang Ciyun, in particular, firmly believes that the son-in-law is only in trouble for a while and will get ahead sooner or later. So, do your best to support him to study. Wang Ciyun often calls her daughter her husband's wife.
Zhou is the same age as Zuo. She loves and cares for her husband with all her heart.
In the second year after marriage, namely 1833, Zuo went to Beijing to take the exam. Zhou took out 100 more than two taels of silver as a dowry and travel expenses for him. Unexpectedly, Zuo took the initiative to give all the 100 silver to his poor sister. After learning this, Zhou not only didn't get angry, but continued to borrow more than 100 taels of silver from relatives and gave it to Zuo.
During the examination, Zuo wrote eight chapters of Yantai Miscellaneous Feeling to express his thoughts. Zhou Zhiduan got the letter and wrote two songs "I am a stranger, but I sent it" to comfort the husband of a stranger in a foreign land: "Jade Qing is still poor, and Pang Tong knows it." "I believe that I can take poetry as a book and enjoy myself. If I know it, I have nothing to ask for."
Unexpectedly, Zuo failed this time and left angrily. Since then, he has taken two exams in a row, both of which ended in failure. Zuo suffered a major setback in his life and his self-esteem was stronger. He wrote gloomily, "I have lived in Xiangtan for nine years, and I am ashamed to live in the next place." I live in my wife's house, and I'm ashamed that I can't support myself. "In order to avoid the suspicion of" eating soft rice ",Zuo moved out of" Gui Zaitang "and started a business alone in the west wing of the wing.
Zhou understood what her husband had done and moved to Westinghouse to live with her husband. Zuo was very happy and wrote: "I don't have half an acre, and my heart is worried about the world;" Reading thousands of books and making friends with the ancients "is solemnly posted on the wall of Westinghouse.
Zhou received a good family education, was proficient in classics and history, and was good at reciting. He often studies knowledge, talks about classics and history, and sings and poems with her husband. Many years later, Zuo recalled the scene when her husband sang and the woman made peace: "I often sit in danger, read the history of classics and enjoy the incense burner." "Every time I talk about history, if I don't take the exam, my wife will take a letter and a roll from the bookshelf as the rest. Nine times out of ten, this is the case."
I failed the exam three times, and my family spent a lot of money. Zhou did not complain, but wrote a poem to comfort him: "The Qing Dynasty, the virtuous and handsome have no escape, and now the western hills are easy to retreat." Planting trees and raising silkworms are far-reaching, because Wang Dao values agriculture and mulberry. "Inspired by Zuo, he wrote" The Future of Mo Wen Imperial Examination "and announced that he would no longer take part in the imperial examination.
Perhaps because of this, China lost a bookworm who was immersed in the imperial examination and gained a hero who fought for the motherland.
References:
Comments on Zuo: The First Handsome in the Late Qing Dynasty, Draft of Qing History, etc.