Ling Shuhua and Xu Zhimo: A tortuous life (1)

Speaking of women in the Republic of China, it is difficult to forgive a person's name, but for a long time, she was ignored by people.

She herself is known as the "Little Princess of the Republic of China".

"The first China woman writer to conquer Europe".

Tagore commented on her: "It's worse than Billing."

Lu Xun commented on her novels in "China New Literature Series", "meticulously and appropriately describing the elegant women in the old family" ... a corner of the world, the soul of the aristocratic family. "

Shen Congwen thinks that her novels are "in a quiet world where she lives, the tragedy she sees is a trivial entanglement of life and a movement in an ordinary phenomenon." This tragedy has no shouting or groaning, just silence. "

Xu Zhimo called her Mansfield in China.

As a social butterfly in the Republic of China, she could not avoid three men in her life:

Chen Xiying, once scolded by Lu Xun, is her husband.

The romantic poet Xu Zhimo is her blue confidante;

Julian, an English poet, is her secret love.

Her name is Ling Shuhua.

According to the author of Don't Let History Return to Dust, "only Ling Shuhua is the most qualified wife and daughter-in-law".

There was an anecdote in the literary world, which called "You should choose Liang Shiqiu to marry a gentleman, and your wife should see Ling Shuhua first". It can be seen that Ling Shuhua is well-known in the circle of literati.

Ling Shuhua's life can be said to be brilliant and flourishing.

Ling Shuhua's father, Ling Fupeng (1895) and Kang Youwei (1895) are the same clan Jinshi, and their names were listed on the stone tablet of the Confucius Temple in Beijing, which enabled him to work in imperial academy. He served as the director of the Qing dynasty, Zhang Jing, the military department, the magistrate of Tianjin and the magistrate of Shuntian.

It is said that on Puyi's wedding day, Ling's family received an invitation to hold a wedding reception.

After the end of the Qing Dynasty, he became a legislator and participated in the parliament because he was always appreciated by Yuan Shikai. Since then, he has gradually retired and lived in seclusion in Beijing, leading a life with almost no ups and downs.

Ling Shuhua is the third child of Ling and his third concubine Li. There are 15 children in her family, and she ranks tenth.

Father, emperor, wives and concubines are in groups, and concubines often fight. In an environment of intrigue, Ling Shuhua leads a life of doing nothing all day.

From the experience of her mother and the surrounding women, she realized the unspeakable desolation and loneliness of the old and new women in the high wall. I have experienced the turmoil between the wife and children of a large family and the changes of boudoir embroidery.

One day at the age of six, because of his talent for painting, his fate took a dramatic turn, and he became the apple of his father's eye.

Her father arranged for her to concentrate on painting from the age of six, studying under the court painter Wang, and later under the favorite court painter Miao Suyun of Empress Dowager Cixi. From time to time, her paintings can be instructed by masters such as Qi Baishi, and she has since become the only child among many children (including boys) in Fu Ling who can go out with Fu Ling to meet guests.

In addition to painting, Kang Youwei also taught her to write, and Gu Hongming, who was eccentric, spoke ancient Chinese and English for her.

192 1 year, Ling Shuhua was admitted to yenching university, and spent one year with Xie Bingxin, who was about to graduate. In the second year, he was promoted to the Department of Foreign Languages for undergraduate students, majoring in English, French and Japanese.

At that time, she wrote a letter to Zhou Zuoren, who taught "new literature" in yenching university, in which she vowed to say:

"I am determined to be a female writer in the future, so I study Chinese, English and Japanese hard. I have courage. Will you accept me as your student? There are too few women writers in China, so the thoughts and lives of women in China have never been known to the world, which is irresponsible for the contribution to mankind. "

Later, with the help of Zhou Zuoren, Ling Shuhua published her first novel "My Daughter's Life is Too Sad" under the pseudonym of "Tang Rui" in the Morning Post Supplement, which became famous in one fell swoop.

Ling Shuhua's painting skills in college have reached the famous level of "every once in a while, there are interesting things outside".

1924 In May, Indian Daniel Tagore visited China, and Chen Yuan, head of the English Department of yenching university, was responsible for the reception. A group of cultural bigwigs discussed holding an unconventional tea party in a unique place, so they simply borrowed the famous living room of the official Ling family.

Therefore, after hearing this, her father quickly asked the servant to redecorate the living room, and specially ordered various cakes and self-ground almond tea as drinks, which filled the whole room with artistic atmosphere and charm.

As the hostess, Ling Shuhua is naturally warm, natural and graceful, well dressed, and absolutely beautiful to entertain every guest.

On that day, Ling Shuhua and Tagore talked for a long time, talking about poetry and painting. She also got the poet's advice: "Visit more mountains and rivers, find truth, goodness and beauty in nature, find the meaning of life, and find the secrets of the universe."

Her laughing and elegant behavior attracted the attention of Xu Zhimo and Chen Xiying. At the same time, both of them noticed that this talented woman, who is usually famous in school, got together today and had a good relationship. It is inevitable that she will move her heart. Since then, they often go to Ling's house.

Xu Zhimo began to communicate with Ling Shuhua. In half a year, their letters were "no less than seventy or eighty".

Xu Zhimo wrote in a letter to Ling Shuhua:

"I just want to find an ideal correspondent all my life. The most satisfactory way out is to have a friend who can understand, be really inclusive and really melt. "

With the increase of contact opportunities, the contact between these young people is getting deeper and deeper, and the relationship between Ling Shuhua and Xu Zhimo is getting closer and closer.

Xu Zhimo prefaced Ling Shuhua's first novel Flower Bed, which was the only time in his life that he prefaced anyone.

And Ling Shuhua also wrote an inscription "Dedicated to Dad" on the title page of his debut poetry collection "Poems of Xu Zhimo".

They reward each other and appreciate each other.

Indeed, Xu Zhimo's pursuit of Lin failed during this period, and it has not developed to the point where he can't stop with Lu Xiaoman, let alone remarry Zhang Youyi.

But Ling Shuhua is smart.

In the face of Xu Zhimo, an ambiguous and affectionate species, she knows better that she wants to leave the old family, and the bad habits of three wives and four concubines in the old society must not be repeated on herself.

Have to say, in the affair between men and women, Ling Shuhua is wise, which is comparable to Lin's determination. In her opinion, it is the best ending for a woman to be an outsider with deep affection, indifference and foresight and stick to her own Excellence.

Her greatness lies in her accomplishments in literature and painting, and in the fact that she can't find any "tainted" evidence to prove the secret between her and her lover.

I have never admitted that I have feelings with Xu Zhimo. As Ling Shuhua wrote to Chen Congzhou in his later years:

"To tell you the truth, I have never had any feelings for Mo Chi. He has always been honest about things, especially to me, and his private affairs are as honest as brother and sister. I grew up in a big family and got used to this kind of emotion. '

In the end, he chose. After Ling and Chen got married for more than two months, Xu Zhimo also married Lu Xiaoman.

Yuling is a rational and self-respecting woman, and she doesn't want to be a substitute for Lin. Lu Xiaoman, who dared to love and hate, was passionate, but bid farewell to the pampered life of a lady and threw herself into vigorous love like a moth.

The relationship between Ling Shuhua and Xu Zhimo can only be said to be before marriage, which is understandable.

Xu Zhimo regarded Ling Shuhua as the most trustworthy person, and gave a "treasure chest" containing diaries and manuscripts of his relationship with Lin and Lu Xiaoman to Ling Shuhua for safekeeping, and joked that if anything happened to him when he went abroad, Ling would write a biography for him. So that after Xu died in an air crash, Ling Shuhua fell into the dilemma of asking her for documents in many ways.

Lu Xiaoman once said bitterly, "There are several other diaries, but unfortunately they are not with me. I can't help it if others refuse to take them out, otherwise they can be much more exciting than these. "

Who is "others"? Lu Xiaoman couldn't say clearly, but he couldn't say for sure. It was nothing more than Lin and Ling Shuhua. However, Lin denied that he kept some diaries privately, and Ling Shuhua also denied that he kept anything in the "sweet box".

Nowadays, all the people related to "Babel" have died, and this mystery caused by a box has gradually become another mystery that can no longer be solved in the long river of history.

Both Hu Shi and Lin lost their reputation for being frank, while Ling Shuhua seemed innocent, leaving the world with an impression of simplicity and kindness.

Until Xu Zhimo's death, Xu Honglian kept a good impression on her. His father, Xu Shenru, also sent a message to Ling Shuhua from Wu Qichang, hoping to write an inscription for Xu Zhimo's tablet. Grieving Ling Shuhua wrote on Xu Zhimo's tablet:

Leng Yue according to the soul of poetry!

193 1 year, Ling Shuhua published "Is Zhimo really not coming back" in the Academy of Morning News, mourning for Xu Zhimo? "Express their deep sorrow.

This made the Xu family very grateful.

How wise it was for Ling Shuhua to get out of the extramarital affair so early and then escape from the opinions of future generations!