In 1955, Zhang Shizhao, then the director of the ** Literature and History Research Museum, and his friends passed by a bookstall when they visited the market, so they stopped to chooseThere was a book called "The Remnants of the Palace" that caught his attention.
When he returned home, he carefully flipped through the book, and was particularly interested in the letters between the last emperor Pu Yi and his sister Aixin Jueluo Yun Ying, and he calculated that Yun Ying should still be alive today.
What is her current condition?Driven by curiosity, Zhang Shizhao asked people to inquire about Yun Ying's whereabouts in many ways, and soon after, Yun Ying's news came.
Finally, Zhang Shizhao met 42-year-old Yun Ying at a vegetable market in Beijing.
However, unlike the hawker next to her, although Yun Ying is haggard, she is elegant and steady in her words and deeds, and still has a royal demeanor.
Seeing Yun Ying's appearance, Zhang Shizhao felt a little sad, so he asked Yun Ying to write an article to explain her experience over the years, and sent it to ***'s office together with Zhang Shizhao's handwritten letter.
**After reading it, my heart is full of mixed feelings and emotions.
At the end of the letter, he wrote: "Walked into the masses of the people and became a person with ambition. And forwarded the letter to Comrade ***, and proposed to arrange a job for Yun Ying.
So what exactly did Yun Ying write in the letter?From the last generation of Gege in the Qing Dynasty to a middle-aged woman doing odd jobs in the vegetable market, what did Yun Ying experience?
One day in 1913, a new life came to the Forbidden City, she was Pu Yi's half-sister named "Yun Ying", because she was the third person in the family, she was also called "Sangege".
As soon as Yun Ying was born, she was favored by thousands of people, especially her brother Puyi.
Although the Qing Dynasty had fallen when she was born, with Yuan Shikai's permission, the Forbidden City was retained as a royal residence, providing them with hundreds of taels of silver to maintain their daily expenses.
So Yun Ying spent a carefree childhood in the Forbidden City, she didn't need to think about the family's livelihood like ordinary girls, there was a special grandmother to serve, and the silver spent on each meal was worth the expenses of ordinary people for a long time, Yun Ying didn't even know what silver was.
She only needs to read and read every day, and learn Xi calligraphy and painting.
Once, Pu Yi bought an imported car and quietly left the Forbidden City with Yun Ying, but was soon ordered to return, although it was only a short trip, but this allowed Yun Ying to see the huge world outside the Forbidden City for the first time.Rich and noble, less than ten years old, Yun Ying has been slim and elegant, with an outstanding temperament, and was once called "the most beautiful character in the late Qing Dynasty".
As Yun Ying grows up day by day, he can gradually feel the changes in his life, the grandmothers around him have left the palace one by one, and his food and clothing are getting worse and worse, and she slowly realizes that she may have to leave this red palace.
In 1924, Feng Yuxiang led his troops to attack the city of Beijing, intending to attack Wu Peifu and others, and at the same time force Pu Yi to leave the Forbidden City.
The young Yun Ying didn't know what was going on, so she could only follow her brother and sister-in-law to leave, step out of the Forbidden City, where she had not left since she was born, and come to Tianjin.
In this way, the family settled down in Tianjin, where Yun Ying spent a short and peaceful time. Pu Yi hired a private tutor for her to teach her Western knowledge and language every day, and the siblings often played tennis together.
Under his tutelage, Yun Ying gradually became erudite and knowledgeable.
At this point, a man breaks into her world.
Queen Wanrong has a younger brother named Runqi, who often comes to visit them, the two have grown up together since childhood, they can be described as childhood sweethearts, and as the days go by, the two secretly fall in love.
The authorities are obsessed with bystanders, and when Yun Ying was 19 years old, Pu Yi was in charge, and the two got married.
A month after the marriage, Pu Yi sent Runqi to Japan to study military Xi, and Yun Ying, as his wife, also went with him.
However, the Japanese imperial family looked down on her, the last generation of Gege, who existed in name only, sneered at her, rolled her eyes, and was forced to serve as the honorary president of the Japanese Women's Association, teaching Chinese to the Japanese imperial family.
When the couple was in Japan, they didn't get the treatment that the royal family deserved at all.
Runqi trains very hard every day, often injured, once he was pierced by a sharp knife, Yun Ying was distressed, the painful Yun Ying can only use letters to her brother Pu Yi to dispel the boredom in her heart.
In the letter, Yun Ying showed the coquettishness of her youngest daughter, and her language was witty and playful, but she did not lose her literary brilliance.
In 1933, Yun Ying returned to China under the pretext of returning to China to visit relatives, and resolutely did not go to Japan again.
Soon, Runqi also returned, serving as an instructor at the military school of the puppet Manchukuo.
At that time, if someone in the family did something for the puppet Manchukuo, they would be scolded as traitors, and Yun Ying's family had to cover their ears to live, and their lives were quite passable.
In 1945, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was won, the whole country celebrated, people walked the streets and alleys, raised their arms and shouted, but Yun Ying knew that her good days were over, and with the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the puppet Manchukuo no longer existed.
Pu Yi and Runqi were ordered to go to Japan as members of the imperial family selected by Japan, but they were intercepted by Soviet soldiers on the way to escape and disappeared.
In this way, Yun Ying lost contact with her husband, and she wandered aimlessly with her two children in a small city called Tonghua, knowing that if she returned to Beijing at this time, as a descendant of the royal family, she would be judged by the law.
So, Yun Ying could only change her name to "Jin Yunying" and settle down in the Northeast with her children, at first, their lives were barely passable, and Yun Ying sold the gold, silver and jewelry left by her brother in the market from time to time.
The days were hard and bleak, and a kind person gave Yun Ying's eldest son a biscuit, because he had never seen this thing, and the child didn't dare to eat it. Seeing this scene, Yun Ying's heart was like a knife.
After a long time, those valuable jewels were sold out, and Yun Ying and her children's lives became more and more embarrassed day by day, she took off the cheongsam that symbolized her status and put on a rough shirt.
In the past, she didn't touch the spring water with her fingers, but now she has been forced to a desperate situation by life, and she has to learn these life skills to complete the transformation of Gege into a commoner.
In 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, and Zaitao was appointed as the first after the liberation due to his active transformation.
Under Zaitao's arrangement, Yun Ying finally returned to Beijing and reunited with her father Zaifeng, even if her life is still not rich, at least she doesn't have to starve.
The good times didn't last long, her father Zaifeng died of illness, and Yun Ying's life fell into darkness again.
She had to sustain herself and her children, and like the rest of the people, earn bread from her hard work, and hide her identity. also had to transform from an ignorant girl to a mother.
One winter, the child unfortunately suffered from a cold, Yun Ying searched for doctors everywhere, spent all her savings, and in desperation, she had to go to the street and earn money by selling cigarettes.
At first, Yun Ying, who had never done such a thing, was really embarrassed to open her mouth to shout in front of the crowd, and when she was hesitating, the eldest son on the side shouted in a childish child's voice, she thought to herself, what even a child can do, why can't I do it?
So Yun Ying plucked up her courage and took the first step, and soon, Yun Ying adapted to the job, but some people saw that she had an extraordinary temperament and deceived her of the jewelry on her body.
Yun Ying felt that the world was spinning, and for a moment, she really wanted to end her life and end her difficult days.
After calming down, she crouched in the corner and lit a cigarette, which was her first smoke, and the moment the smoke rushed to her throat, her clothes were soaked with tears.
I don't know what force drove her, Yun Ying stood up and walked into the crowd step by step.
She rented out the few vacant rooms left in her home, lived on rent, and successfully mingled with her neighbors with her sincere way of treating people, won the love of everyone, and was elected to the street committee.
The letters exchanged between the brothers and sisters were all included in Pu Yi's "Remnants of the Palace", and Zhang Shizhao was attracted by these letters to find Yun Ying.
After traveling in many ways, Zhang Shizhao learned that Yun Ying's own uncle, Aixin Jueluo Zaitao, was serving in the People's Liberation Army Artillery Command at that time, and Zhang Shizhao heard Yun Ying's recent situation from his mouth.
Zhang Shizhao followed Zaitao to Yun Ying's residence, and the scene in front of him shocked him, Gege Yunying, who used to have a golden spoon in her mouth and was pampered, actually lived in a dilapidated house with rain and wind leaks, and her eyebrows and eyes were full of fatigue.
After seeing Yun Ying setting up a stall in the vegetable market, Zhang Shizhao felt even more pity for the middle-aged woman in front of him, and he couldn't help but feel compassion for Yun Ying, so he suggested that Yun Ying write a letter to ***, maybe he could get some help.
After Yun Ying listened quietly, she rejected Zhang Shizhao, she thought that she was no different from ordinary people now, and she didn't need to bother to provide herself with any special help.
But Zhang Shizhao explained to her that the Communist Party of China would unconditionally help the people in need, Yun Ying thought about it, picked up a pen and wrote a self-statement of nearly 10,000 words, and handed it to Zhang Shizhao.
Originally, she didn't have any hope for the letter, thinking that it was just a stone sinking into the sea, but not long after, Zhang Shizhao came to visit again and brought her good news.
**Carefully read the last generation of Gege's "self-report", I was deeply moved, between the lines is Yun Ying's sincere confession, **I think Yun Ying's talent is rare, so I proposed to arrange a job for him.
After understanding, I also agreed with the proposal and arranged the work of the district CPPCC for Yun Ying.
In 1957, Runqi was in good condition in prison and returned to Beijing with the help of ***.
After Runqi was captured by Soviet soldiers, he refused Soviet citizenship many times, making it clear that he would not betray his motherland.
When the husband and wife get together, they look at each other in pairs, without too many words, but they understand everything with one look.
During the Spring Festival of one year, ** and his wife Deng Yingchao also invited them to come to their home as guests, and a group of people sat together and enjoyed themselves, ** and jokingly called themselves and Yun Ying colleagues.
Later, Runqi was introduced and became a researcher to contribute to the construction of the motherland.
Yun Ying came to her post with gratitude to the party in her heart.
When she first started working, because she had no work experience, Yun Ying also made jokes, for a long time, Yun Ying thought that she could go home after finishing her work, and often only worked half a day, and later was reminded that the original class was going to last a whole day!
There is an antique collector named Ma Weidu, who heard that the last Gege was selling antiques here, so he took his official kiln to Yun Ying's booth to ask for advice, which was a bit of a show-off.
Who knows, Yun Ying glanced at the cultural relics lightly, and said: "This kind of thing would never have been placed in my room before." ”
When Ma Weidu heard this, he left in a daze.
After Pu Yi learned about Yun Ying's situation, he also wrote in "The First Half of My Life": "Who would have thought that my well-behaved and lovely third sister would now become a social activist!."”
The couple shared joys and sorrows, walked through their lives hand in hand, and in their later years, they were also selected as the national golden wedding couple.
She said that if it were not for the help of the Communist Party and its leaders, she would have died in the cold night of Beijing.
With her knowledge and a heart to serve the people, Yun Ying has done her job very well. She believes that her current life is inseparable from the party and the people, and she needs to do her best to repay.
In 1992, Yun Ying died, and in order to miss his deceased wife, Runqi kept putting Yun Ying's ** on the coffee table, as if his wife was still by his side.
Just like what was written in Yun Ying's autobiography back then, Yun Ying really went to the people and was one with the people.
And all this Yun Ying got is also inseparable from the care of the Communist Party, which helped her regain her life, and it is precisely because we have leaders like *** and *** that more people can have more possibilities.
We can't choose where we come from, but we can choose where we want to go in the future.
From the last generation of Gege to a social worker serving the people, Yun Ying used her personal experience to tell us that whether it is glory or downfall, we must always face it with a plain and optimistic heart, which is the true meaning of life.