Cuierzhuang Town, Ji Xiaolan's hometown, is located in Cangxian County, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province. There are Ji Xiaolan's family tombs preserved here, including Ji Xiaolan's tomb. In the early 70s of the last century, Ji Xiaolan's tomb had been damaged by man-made, but after the reform and opening up, it was restored.
This excavation allowed Ji Xiaolan's name as a talented man to be established. In Ji Xiaolan's tomb, the remains of himself and six concubines were unearthed, confirming that he was accompanied by at least seven women during his lifetime.
Ji Xiaolan, the word Xiaolan, was a great talent in the Qing Dynasty. He had three special hobbies in his life: smoking, eating meat, and being lustful. These three hobbies come from the records of his old friend Ai Xinjueluo Zhaoqi.
Zhao Qi was a literary scholar in the Qing Dynasty royal family, known for his literary talents, and intersected with Ji Xiaolan with literature. His "Xiaoting Miscellaneous Records" became the main reference material for the compilation of the "Qing Historical Manuscript".
In "Xiaoting Miscellaneous Records", Zhaoqi called Ji Xiaolan "Gong (referring to Ji Xiaolan) is eighty this year, still lustful, eats dozens of catties of meat every day, and does not eat a grain all day long, which is really a strange person."
This shows that although Ji Xiaolan has a hobby of smoking and eating meat, his lust has damaged his image. However, in fact, lust is Ji Xiaolan's innate nature.
Ji Xiaolan was born in a family of eunuchs, and his family has been a wealthy gentry for generations in Xian County, Hejian Prefecture (Cui Erzhuang was under the jurisdiction of Xian County during the Qianlong period). His father, Ji Rongshu, was admitted to the Jinshi during the Kangxi period, served as a household langzhong, and later became an official to the prefect of Yao'an, Yunnan.
Ji Xiaolan's family environment is rich and superior, but what is even more enviable is his innate wisdom. According to historical records, Ji Xiaolan has been very smart since she was a child, far surpassing her peers.
In the eighth year of Yongzheng (1730), Ji Xiaolan, who was only 7 years old, won the first place in the children's examination. You must know that although the children's test is called the children's test, the reference personnel are not all children.
The boy test means that the reference person has no fame, and the person who passes the boy test will become a student, that is, the folk call Xiucai. This means that Ji Xiaolan was admitted to Xiucai at the age of 7, which is simply talented, so people at that time called Ji Xiaolan a prodigy.
Although Ji Xiaolan's intelligence made his parents proud, they were also worried about his precociousness. At the age of 7, he showed an interest in the love between men and women, a fondness for beautiful women.
His father, Ji Rongshu, was worried that he would have some life style problems when he got older, which would insult the family and the dignity of scholars.
Ji Rongshu was worried that Ji Xiaolan would take the wrong path, so he wanted to arrange a family affair for him so that he could have a stable mind. It just so happened that Ji Xiaolan's fourth uncle bought a girl named Wen Luan from Hejian Mansion, she was about the same age as Ji Xiaolan and looked very beautiful.
After Wen Luan came to Ji's house, Ji Xiaolan fell in love with her. Ji Xiaolan's fourth aunt saw his intentions, so she promised him that if he could be admitted to the Jinshi, she would marry Wen Luan to him.
Ji Rongshu also agreed that as long as Ji Xiaolan was admitted to the Jinshi, he could marry Wen Luan as his wife. This commitment stimulated Ji Xiaolan's enthusiasm for learning, and he took the initiative to ask his father to take him to the capital to study behind closed doors.
When Ji Xiaolan returned to his hometown again, he was already 17 years old and had become a handsome young man. Wen Luan also became a beautiful woman, and the two met again and fell in love with each other even more.
Ji Xiaolan proposed to Wen Luan, although Wen Luan knew that her background was low and she was not in the right household with the Ji family, she still humbly asked Ji Xiaolan to accept her as a concubine.
Ji Xiaolan's father, Ji Rongshu, supported him to marry Wen Luan as a concubine, but Wen Luan's father disagreed. Although Wen Luan was bought by the Ji family, her deed of sale has a time limit, and Wen Luan's father can take her home.
Ji Rongshu took the opportunity to discuss with Wen Luan's father and asked Ji Xiaolan to marry Wen Luan as a concubine.
In Hejian Mansion, the Ji family is a wealthy family, and Wen Luan's father wanted to take this opportunity to ask the Ji family for a huge bride price. He offered a bride price of 1,000 taels of silver, which was not a difficult thing for the Ji family, but in the social environment at that time, the bride price for marrying a wife or concubine was only three or four hundred taels, not to mention that the bride price of a concubine was lower than that of marrying a wife.
Even in the capital with a high level of consumption, the bride price between the gentry was only 1,800 taels of silver. Therefore, the bride price of 1,000 taels of silver offered by Wen Luan's father is obviously a sky-high asking price.
If the Ji family really gave this bride price, then the Ji family would be ridiculed by the outside world for being stupid and having a lot of money, which was unacceptable to the Ji family's face. Therefore, Ji Rongshu resolutely disagreed with the money, and Wen Luan's father refused to give in.
Eventually, negotiations between the two broke down, and Wen Luan was brought home. However, Ji Rongshu did not give up looking for Ji Xiaolan's spouse. He went to Dongguang County, Linxian County, and found Ma Yuefang, the second daughter of Jinshi Ma Zhourong in Dongguang County, and decided to hire her as Ji Xiaolan's wife.
Ma Yuefang was born in a scholarly family, received a good education since childhood, and was a well-known talented woman in Hejian Mansion. When Ji Rongshu took Ji Xiaolan to Ma's house to propose, Ma Yuefang wanted to test Ji Xiaolan's talent, so a couplet came out on the spot.
Ji Xiaolan quickly came up with neat and meaningful couplets, and his talent made Ma Yuefang appreciate it very much, so the family affairs of the two families were decided.
In that era, Ma Yuefang became Ji Xiaolan's wife, but Ji Xiaolan's heart was always on Wen Luan, Wen Luan missed Ji Xiaolan, and became ill because of longing, and finally died of depression.
After Ji Xiaolan learned of Wen Luan's death, she was in pain and decided to have a secret marriage with Wen Luan and take him as a concubine. Wen Luan's father only cared about money, and after Ji Xiaolan gave four hundred taels of silver, he handed over his daughter's body to Ji Xiaolan.
Ji Xiaolan took Wen Luan's body back to the ancestral tomb of the Ji family in Cuierzhuang and buried him as Wen Luan's concubine. In order to commemorate Wen Luan, Ji Xiaolan planted her favorite begonia flowers during her lifetime, and whenever the begonia flowers bloomed, he would miss Wen Luan deeply until his old age.
Ji Xiaolan also wrote a mourning poem called "Remembering Begonias" to miss Wenluan.
Ji Xiaolan's married life is very harmonious, and his wife Ma Yuefang is smart, virtuous, and empathetic. She knows Ji Xiaolan's character very well, so she never prevents him from taking a concubine, and she never gets jealous because of this matter.
In this case, Ji Xiaolan accepted five more concubines successively, but these concubines could be buried in the ancestral grave of the Ji family. Ma Yuefang's generosity and kindness made Ji Xiaolan respect and appreciate her very much, and her status was unshakable.
Among the six concubines who accompanied Ji Xiaolan to the ancestral tomb of the Ji family, in addition to Wen Luan's name, Guo Caifu and Shen Mingxuan also left a record of their deeds. Guo Caifu is Ji Xiaolan's favorite concubine, and he used more than 300 words to describe her virtuousness in "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang", which shows his deep feelings for Guo Caifu.
In the thirty-third year of Qianlong (1768), the Lianghuai salt case broke out, and Ji Xiaolan's in-law Lu Jianzeng was involved. During the investigation of the case, Qianlong discovered that Ji Xiaolan had discussed the case with Lu Jianzeng, thinking that he was suspected of covering up.
As a result, Ji Xiaolan was dismissed and assigned to work in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Soon after Ji Xiaolan was assigned, his wife Guo Caifu fell seriously ill, but in order not to cause trouble to her husband, she only comforted him in a letter.
Until Ji Xiaolan was pardoned and reinstated, Guo Caifu was seriously ill and was about to die. When she heard that her husband was returning, she immediately recovered her spirits and dressed up for his arrival. It was only at the moment she saw her husband that she was relieved and died that night.
Guo Caifu's death made Ji Xiaolan extremely sad. He tearfully packed up her belongings, and when he saw things and thought about people, he was even more sad. So, he wrote two mourning poems to express his deep memory of his wife.
Shen Mingxuan is Ji Xiaolan's favorite concubine, she gave birth to four sons for the Ji family, ranking second among all Ji Xiaolan's concubines, second only to Ma Yuefang, the wife of the main house.
Shen Mingxuan is gentle and virtuous, lively and talkative, has a strong sense of justice, and has helped Ji Xiaolan a lot in his career, is kind-hearted and helpful, and is deeply loved by Ji Xiaolan.
In addition, Qianlong also gave Ji Xiaolan two concubines, this is because it is said that Ji Xiaolan needs to do five exercises with women every day to maintain good health, otherwise she will be dry and cracked, and her whole body will convuls.
Once, during the revision of the "Siku Quanshu", Ji Xiaolan was unwell because he had not exercised for a long time, and Qianlong saw it and ordered him to give him two palace maids, so he was very happy, and even touted himself as a concubine when he met people.
Although Ji Xiaolan is amorous in life, this does not mean that he is a simple womanizer, on the contrary, he is an amorous and respectful of women. His temperament is very similar to Mr. Jin Yong's merry prince Duan Zhengchun, and he treats every woman with all his heart, not indiscriminately.
In addition, Ji Xiaolan has always advocated respect for women in that conservative era, and often put forward suggestions to Qianlong that are beneficial to women. During the Jiaqing period, he even proposed that if women rebelled violently in **, the imperial court should recognize their spirit of resistance, and this proposal was approved by Jiaqing.
These fully show that although Ji Xiaolan is lustful, she is a person who respects women. Although smoking, eating meat and lust are bad habits in modern health care theories, which usually shorten people's lifespan, Ji Xiaolan broke this theory with his own practical actions, and he died at the age of 82, which made people look at him impressively.
Ji Xiaolan has four important women in her life, namely his wife Ma Yuefang, as well as Wen Luan, Guo Caifu, and Shen Mingxuan. Ma Yuefang, as his original partner, accompanied him through his life of growing old together, and did not leave until he was in his 70s.
The other three women were circulated because they were written by Ji Xiaolan into "Notes on Reading Wei Caotang". These four women all occupy an important place in Ji Xiaolan's heart.
Ma Yuefang, as his wife, is in love and harmony with him; The concubines also received his sincere care. Therefore, Ji Xiaolan is a truly amorous and unmistakable talent.