In 1916, Peking University professor Liu Bannong won a daughter.
He hugged his soft and glutinous daughter and smiled from ear to ear.
However, in the next second, he said solemnly: "I said to the outside world that I gave birth to a boy." ”
Zhu Hui smiled and nodded: "Okay, let's just say that it was a boy." ”
Why did Liu Bannong, who was happy with his daughter, say that he gave birth to a boy?
In 1891, Liu Bannong was born in Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, in a family of intellectuals.
In the exam in the school, Liu Bannong scored above 90 points every time, and the principal Tu Yuanbo liked him very much.
On this day, Liu Bannong came to visit the principal Tu Yuanbo's home, but he didn't expect to see the principal's father Tu Jingshan.
Tu Jingshan was a very famous historian at that time.
The two talked for a while, and Tu Jingshan found that this student was very good and wanted to take him as an apprentice.
Tu Jingshan said: "Young man, I see that you are talented and intelligent, why don't you take you as an apprentice to the old man?" ”
Liu Bannong was flattered and said again and again: "Thank you, master!" ”
For a while, everyone was talking about it, Liu Bannong simply took shit luck, and he could please Tu Jingshan.
But Liu Bannong ignored it and was determined to prove himself with facts.
Soon, the opportunity came.
On this day, the local prefect came to inspect the school and came up with a topic to inspect the students.
Liu Bannong stood out with the first place, and because he was too good, the school specially listed a separate ranking for him: the best.
Liu Bannong's excellent temperament also attracted the attention of the woman Zhu.
When he was 11 years old, his mother took him to the nunnery to burn incense, and a woman next to him, Zhu, saw the boy, and at first glance, felt that this child was extraordinary, and quickly seized the opportunity to match his daughter to be married.
So, that year, Liu Bannong and his wife Zhu Hui set up a baby kiss.
According to custom, men and women are not allowed to meet each other until they get married.
But Liu Bannong was very curious, so he secretly went to Zhu's house to see what his fiancée looked like.
On this day, Liu Bannong came to Zhu's house and happened to see Zhu Hui in the courtyard.
She was scrubbing her clothes when she suddenly saw a strange young man whose face turned red, and she quickly dropped her clothes and hurried into the house.
Who knows, Liu Bannong fell in love with Zhu Hui when he saw it. Since then, he often secretly ran to Zhu Hui's house, just to see his fiancée.
The woman at the end of the Qing Dynasty was still wrapped her feet, and Liu Bannong was very distressed when she saw Zhu Hui limping and walking.
He went home and found his mother: "Mother, what age is it now, why is Zhu Hui still wrapping her little feet." Talk to her mother and let go of your feet. ”
Mother Liu smiled and said, "I know that I think about my fiancée, hehe, okay, I'll go to Zhu's house in a while." ”
When Zhu Hui learned of this, she was moved and relieved.
In 1910, Liu Bannong's mother was seriously ill, and everyone proposed to hold a happy event to make Liu's mother happy.
So 19-year-old Liu Bannong and 22-year-old Zhu Hui got married in a hurry. However, Liu's mother was too sick and went there within a few days.
The days after marriage were ordinary and trivial, Liu Bannong made a living in other places, leaving his wife Zhu Hui to take care of the family, and Zhu Hui was in charge of all the affairs of the family.
According to his father Liu Baoshan's thoughts, he should be allowed to hold his grandson as soon as possible when he gets married.
But Zhu Hui was overworked and had two miscarriages. Liu's father, who is looking forward to his grandson, can't see Zhu Hui's dedication at all. So Zhu Hui was very angry after the miscarriage and changed her face suddenly.
even arranged family affairs for Liu Bannong, just waiting for him to come back and complete the marriage.
On one side is his father, and on the other side is Qin Se and Ming's wife, Liu Bannong is very embarrassed.
After a few days of deliberation, he made a decision to bring his wife to Shanghai to live with him.
In 1916, the two finally welcomed their first daughter, Liu Bannong carefully hugged his baby daughter, smiling from ear to ear.
He thanked his wife for her hard work and named her daughter Xiaohui.
Liu Bannong immediately wrote to his father in his hometown to report the good news, you have a grandson.
The concept of the older generation is patriarchal, and Liu Bannong is reluctant to let his wife suffer a little grievance.
On weekdays, Xiaohui wears a robe and a horse coat, and has a small bald head, so she can't tell that she is a girl at all.
The birth of a daughter brings happiness, but also financial pressure.
The family all relied on Liu Bannong's meager salary and intermittent manuscript fees to make a living, and Liu Bannong never complained to his wife and daughter.
Not long after Xiaohui was born, God smashed a big pie, and Cai Yuanpei, the president of Peking University, actually sent Liu Bannong a letter of appointment as a professor, and the family was very happy, and the family's economic situation began to improve.
When Xiaohui was two or three years old, Liu Bannong got a chance to study in Europe, and he was worried that his wife and daughter would have no one to take care of him.
So I took a study abroad money and took my wife and daughter to Europe together, although it was hard, but I was relieved that I could also broaden my wife's horizons.
At that time, after World War I, Europe was in a depression and expensive. Liu Bannong had to make bills every day to save his life.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Hui gave birth to another pair of dragon and phoenix fetuses, and the situation was even more embarrassing, and one money was eager to be split into three flowers.
Liu Bannong studied in the northeastern part of the city, while his family lived in a small house on the outskirts of south-west London, five kilometers apart.
In order to save money, he walked back and forth every day, bought a loaf of bread to satisfy his hunger when he had money, and stopped thinking about food when he didn't have money.
Later, in order to make his family's life better, Liu Bannong began to find ways to translate manuscripts and write articles to make ends meet.
Even though a family of five is crammed into a small house, it is also full of warmth.
Liu Bannong named the place where he lived "Huaziwo". Once, a couple of friends went to see him and wanted to take a group photo, but Liu Bannong actually asked everyone to sit on the ground and pretend to be a beggar, stretching out their hands to beg, and everyone couldn't cry or laugh.
It was under such difficult conditions that Liu Bannong was admitted to the French National Doctorate, which is recognized as the most difficult in the world.
Liu Bannong found a problem when he was working as a translator, in English, he used "he" to refer to men and "she" to refer to women, but in Chinese, there was only one "he" character, and it was impossible to distinguish between men and women.
At that time, in terms of the status of women in China, this "he" would be defaulted to a man most of the time.
Liu Bannong wanted to fight for equal status for women, and after thinking about it, he decided to create a word to use the word "she" to refer to women.
Many female intellectuals immediately jumped out to oppose it, and even scolded Liu Bannong.
There are words such as "prostitute" and "demon" in the dictionary, which already reflect disrespect for women, and now there is an additional word "she", which is an insult to women.
It is precisely because of Liu Bannong's respect for women, and this respect is Liu Bannong's respect for his wife.
He was not discouraged and wrote a beautiful poem "Teach Me How to Don't Want Her".
This poem is also full of love for his wife, and the use of this word in the poem also means that he has no malice and is full of love.
There were a few clouds in the sky and a breeze on the ground.
Yes! The breeze ruffled my hair and taught me how not to want her?
The moonlight is in love with the ocean, and the ocean is in love with the moonlight.
Yes! It's a honey-like silver night.
Teach me how not to want her?
Liu Bannong's friend Zhao Yuanren composed this poem again.
This song was extremely popular at the time, and many girls thought that the lyricist was a personable and beautiful son, and they admired it very much.
However, when they saw the deity, it was a black and earthy half-old man, and they were extremely disappointed.
After Liu Bannong heard about it, he humorously wrote a limerick poem: "Teach me how not to want him, please come and drink a cup of tea." So that's an old man, teach me how to think about him again? ”
After spending five difficult years studying abroad in Europe, Liu Bannong returned to China with his family and continued to teach at Peking University.
In June 1934, Liu Bannong led a team to the northwest, planning to complete the compilation of the "Four Tone New Spectrum", "Fangyin Dictionary" and "Chinese Dialect Map".
Unexpectedly, he was bitten by a poisonous insect on the way and contracted relapsing fever. I thought it was a minor illness, but the condition became more and more serious, and at the age of 43, Liu Bannong passed away.
Liu Bannong and his wife Zhu Hui respect and love each other, and they did not dislike her because of the arranged marriage, but loved their wife very much.
He respected women and had a lot of compassion and sympathy for the women of that era.
Liu Bannong's old friends and literati all sighed that a gentleman like Liu Bannong is rare to find in the world.
Nowadays, when we read Mr. Liu Bannong's poems and use the words he created, we feel his talent back then.
Liu Bannong brings not only the spread of culture, but also the noble personality charm.
Such a Mr. Liu Bannong, how can people not want him?