Chapter 80 Marriage
Before Jiang Menglin went to study in the United States, he married his first wife, Sun Yushu, and gave birth to a son, Jiang Renyu, and another daughter who died young. After studying abroad and returning to China in 1917, the couple gave birth to their second son Jiang Renyuan, daughter Jiang Yanhua, and youngest son Jiang Renhao. In 1933, Jiang Menglin married Tao Zenggu after agreeing to divorce Sun Yushu.Jiang Renyuan, who was in elementary school, saw the news of Jiang Menglin and Tao Zenggu's marriage published in "Yaojiang Daily", and hurried home to tell his mother, who just murmured, "Your father has changed his mind."
Sun Yushu did not leave home after divorce, but still stayed in Jiangjiaxiao, Jiang Village, Huilong Township, Yuyao County, Zhejiang Province, to raise his father-in-law and children.The education expenses of the three sons and one daughter will continue to be borne by Jiang Menglin.Tao Zenggu had a son Gao Tao and a daughter Tao Yanjin with Gao Renshan before his remarriage.Jiang and Tao had no children after their remarriage.
Tao Zenggu was the widow of Jiang Menglin's close friend and colleague Gao Renshan, who was killed by the Feng faction warlords in 1928.When Jiang Menglin was the Minister of Education, Zhu Jingnong introduced Tao Zenggu to the Ministry of Education as Jiang Menglin's secretary. The two got along day and night and fell in love with each other for a long time.
The two married in 1933.At the wedding, Jiang Menglin thanked the guests and said: "I love and respect Gao Renshan the most in my life, so I am willing to continue his volunteering to engage in education. Because I love Gao, I love the people he loved more, and I love her even more. , Only in this way can I be worthy of my deceased friend."
Hu Shi was the witness of Jiang Menglin and Tao Zenggu's marriage.Before the wedding, Mrs. Hu Jiang Dongxiu disapproved of Hu Shi's witnessing the marriage for the two because Jiang Menglin abandoned her original partner to marry Tao Zenggu, and forbade Hu Shi to go.Hu Shi had no choice but to "escape" by jumping out of the window, which was a beautiful thing.
In the decades after their marriage, Jiang and Tao had a very strong relationship. In 1958, Tao Zenggu died of illness.Jiang Menglin was extremely sad.Zhang Yuanxi recalled that Jiang lost his temper because of Tao's burial: he thought Tao Zenggu's coffin was too thin and shaped like a wooden box, neither Chinese nor Western; Yangmingshan is not safe, fearing fire and being robbed.Zhang Yuanxi persuaded him to temporarily house the coffin in the mortuary of National Taiwan University Hospital. After the cemetery was selected within a week, the National Taiwan University sent it to the mountain for burial. Only then did Jiang Menglin calm down his anger.
Tao once said to one of her cousins before his death: "Meng Lin (Jiang Menglin) is in good health, and he is too emotional. After I die, he will definitely not be able to bear it; moreover, I can't bear him to suffer for a long time. Lonely; so, I hope you can help him find a suitable partner to accompany him..."
After Tao Zenggu's death, Jiang Menglin was very lonely. He was introduced by Tao Zenggu's cousin and met Xu Xianle.Xu was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu. His great-grandfather Xu Shou was a famous scientist in the late Qing Dynasty. His father Xu Jiabao was once a director of Shanghai Gezhi Academy.Xu Xianle is the youngest daughter of the Xu family. She is beautiful and loved at home.Xu Yu married Yang Jie, a lieutenant general of the Kuomintang in Chongqing in the early 1940s, but after seven months of marriage, they divorced due to money issues.
When Xu Xianle met Jiang Menglin, although he was over half a hundred years old, his charm still existed.Jiang Menglin fell in love with Xu Xianle at first sight. In his first love letter to Xu, he said: "Among the ladies I have met, you are the one who makes my heart move the most..." The two soon talked about marriage.
Jiang Menglin's remarriage was strongly opposed by friends.Because there were too many people who opposed it, Jiang once gave up the idea of remarrying, but soon decided to marry Xu resolutely.In his letter to Chen Cheng, he described the reasons for his resolute remarriage: "Living in widowhood has no interest in life, and when I return to the apartment after work, I am alone, and when the night is quiet, I am alone and dreaming, often sitting up at night, wandering around the room. ... Although there is a little maid right now, I can't see each other day and night, and I can't share the burden." In a letter to his daughter, Jiang Menglin said: "Since my marriage stopped, my blood pressure has dropped and my weight has also dropped. I can't sleep at night. , I have no interest in everything. If things go on like this, the future is unimaginable. So I have to try to save myself....Since my mother passed away, in the past three years, the mental pain is hard to describe. Since I met Ms. There are a lot of subsidies. Therefore, the interest in everything is getting stronger....The love of father and daughter is also good enough, but it can't replace the love of husband and wife....So in order to save myself, I resolutely married the lady."
On July 18, 1961, Jiang Menglin and Xu Xianle held a simple wedding at Chen Neng's home in Linyi Street, Taipei City.At that time, Jiang was seventy-five years old, and Xu was fifty-four years old.Due to the haste of the wedding, many people have no time to prepare gifts.
A few days after Jiang and Xu got married (July 26), Jiang Menglin made a special trip to visit Hu Shi, and Hu Shi also congratulated him.Jiang Menglin told Hu Shi that his newlywed wife was very good and would bring her to visit Hu Shi every few days.He also said to Hu Shi: "People say that she is interested in my money, but in fact she has more money than mine."
In December of the following year, Jiang Menglin accidentally slipped and fell, fractured his leg bone and was admitted to the hospital.Soon, Jiang complained that Xu Xianle didn't take good care of him and didn't care enough for himself; while Xu complained that Jiang spent too much money and sent Jiang to a small ward.Then, behind Jiang's back, Xu borrowed 10,000 yuan from Shimen Reservoir at one time, quarreled with Jiang Yanhua and Fan Jichang over trivial matters, and even verbally abused them.When Jiang learned about it, he was very angry and had a dispute with Xu.In a fit of anger, Xu moved out his household registration and moved his luggage away from Jiang's house.After Jiang Menglin was discharged from the hospital, he did not go home and refused to meet Xu. On January 23, 1963 (the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month), he wrote the "Letter of Reasons for Separation" and entrusted his lawyer to give it to Xu.
On the fifteenth day of the first month of 1963, Jiang Menglin once again entrusted a lawyer to write a letter to Xu Xianle, accusing Xu Cheng of transferring property during his hospitalization, taking away Jiang's due interest and dividends, and even transferring the stocks of his daughters Jiang Yanhua and Tao Yanjin to his own name.Xu refused to divorce, so Jiang filed a lawsuit in the court, claiming that Xu "molested my daughter, violated my first family; needed money to gather money, hated the old and disliked the poor, and often scolded him", and asked for a divorce because he "could not bear the suffering of Xu Niang's abuse". , and claim back the deposit of 530,000 yuan.
Facing Jiang Menglin's complaint, Xu Xianle said angrily that the content of the complaint was distorted.During the mediation process, Xu Xianle went straight to the Rural Restoration Association's office to look for Jiang Menglin. Jiang was so frightened that he hurriedly avoided by the back stairs.Seeing this, Xu shouted that it was a legal right to see her husband. She had already been insulted and hurt by Jiang, saying that Jiang "relyed on his official position and bullied weak women."Jiang could only take refuge in the Shimen Reservoir.Xu Xianle once asked to meet up on the grounds of giving winter clothes.
One year later, the two parties finally agreed to divorce on January 24, 1964. Tao Xisheng was the witness, and Jiang Menglin paid Xu Xianle 500,000 yuan in alimony. The more than 200,000 yuan in cash left is no longer pursued.Jiang Menglin only asked to sign to stop the lawsuit, and a friend signed a check to repay the alimony. It cost a total of 770,000 yuan (the average income per person in Taiwan in 1960 was only NT$5,666, and he was called a rich man if he had a million deposits). End the husband and wife relationship of two years and six months.
Jiang Menglin said to the reporter: "It has been more than a year since I got married, and I have been disappointed. I have suffered unbearable pain in life; my home is the abyss of my pain, and I deeply regret not accepting my old friend Mr. Hu Shizhi (Hu Shi has already passed away). died in 1962) to make mistakes. I am ashamed of my old friend, and I should have the courage to admit my mistakes to my old friend, and even more courage to correct my mistakes." And Hu Shi wrote to him on June 18, 1961 The long letter was published.