50,000 or "only" give? Fifty thousand is a lot!
Puyi and Wenxiu divorced in 1931. What was the price at that time? We can check the "Diary of Lu Xun", which mentioned buying rice repeatedly in 1930 and 1931: "Buy rice in the afternoon, 50 pounds, 50 pounds, 6 pounds, and 50 pounds." Of course, Lu Xun also mentioned the fees for buying books and collecting manuscripts, but there is a lack of comparability and we will not consider it for the time being.
One pound is about 0.9 jin. Fifty pounds means more than forty pounds. It costs between five and six yuan. The purchasing power of one yuan is eight to ten kilograms of rice. Is this calculation roughly OK?
If it were put to this day, the market price of ordinary rice was two or three yuan, isn’t it too outrageous, right? The salary of ordinary people is only a few thousand yuan, and it is rare for those who "earn more than ten thousand yuan a month". Let’s take a whole. The monthly income of ordinary people is calculated at 5,000 yuan, and rice is calculated at 2 yuan five-cent . After conversion, the monthly income of ordinary people can buy 2,000 kilograms of rice, which is equivalent to more than 200 yuan in 1931.
Then, the breakup fee of 50,000 yuan is the "ordinary people's income" for 200 months - note that it is the "income" of ordinary people, not living expenses. Ordinary people’s living expenses are not as high as their income. Even if they don’t need to support the elderly, pay off their mortgages, car loans, or save money, can they not raise their children? By this calculation, Wenxiu’s breakup fee of 50,000 yuan is equivalent to the living expenses of an ordinary person for three hundred months, or even more.
50,000 yuan is given at one time. Wenxiu got it, but she could invest. She was bolder and had to do business. She had a lower risk and bought a few houses to collect rent (Lu Xun bought a three-entry courtyard in Badaowang in 1919, which cost 3,500 yuan). She really didn't want to worry about it and could still put it in the bank to collect interest. As long as you live your life carefully, the second half of your life will be enough.
Unfortunately, how can people who come out of the palace understand "duty life"? On one hand, he was squandering himself, and on the other hand, he was "borrowed" by his relatives and friends and refused to return it. Wenxiu quickly fell into poverty.
When Wenxiu first divorced, she found a teacher job, but it was novel, because at that time, the profession of women was the label of "new women" just like divorce. She worked in this job for a while, because she couldn't stand the malicious curiosity and malicious harassment, she quickly resigned and then died in vain. But she was not confused about major issues. She once refused to reject the coercion and temptation of the Japanese and puppets, and maintained the integrity of the Chinese. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Wenxiu lived a hard life and made a living by pasting paper boxes and selling them on the street. Later, because of his education, he found a proofreading job in the newspaper office.
Half is loneliness and half is poverty. In the summer of 1947, a 38-year-old Wen Xiu Jingren introduced him to marry a low-level Kuomintang officer. The situation is turbulent, and the couple is displaced and has experienced ups and downs. After liberation, the officer was lifted out of control for his meritorious service and became a sanitation worker. I never dared to think about the wealth and luxury of the past, but I finally lived a stable life.
1953, Wenxiu died of illness at the age of 44.
