In Lanxi, Zhejiang, in a quiet village called Jiangfan, I met a female husband whose name was Wang Chuncui. I didn't shake her hands because she stood high on the white wall and I could only look up.

In Lanxi, Zhejiang, a quiet village called Jiangfan, I met a female gentleman named Wang Chuncui. I didn't shake her hands because she stood high on the white wall and I could only look up.

In the photo, she has gray hair like snow, but she does not look old, with a straight body and a calm and gentle face. Beside her is an older woman, her mother-in-law Liu Xiangmei. Inferred from time, when taking this photo, she had been separated from her husband Cao Juren for many years, which means that her mother-in-law is already an ex-mother-in-law. But just looking at the photos, they are still like a mother and daughter.

The reason why Wang Chuncui is called a female husband is not only because she is a teacher, a principal, and a writer, but also because she taught and educated people in rural areas a hundred years ago and spread civilization. She was born in 1903 and still had little feet wrapped, so her other name is "Mr. Little Feet".

At first she didn't attract my attention. Because the Jiangfan Village we went to was called "the hometown of Cao Juren", and she was just Cao Juren's ex-wife.

Cao Juren, a famous scholar during the Republic of China period, was also a professor, writer, journalist and social activist, leaving behind many valuable academic works. After going to Hong Kong in 1950, he made important contributions to the communication and exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. He was cordially received by the leaders of the Party and the state, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yi and , and was known as patriots. Therefore, Jiangfan Village is proud of him.

His father Cao Mengqi is also famous. The last scholar in the late Qing Dynasty. In the early 20th century, he went to Hangzhou to take the provincial examination. Although he failed, he brought back the Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao ideas of reform and reform . From then on, I decided to stay away from fame and fortune, save the country with education, take enlightenment of the people's wisdom and opening up the weather as my responsibility, and be determined to cultivate a group of talents who can change the social atmosphere. In the spring of 1902, Cao Mengqi spent all his personal money and used his ancestral house as his school building to establish Yucai Academy. The meaning of the school name is derived from the "Get the world's talents and educate them" by Mencius . He served as the principal, and taught Chinese literature and self-cultivation. He advocated learning and doing both, and advanced knowledge and action to bring an ignorant and backward remote countryside to the forefront of the times. Jiangfan is lucky. It should be noted that running schools and educating people in a poor place is a spiritual opening of warehouses and relief grain, and is the greatest charity. Cao Mengqi made an indelible contribution.

Jiangfan Village

Wang Chuncui appeared in the famous Cao family, but there was an additional Cao Wang family. Wang Chuncui's entry into the Cao family also originated from Yucai Academy. Yucai Academy is very open-minded and has both male and female students, so Wang Chuncui became Cao Juren's junior. Cao Mengqi has three sons and one daughter, each of whom is smart and studious. The second son Cao Juren is born with intelligence and has a high understanding. He finished reading " University " and " Doctrine of the Mean " at the age of four, and finished reading "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" at the age of five. At the age of eleven, he worked as a teacher of literature and history courses at Yucai Primary School, and was known as "Little Mr.". "Mr." fell in love with Wang Chuncui for the first time.

In the old photos left by the Cao family, I couldn’t see Wang Chuncui’s early years. According to rural rumors, she was born with beautiful eyes and very intelligent, which can be seen from photos of her later years. The two teenagers first met on the Tongzhou Bridge next to the village. After that, they often went to the bridge to "meet" by chance, chatting happily, or watching the river flow silently.

I was lucky enough to walk on Tongzhou Bridge, a very quaint bridge. The calm river water slowly flowed under the bridge. There was a huge catalachia tree at the bridge, which looked like camphor , but there was a sign hanging on the trunk that clearly stated the catalachia tree, and it was written that it was over 200 years old. Then, this catalachia tree has witnessed the love between Cao Juren and Wang Chuncui. Two young boys and girls who are in love, one is fifteen years old and the other is twelve years old, beautiful and simple, simple and passionate.

Tongzhouqiao

Cao Wang Both families were happy to reach this marriage, so they were engaged early. Afterwards, Cao Juren was admitted to the Zhejiang Provincial First Normal School . After graduation in 1921, he returned to his hometown to hold a wedding with Wang Chuncui. Lovers finally get married.

Wang Chuncui became the daughter-in-law of the famous Cao family, but did not start her life as a rich wife, but continued to study. After all, she was only 17 years old.The enlightened Cao family did not tie her to the stove and supported her to continue studying. She was admitted to the Zhejiang Provincial Women's Normal School in Hangzhou and was the first female normal school student in the county at that time. At the same time, Cao Juren went to Shanghai Patriot Girls' Middle School to teach, and the two began to live apart from another place.

After Cao Juren arrived in Shanghai, his intelligence and talent were greatly utilized. While teaching, he was engaged in research, writing, and running publications. He founded publications such as "Taosheng" and "Mangzhong", wrote editorials for the Social Daily, and wrote "Free Talk" for the supplement " Application for ". He also became Zhang Taiyan's disciple because of sorting out "Introduction to Chinese Studies" by Mr. Chapter 3 Chapter 3, and also had close contact with Mr. Lu Xun. He became an active figure in the Shanghai cultural circle for a time.

At first, Cao Juren and Wang Chuncui, who were separated from each other, frequently exchanged letters, expressed their feelings, and exchanged ideas with each other. But gradually, Cao Juren's letters became less and less and shorter. Wang Chuncui was sensitively aware that their marriage was in crisis. Her husband is so young and handsome, talented, and he is a teacher in a girl's middle school. It is impossible without temptation. Wang Chuncui decided to give up her studies and went to Shanghai to save her marriage. After arriving in Shanghai, her hidden worries were confirmed. But she didn't make noise or make trouble. She took care of her husband's daily life as usual, and helped her husband establish the "Sheng of Tao" magazine, do proofreading, and publish it. At the same time, work hard to develop your own career. She taught at the Affiliated Primary School of Jinan University in Shanghai and started writing. His debut work "My Mother" was published in the supplement " declaration·Free talk about ".

Wang Chuncui's virtuousness and talent touched Cao Juren. Cao Juren resigned from his position as a female middle school student, and the couple reconciled as before. In 1926, they finally had a lovely daughter named Cao Wen. The birth of their daughter brought them great joy, and they devoted all their love to this child. In an old photo, I saw Cao Juren holding Cao Wen. The little girl was very cute, with big eyes, high nose bridge, and fair skin, like a little angel.

Unfortunately, in 1932, the Japanese army invaded Shanghai, and Cao Juren's home in the suburbs of Shanghai was destroyed, and all the books were gone. My daughter fell ill while hiding from the war. Due to inconvenient transportation, it was difficult for a good doctor to find her, and she unfortunately died. The death of his six-year-old daughter hit the couple with a huge blow. Wang Chuncui felt as if she had died for a moment, and Cao Juren also felt as if the end of the world had arrived. He cried bitterly, "It seems that the world has reached its end, and my life is over."

Wang Chuncui, who suffered endless grief, relied on writing to heal her wounds. She wrote the article "The Shadow of Wen Nu" and published it in the magazine "Mangzhong". In 1934, she completed the collection of prose "Bamboo Leaf Collection", which was personally selected by Mr. Lu Xun, and Cao Juren gave her a preface. In October 1935, she also compiled and published "Selected Operas" under Xie Yanzi as her pseudonym.

The busy work and writing gradually healed Wang Chuncui's pain. She ignited hope again, and she felt that she and her husband were still young and would have children again. Unexpectedly, their marriage was in crisis again. This time, Wang Chuncui was discouraged and did not make any efforts. She left Shanghai alone and returned to her hometown Jiangfan Village in Lanxi .

Jianfan Village

Wang Chuncui returned to Jiangfan Village and returned to Cao's family. After all, she is still the Cao family's wife. She tried her best to take care of Cao Juren's parents, and more importantly, she took over Yucai Academy and became the female principal. At this time, Mr. Cao Mengqi, the founder of Yucai Academy, had already passed away. His eldest son Cao Jude and his third son Cao Juyi took over as principals, and then left because of participating in the War of Resistance.

Wang Chuncui took over Yucai School, and her enthusiasm burst out. First, we proposed to reduce tuition and miscellaneous fees and mobilize the children of farmers to study. She ran around the countryside with her little feet, calling. She didn't take a penny, ran the school without any distractions, and regarded rural education as life. After the outbreak of

The full-scale anti-Japanese war , in order to awaken the people's awareness of the war of resistance and improve the people's enthusiasm for saving the country, Wang Chuncui formed the "Yucai Primary School Theater Troupe", edited and directed programs such as " Yellow River Chorus " and "We Are On Taihang Mountain", and went to various places to carry out anti-Japanese performances.In the autumn of 1938, they performed the anti-Japanese war drama "A Patriotic Heart" at the Shagu Site, which caused a strong response. The authorities asked them to take off the "national salvation" banner, but Wang Chuncui sternly refused. She also founded the Journal of Yucai Science (more than 200 issues in total), spreading civilization and promoting the War of Resistance, with a wide influence.

At the same time, after remarriage, Cao Juren did not indulge in his small days, but continued to engage in his academic research and cultural undertakings. After the outbreak of the Shanghai Anti-Japanese War in 1937, Cao Juren "takes off his robe, puts on his short suit, and goes to the battlefield", picked up a pen as a sword and gun, and wrote a large amount of battlefield news, character communications, and miscellaneous feelings, and some of the content was also included in wartime textbooks. The reporter we saw in the movie " Eight Hundred " who went deep into the battlefield of Sihang Warehouse Defense Warehouse was shaped by him.

Although the couple separated, they did not go against each other, but became comrades-in-arms on the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War, contributing their youth and passion in the most dangerous moments of the Chinese nation in their own different ways. This should be the best ending we've seen.

Especially Wang Chuncui, divorce did not make her sad and fragile. She was like a brave soldier and devoted herself to the battle. In the spring of 1940, in order to avoid the Japanese invasion and bombing, Wang Chuncui led the teachers and students to hide in the mountains and forests to continue teaching. In May 1942, the Japanese army invaded the area of ​​, east Zhejiang, and the schools in the mountains were blown up by the Japanese army, so they had to suspend classes. But after a little peace the next year, she immediately let the school resume classes. When classes resumed, it coincided with the 40th anniversary of the founding of Yucai Primary School. She organized the school to celebrate for three days to boost morale among teachers and students. But the good times did not last long. In the summer of 1944, Japanese planes bombed again, and Yucai's school building was razed to the ground again. Wang Chuncui still refused to give up. She borrowed the ancestral halls, temples and idle rooms to continue running schools, and was a gentleman with a perseverance.

After the victory of the anti-Japanese war, Wang Chuncui immediately set out to revive Yucai Primary School. She also made a vow to expand the school building and add a middle school department on the original basis. For this, she raised funds everywhere and wrote to Cao Juren to ask for support. In fact, this is also Mr. Cao Mengqi's long-cherished wish. When Cao Mengqi was alive, she always wanted to run a middle school, so Cao Juren and other Cao brothers and sisters were very supportive. They contacted local celebrities, established the Yucai Middle School Board, and raised funds to establish Yucai Junior High School. In 1947, Yucai Academy was finally restored, and classes were held at the same time in primary and secondary schools. Cao Jude was appointed as the principal of the middle school and Wang Chuncui was appointed as the principal of the primary school.

I see from the history of Yucai School that Wang Chuncui has not had a day of peace since she returned to her hometown to take over Yucai School, but she has not stopped running a school for one day. She lets the sound of reading travel through poverty, through war, and echoes in the mountainous countryside. Most importantly, in these long and arduous years, she completed her transformation from Cao Wangshi to Wang Chuncui, and grew into herself, a capital-written woman.

After Yucai School was suspended (merged), Wang Chuncui returned to the countryside and became a peasant woman again. In the memories of the villagers in Jiangfan Village, she often sat alone in front of the door in her later years, with her white hair fluttering in the wind. Whenever a child passes by, she will always ask about their studies. In her spare time, she also took the initiative to teach her children from her neighbors to read and tell them that they can't go anywhere without education.

After the reform and opening up , she served as a member of the Lanxi County CPPCC and wrote many memoirs, such as "My Husband Cao Juren" and "Memories of Lu Xun". He died of illness in 1987 and was buried in Jiangfan Cemetery.

Tongzhou Bridge

I looked at Wang Chuncui's photo of white hair like snow for a long time, and paid tribute to her through a hundred years of time and space in my heart. I could not see sorrow on her face, but only gentleness and peace, and perseverance under peace. She devoted herself to running schools throughout her life, and she persisted in the "Jiangfan spirit" of seeking truth and establishing true people throughout her life. During her tenure as principal of Yucai School, she did not receive a salary for 8 years; after changing to public school , she used all her salary and salary to provide scholarships to students. She gave her entire life to the cause of rural education, and she was honored as "Mr. Wang Da" by her neighbors.

Mr. Wang Da, what a resounding title! From Mr. Xiaojiao to Mr. Wang, from Cao Wang to Wang Chuncui, her life has bloomed with fragrant flowers, like an orchid in a mountain stream. Although it does not have bright colors, strong fragrance, and no famous name that is well-known - if I had not walked into Jiangfan Village, I might never have known her. But her fragrance will last forever.

The so-called "fame forever" is just like this.

Written in late autumn 2021

The pictures in this article are provided by the author

Author: Qiu Shanshan

Editor: Qian Yutong