The sixth aunt of Yuan Shikai who owned a golden mountain but died in poverty

Yuan Shikai’s sixth concubine was named Ye Zhen, who was born in the 18th year of Guangxu’s reign (1892) in the Qing Dynasty. She has an oval face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a tall figure, and a pair of "three-inch golden lotus" that everyone loves. She gave birth to five children for Yuan Shikai: the fourteenth son Kejie (Yuan Juxun), the seventeenth son Keyou, the ninth daughter Fuzhen, the eleventh daughter Qizhen, and the twelfth daughter Ruizhen.

Ye was originally from Nanjing Fishing Lane, and her marriage to Yuan Shikai was purely a "misunderstanding." In his early years, when Yuan Shikai was the governor-general of Zhili, he once sent his second son Yuan Kewen to Nanjing to handle affairs. This Second Young Master Yuan was a romantic and talented man. After work, he went to Nanjing to hang out in Hualiu Lane and met Mr. Ye. The two fell in love at first sight and made a lifelong alliance. Before leaving, Ye gave her jade photo to her lover to remind Ke Wen not to forget to come back and marry her.

When Yuan Kewen returned to Tianjin and kowtowed to Yuan Shikai to return to his life, the photo fell out of his pocket.

In desperation, Yuan Kewen lied and said: "I found a beautiful woman for my father in Nanjing, so I brought this photo back to see if my father likes it?"

Yuan Shikai When I took the photo and took a look, it turned out to be extremely beautiful. I couldn't help but be overjoyed and even praised my son for being smart. After Mrs. Ye entered the bridal chamber with joy, she discovered that the groom was not the handsome young Yuan Kewen, but a short and fat old man with gray hair. Although Ye was full of sorrow, she could only do nothing.

In the spring of the first year of the Republic of China, some of Yuan Shikai's family members lived in Tianjin. Once, Yuan Kewen, his wife Liu Meizhen, and Ye were listening to a play in the box. Yuan Keliang (the third son of Yuan Shikai) rushed to the capital and exposed the matter to Yuan Shikai in an exaggerated manner. Yuan Shikai was furious when he learned about it. He hurriedly called Ke Wen forward and ordered him to kneel down. He picked up a stick and was about to beat him. At that time, Ke Wen's old nanny was kneeling on top of Ke Wen. Liu Meizhen was also kneeling beside her holding her one-year-old son to plead for mercy. Yuan Shikai then ordered Ke Wen to go away.

Xu Zhenglun, the doctor of the Yuan family, later revealed a huge secret to the world: "In the late spring of 1929, more than 10 years after Yuan Shikai's death, his beloved concubine, Mrs. Ye, took me to my residence in Xiaobailou for medical treatment. Ms. Ye's face was filled with sadness and anger. After my examination, I advised her to tell the truth about her condition. She said, "She just came out of Jiang Ailan Hospital today. She had stopped menstruating for three months before she was admitted to the hospital. She had asked Dr. Liang Baojian for treatment." It was said that I had a growth and needed to be hospitalized for surgery... Later, a formed male fetus was removed. On the third day after the operation, I suddenly developed a high fever, which did not heal after the injection, so I took the initiative to leave the hospital and stopped asking them to treat it.' Later, Ye's illness was cured after more than two months of diagnosis and treatment by me."

After Yuan Shikai's death, Ye received 264,000 yuan in silver coins, 20 pieces of gold, and 100 houses. Ye thought that the money would never be used up in his lifetime, so he invested it everywhere. She didn't know how to manage money, and she also liked to spend money lavishly. By the time the Anti-Japanese War was won, she almost lost all her money. In the early days of liberation, the Ye family was so poor that they relied on selling candied haws on the streets of Beijing to make a living.

In 1955, Beijing needed to emigrate due to too many unemployed people in the city. At that time, the Communist Party of China advertised that "the Yellow River enriches Ningxia", and if you go there, you can be allocated housing and live a good life. After hearing this, Mr. Ye signed up as soon as his mind became excited. Soon, the family wore big red flowers and was sent to the Northwest to become new socialist immigrants with drums and gongs.

On May 24, 1955, the Ye family immigrated to Village 3, Jingxing Township, Helan County. During the "honeymoon period" of immigration, the local government allocated two rooms to her family, and provided her with 180 kilograms of lump coal and 4 taels of kerosene per month (equivalent to two and a half taels today). Each person was provided with 35 kilograms of food rations per month. Sesame oil is 2.5 taels. In addition, each person is given a monthly allowance of 1.44 yuan. In addition, the Ye family also has twenty or thirty yuan in cash sent from Tianjin every month by their second daughter Qizhen. Their living standard is at the top level among all Beijing immigrants in Jingxing Township.

Since marrying Yuan Shikai, Mr. Ye has never been able to leave the house. After arriving in Jingxing Township, she still maintained the habit of staying at home and never revealed her life experience to the outside world. Despite this, there are still rumors by some good people that Ye is the "Queen" of the Yuan family in the past, which often attracts people to argue about what this "Empress" looks like.

At that time, Ye was already over sixty years old, had small feet and was unsteady in walking. Her son did all the housework. She only did some needlework for her children and grandchildren, and read some books and newspapers in her spare time. Her biggest hobby is smoking cigarettes, and she is very addicted to cigarettes. She smokes more than 30 50-pack Gengniu brand cigarettes every month.

Two years later, the Ye family's peaceful life was disrupted by a political movement. During the "Anti-Rightist Movement" in 1957, the immigrants from Beijing, ranging from Yuan Shikai's concubine and son to the Japanese and puppet major generals, members of the Japanese army, police, special forces, as well as small capitalist business owners, were highly educated and used to speak strange words. Many people expressed their opinions, so the county made this the focus of the movement. At that time, although the Ye family did not wear any hats, they were included in the targets of internal supervision because of their family background.

After 1956, the supply standard for immigrants was lowered month by month. By the autumn of 1958, the supply was completely canceled, and the life of immigrants became increasingly difficult.

In 1958, the people's commune "big pot rice" system was implemented. Adults and children had to go to the commune canteen to eat in groups, and no one was exempted.

This is particularly inconvenient for Ms. Ye - she usually doesn't even want to go out, but now she has to go out three times a day. Each time, she has to hold on to the wall and walk towards the cafeteria with a "three-inch golden lotus" step. Ye, who is 66 years old, has no choice but to endure such "torture" with his thin body. Only at this time can the men, women and children of Jingxing Township get a glimpse of the "empress"'s "beautiful face".

Since the death of her son Juxun, Ye has been ill ever since. One day, captain Xu Qin discovered that Ye had not eaten in the cafeteria for three consecutive days. When he came to Ye's house, he found that all the windows of Ye's house were broken and half of the kang collapsed. Ye was sleeping on the half that had not collapsed. The kang was covered with straw, and Ye was covered with a tattered quilt with rotten cotton exposed. She urinated and defecated in the collapsed kang, and the room was cold and smelly.

Xu Qin felt sad after seeing this, and temporarily improved Ye's life in the name of the organization.

On the night of December 31, 1958, Ye Zhen completed her 66-year life journey.

About a month after Ye Zhen's death, someone from the Helan County Bank came to Jingxing with a letter from the Bank of China Beijing Branch. The main idea of ??the letter is: "After investigation, your company, Ye Zhen, deposited 6,000 yuan in silver yuan at the Beijing Branch of the Bank of China during the Republic of China (this amount could buy a small Western-style building in Shanghai at that time). This amount should be collected by Ye Zhen himself, please Look for me." The villager told the truth, "Ye Zhen has just passed away, and her son has also died. She only has two grandchildren. Life is very difficult. Can the grandson take care of it?" The visitor said, "I am no longer here, what should I do?" It’s hard for me to give an answer, so the decision can only be made by the Beijing branch.” At that time, the township issued a certificate and made a request on behalf of Ye’s two grandsons, but they never received a reply.

About half a year after Ye’s death, in the early summer of 1959, an official letter was sent from the Nanjing Municipal People’s Government saying: After investigation, the houses in a certain half of the street in Nanjing were built before 1937. It is Ye Zhen's private property, I don't know when it was placed. After Japan occupied Nanjing, it was occupied by Japanese military agencies. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang army took over it as an enemy and puppet heritage. Since the owner of the house was not found out, it was used as a military camp. Today, the Nanjing *** implements the private property policy and verifies that the owner of the house is Ye Zhen.

After contacting Beijing, he learned that Ye Zhen had moved to Ningxia, so he sent a letter to inform Ye Zhen to accept the move. "The township made the same request as last time, but there was still no reply.

The 264,000 yuan that Ye received after Yuan Shikai's death was an astronomical figure at the time - in 1930, A small building next to Shanghai World is priced at 8,000 yuan, and 260,000 yuan can buy 30 small western-style buildings! Not to mention there are 20 pieces of gold and 100 houses. Moreover, Ye still owns half a street of real estate in Nanjing. This alone is enough for her to be wealthy for a lifetime! In addition, Ye also has 6,000 yuan in savings in the bank. At that time, the monthly living expenses of an ordinary family in Shanghai was 10 yuan...

< p> Putting all these together, Ye can be firmly in the top ten of the Hurun rankings today! However, all this money has cost her, forget it.

Yuan Shikai Jinshan