In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Liu Rushi, a famous prostitute from the south of the Yangtze River, known as "the first of the eight beauties of Qinhuai", was very popular for a while. Gu Ling, who had had direct contact with her, wrote a "Biography of Hedong Jun", which described her as follows: "He was short-lived, witty in appearance, alert in nature, and brave... She was extremely graceful, suave, curious, and especially unrestrained. "It seems that the so-called "first of the eight beauties of Qinhuai" is actually a handsome and romantic "little man".
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At first, Liu Rushi followed a man named Xu Fo and did not have much education. At the age of 14, she joined the family of Zhou Daodeng, the "old minister of Wujiang", as a maid. After being adopted as a concubine by Zhou, the retired old man put the little girl on his knees to read and write. Unfortunately, Zhou Daodeng died, and Liu Rushi wandered into the world and became a real prostitute. However, this woman has a boyish temperament, and her poems: "Everything she describes is full of emotion and emotion, and is by no means boudoir language."
As a result, famous talents in Songjiang area rushed to pursue her. Liu Rushi has always been surrounded by passionate young men and fair-faced scholars. She fell in love with Li Daiwen, Song Zhengyu, Chen Zilong... and fell in love with each other. It's a pity that people think she is a *** and comes from a bad background. After a long quarrel, no one would marry her.
After many twists and turns, in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, that is, the summer of 1641, Liu Rushi finally married Qian Qianyi, one of the "Three Great Masters of Jiangzuo" and the "Southeast Wenzong". Liu Rushi was 24 years old at this time, and Mr. Qian was nearly sixty years old.
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People call this "old husband and young wife" the "fairy family". In May of the third year of Kangxi's reign, Qian Qianyi fell ill and returned to the west. He died at the age of 83. This year, Liu Rushi is about 47 years old and has been married to Qian Qianyi for 25 years. Qian Qianyi's death meant that Liu Rushi's backer had fallen. She will face the difficult life of a widow.
In fact, before Qian Qianyi's death, his family's conditions were already quite difficult. If he didn't become an official in the Qing Dynasty, how could he have a normal income? He couldn't make much money by selling articles. Because Liu Rushi encouraged Qian Qianyi to secretly fund the armed forces fighting against the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the Qian family was ruined. However, the troubled Qian clan came forward one after another to find an advantage. They contacted a group of people and came to blackmail him. What's more important is that these tribesmen felt very unbalanced when they saw that Liu Ru was just a little bastard who took charge of the housekeeping. Those "creditors" took away Qian Qianyi's family's money, land and servants, and further forced Liu Rushi to pay three thousand taels of silver within a time limit, otherwise he would be killed.
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Unable to bear such humiliation, Liu Rushi hanged herself. She had been so strong all her life and never showed weakness in front of men, but in the end she was forced to a dead end by the man. It can be seen that in that kind of society, no matter how strong a woman is, she is just an accessory to men, a victim of men fighting each other. After her death, Qian Qianyi's son and her own daughter and son-in-law both wrote long complaints on her behalf. However, the debt collectors colluded with the government, and they were very high-level officials. It is said that the local parents and officials tried to redress her grievances, but to no avail. This unjust case has never been settled.