Hong Lucheng's generation is indeed three brothers.
The eldest brother is Hong Fucheng, also known as Lizhi. Hong Luchengxinger, also known as Yizhi. They also have a third brother named Hong Shoucheng, also known as Jinzhi.
The reason why their father Hong Xiaoru gave his three sons such names was actually based on the traditional moral standards of merchants.
Because in order to prevent businessmen from deceiving customers when selling things, the ancients named the first three stars of the scale as fortune, wealth and longevity when making scales.
The implication is that if you give someone less, you will lose blessings; if you give someone less, you will lose your salary; if you give someone less, you will lose your life. If you don't give up on these three, you will be honest.
As for the names of these three brothers, they naturally have meanings. When combined, they are, "Establish this as the foundation, benefit the virtues, and be careful and remember."
However, there is one thing that is different from Hong Fucheng and Hong Lucheng. Hong Shoucheng, as the youngest son of the Hong family, was actually the son of Hong Xiaoru's wife Xu Xian.
He and his two elder brothers are half-brothers. And among the three brothers, he is the only one who is favored by his father.
Why?
It’s not that Hong Xiaoru favored the younger ones, or that Hong Xiaoru loved his stepmother and his family, so he loved this child exclusively. It was because Hong Shoucheng was very talented in reading.
As mentioned before, there are two sweet-scented osmanthus trees in the second courtyard of the Hong family. They were planted after the Hong family moved to Beijing and bought the house.
Many of them hope that the descendants of the Hong family will also be able to "climb the clouds and win laurels" in the future and become Wenhua bachelors.
But it is a pity that all generations of the Hong family have produced businessmen, and no one has outstanding humanistic talents and can make achievements in academic achievements.
The clinker is Hong Shoucheng, who has a photographic memory since he was a child. He began to read at the age of three. From private school to Chongshi Middle School, he has always been excellent in both character and study, and is deeply loved by every teacher.
After being admitted to the Physics Department of Fu Jen Catholic University, he was valued by professors in the department and hired as a laboratory assistant. He was actually the most likely candidate to realize the Hong family's dream.
Everything is of low quality, but reading is the only one that is high. This is the value orientation that has been deeply rooted in China for thousands of years. Hong Xiaoru was not exempt from vulgarity, so he must have favored his younger son.
He even specially asked Hong Shoucheng to move to a small foreign-style building and equipped him with a dedicated housekeeper, concierge, footman, chef and servants. This was to allow him to adapt to Western life early and prepare for his future study abroad.
But it is precisely for these reasons, whether out of jealousy or not, that Hong Fucheng is not very affectionate towards his younger brother, and can even be called cold.
On the contrary, Hong Lucheng, who lost his mother when he was young, was raised by his stepmother. He not only respected his stepmother, but also had a good relationship with Hong Shoucheng since childhood. The relationship between the two was better than that of brothers who originally had the same father and mother.
What's more, Hong Shoucheng also made great efforts in the marriage between Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin.
On the night when Wang Yunlin ran away at night, it was he who ordered the concierge to let Wang Yunlin into the Hong family and personally took her directly to find Hong Lucheng.
Later, he asked Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin's mother to come forward to intercede on their behalf, and said a lot of good things to their father, so that their marriage was successfully fulfilled.
Therefore, even after marriage, Hong Lucheng and his wife got along best with this third brother. Not only did they often travel and party together, Wang Yunlin also intentionally introduced her female classmates from Beiman Girls' High School to him. She hoped that she could repay him with a happy life.
of marriage.
But all good things ended in national disaster.
Before the fall of the capital in the "July 7th Incident", Hong Fucheng saw that the situation was not good and fled to Nanjing early. After the fall of the capital, Hong Lucheng and his wife, as the heirs of the Hong family's property, were also arranged by Hong Xiaoru to go to Shanghai via Jinmen.
.Only Hong Shoucheng still stayed in the capital, studying and accompanying his parents.
After the fall of the capital, due to the pain of the people, the colorlessness of the mountains and rivers, and the interference of the universities by the Japanese, Hong Xiaoru was reluctant to leave his youngest son to be a slave in the occupied area. So he paid a large sum of money and sent him to France to study abroad in advance.
But who would have known that Hong Shoucheng had already secretly joined the "Anti-Japanese Killing and Rape Group" at Fu Jen Catholic University, and had participated in many successful assassination operations in Peking.
Therefore, after arriving in Tianjin, he did not board the ship to Europe. Instead, he took the huge sum of money from studying abroad and completely devoted himself to the Anti-Japanese War. He never returned home since then.
The farewell passed by like water. A few years later, it was not until the early morning of the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1941 that the porter of the Hong family found a letter from Hong Shoucheng in the crack of the window.
The specific content inside is:
Father, mother:
I'm fine now. Don't look for me wherever you need me. When it's time to go back, I will go back naturally.
I am actually writing this letter to tell you that I am married and it is a union of like-minded people.
Attached is a photo. We hope to receive your blessings. We hope you are in good health and don’t miss us.
The unfilial son lives forever, and the daughter-in-law Wanhua pays tribute.
What makes the two elders of the Hong family happy is that Hong Shoucheng in the photo is very handsome, and the girl is also very beautiful, and they look like a perfect match. Both of them are wearing dresses and jewelry, and their financial situation seems to be pretty good.
It's just that there were only a few words in the letter. They knew almost nothing about the girl's situation. Only the word "Wanhua" at the end of the letter should represent her name.
Since then, this letter and the accompanying photos have been kept by Hong Xiaoru.
But even though he was looking forward to it every day, the west wind did not come, and Hong Xiaoru could not wait until his son came home.
After the liberation in 1945, the old man reunited with Hong Lucheng, who had returned to Beijing from Shanghai. Before his death, he could only point to the photos and letters with difficulty and entrust this matter to him.
"...Yizhi, if you have a chance in the future, you have to go find him...call your brother...for me...to go home...don't forget...to ask them to kowtow...on my grave..."
So after that, Hong Lucheng followed his father's words and began to do everything possible to find news about his younger brother. He even begged his eldest brother in Chongqing for help.
But how can it be that easy? Finding someone in a huge sea of people is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But hard work paid off, and he offered a huge reward, and finally got some more precise news.
Some people said that they had met Hong Shoucheng in Shanghai. However, they were not sure about that person because they heard people call Hong Shoucheng "Mr. Lu" at that time.
Hong Lucheng held on to a glimmer of hope and quickly sent someone to Shanghai to investigate with Hong Shoucheng's photo.
Unexpectedly, he got some clues, so he took his bodyguard and ran twice more in person. Finally, after careful searching, it was proved that the news was indeed true, and "Lu" (green) was "Hong" (red).
From those who had dealt with Hong Shoucheng, he also learned about the missing brothers.
"Mr. Lu" was a translator for a foreign company and lived in Shanghai with his wife. His wife later became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter for him. During the fall of Japan, "Mr. Lu" also served in the Japanese military police.
, but was quickly bailed out by the Germans and did not suffer much.
But on the eve of the liberation, "Mr. Lu" seemed to have caused some trouble that he shouldn't have caused. There was always something inexplicable, and vicious people came to ask about their affairs...
So in the end, the whereabouts of "Mr. Lu" and his family of three completely evaporated in Shanghai. They disappeared without a trace, without even a trace.
What makes Hong Lucheng particularly regretful is that the residence of Hong Shoucheng's family in Shanghai was not only in the concession, but was even only two streets away from his own residence.
In those years, the two brothers could have easily met each other, but they missed it like this. This can not but be said to be a trick of fate on them.
Later, after liberation, Hong Shoucheng's situation was kept strictly confidential in the Hong family. No one knew about it except Hong Lucheng and his wife. They no longer dared to take the initiative to search for it.
Because they all know in their hearts that various signs indicate that Hong Shoucheng is probably engaged in espionage work. Moreover, not only was the leader of the "Anti-Japanese Killing and Rape Group" at Fu Jen Catholic University a member of the military, but many of them later joined the military. If it is revealed that
If relevant news comes out, it will definitely cause trouble.
Of course, it is possible that Hong Shoucheng is a member of the Red Party, but this possibility is very small. Considering his family background and the economic situation in the photo, it is not like it. How could they dare to take this risk?
So I can only hope that Hong Shoucheng can one day keep his promise and return home, knocking on the door of the Hong family's old house.
The only thing Hong Lucheng could do was to secretly take out his treasured photos and look at them, and sigh from time to time.
Later, they were forced to move out of their old home and experienced various "movements", and they did not dare to mention it at all.
Even during the "movement", for safety reasons, Hong Lucheng stuffed the letter into the brazier and burned it.
But he was reluctant to burn that photo, just like Wang Yunlin's "Emerald Flat Square". It became something that he was willing to risk his life to preserve.
As for now, since there has been no news for so many years, Hong Lucheng has undoubtedly accepted the worst fact.
He felt that there were only a few possibilities for the "unaccounted whereabouts".
He died, surrendered to the United States, and fled to Taiwan when the Republic was founded...
So today, after he got emotional and emotionally revealed this family history, he still did not forget to warn his children cautiously.
"As long as you know about this matter, don't mention it again in the future. Lest outsiders learn that the peace our Hong family has finally won will be involved in turmoil again."
And just when he said a few words of advice, tears overflowed from Hong Lucheng's eyes, and Wang Yunlin's melancholy eyes also showed indescribable sadness.
This is not only because of the regret of missing "Mr. Lu", but also because of the frustration of not being able to give an explanation to the deceased elders, or perhaps because of the deep nostalgia for the figure who used to live in this small Western-style building decades ago...
Many things in the world are incredible.
Many of the inside stories about the Hong family are surprising.
The story was eloquent, and there were tears in the room. On this day, Hong Yanzheng, Hong Yanwu and Chen Liquan all remembered Hong Lucheng's instructions and this dilapidated Western-style building.
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