The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emperor's birthday was called "Longevity Festival", which was called the three major festivals together with New Year's Day (the first day of the Lunar New Year) and the winter solstice. On the Longevity Day, the whole country will have a three-day holiday, and the government and the public will have fun and celebrate together.

The Longevity Day was also celebrated on Cixi's 60th birthday, which was obviously presumptuous, but no one dared to say anything. Not only did she hold a big banquet in the capital, but even the small towns in the south of the Yangtze River and Northwest China also celebrated together for seven days and seven nights.

To celebrate her birthday, Cixi spent 30 million taels of silver to repair the Summer Palace and scenic spots, while the fiscal revenue of the Qing government at that time was only 40 million taels. If the funds are not enough, they will sell their officials, or if they are not enough, they will embezzle the military expenses of the Beiyang Fleet.

Everyone knows what the result will be.

As the former emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi was very deserted in the palace. But after coming to Tianjin, it was very beautiful. On his birthday last year, not only many elders and children came to celebrate his birthday, but also consular officials and their families from various countries, as well as emerging warlords such as Zhang Zongchang and Wu Peifu gathered in Zhangyuan.

Pu Yi is so happy, Long Yan is very happy, call for a reward!

From foreign consular officials, to various warlords and court ladies and eunuchs, all received large rewards.

Not long after the Lantern Festival this year, Zhang Yuan began to decorate with lanterns and festoons, and the eunuchs were busy distributing birthday stickers everywhere.

On the morning of the "Longevity Festival", Puyi put on the dragon robe early, and an altar and three animals were placed in the yard. According to the rules, the emperor had to wear a dragon robe and a sacrificial hat, first sacrifice to the ancestors, and then accept the worship of the officials.

Cui Huifu is equivalent to the big housekeeper of Zhang Yuan, running around to make arrangements. Seeing Puyi in the dragon robe, she said with relief, "The emperor is really in good spirits today."

Puyi seemed to be in a good mood, and said with a smile, "I'm sorry."

"As a relic of the Qing Dynasty, Huifu should do his best for the emperor," Cui Huifu said.

Wanrong stood beside him silently, feeling quite depressed. She hasn't had a good time in the past few months. Ever since Wenxiu divorced Puyi, Wanrong has become a punching bag.

Puyi was in a bad mood, so she scolded Wanrong, thinking that she had forced Wenxiu away. She used to be able to go shopping, listen to operas, attend salons and balls, but now she is bound at home and is not allowed to move around at will.

For nearly half a year, Wan Rong only went out once, and she accompanied Pu Yi to the birthday banquet of the wife of the British consul.

At around ten o'clock in the morning, a few elders and children came to Zhang Garden, bowed and kowtowed and said, "Long live my emperor! Long live my emperor! May the emperor last forever, and may my great Qing Dynasty last forever!"

"Everyone is safe!" Puyi smiled all over his face.

After a while, Luo Zhenyu and other "restoration bureaucrats" came to pay homage and presented their respective congratulatory gifts.

Puyi was in a good mood at first, but as the time approached noon, his face became darker, because there were very few people who came to celebrate his birthday, and less than 30 people came to celebrate his birthday.

Compared with last year's bustling birthday, this is not a small change! Even his biological father didn't come, and only sent servants to give congratulatory gifts.

"Your Majesty, do you still have to wait?" the eunuch asked.

Puyi said with a gloomy face: "Don't wait, it's important to worship the ancestors."

The emperor was in trouble, and the procedure of worshiping the ancestors was simplified a lot. The eunuch chanted the sacrificial speech loudly, and Pu Yi, who was wearing a dragon robe, kowtowed to the ancestors with a graceful appearance, and then the old and the young kowtowed.

After the ancestor worship, Puyi sat on the "dragon chair" and accepted the "minister"'s kneeling and congratulations. Listening to the sparse sound of "Long Live", Pu Yi became more and more depressed. He asked the eunuch to give rewards to the guests, while he went back to the study to suppress the fire.

There is a birthday banquet at noon and a birthday party in the afternoon.

But Puyi was not in the mood to listen to the play, his eyes were staring blankly ahead, not knowing what he was thinking.

In the evening, when the old and the young knelt down to bid farewell, Puyi waved his hands in a disinterested manner without saying a word.

Cui Huifu came over with the gift list and read: "Prince Jin (Puyi's biological father, who historically opposed Puyi's defection to Japan and supported the new China) sent a letter of congratulations, and Prince Gong (the eldest grandson of Guiziliu) sent a picture of Baishou and a piece of Yushan ..."

"Okay, stop reading!" Puyi said impatiently.

Except for the congratulatory gifts from a few princes, which were passable, the gifts from others were very poor. In particular, his biological father actually only sent a congratulatory message, and no one was even present in person.

Cui Huifu hesitated to speak, and stood there silently.

Pu Yi sighed: "I am the emperor, no one cares anymore."

Cui Huipo said consolingly: "There are also loyal and filial ministers. Luo Zhenyu gave a pair of colorful pre-Qin ancient jades, which are priceless."

"If he has a heart," Pu Yi said a little more happily, "Go get the ancient jade."

Cui Huifu went out immediately, and quickly sent a pair of five-colored ancient jade to Puyi.

The two pieces of ancient jade are round and smooth, colorful and really beautiful.

Pu Yi took it into his hands and loved it, playing with it: "It's really a good jade, at least ten years have passed, the treasure in the world...Huh?"

"Your Majesty, what's the matter?" Cui Huifu asked.

Puyi's face changed suddenly, and he looked carefully at the jade to the light, and suddenly became furious, threw the jade on the ground and cursed: "God damn Luo Zhenyu, you have fooled me!"

Who is Luo Zhenyu?

He is the son and daughter of Wang Guowei, a famous scholar, and the ancestor of oracle bone inscription research.

Oracle bone literature was originally called "Luo Wang Zhixue", that is, the study of Luo Zhenyu and Wang Guowei.

Luo Zhenyu once supported Puyi's restoration and invited Wang Guowei to be a bureaucrat of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but Wang Guowei refused, and the two had a very unpleasant quarrel. He also has an identity as an antique dealer, who specializes in collecting folk antiques and selling them to foreigners—mainly Japanese.

Luo Zhenyu has studied oracle bone inscriptions so well, so he is naturally proficient in antique appreciation, and his methods of counterfeiting are also very clever. At least half of the antiques he sold to the Japanese were fakes.

But I never expected that the birthday gift this guy gave Pu Yi was actually a fake!

Puyi is not so easy to fool, he is also proficient in this way, and he can see through it at a glance.

Seeing Puyi getting angry, Cui Huifu hurriedly comforted him: "The emperor calm down, don't be angry."

Puyi was obviously stimulated and became furious. First, he stomped on the "ancient jade" with his feet, then lifted the table and kicked the bench, shouting in his mouth: "Fake, jade is fake, people are fake, emperor is fake, loyal ministers are fake." It's all fake!"

Cui Huifu hurriedly pulled Pu Yi: "Your Majesty..."

"Get out, get out!" Pu Yi violently pushed Cui Huilou away.

Cui Huichu fell to the ground, got up and looked for Wanrong: "Your Majesty, hurry up and persuade the emperor."

Wanrong didn't want to worry about it, but she still sighed and went, walked into the study and said: "Your Majesty, you have to be more open..."

Seeing Wanrong, Puyi became even more angry. He felt that Wanrong was the culprit of all this, so he swung his arm and beat her.

"Snapped!"

There was a crisp sound.

Wanrong was a little dazed by the slap, covered her face and said, "You hit me?"

"It was you who hit!"

Puyi said angrily: "If you hadn't treated Wenxiu badly, would she have divorced me? You forced her away, made me lose face, and made me a joke in the world. Look at today, my birthday banquet is just a joke. How many people are here? Ah! If the divorce hadn’t lost its dignity, would those foreign consuls come? Would those warlords come?”

Wan Rong held back for several months, and finally burst out at this moment: "Apart from taking revenge on me, what else can you do? Those people didn't come because Zhang Zuolin was the commander-in-chief of the Anguo Army. Last year you held a big birthday party, and Zhang Xueliang expressed that If you are dissatisfied, let you go to university to study and be an ordinary citizen honestly. Look at China now, how can there be an emperor? Even Yuan Shikai has been defeated, are you stronger than Yuan Shikai?"

These words made Puyi's heart bleed, and he roared with a thick red neck: "I am the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the ruler of the world, I have the righteousness!"

"Do you believe it yourself?" Wanrong asked back.

Puyi was poor in his speech, and kicked Wanrong's stomach: "Get lost!"

Cui Huifu was so startled that she was at a loss, she supported Wanrong and said: "The emperor calms down, your empress, please don't say a few words, don't add fuel to the flames."

"I can't live through this day!" Wanrong cried and left.

"Hahahahaha..."

Puyi laughed loudly, the more he laughed, the more lonely he became, and the laughter finally turned into crying.