Volume 4: The World of Great Conflict Chapter 0383 Fang Family History
Back at the old house, the grandparents had something to eat. After the meal, as they had nothing to do, they made some tea and sat in the living room to chat.
"My father's name is Fang Xianheng, a name he gave himself. My grandfather was not well educated and worked as a temporary worker in the landlord's house. He could not save much money throughout the year.
After saving for more than ten years, he finally accumulated some money and started a tofu workshop in partnership with others.
The partner’s surname is Nan, which means your grandfather’s grandfather, your great-great-grandfather.
Both of them were willing to endure hardships, and their tofu business was booming. Their lives became better and better, and the two old bachelors in their thirties got married one after another. "
"I see. You and Grandpa were engaged when they were young?"
"I guess so." Fang Mengyin nodded and continued, "Both families became pregnant one after another, so your great-grandfather and my grandfather followed what they learned from operas and played out an arranged marriage.
However, since both families had boys, the arranged marriage was out of the question, so they decided to wait until the next generation.
But the good times didn’t last long. On the day your great-grandfather held his full-moon banquet, bandits came and killed him…”
"Eh?" Hearing this, Nan Yi raised a question, "Grandma, I haven't heard that there are bandits in Shanghai? Are you raising bandits to protect yourself or are you just crying wolf?"
"It's hard to say. At that time, the Taiping Rebellion had only been suppressed for a few years, and there were still many bandits. Besides, there were many cases of killing innocent people for credit. The Manchus didn't regard us Han people as human beings.
My father doesn't know the details, but on that day, your great-grandfather and my grandfather were both gone, leaving behind two orphans and a widow. At first , the two families lived together for two or three years, and their lives were very hard.
Later, your great-grandmother found another man who was from the same clan as your great-grandfather .
The two families separated in this way.
Later, my grandmother brought my father to Shanghai. With good luck, he found a wealthy family as a servant and settled down there.
Maybe it was because the Fang family had many misfortunes and bad luck, my grandmother died of illness not long after, leaving my father alone. He was less than five years old at that time.
Fortunately, the family where my grandmother worked as a servant were kind-hearted and left my father to serve their eldest son.
Do young children studying in the United States know?
"I know." Nan Yi nodded.
"It is said that it is hard to leave one's homeland. Rich families would not send their children abroad. Therefore, the first batch of children studying in the United States were all from poor families. But the second batch was different. More information came in. Everyone could hear a few words about what foreign countries were like, true and false.
The second batch of children studying in the United States included children from both poor and wealthy families, as well as seven self-funded students. The eldest son my father served was one of them.
"Did my great-grandfather also follow this young master to the Kingdom of Xian?"
"I didn't follow him, but I sneaked onto the ship secretly. I didn't let the young master know because I was afraid of being kicked off the ship. I thought I would look for the young master when the ship arrived.
My father was hiding in the boat, and when he was hungry he would go to the kitchen to steal something to eat. But in such a closed environment on the boat, it was not easy to hide, and he was discovered by a kitchen helper the next day.
The kitchen helper was also Chinese, and a very nice guy. He asked the first mate to let my father stay in the kitchen of the ship to help, and they helped for 17 years.
The year he boarded the ship was 1873, and when he got off, it was already 1890.
During the years on the ship, my father was not idle. He not only learned to speak several foreign languages, but also learned a lot of basic scientific knowledge and developed a strong interest in machinery.
In 1890, my father went to Oxford University and found a cleaning job. While working, he secretly attended classes. More than seven years passed.
At the end of 1897, my father returned to Shanghai after an absence of many years. After four or five years of hard work and attracting many shareholders, he finally opened a machinery factory to produce machines for manufacturing matches.
The machinery factory was open for six or seven years, and my father saved some money, and then slowly opened several printing and dyeing factories and flour mills that were completely his own. The Fang family started to rise little by little during the golden period of domestic economic development during World War I. "
"Grandma, if that's the case, your great-grandfather was already in his fifties when you were born."
"Well, my father got married late, in 1910, and my eldest brother was born two years later. And I..." Fang Mengyin paused, "Do you know why I lived in Beijing when I was a child even though I am from Shanghai?"
Nan Yi said teasingly: "Grandma, isn't my great-grandmother from the Eight Great Hutongs?"
"Don't talk nonsense, you little jerk. My mother was a student at North China Union Women's College. In 1919, she was being chased by the police on May 4th Youth Day. My father, who was in Beijing doing business, happened to save her.
After a few interactions, they became good friends.
But my aunt was not so easy to get along with, so my mother later lived in Beijing for several years, and I also spent my childhood in that courtyard.
Later, my father may have persuaded me and my mother to return to Shanghai."
"Oh, then how did you and grandpa get in touch? When grandpa passed away, he was already over sixty years old, more than ten years older than you, almost twenty. You two are not close in age."
"I don't want to talk about your grandfather and I now. I'll tell you when I'm about to die. What I can tell you now is that your grandfather and I are together not because of an arranged marriage.
At that time, we didn't know what was going on between the two parties. It was only after we got together and talked about each other's backgrounds that we learned about our relationship.
It can be considered fate, and it fulfilled the oath your great-grandfather and his family made. "
After a little thought, Nan Yi came to the conclusion that he should place bets separately. In that era, many people were fence-sitters. They would make friends with any force and place bets.
People who have some wealth and are neither rich nor poor will basically do this. They will not be tied to one thing and it does not matter which flag is hoisted on the top of the city wall to them. No matter who is in power, the tax must be paid, not a penny less.
As long as they are of the same ethnic group and don't become slaves to outsiders, it's fine.
They all came from paying the shit and piss tax, so if one day they have to pay the breathing tax, they won't be at a loss as to what to do.
"Let me tell you about your dad. When he was young, your grandfather wanted him to join the army when he grew up, saying that being a soldier was glorious, and he himself also did this step by step.
But I want your father to study mechanics. For soldiers, one more or one less doesn't really mean much. But mechanics is different. Machine tools are the mother of industry and the foundation of a country's national defense.
If a country is not good at machine tools, then this country will be controlled by others and will be strangled by others.
My father once told me that when it comes to mechanics, you can’t be sneaky or cunning; you have to grope your way through it inch by inch, and take one step at a time.
I wanted your dad to study mechanics, and I had both public and private motives, but who knew that your dad studied chemistry and ended up working in a chemical factory. "
"Grandma, to be fair, chemical industry is also very important to a country."
"Yes, it is important, but your father has never reached that level. He has only learned a little bit of applied chemistry. At most, he can use it, but forget about research and development."
"Then why didn't you let me study mechanics?"
"You're just not cut out for it. When you were little, I made you a lot of mechanical gadgets, but you had no interest in them at all. You've been sly and sweet-talking since you were little, and you looked like you were cut out for business. But, you never learned your lesson, and you just went out to fight every day."
"Hehehe!" Nan Yi smiled and passed it off vaguely.
"Forget it. You got better later on anyway, and it's not bad now." Fang Mengyin waved her hand and said, "Let me tell you about your father and your mother. At that time, your father was already working at Erhua, and your mother..."
"Grandma, don't mention my mom or my mom, just say Lin Shuyi." Nan Yi interrupted.
"Okay, okay, Lin Shuyi is Lin Shuyi. At that time, Lin Shuyi went to Erhua for internship and was assigned to be an apprentice under your father..."
