When talking about the wealthy businessmen during the Republic of China, the number one must be the wealthy businessman Sheng Xuanhuai. Sheng Xuanhuai's family took almost all the industrial firsts in China at that time, such as the first investment promotion bureau and the first telecommunications bureau, etc. Not only that, China's first entertainment venue: Paramount, was Sheng Xuanhuai's seventh The daughter - Sheng Aiyi, known as Miss Sheng Qi, took care of it all by herself.
Sheng Aiyi is the youngest daughter of Sheng Xuanhuai. She has grown up with a golden key in her mouth. Sheng Aiyi has been lively, cute and smart since she was a child, and is deeply loved by Sheng Xuanhuai. In her youth, Sheng Aiyi studied at St. John's University in Shanghai. Due to the good education she received from an early age, Sheng Aiyi had unique insights into many things, and her thoughts were far ahead of those of women in society at that time.
Sheng Aiyi first became famous when Mrs. Zhuang passed away. His fourth brother suddenly asked the court to distribute the portion of Mrs. Zhuang’s inheritance that should go to the charity fund to the five male heirs of the Sheng family. Sheng Aiyi originally disagreed with the use of this charity fund. After all, how could there be any reason to return the money that had been donated?
And if you want to go back, why are you only given to five men? You and your eighth sister are not married yet, why can't they be divided? So Sheng Aiyi sued her three brothers and two nephews in court. In fact, the money distributed was not a big amount for Sheng Aiyi at the time, but she still had to safeguard her rights as a woman.
Her approach was strongly supported by the Song sisters at the time - Song Meiling and Song Qingling. In the end, Sheng Aiyi won the lawsuit and got the 500,000 yuan he deserved. This lawsuit did not have any great significance to Sheng Aiyi in terms of personal finances, but Sheng Aiyi dared to speak out for women's rights, which caused great repercussions in society at the time.
In 1932, Sheng Aiyi used the 500,000 won from a previous lawsuit to build a six-story American-style ballroom in Shanghai, named it "Paramount Ballroom" and opened the "Paramount Ballroom" "Entertainment Company. Paramount founded by Sheng Aiyi can be said to be the originator of modern entertainment venues in China. At that time, "Paramount" was almost the busiest place in Shanghai. The father of modern music, Chen Dieyi, once wrote the lyrics of "Night Shanghai" to describe the luxurious life of the wealthy people in Shanghai's Paramount at that time.
Since its completion, "Paral Gate" has almost become a must-have place for high-ranking officials and dignitaries, such as Fengjun Marshal Zhang Xueliang, literati such as Xu Zhimo and Lu Xiaoman, and Shanghai tycoons such as Du Yuesheng. , all often come here to party and drink. At that time, the "Parlem Gate" was full of singing and dancing day and night, in heaven and on earth. The word "Parlem" has also become one of the pronouns for Shanghai's upper class society, and its influence can be imagined.
The first meeting between Sheng Aiyi and Song Ziwen was shortly after Song Ziwen returned to Shanghai from studying abroad. Song Ziwen's eldest sister, Song Ailing, the eldest of the three sisters in the Song family, used to be a tutor in the Sheng family. With this relationship, Song Ziwen was able to visit Sheng's house and became Sheng Aiyi's English secretary.
At that time, Sheng Aiyi was as young as a flower. She was beautiful and noble, and she was not as submissive as a secular woman. She spoke very elegantly, and she immediately fascinated Song Ziwen. Song Ziwen once said, "When I first saw her, I thought she was a fairy descending to earth." At that time, Song Ziwen also had a bookish look on his face and behaved like a gentleman. As the saying goes, a talented man and a beautiful woman created sparks between the two.
The love between the two was quickly opposed by Sheng Aiyi's mother, Sheng Xuanhuai's first wife, Zhuang Dehua. Mrs. Zhuang was originally very good to Song Ziwen, but when she learned about what happened between the two, she immediately sent someone to inquire about Song Ziwen's family situation. When Mrs. Zhuang learned that Song Ziwen's ancestral home was Guangzhou and that Song Ziwen's father was a musician who played violin in the church, Mrs. Zhuang was angry. She would not allow her daughter to marry into the Song family under any circumstances.
The current situation in China was turbulent at that time. With the help of his sister Soong Ching Ling, Song Ziwen began to follow Sun Yat-sen into the political arena. Before leaving Shanghai, Song Ziwen tried every means to find an intermediary and invited Sheng Aiyi to meet him. When they met, Song Ziwen wanted Sheng Aiyi to follow him. He wanted Sheng Aiyi to believe that he could bring her a better life.
Due to pressure from her family, Sheng Aiyi did not choose to leave with Song Ziwen. She just gave Song Ziwen a handful of "gold leaves" as travel expenses, and told Song Ziwen to come back to her after the revolution was successful. At that time, Song Ziwen was very disappointed. He felt that he was not worthy of Sheng Aiyi, so he said to Sheng Aiyi: "I'll lend you this thing. I will pay you back when I have money." After that, he left. Who would have thought that by leaving this time, the red thread between the two of them would be completely cut off.
When Song Ziwen came back again, he had made great achievements and became the Minister of Finance of the Republic of China. However, Song Ziwen was already married at the time. He returned to Shanghai with his wife Zhang Yueyi and went to many public and private occasions. Sheng Aiyi was thirty-two years old at this time. She had been waiting for Song Ziwen for seven years, but she did not expect that Song Ziwen would change his mind.
The heartbroken Sheng Aiyi fell seriously ill because of this. Shortly after recovering from the illness, she married Mrs. Zhuang's nephew Zhuang Zhujiu.
At that time, when Song Ziwen learned from Sheng Aiyi's family that Sheng Aiyi had not married for so many years and was only waiting for him, he felt regretful, but it was already too late, Sheng Aiyi's heart had been broken.
Since then, Song Ziwen still couldn't forget Sheng Aiyi and wanted to see her no matter what. Once, Sheng Laosi was preparing for a family dinner. When Song Ziwen found out, he immediately informed Sheng Laosi, hoping to invite Sheng Aiyi. Sheng Aiyi arrived at the banquet without knowing it. The moment she saw Song Ziwen, she understood that this was a situation set up for her.
Song Ziwen wanted to talk to Sheng Aiyi, but Sheng Aiyi said, "My husband is still waiting for me at home." He was speechless. Looking at Sheng Aiyi's slowly leaving figure, Song Ziwen knew that there would never be a future between the two of them.
After Shanghai was liberated, Sheng Aiyi chose to stay in Shanghai and live in a villa of her own family. She could also practice calligraphy in her free time. Although the policy has changed, Sheng Aiyi has income and real estate, and lives a very stable and comfortable life, with peaceful years. But all this did not last until the end.
In the 1960s and 1970s of the last century, when politics was not going well, Sheng Aiyi's husband, Zhuang Zhujiu, was regarded as a sensitive element and sent to the grassroots for reform. In the end, he died of illness in a foreign country because he could not endure the hardship. Sheng Aiyi was forced to move out of her house and live in a car room next to a septic tank. The place where I live faces east and west, and it is so hot in summer that people inside may even faint from the heat.
Sheng Aiyi found it incredible when she first came to a place like this. I have been wealthy for most of my life, but I never imagined that I would sleep on a bed without a sheet. The door of the bus station is facing the vegetable market. Facing the bustling crowd every day and smelling the stench of the septic tank next to it, anyone would probably collapse, but Sheng Aiyi did not. She faced all this with optimism and planted a lot of flowers and plants in the car room to comfort herself.
Relatives and friends came to visit Sheng Aiyi and burst into tears when they saw her suffering. Sheng Aiyi comforted her friends and smoked a cigar, looking unconcerned. Sheng Aiyi tidied the house so that it didn't look like a car room, but like a home. She freshened up every day, cleaned the house cleanly, and put some scattered flowers outside the house into containers and planted them in the house. Not only that, she also brought her own pen and paper and practiced calligraphy in the house every day without being affected by the outside world at all. Sheng Aiyi is the only one who can turn a dirty, old car room into a garden.
In her later years, Sheng Aiyi's health deteriorated day by day. But even though she is suffering from illness, Sheng Aiyi still cannot stop her optimistic life. She still dressed herself neatly every day and practiced calligraphy and painting every day until the day she could no longer move. In 1983, Sheng Aiyi passed away at the age of 83. When Sheng Aiyi died, she was still living in a leaky car room, her clothes were neat and clean, and she was as beautiful as she was when she was young.