Business Genius Hu Xueyan

Author: Wang Yibing
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-10-01
Features: In Anhui, there is a mountain called Jishan, which is majestic and winding for hundreds of miles. The scenery along the way is picturesque, and the Jixi River flows gently at the foot of the mountain. From the summit, looking far into the distance, Jixi appears like a shimmering jade belt, drifting among the rolling mountains. Along the banks of Jixi lies a village called Hujiacun. The Hu family was once a prominent clan, with many members having held official positions. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, Han officials faced pressure from Manchu nobles, and the ancestors of the Hu family who served in the court were gradually excluded and driven out one by one. The Hu family in Jixi declined, and the former glory became just a fleeting cloud.
As the saying goes, "Mountains do not move, but waters do; waters do not move, but people do." Three generations later, the Hu family produced an extraordinary figure named Guangtong, styled Xueyan. In the large Hu family, Xueyan belonged to a collateral branch. His father had received some education but was physically frail, suffering from chronic coughing. He married a woman named Zhang, whose maternal grandfather was also a scholar. Zhang was of scholarly background, knowledgeable in poetry and etiquette. However, Xueyan's father's condition worsened, turning into tuberculosis. He coughed up blood, became emaciated, his face turned black, and his body bent like a shrimp. To treat his illness, the family's inherited wealth was nearly exhausted, and the best doctors could not save him. He passed away when Xueyan was seven years old.
After her husband's death, Xueyan's mother, Zhang, could only wipe away her tears every day. Since her marriage into the Hu family, the senior wife had regarded her as a thorn in her side. With her husband's death, the senior wife vented all her resentment on her, accusing her of causing her husband's death, calling her a bad omen, and verbally and physically abusing her. What made it unbearable was that the senior wife's own son and daughter often bullied Xueyan. One day, the senior wife ordered Zhang to wash clothes by the Jixi River. By then, winter had arrived, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the river. Washing clothes by the river meant chipping away at the ice for water, with ice chips floating in the water. Her hands, immersed in the icy water, felt excruciatingly cold—it was truly unbearable. Fearing that the cold would harm Xueyan, Zhang did not take him with her and left him in her room.
However, when she returned from washing clothes, Xueyan was gone from her room. She searched everywhere in the courtyard but could not find him. Filled with panic, her head swelled, and her eyes started spinning. When she asked the senior wife, she was told she didn't know. Frantically, Zhang went out to search. She called out Xueyan's name at the top of her lungs, from the front to the back of the village, along the well edges and riverbanks, until midnight. From the depths of Jishan, her heart-wrenching cries echoed. The villagers shook their heads in sorrow, calling her pitiful.
The next morning, a kind-hearted person found Zhang, who had fainted on Jishan, and carried her back home. But the senior wife, indifferent and hiding nearby, took no care of her. She not only refused to provide food or drink but offered nothing at all. This provoked a local scholar named Wei Zhixiao, who, along with several neighbors, went to the clan head to settle the matter. The clan head, considering the neighbors' pleas, confronted the senior wife and demanded she reveal Xueyan's whereabouts. Fearing the crowd, she finally admitted that Xueyan might have been taken into the city by her son and daughter to play, but she couldn't explain why he hadn't returned after a night. Her own children had not returned either. The crowd demanded she go to the city to find them, threatening to report her to the authorities if she failed to bring them back. Terrified, the senior wife agreed, accompanied by two neighbors, and set off to search for Xueyan and her children in the city.
As for Hu Xueyan...