This is not a tale but a true story. Mother Zhen was an alias and her real surname was Hu and given name Ruizhen, born in the north China. She was adopted by her relatives when she was very young after her parents died. Escaped from her hometown during the war of An Lushan Rebelling in the Tang Dynasty (618?907), she ran to Suzhou, unfortunately falling into a brothel, called Clouds Gathering House, outside of Chang Men of Suzhou. As a geisha girl, she refused any other requests from the customers more than the accomplishment of dancing and singing. Moreover she was known for her beauty. At that time, there was a rich man named Wang Yinxiang, who bribed the pander with a big number of money and wished to stay a night with Zhen. Knowing she had no way to escape, she committed suicide by hanging herself. The rich man was shocked by the event and vowed not to marry in his latter life and built a tomb for the girl. Since then?this true story caused much sympathy of the man of letters. They wrote a number of verses on the tomb. As one of the two well-known prostitutes in the history?her name is paralleled with Su Xiaoxiao, people gave her a honor title, the Class-one-sweet Girl. |