Music made Baumely's life more beautiful

One day in 1958, after graduating from high school, he signed up for the New Tone Choir, an amateur choir run by the Shanghai Musicians' Association that rehearsed weekly for some of the big performances of the time. It is a coincidence that in a performance, Bao Meili was favored by Meng Bo, the director of the cultural Bureau at that time, and asked her to go to Shanghai Conservatory of Music for further study. Meng Bo is a very good person, then he served as party secretary of Shanghai music college, the tenth anniversary of National Day, the students put their gift show, everyone thought he would opt for a "big steel" the political work, result unexpectedly, he is in front of the violin concerto "butterfly lovers" put a tick, accomplished the work in the future.

Baumely was naturally very happy to be anointed by Meng Bo. When she got the letter of admission to the conservatory, she ran excitedly to the street office to open the letter of introduction. To her surprise, a staff member told her, "We can't write a reference for a family like yours." Baumely's mood sank to the bottom...

Before liberation, Baumely's family was so prosperous that she was known as "the Third Lady of the Bao Mansion". Her father is a Taipan (manager of British American Tobacco) in Shanghai. In the old days, people who "eat foreign food" are very capable. He built two four-storey houses on Taiyuan Road, which is Bao Mansion. She was born at the peak of her father's career, so he named her "Merry," which means to live well, to gain the most. She also has three elder brothers and two elder sisters. Ma Zhanghua, a famous actress of Yue opera in Shanghai, later married her eldest brother. Their wedding ceremony in the East Asia Hotel was very grand and sensational.

After liberation, the fate of the Bao family has undergone a great change. Foreign business closed, the father did not work, the eldest brother of Bao Mei Li studied abroad in the United States, the second elder brother went to Hong Kong without a message, the third elder brother participated in the war of resisting the United States to aid the North sacrificed, the person who did not make money in the home, the house that lives is also divided a little bit, smaller and smaller. After the anti-rightist movement began, the situation became even worse. The former scenery had become a stain and a burden to the Bao family...

Baumili has loved music since she was a child. It was her dream to enter the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, but now the door was closed to her.

Later, Baumili was assigned to be a physical education teacher at Shihui Xincun Primary School near his home. Career opportunity is gone, the fate of love quietly came. At that time, there were many activities of the teaching staff. In a handiwork competition, Baumely cooperated with Jiang Guoyu, a physical education teacher from another school. The two partners made a good impression on each other. One day, Jiang Guoyu came to her to go to a concert. "How do you know I like music?" said BAUMely happily. Jiang Guoyu smiled and gave her a program. Baumely looked closely. There was a violin solo with Jiang Guoyu's name written next to it. "Do you play the violin?" she asked in surprise. Jiang Guoyu nodded and said, "I hope you can come and support me."

Jiang Guoyu not only plays the violin, but also speaks fluent English. He grew up in a missionary school, so he was a man of many talents. Two young people with common experiences and hobbies were brought together. At that time, they often participated in concerts, Baumely was in the choir and Jiang Guoyu was in the band, each supporting the other. Baumely collected the concert lists, which, in retrospect, were the defining moments of their marriage and the most beautiful prelude to the creation of Happy House decades later.

"Ode to Joy" from the Shikumen Pavilion

In 1960, Baumely married Chiang Kuo-yu. Their wedding was nothing to compare with the pomp and circumstance of their elder brothers and sisters-in-law. Jiang Guoyu's family in Yan 'an Road Shikumen house, Bao Meili married with him to live in a small pavilion without a separate coal guard. Early in the morning, when she was drifting off to sleep, she would get up to empty the toilet. Her former piano hands now had to carry the toilet, and sometimes it made her sad to think when she would ever play again.

A year later, when their daughter was born, their combined monthly income was 80 yuan. They had to support a family of three, Jiang Guoyu's mother and Bao Meili's parents, who were financially strapped. Later, Jiang Guoyu's income halved, and his life became even more difficult. In order to make ends meet, Baumili would go to the Huaihai Road thrift shop every once in a while to pawn things. When getting married parents to those dowry all when finished, even silk quilt also when. Jiang Guoyu looked at the heart is not the taste, sad to say to his wife: "your dowry are sold out, really sorry you ah." Baumely did not care much. She told Jiang Guoyu, "When we were young and had money, my father always did good deeds and gave money to the poor. He told us that money is an external thing, it does not matter. We can buy them back when we have money."

It was a very shabby day, for Bao Meili and Jiang Guoyu, it is very suffering, but they are one heart, sometimes you comfort me, sometimes I encourage you, so come along. While teaching children how to play the accordion at the children's palace, she happened to meet Emperor Selassie (the last emperor of Ethiopia) when he came to China. The school arranged for her to receive foreign guests. When Jiang Guoyu knew this, he said: "Mei Li, your shoes are broken. Go and buy a pair of leather shoes. In the afternoon, he accompanied her to a department store to buy a pair of leather shoes, and also picked out the most expensive pair of shoes for $20. But as they were returning home with their new shoes, a man came from the street and told Baumely not to go there the next day. That night, when Baumely thought about it, she felt sad. The leather shoes had cost her nearly half a month's income. She wanted to win glory for the country, but they didn't come in handy. Jiang Guoyu understand her mind, in the side to comfort said: "calculate calculate, you wear yourself also good-looking." Later, the shoes, which Baumely did not wear once, were wrapped up intact and put on a shelf until today, when they became a souvenir of that special and unforgettable time...

The days of despair were over. After the reform and opening up, the policy was re-implemented, and the economic situation of the Baumili family improved. One day, one of her colleagues said to her, "Miss Bao, you like playing the piano. I have a ticket for a piano. Do you want one?" Baumely was very impressed. Since she got married and lived in the pavilion, she never thought she would have the chance to play the piano again. But come to think of it, a piano costs $2,000. That's a lot of money. That's all the savings the family has. After returning home, she looked for Jiang Guoyu to discuss whether to buy in the end. Unexpectedly, he very refreshing GROUND say: "THE OPPORTUNITY is RARE, BUY!"

That weekend, a large truck brought the piano to the entrance of the lane in Shikumen. The whole lane is lively, but this is the first piano in their lane, everyone wants to see. The lane was too small for the car to drive in, so a dozen young men came to help lift it. The door of the pavilion could not enter, so we tried to remove the window and move in from the window. If there had been a camera, it would have been interesting to capture this footage.