In 1968, Premier Zhou's nephew Zhou Rongqing and his family went to Beijing to visit Premier Zhou. Since Premier Zhou had no offspring, he treated his two younger brothers' children as his own children. Therefore, Premier Zhou's attitude towards Zhou Rongqing's family, whom he had not seen for many years, was very enthusiastic.
Jin Juqing, the wife of Premier Zhou Rongqing, who met Premier Zhou for the first time, looked nervous and was speechless for a moment.
After a while, she said embarrassedly: "Prime Minister... no, Qi Bo (the Prime Minister is the seventh in the family), I have never seen an official as big as you. It makes you laugh."
This is no wonder. Jin Juqing, after all, was just a female worker from a rural background. The biggest leader she usually saw was the factory director, but now the person standing in front of her was the Prime Minister of a country.
Premier Zhou shook his head when he heard this and said: "You can't say that. You are the working class and a farmer's daughter. I should learn from the working people!"
Jin Juqing heard this and said hurriedly: "Don't dare, don't dare. I have to learn from you!"
looked at this scene, and everyone around him couldn't help but laugh.
The farmer's daughter and the prime minister's family, two classes that seemed to be very different from each other, are now harmoniously presented in front of everyone in reality.
1. The family of Zhou Enbo, the second brother of Premier Zhou
Zhou Rongqing’s father is Zhou Enbo, the second brother of Premier Zhou. When Zhou Enbo grew up, he first made a living in Northeast China and later worked in Shandong.
In early 1945, Zhou Enbo was arrested and imprisoned by the Kuomintang reactionaries in Shandong. Faced with all kinds of torture from the enemy, he gritted his teeth and never revealed the whereabouts of Premier Zhou.
Before that, Zhou Enbo himself had been ill for many years, and now he was tortured in prison and passed away not long after. Later, in order to avenge her husband, his wife Wang Lanfang sent their only child Zhou Rongqing back to her husband's hometown of Huai'an, while she went to the Northeast to participate in the guerrilla war.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Rongqing was captured by the Kuomintang when he was 17 years old. Fortunately, he found a chance to escape.
However, he did not flee back to his hometown. Instead, he chose to become a PLA soldier and embarked on the same revolutionary path as his mother.
After the founding of New China, Wang Lanfang reunited with Zhou Rongqing's mother and son, and settled in Beijing with the help of Premier Zhou.
In order to reduce the burden on the country, Premier Zhou said to Wang Lanfang one day: "The country is still in difficulty now. I want you to retire early and stop taking your salary. I will take care of you from now on."
Wang Lanfang listened for a while and felt a little confused. It was hard to accept because at that time, if you retired early, you could only get a smaller percentage of your pension.
In addition, I am not in good health. I was injured in Northeast China and suffered from injuries. If I retire early, what will happen to the medical expenses in the future?
In this regard, Premier Zhou was thoughtful and decided to use 50 yuan from his 400 yuan salary every month as living expenses for his sister-in-law. As for the medical expenses, he also shouldered the cost and arranged a special car to take her to the hospital.
In this way, Wang Lanfang agreed and became a veteran cadre who did not receive a state salary.
As a sister-in-law, Wang Lanfang also understands the difficulties faced by the Prime Minister. In order to support the lives of relatives of the Zhou family, Premier Zhou and his wife Deng Yingchao used a full third of their salaries as special subsidies, but they themselves lived a simple life.
As for Zhou Rongqing, he actively joined the army after the outbreak of to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea and became a propaganda officer at the Volunteer Army General Hospital.
With the end of the war, Zhou Rongqing, like everyone else, faced the problem of changing jobs.
Originally, he could get good arrangements through his connections, but Premier Zhou advised him to respond to the call of the cadres at the grassroots level at that time and train himself among the masses.
Premier Zhou warned: "After you go to the grassroots level, don't be an official. It's best to be a worker."
Zhou Rongqing had no complaints about this. He knew that Qibo had always been very strict with his relatives. In order to ensure that the Zhou family was strict with themselves and worked hard and lived a simple life. He also specially set up ten family rules to maintain his style.
He kept Qibo's advice "not to be an official" firmly in his heart.
Zhou Rongqing was later assigned to work at the Jiulishan Iron and Steel Plant in Jiaozuo City. Wang Lanfang, who was reluctant to be separated from his son, also left Beijing with Zhou Rongqing, and the family took root in Jiaozuo .
2. The love affair between the Prime Minister’s nephew and a female worker
In the steel factory, Zhou Rongqing’s foreign accent naturally could not be hidden from these locals.
Whenever someone asked him where he was from, he pretended to be a worker from Beijing and said nothing about his true identity.
Here, Zhou Rongqing met Jin Juqing, who was ten years younger than him.
Jin Juqing is a woman from an authentic peasant family. Her father died of illness when she was young. My mother took her family out to beg on the streets, and they survived.
Later, she entered the Jiulishan Iron and Steel Factory and became a glorious female worker.
In 1958, in response to the Great Steelmaking Movement and "women hold up half the sky", the factory specially set up the "March 8" steelmaking furnace, which was headed by 12 female workers including Jin Juqing in the factory.
Although Jin Juqing had no education, she had the steadfastness and drive unique to farmers. Soon she made great achievements at work and was praised by the factory leaders, and her reputation spread throughout the factory.
Jin Juqing soon caught Zhou Rongqing's attention, and the two got acquainted and quickly established a romantic relationship.
However, even though Jin Juqing was his sweetheart, Zhou Rongqing never revealed his true identity to her. However, there is no airtight wall in and , and some rumors are still spreading like wildfire.
One day in January 1959, several girls from the "March 8" Furnace mysteriously said to Jin Juqing: "Do you know who you are in love with?"
Jin Ju glanced at them innocently and said: "The old man in the factory." Don't you know Zhou?"
One of the girls said anxiously: "Oh, no! We are talking about Lao Zhou's true identity!"
This made Jin Juqing confused, and she asked doubtfully: "He "Isn't he just a worker from Beijing?"
Another girl shook her head and said: "You are really stupid. To tell you the truth, your old Zhou wants to call Premier Zhou in Beijing uncle!" ! "
After hearing these words, Jin Juqing was shocked and angry. She was surprised that she didn't expect that the person she loved was the Prime Minister's nephew, and she was angry that he had been hiding his true identity in front of her!
Later, she angrily expressed her intention to break up in front of Zhou Rongqing, and asked: "You are Premier Zhou's nephew. Why didn't you tell me about such a big thing earlier?"
Zhou Rongqing replied with a look of shame. : "My seventh uncle has strict requirements on relatives at home, and we must never talk about our relationship with him outside. Besides, so what if Premier Zhou is my seventh uncle? I am me, and the feelings between us are pure and unadulterated. "Anything else!"
Jin Juqing still couldn't accept it, she sighed: "But you are a relative of the Prime Minister after all, I am just a worker, and my family are also farmers in the countryside. We can't reach a high level, so we should separate. ! "
Zhou Rongqing was naturally reluctant to separate from his girlfriend, but no matter how he explained, he could not change her mind. In desperation, he had to turn to his mother Wang Lanfang for help.
Wang Lanfang couldn't bear the young couple being separated, so she personally visited Jin Juqing's home.
After the "mother-in-law and daughter-in-law" met, she said emotionally in front of Jin Juqing: "My child, it is true that we are relatives of the Prime Minister. In fact, we are also ordinary people. Don't have any worries. Besides, this is no longer the case. In the old society, there is no distinction between high and low. When you are in love, are you talking about feelings or status? "
In fact, Jin Juqing has not let go of Zhou Rongqing. She loves him very much, but she just feels that she is not worthy of him. .
In the end, Wang Lanfang's words dispelled her last worries, allowing her to reconcile with Zhou Rongqing.
Soon, the two families agreed on the marriage and set a date for the big day.
For such an important matter, it was natural to give good news to Premier Zhou, so Zhou Rongqing wrote a special good news letter and sent it to him.
When Premier Zhou learned that his nephew was getting married to a woman from a farmer's family, he was not surprised. Instead, he happily said: "A farmer's daughter is great, and the working people are the most glorious!" and immediately wrote back to Zhou Rongqing. In the congratulatory letter, he also sent the gifts that he and his wife Deng Yingchao gave to the newlyweds.
After his marriage, although Zhou Rongqing was transferred several times, he never held an official position in the unit where he worked. He fulfilled the Prime Minister's instruction that he "not become an official" and lived a low-key and ordinary life with his family. Life.
3. Zhou Rongqing and his family went to Beijing to visit Prime Minister
On May 3, 1968, Zhou Rongqing and his family took a train to Beijing to visit Premier Zhou.
The two families have not gotten together in person for a long time. Among them, Jin Juqing and her two sons and one daughter have never seen Premier Zhou in person.
Premier Zhou and Deng Yingchao, who came back from their busy work, happily greeted them.
This was Jin Juqing's first meeting with Premier Zhou's family. Thinking that Premier Zhou, who was usually regarded as a god by the masses, was now standing in front of her, she was so nervous that she could not speak for a while.
Upon seeing this, Premier Zhou smiled and praised her working class and peasant background, claiming that he still needed to learn from her, a working people.
Deng Yingchao also kindly bent down and picked up the three children in turn, kissed them once, and praised: "What cute children!" Seeing that the Prime Minister and his family were so amiable, Jin Juqing's originally tense nerves relaxed a lot.
After a brief exchange of greetings, the group of people arrived at the house.
Premier Zhou first asked his sister-in-law Wang Lanfang who was sitting next to him: "How are you doing recently?"
Wang Lanfang looked at his daughter-in-law and said: "Thanks to Juqing, with her here, I have been in good health these past few years. "
Premier Zhou turned around and solemnly told Jin Juqing: "Your mother-in-law shed blood for the revolution and was a hero of the people. You and Rongqing should treat her well on weekdays. "
Jin Juqing nodded fiercely. She nodded. In her opinion, it was her duty to honor her mother-in-law.
Later, Premier Zhou asked Jin Juqing: "What are the names of the children in the family? How old are they?"
Jin Juqing replied: "The eldest is eight years old. Weren't you visiting India when he was born? We Let’s call him Zhou Zhongyin; the second child is a daughter, she is six years old. Because her mother-in-law dreamed of jasmine flowers when she was born, she was named Zhou Xiaoli; the third child is still young, only two years old, and she was born in time for your visit Vietnam is named Zhou Zhongyue."
Premier Zhou couldn't help laughing after hearing this: "No, this name is not very good, it is a bit random."
Zhou Rongqing took the opportunity to say: "Then Uncle Qi. Just change the names of the children."
Premier Zhou nodded, and then discussed with Deng Yingchao for a moment, and decided to name the children Zhou Zhiyong, Zhou Zhihong and Zhou Zhijun in descending order.
Before leaving, Premier Zhou and Deng Yingchao both gave Jin Juqing some gifts to show their affection.
Although Zhou Rongqing and Jin Juqing rarely had the opportunity to see Premier Zhou again after they returned, they never forgot to teach their three children to learn the Zhou family tradition.
After the three children grew up, the eldest Zhou Zhiyong became a cadre of the Jiaozuo urban construction department, the second Zhou Zhihong was an ordinary person, and the third Zhou Zhijun ran a business.
They have always adhered to the family tradition of hard work, simplicity, self-reliance and self-reliance inherited from the Prime Minister. They regard themselves as ordinary people, and no one would have thought that they were the Prime Minister's family.
