In the spring of 1986, an old woman named Liu Fayu from Henan, accompanied by her son, came to the Jiangxi Martyrs Cemetery to pay homage to a martyr named Lai Laifa.

In the spring of 1986, an old woman named Liu Fayu from Henan, accompanied by her son, came to Jiangxi Martyrs Cemetery to pay homage to a martyr named Lai Laifa.

The reason why the old man traveled all the way here is because she is the child bride of the martyr's family, that is, Lai Laifa's wife.

However, in the cemetery, the old man found his own tombstone standing there, and the staff of the Civil Affairs Bureau also asked doubtfully: "What should you do with this martyrs' monument?"

The old man is obviously still alive, why has it been erected? A monument?

What kind of life did she experience as a child bride?

It all started in 1913...

The tragic fate of child brides

In 1913, shortly after the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911, various old and new forces in the country were complicated.

Although and have been destroyed in the Qing Dynasty, ordinary people still live a miserable life.

In the early summer of this year, in a small mountain village in Xingguo County, Jiangxi Province, a baby girl named Liu Fayu was born.

Liu Fayu's father was a long-term employee of a local landlord's family. Although his job was stable, there were too many mouths to eat at home, and the whole family often had too much to eat.

In desperation, her parents had no choice but to select Liu Fayu from among seven children and give her to a family named Lai as a child bride.

(child bride in the old society)

It was under this arrangement that Liu Fayu became the "wife" of the little boy Lailaifa.

Since the two children were still young, it was obviously impossible to continue the family line. Therefore, Liu Fayu began to serve her "husband" like a maid when she was 7 years old.

However, the Lai family was extremely poor at that time, so Liu Fayu had no choice but to go out with Lai Laifa to collect firewood, dig wild vegetables, and pick wild fruits to maintain the family's livelihood.

(dig wild vegetables)

It can be said that after Liu Fayu "married", he even took on more than half of the responsibility for supporting the family.

It was this kind of hardship experience that made Liu Fayu develop a strong character.

during the flower season, women are making revolution.

html When she was 116 years old, Liu Fayu saw revolutions happening all over the country and came up with the idea of ​​joining the revolution.

Lai Laifa was worried that people would die if the revolution took place, so he dissuaded Liu Fayu from participating. However, Liu Fayu already had his own values ​​at that time, so he resolutely signed up to join the farmers' association.

While working in the Peasant Association, Liu Fayu had a positive attitude and could endure hardships, so she was selected as the women's captain and participated in the revolutionary study class.

Two years later, Liu Fayu had grown into a big girl. With her status at the time, she could dissolve the arranged marriage.

However, Liu Fayu and Lai Laifa had been together for many years, and they had already developed feelings for each other. In addition to Lai Laifa's good character, Liu Fayu agreed to marry Lai Laifa.

(Old Fashioned Wedding)

Although Liu Fayu had a heavier burden to support her family after her marriage, she realized very clearly that women should not spend their entire lives around the pot!

So she asked her husband for permission to continue her revolutionary work.

Not only that, she later persuaded her husband to join her in the revolution. Her husband was moved by her enthusiasm and began to engage in some revolution-related work.

In June 1932, Liu Fayu joined the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army through introduction and engaged in logistics work in the third company of the fifth division of the third army.

In view of her outstanding performance, the organization soon promoted her to the laundry class monitor.

During his tenure as squad leader, Liu Fayu did an excellent job with his full enthusiasm and cheerful personality.

Soon after, the army cadres held a meeting and discussed and decided to send her to take charge of medical care.

In February 1933, Liu Fayu was transferred to Fujian Hospital to carry out treatment of the wounded.

At that time, under the shadow of white terror, injured soldiers on the front line were sent to the hospital one after another.

(Rescuing Wounded Soldiers)

However, at that time, the hospital's medical equipment was backward and emergency medicines were in short supply, so it was difficult to carry out rescue work. Liu Fayu often wiped away tears anxiously when he saw the soldiers bleeding.

In desperation, she suddenly remembered that she knew some Chinese herbal medicines when she often dug wild vegetables before, so she immediately took people up the mountain to dig some herbs and brought them back.

It is these folk herbal medicines that have helped hospitals temporarily alleviate the problem of drug shortages.

In just over a year, Liu Fayu not only learned injections, infusions, and wound treatment, but also learned acupuncture and massage during breaks.

At the end of this year, Liu Fayu joined the Communist Party of China and began to continue to strictly demand himself as a party member.

It turns out that her husband is also the Red Army

In August of the following year, Liu Fayu went on an expedition with the Red Army, but accidentally met her husband Lai Laifa in the army. Only then did she learn that her husband had also joined the Red Army a year ago.

However, the situation was urgent at that time, and the two could only exchange a few words and then returned to their respective teams.

Later, Liu Fayu followed Peng Dehuai's Red Army and continued on the Long March. At that time, the Kuomintang troops blocked layers on the way, and our soldiers were injured one after another.

After checking the casualties, Peng Dehuai decided to rest during the day and march at night to avoid the Kuomintang encirclement as much as possible.

In November 1934, the Red Army crossed the Xiangjiang River and moved to Guizhou.

On this day, Liu Fayu was following the team when he suddenly encountered an enemy encirclement and suppression. I quickly launched a counterattack.

The battle lasted all night, and the enemy troops began to retreat early the next morning. Liu Fayu and several female Red Army soldiers did not wait for the enemy troops to complete their retreat, and immediately rushed to the line of fire to rescue the wounded.

After a while, Liu Fayu suddenly heard a nearby comrade crying : "Squad leader Liu, Comrade Lai Laifa... died!"

Liu Fayu trembled when he heard the name and quickly bandaged the wounded in his arms. After finishing, he rushed to Lai Laifa.

At this time, Lai Laifa's body had been blown apart and his head was separated. Liu Fayu couldn't help but lay on her husband and cried bitterly when she saw this tragic situation.

However, after crying a few times, she suddenly realized that the situation was still very urgent, so she immediately wiped her tears, assembled her husband's body and buried it nearby.

Afterwards, she immediately regained her composure and quickly bandaged and disinfected the other wounded soldiers as if nothing tragic had ever happened. It was not until the rescue work was completed that she felt sad about her husband's death again.

Later, on the way to Jinshajiang, the troops encountered another enemy air raid.

Liu Fayu and her comrades hurriedly carried a wounded soldier to retreat into the woods. However, the soldier who was carrying the stretcher with her was unfortunately hit by a shell and died on the spot.

Liu Fayu looked at the enemy planes hovering in the sky and the wounded who fell on the ground, and immediately picked him up and ran into the woods.

After the air raid, she planned to carry the wounded man out, only to discover that the wounded man actually weighed more than 130 kilograms, heavier than herself!

She couldn't help but wonder, when the enemy plane bombed just now, where did she get the brute force to carry the wounded man on his back, run away and hide in the woods?

Disguised to purchase medicines

Later, the Red Army Corps met with its brother troops at meeting . Peng Dehuai ordered the entire army to rest and recuperate, and medical staff went all out to rescue the wounded.

At this time, Liu Fayu and his colleagues took advantage of this gap and quickly began to clean the wounds of the injured soldiers.

However, the medicines carried by the troops were almost used up, and the soldiers' wounds were getting worse day by day. Liu Fayu and the nurses were so anxious that they cried.

In desperation, Liu Fayu had to temporarily replace anti-inflammatory drugs with light salt water to clean the wounds of the soldiers.

Later, Liu Fayu found an old folk remedy to stop bleeding - lime, to temporarily inhibit the wound ulceration of the wounded.

But Liu Fayu knew that this was not a long-term solution and that he had to find serious medicines, so he made many suggestions to the leaders to supplement medicines.

In the early summer of 1935, the Red Army entered the Mianning area of ​​Sichuan.

One day, Liu Fayu was nursing the wounded when she was suddenly called over by the regiment leader. Also called was her good comrade Zhong Sanxiu. To make a long story short, the

team arranged for them to go to Wuhan to purchase medicines for the soldiers. After arriving in Wuhan, they contacted Director Cao of Liujiamiao Hospital.

When Liu Fayu heard that he was going to purchase medicines, he immediately responded excitedly: "I promise to complete the task!"

Early the next morning, Liu Fayu took off his work clothes, took the contact letter and set off with Zhong Sanxiu.

The two of them traveled all the way over mountains and rivers, and finally arrived in Wuhan.

Zhong Sanxiu was about to enter the city, but Liu Fayu grabbed her: "We have brought the contact letter. If our identities are discovered, we will be in trouble. We have to disguise ourselves! Wait for me!"

(beggar)

Liu Fayu came back a few minutes later. Zhong Sanxiu was so surprised that her eyes almost fell off when she saw that she was wearing tattered beggar clothes, her hair was unkempt, and her face was covered with mud.

Liu Fayu took out another set of dirty clothes from the bag in his hand and asked Zhong Sanxiu to change as well.

Then, the two of them sneaked into the city in a slovenly manner.

After arriving in the city, Liu Fayu pretended to be sick again and found his contact person, Dean Cao.

Dean Cao and Liu Fayu had known each other many years ago, so they treated Liu Fayu step by step and then wrote a prescription.

And this prescription said: "The medicine will be delivered to the station at 4 o'clock tomorrow morning. Please wait in the waiting room."

The next day, Liu Fayu and Zhong Sanxiu stayed in the waiting room early, and Dean Cao also The medicines were delivered on time.

Considering that there were many people at the station, the three of them put the medicines into Liu Fayu's begging sack under cover of cover.

(medicine)

I thought I would be able to enter the station and get on the train soon, but by chance, I encountered the Kuomintang police coming for a routine inspection.

When they saw Liu Fayu's bulging sack, they suddenly stopped and were about to open the sack for inspection.

Dean Cao was still in the waiting room at that time. Seeing that the situation was not good, he immediately took out his pistol and shot and killed the two eagle and dog minions.

Dean Cao then winked at Liu Fayu and told her to run quickly. Liu Fayu and Zhong Sanxiu took advantage of the commotion and rushed out of the crowd carrying sacks.

However, the gunfire just now attracted five police officers patrolling nearby. They quickly chased Liu Fayu, and Dean Cao shot and killed two more police officers.

Unfortunately, he himself was shot and fell to the ground, dying on the spot.

fell into the hands of the enemy

In the end, Liu Fayu was arrested by several other policemen. They took away the sack that Liu Fayu was tightly protecting and opened it to see that it contained a large amount of medicine.

(medicine)

Liu Fayu and Zhong Sanxiu were then dragged into the interrogation room. Faced with severe torture by the enemy, although the two were dying, they never revealed the identity of Dean Cao and the situation of the Red Army.

The enemy saw that these two women were very tough-talking, so they began to adopt another strategy.

They called Liu Fayu to a small room alone, and suddenly poured out a lot of silver dollars on the table, and then served a table of delicious food.

and told Liu Fayu that if he confesses, all these will be given to Liu Fayu, otherwise he will die!

Liu Fayu has participated in the revolution for many years, has experienced bloodshed and sacrifice, and has already established lofty ideals and beliefs and an unyielding revolutionary will. How could he be blinded by the temporary small profits in front of him and sell his soul?

Comrade Zhong Sanxiu, who was in the interrogation room next door, would rather die than surrender like her.

When the enemies saw that their lobbying against Liu Fayu was unsuccessful, they pulled out the guns at their waists and violently smashed the little finger of Liu Fayu's right hand with the handle of the gun to vent their anger.

Liu Fayu screamed and then fainted in the interrogation room.

(Female Soldiers Tortured)

More than six months after their arrest, Liu Fayu and Zhong Sanxiu had been tortured until they were reduced to human form, but they still refused to "confess."

One night, the prison guard suddenly said thiefly: "Get up, I will take you to a good place!"

When Liu Fayu heard this, he guessed that they were going to take action, and he was ready to die.

Afterwards, six guards put Liu Fayu and some "prisoners" into the car. The car drove quickly in the mountains, and Liu Fayu and others were silent.

At this time, suddenly dense gunshots came from the mountain forest. The enemy driving the car was hit and died on the spot, and the car also hit a rock and stopped.

Before Liu Fayu could figure out what was going on, he suddenly heard people on the mountain shouting:

"Comrades, get out of the car! We are the Red Army guerrillas!"

When Liu Fayu and Zhong Sanxiu heard the word "Red Army", they immediately exchanged words. After a glance, he jumped out of the car sideways while the two parties were exchanging fire.

(Red Army Guerrillas)

Because several people were still tied up with ropes, they had to climb down the slope to the bottom of the mountain.

Liu Fayu was injured after rolling down the mountain, but her hands and feet were still tied. She called out to Zhong Sanxiu several times, but Zhong Sanxiu did not respond.

In desperation, she planned to ask the Red Army guerrillas for help, but she was worried that there were still enemies on the mountain and shouting loudly would alert the enemies.

So she fumbled for a stone from behind and kept rubbing the rope with the stone, but it kept rubbing.

When she was extremely anxious, an old farmer cutting wood happened to pass by.

When the old farmer learned that she was a Red Army soldier, he repeatedly praised her for her good deeds and helped her cut the rope.

Later, Liu Fayu followed the old man back home. After hearing their story, the wife of the old woodcutter farmer cooked a "rich meal" for her.

In order to let Liu Fayu recover from her injuries, they even found out the clothes that their daughter had worn before getting married and asked her to change into them, and told her to recover from her injuries before leaving.

(old farmer)

Liu Fayu rested here for three days, and left in order not to cause trouble to the old couple. After

left, Liu Fayu looked for the Red Army guerrillas but did not find them, and he also looked for Zhong Sanxiu but did not find them.

Finally, she decided to return to Mianning, Sichuan to see if she could find the main force.

However, when she returned to Mianning after going through hardships, she realized that the Red Army troops had already moved away.

In desperation, she had no choice but to rely on her own guess and head north, hoping to meet the large army.

At that time, wars were raging and Kuomintang people were everywhere. She was worried about being arrested again, so she disguised herself as a man and mingled with the beggars all the way north.

During this period, Liu Fayu made a living by begging and inquired about the whereabouts of the Red Army. However, every time she got the news and rushed over, she failed.

Several years later, Liu Fayu traveled to Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou and other places, but he never found the Red Army troops.

Tombstone of Living Martyrs

In 1943, Liu Fayu moved to Laohekou, Hubei Province. At that time, she became seriously ill because of sleeping in the open air.

The owner of a towel factory saw that she was pitiful, so he paid to send her to the hospital, and she saved her life.

After nearly a year of treatment, Liu Fayu finally recovered as before. In order to repay her boss for saving her life, she stayed at the towel factory to work.

In August 1945, news of Japan's surrender spread to various places one after another. Liu Fayu was very excited when she learned the news, and she began to inquire about the whereabouts of the Red Army again.

Once, she overheard a carpenter telling the story of the Red Army.

So she found this carpenter named Zhang Jinyu, but the other person said that it happened more than half a month ago, and he didn't know the specific address.

After his hope was dashed again, Liu Fayu had to give up the idea of ​​looking for the Red Army, thinking that since the war was over, he would not look for the Red Army.

Later, Liu Fayu lived in Zhang Jinyu's house. Zhang Jinyu took great care of Liu Fayu. Liu Fayu was already 35 years old at the time. He was deeply moved to see someone taking care of him like this.

So the two got married under the help of a matchmaker and lived an ordinary life. After that, Liu Fayu never mentioned his participation in the Red Army again.

Her husband’s hometown is Heilongji, Zhenping County, Henan Province. After the victory of the Liberation War, Liu Fayu returned to her hometown with her husband.

Later, she tried to write letters to her relatives in her hometown, but she could not get in touch.

In the end, Liu Fayu made up his mind to stay in Henan and live a good life with her husband.

In 1985, her husband passed away due to illness, and her children had married one after another, leaving Liu Fayu alone.

In that era, there was often a saying in rural areas: If one of a pair of old companions clings to each other dies first, the other's life will be numbered.

Liu Fayu was already over seventy years old at the time. Probably because he guessed that he would not die soon, he often recalled things from his youth.

After several struggles, she told the children the story of her joining the army and expressed her desire to pay homage to her ex-husband.

When the children learned that their mother had such a heroic experience, they all expressed their support for her to return to Jiangxi to find her relatives.

In the spring of the next year, accompanied by his second son Zhang Bingxian, Liu Fayu finally set foot on the train back home.

Decades later, when she returned to Jiangxi again, Liu Fayu's memories came out like a tide, and she cried several times.

After his son settled down, he took Liu Fayu to the local Civil Affairs Bureau.

The staff of the Civil Affairs Bureau were very excited when they saw the old man Liu Fayu, and immediately reported the relevant situation to their superiors.

Later, accompanied by the staff, Liu Fayu came to the Xingguo County Martyrs Cemetery.

Liu Fayu saw the tombstone of her ex-husband Lai Laifa , and next to this tombstone there was another tombstone, which clearly read: Red Army martyr Liu Fayu will live forever.

Liu Fayu was stunned when he saw these words. The staff of the Civil Affairs Bureau quickly explained that when the Red Army met in northern Shaanxi, they had asked someone to look for Liu Fayu.

However, there was no news about her after searching for a long time. The organization thought that she died after rolling down the cliff, so they recorded her on the list of victims.

Later, when New China was founded, Liu Fayu was named a martyr together with other sacrificed comrades.

Hearing this, Liu Fayu burst into tears. It turned out that she had been looking for the organization all these years, and the organization was also looking for her, and even named her a martyr!

The staff comforted Liu Fayu and asked awkwardly: "Do you want to remove this martyr's tombstone first?"

Liu Fayu said with tears: "There is no need to remove it. Can I be buried here after a hundred years?" ?”

The staff said yes, but Liu Fayu would need to cooperate with some procedures. Liu Fayu nodded happily.

Afterwards, her son accompanied her back to her natal family. When she learned that her natal family had gone through several generations and had become a large household with more than 70 people, Liu Fayu cried and laughed.

In order to further make up for his mother's regret, the son asked someone to find several old comrades, one of whom was Zhong Sanxiu.

In the spring of 1987, Zhong Sanxiu, who was already gray-haired, came to Liu Fayu's home accompanied by his family.

After half a century, the two gray-haired old people finally met in a bright place. They hugged each other and cried, telling each other about the situation back then, making up for the regret of caring about each other for decades.

Ten years later, Liu Fayu returned to Jiangxi to visit relatives again. He was welcomed by the masses and staff of relevant departments. Everyone gave this "living martyr" the highest respect! After

, with the coordination of relevant departments, Liu Fayu received a monthly living allowance of 80 yuan.

Although it is only 80 yuan, this subsidy is of great significance to her, because it contains her fiery youth and the blood she has shed!

Conclusion

As a child bride in the early 20th century, Liu Fayu's fate was originally very tragic. There were many Chinese women with tragic fate like her in the old society before liberation.

However, Liu Fayu did not believe in fate. She always insisted on her revolutionary ideals in the dark, and changed her own destiny through practical actions. She also contributed to changing the destiny of old Chinese women who had tragic colors like herself. My own powerful and meager strength.