One day in the mid-1960s, Premier Zhou's younger brother Zhou Enshou found Premier Zhou and asked his brother to return home. At this time, Zhou Enshou suffered from stomach disease and had not returned to his hometown for many years, so he especially wanted to go back to his hometown to have a look.
Zhou Enshou
Premier Zhou has never returned to his hometown since the revolution. After the founding of New China , the Prime Minister had no time to return to his hometown due to busy government affairs. At this time, he was very happy to hear his younger brother's request and let his younger brother go back for him to see him. Premier Zhou was about to agree, but suddenly he rejected his brother's request as if he had thought of something and said firmly: "You can't go back!"
Why did Premier Zhou suddenly change his attitude?
Zhou Enshou, whose courtesy name is Tongyu , is Premier Zhou's younger brother. Influenced by his elder brother Zhou Enlai, and influenced by the progressive thoughts of Nankai Middle School, in 1924, he joined the Chinese Socialist Youth League and joined the " Awakening Society " founded by his elder brother, becoming a young traffic officer.
With his outstanding performance, Zhou Enshou became a member of the Communist Party in the winter of 1924, and in 1925, according to the organization's arrangements, he engaged in the party's underground transportation and propaganda work. Zhou Enshou has excellent personal abilities and is flexible and cautious when working, so the party organization is particularly at , Huangpu Military Academy, and studying.
Later, Zhou Enshou joined the army to participate in the Northern Expedition , and the revolutionary situation was booming. During this period, Zhou Enshou maintained close contact with his brother Zhou Enlai until 1928.
Since 1927, Chiang Kai-shek has slaughtered the revolution and massacred many aspiring people. Zhou Enshou was furious and immediately signed a signature on the declaration of Chiang Kai-shek, which was wanted for this. In order to avoid the pursuit, in early 1928, Zhou Enshou bid farewell to his brother in Shanghai and went to Jilin alone. After
, Zhou Enshou stayed in Jilin and he was always concerned about the revolution.
In May 1928, Premier Zhou and Deng Yingchao were preparing to go to Moscow to attend the Sixth National Congress, but when they passed by the Northeast, they were attracted by the attention of Japanese spies. At this critical moment, Premier Zhou thought of his younger brother Zhou Enshou, so he wrote a letter to his younger brother.
After Zhou Enshou received the letter, he almost immediately understood that his brother was in a bad situation at this time. Zhou Enshou immediately came to the hotel quietly, picked up his brother and sister-in-law, and then covered his brother and sister-in-law leaving Jilin and boarded the train to the Soviet Union.
Since then, Zhou Enshou gradually lost communication with his brother and lost contact with the party organization. He lived a civilian life in the Northeast.
He also tried to contact his brother. Unfortunately, Premier Zhou later fought with the Kuomintang reactionaries in order to protect the revolution. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he fought with the Japanese devils again. Therefore, he was unable to contact his brother.
However, Zhou Enshou has always kept in mind his brother's teachings. In 1945, after many efforts, Zhou Enshou finally got in touch with our party and learned about his brother's whereabouts. By February 1946, the two brothers who had been separated for 18 years finally met again. After meeting, Zhou Enshou immediately proposed to join the revolution again, and Premier Zhou was naturally very happy. According to the organization's arrangement, Zhou Enshou went to Tianjin to open a "people's livelihood warehouse" and provided medicines and funds to the party organization through this warehouse .
Zhou Enshou made contributions to the Party’s War of Liberation. After the founding of New China in 1949, he was extremely happy and hoped to continue to do some work for the revolution.
When Premier Zhou learned about his younger brother’s idea, he was very happy that his younger brother had this kind of heart, but he hoped that his younger brother could strictly demand himself. Only in this way can he contribute to the people.
So, Premier Zhou found his younger brother Enshou and suggested: "I know what you think, but I think you should go to BGI first, so that you can only work for the people after studying."
Although Zhou Enshou wanted to work as soon as possible, he also understood what his brother meant. Therefore, after thinking about his brother's suggestions, he came to "BGI" ( North China People's Revolutionary University ) to study for a year.During this year's study, Zhou Enshou enriched himself, which laid a solid foundation for his next work. After graduation, Zhou Enshou was assigned to work at the Beijing Iron and Steel Bureau and later transferred to the Ministry of Metallurgy. On weekdays, Zhou Enshou dared not relax himself at all. In addition to his own request, it was also because Premier Zhou often supervised him.
Premier Zhou is always strict with himself and honest, so he is also strict with his relatives and is especially strict with his relatives who are officials. He has repeatedly warned his relatives: "Don't think you have any special things just because I am the Prime Minister. I am the Prime Minister of the country, not the Prime Minister of the Zhou family."
How strict is Premier Zhou? When organizes the assignment of work to Zhou Enshou, Premier Zhou will find the leader of the allocation unit and explain to the leader that the assignment of work to Zhou Enshou should have a low position and a low salary.
In addition, one day in 1963, Premier Zhou also found Zhou Enshou and asked him to retire as soon as possible. At this time, Zhou Enshou was not yet at the age of retirement, and he was still one year away. The reason why Premier Zhou asked his younger brother to retire early was because his younger brother could not go to work normally due to illness.
Since the late 1950s, Zhou Enshou has been often tortured by stomach problems, so he often takes leave to rest at home. Premier Zhou invited Dr. Wu Weiran, a famous surgeon at Union Hospital, to perform surgery on his younger brother and arranged for his younger brother to go to other places for several treatments, hoping that his illness would be cured as soon as possible.
However, because Zhou Enshou's condition was too serious and he had not been cured, should he still have to rest and could not go to work normally. But Zhou Enshou was unable to go to work normally, but he received a normal salary. Premier Zhou felt that this was not a good impact, so he found his younger brother and hoped that he could retire voluntarily.
At the same time, Premier Zhou also found Zeng Shan, the upper-level leader of Zhou Enshou, and explained to him: "My brother is in poor health and cannot insist on going to work. Please let him retire early." Retirement means that there is no chance to adjust his salary again, and many benefits during work will be cancelled. At that time, most people were unwilling to retire. Some people were at the age of retirement and wanted to postpone the retirement procedures, not to mention that Zhou Enshou was not yet at the age of retirement.
So, Zeng Shan just agreed verbally and did not put it into practice. Premier Zhou was very dissatisfied with this, so he found Zeng Shan again on this day and asked him: "How many times have my brother been told about the retirement procedures? Why haven't he done it?" Zeng Shan said that he was busy these days, so he didn't do it in time.
Premier Zhou said seriously about this: "This is not a reason. He is my younger brother. How can he get his full salary but not go to work?"
In June 1963, Zhou Enshou went through the retirement procedures in advance. After retirement early, his salary decreased significantly. He had 6 children in his family and 4 of them were still in school, which was a heavy burden.
In fact, Premier Zhou is very clear that early retirement will have a certain impact on his younger brother's life, but he always believes that he must not be the one who is an official in a feudal society and enjoys the whole family. Instead, everything should be considered from a party standpoint. The higher the position, the higher the standards, and the stricter the relatives' requirements.
This is Premier Zhou’s attitude and principles towards family affairs.
. Since his younger brother retired, Premier Zhou began to subsidize his younger brother from his salary. This is also the decision he made when he asked his younger brother to retire early. From 105 yuan to 120 yuan, it later reached 200 yuan until 1968 when my younger brother's six children started working.
Someone has calculated that from the implementation of the salary system to his death in 1976, nearly a quarter of the total salary was spent on subsidies to relatives. Premier Zhou never felt sorry for him. Premier Zhou’s wife Deng Yingchao once said to his niece:
"Your uncle and I help you financially not only because of our kinship, but because of the responsibility that a Communist Party member should fulfill to the country and society."
Zhou Enshou is actually not surprised by his brother's strict requirements, and he has even become accustomed to it. Under the guidance of his brother, he has become stricter himself.But despite this, once in , Zhou Enshou still felt that his brother was a bit too strict.
As he grew older, Zhou Enshou missed his hometown more and more. Due to displaced in the first half of his life, he could not return to Huai'an . After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he did not have the opportunity to return to Huai'an because he was busy with work. It was not until after retirement that Zhou Enshou became idle.
As mentioned earlier, Zhou Enshou's physical condition at this time was not very good, which made his homesickness even stronger. So, Zhou Enshou wanted to ask his brother to go back to his hometown to take a look. First, it is to relieve his homesickness, and second, his hometown is beautiful and beautiful, which is also conducive to recuperation.
But Zhou Enshou knew that if he mentioned it directly, with his brother's personality, he would definitely not agree, so he decided to wait for an opportunity. At this time, Zhou Enshou learned that his brother was preparing to purify the ancestral tomb in his hometown in Huai'an, but was worried that Tao Hua, the wife of Zhou Enshuo, who had been living in Huai'an, had objected and someone needed to convince him.
Zhou Enshou thought this was the best opportunity to return to his hometown, so he came to Xihua Hall and found Premier Zhou, saying that he could do his job as a sister-in-law Tao Hua.
Premier Zhou was very happy after hearing this. If he asked his younger brother to do his job, it would definitely go smoothly. Moreover, if his younger brother returned to his hometown, he could also see the changes in his hometown for him. It was very good.
Thinking of this, Premier Zhou smiled and said, "Okay..." But before he finished speaking, Premier Zhou thought about it and immediately said firmly, "No, you can't go back!"
Zhou Enshou was extremely excited, thinking that his brother finally agreed, but before he was happy for a long time, his brother said he couldn't go back. Zhou Enshou couldn't understand why. He really wanted to go back to his hometown to see him. Therefore, he always respected his brother and asked desperately: "Why?"
Looking at his brother's incredible expression, Premier Zhou said with a bright look, word by word: "Because you are Zhou Enlai's younger brother!"
Immediately afterwards, Premier Zhou explained to his younger brother why he couldn't go back: Once he went back, the local leaders would make a big fight because he was Zhou Enlai's younger brother, which would not only waste local money but also delay local work. And this is what Premier Zhou least wants to see.
Zhou Enshou finally understood that in his brother's heart, the country will always be the first, and the individual will always be the second. Indeed, Premier Zhou always walked away with simple food, clothing, housing and food.
Once, the staff renovated Premier Zhou’s house without obtaining Premier Zhou’s consent. The square bricks on the floor were converted into wooden boards, and the soft beds, curtains and bathtubs were also replaced.
Unexpectedly, Premier Zhou was furious after he came back and asked the staff to replace the worn curtains and wooden beds that had been previously worn. Not only that, Premier Zhou also made a review, and he said:
"I am not a good prime minister. I want to take a good lead. You will learn well and learn good things. If I take a bad lead, you will learn bad things with me. Don't learn from me. I really need to review this matter, don't learn from me."
Zhou Enshou felt deep admiration and pride in his heart, and he no longer asked to return home from now on. Premier Zhou taught by example and influenced the people around him.
In his life, Premier Zhou never left behind a piece of money, a piece of brick, a piece of brick, a piece of tiles. Although he did not leave material wealth for future generations, he left behind spiritual wealth for future generations with indifferent fame and fortune, great severity and great love. This spirit always educates every Communist to uphold integrity, integrity and dedication, and strict self-discipline!
