It was one night in 1950. Mao Anying walked into Chairman Mao’s study with a nervous mood. You should know that his father, who has always been busy with work, rarely talked to him alone. It seems that there must be a very important task to him.
Mao Anying stood in front of his father, looking at his father who was in deep thought, and didn't know what to do for a moment.
Chairman Mao quietly looked at the bright moon outside the window. After a moment of silence, he slowly said:
"A few days will be your grandmother's 80th birthday. You go back to visit her for me. In addition, there is another very important thing that you must do."
"I still owe your cousin a sum of money. In short, this debt has been owed for thirty years. You must pay it back for me this time."
The words of his father couldn't help but make Mao Anying curious. He is already the father of the President of the People's Republic of China. Why do he still owe his cousin's money?
Mao Anying
Mao Zedong smiled slightly and told a story from thirty years ago.
- In that era full of gunpowder, the love of revolutionary youth is sweet and beautiful
This story starts with Mr. Yang Changji, a teacher at Peking University at that time. He was Mao Zedong's teacher. In 1918, under the introduction of Yang Changji, the young Mao Zedong formally met Yang Kaihui.
Yang Kaihui, who is in her prime, was born in a scholarly family and has a gentle temperament. Although she has a dignified appearance, there are no shortage of suitors around her, at No. 9, Doufuchi Hutong, Beijing, when she saw this tall and handsome young man again, she was sure that this was where her heart belonged.
Although Mao Zedong was eight years older than Yang Kaihui, it did not affect the two of them gradually fell in love during the process of acquaintance and getting to know each other.
, the seemingly weak Yang Kaihui has heard his father talk about all kinds of interesting stories and new revolutionary ideas since childhood, so that he established lofty ideals and lofty ambitions to reform society and strive for life to change the destiny of the country.
Her mother Xiang Zhenxi is a diligent, gentle, kind and filial mother. Xiang Zhenxi and Yang Changji respect each other in life and support each other, and silently influence Yang Kaihui.
Therefore, Yang Kaihui's kindness, generosity and people's sufferings were also developed since childhood. It was this personality that became an important prerequisite for the later advance and retreat with Mao Zedong on the revolutionary road.
In fact, before Yang Kaihui met Mao Zedong, she already knew about this person. By chance, she saw an article published by Mao Zedong in a journal. The innovative words and thoughts of the article made Yang Kaihui's eyes lit up. She couldn't help but describe the author's figure in her mind through the lines of the article.
So, when Mao Zedong was invited to visit for the first time and discussed the methods and routes of saving the country and the people with the knowledgeable and talented Yang Changji, Yang Kaihui, who was only thirteen years old, just held a small chair, sat aside, and listened quietly.
Yang Changji
She observed silently, studied, never expressed her opinions, nor disturbed her. This quiet little girl soon attracted Mao Zedong's attention.
He was just curious: This little girl has a different look than her peers in her eyes. What was she thinking?
Until 1918, Mao Zedong came to Beijing with the help of Yang Changji and became a librarian at Peking University. It was also this opportunity that made him meet Yang Kaihui again.
This year, Mao Zedong was 25 years old and Yang Kaihui was 17 years old. At the core, Yang Kaihui is a particularly arrogant woman. Although she pretended to be Mao Zedong in her heart, she couldn't help but confess her love until Tao Yi appeared.
When in Changsha, Tao Yi, the famous Jiangnan No. 1 talented woman, had close contacts with Mao Zedong. Tao Yi, who is cheerful, is much more direct than Yang Kaihui. Her behaviors openly and secretly express her feelings, which made Yang Kaihui feel an unprecedented sense of crisis and finally mustered up the courage to confess. From then on, there were another pair of sweet figures on the campus of Peking University.
The two of them studied progressive ideas in the library together, discussed the development direction of the revolution in Beihai Park, admired maple leaves in Xiangshan, and watched plum blossoms at Peking University.
Mao Zedong and Yang Kaihui
Yang Changji was very pleased to see his beloved daughter come together with the most valued student. Unfortunately, Yang Changji was already seriously ill at that time, and he did not wait until the day when the two of them got married.
On January 17, 1920, Yang Changji passed away. Mao Zedong, as his son-in-law, was guarding Yang Changji at Fayuan Temple with Yang Kaihui. In the winter of the same year, the two held a very simple wedding in Beijing.
This wedding was so simple that there was no auditorium or ceremony, and even the banquet was only one table, but this did not affect the relationship between the two. After the wedding, Yang Kaihui packed up her simple luggage and moved into Mao Zedong's dormitory. Yang Kaihui's addition added a lot of beautiful atmosphere to this ordinary dormitory.
In February of the following year, Yang Kaihui and his brother Yang Kaizhi escorted his father Yang Changji's coffin back to Changsha. This was the first time that Yang Kaihui had separated from his husband after marriage, and she felt infinite longing in her heart.
Yang Kaizhi was once named Yang Zizhen Yang Changji's son
However, time and space did not block the emotions of the two. During this period, Mao Zedong wrote "Yu Meiren·Pillow":
What kind of sorrow is there on the pillow, and the rivers and seas are waving.
How can the sky be brighter in the long night? I have no choice but to sit up in the cold.
All thoughts come to the morning are ashes, and the body is extremely tired and has no support.
One hook of the waning moon flows westward, and there is no reason not to shed tears about it.
This famous lyrics do not have too many gorgeous words in the selection and sentence making. However, the lines express the author's longing for his beloved wife everywhere. In that stormy era, such feelings were so touching.
- Revolutionary wave is coming, couples become comrades-in-arms and jointly create revolutionary cause
1920 In the first half of 1920, the revolutionary situation in Hunan was quite severe, and the people of Hunan were in dire straits. When there was no enough food and no guidance in the spiritual world, what hope did the Chinese have?
So, Mao Zedong, who was worried about the country and the people, immediately decided to create a book club, promote a new culture, and guide the vast number of young students who have lost their direction to the road of revolution. So, he convened 17 people including He Shuheng, Peng Huang, Yi Lirong and other people to hold a launch meeting in Changsha. A group of revolutionaries with common ideals and goals quickly settled the matters related to the establishment of the book club. Unexpectedly, just when everyone was full of confidence, they encountered the most embarrassing problems.
Since you want to start a book club, you must first solve the problem of books. They need to print some Marxist-Leninist books and some progressive books and magazines, as well as newspapers with advanced cultural content, which requires paper, ink and printing equipment, and each of these items requires money to be purchased. Mao Zedong, who was a librarian at Peking University at that time, had a monthly salary of only 8 yuan. The savings in his hand were a drop in the bucket for establishing a bookstore. What should we do now?
According to the results of the "Survey on Social Situation in Beijing from 1918 to 1980", the salary of 8 yuan per month is actually not low for ordinary families. After all, at that time, rice was only 3 cents per catty, and pork was about 1 cent per catty. If you do not owed wages, you can still live a better salary of 8 yuan per month. However, it is basically unlikely to rely on salary income to open a bookstore.
After Yang Kaihui learned about this, she was also very anxious. She ran around and kept contacting her classmates to find relationships, actively cooperated with Mao Zedong's work, hoping to raise enough funds.
After many days of hard work, the funds are still a part of the funds, which makes Yang Kaihui anxious.
Suddenly, she thought of her "family family".
At that time, Mao Zedong's mentor Yang Changji's salary income was much higher than that of ordinary workers.At that time, the salary of Peking University teachers was quite good. Even ordinary teaching assistants could get 50 to 110 yuan a month, and the professor's salary was 140 to 280 yuan, while Yang Changji's salary was 240 yuan, which was 30 times that of Mao Zedong.
Yang Kaihui thought about it again and again, and finally spoke to her mother. However, Yang Kaihui, who was devoted to the revolutionary cause, knew how to be at home.
The money left by her father when she was alive was always kept by her mother Xiang Zhenxi. Mrs. Yang is also a good mother who is thrifty and frugal. After her husband Yang Changji passed away, she carefully managed the family's property. There was no additional expense except for the necessary living expenses at home. After all, she had to maintain the future life of the family.
Hearing Yang Kaihui's request, his mother showed a look of embarrassment on her face. She thought that the husband was gone and there was a large part of his life. Now she still has to use the only money at home to support the revolutionary cause. What should I do in my future life?
Yang Kaihui also saw her mother's hesitation. She said to her mother sincerely: "Mom, Mao Zedong used all his savings to establish a bookstore. He did this to bring more passionate young people on the road of revolution. Only in this way can we completely overthrow the rule of imperialism and establish a brand new China; only in this way can we completely change our own destiny."
Yang Kaihui
"On that time, the general public can live a good life, everyone can live an equal life, and no longer have to worry about eating and dressing."
"Although life is difficult now, I believe that these are temporary, and we will definitely overcome these difficulties and usher in the dawn of new hope."
Listening to his daughter's words, Mrs. Yang fell into deep thought.
At this time, Yang Kaihui said emotionally: "Mom, if my father is still there, I believe he will support Mao Zedong, and he will definitely help him without hesitation." Looking at his daughter's tender but firm face, Mrs. Yang nodded.
A few days later, she handed Yang Kaihui a sum of money to make up for the funding gap in the Cultural Book Club.
Another part of the money is Mr. Yang Changji's "laying ceremony" fee. When Mr. Yang Changji passed away, his colleagues and friends in Beijing donated a "mortality" fee. Mrs. Yang used the money to handle the funeral for Mr. Yang Changji, and the remaining part was saved to be used to subsidize future household expenses.
Hearing Yang Kaihui telling the story of Mao Zedong's efforts to establish a cultural bookstore, he also thought of his appreciation for Mao Zedong when he was alive, and finally decided to take out all the money, just as the teacher's final help to his favorite students.
Not only that, she was worried that she would not have enough funds, so she found her sister Xiang Zhenkai, repeated what Yang Kaihui said to her to her, and asked to borrow money. Sister Xiang Zhenkai is also a person who is very wise, and her daughters Zhong Huaijin and Yang Kaihui are also cousins with very good relationships.
Xiang Zhenkai said to his sister: "I agree to lend this money to you, and I should lend it to you, but I have a condition."
Old Mrs. Yang was a little puzzled.
Sister smiled and said, "This money should not be borrowed in your name. Since the children want to use this money to do the revolution, they should be borrowed in their name and repay it."
Lady Yang nodded emotionally after hearing this.
So, there was a beginning, and Mao Zedong asked Mao Anying to repay the revolutionary debt that he had owed for thirty years.
With this funding, the Cultural Bookstore was grandly opened at No. 56 Chaozong Street on September 9, 1920. The then governor of Hunan Province, Tan Tingkai, who was also the commander-in-chief of the Hunan Army, was present to cut it himself and unveiled the plaque of the Cultural Bookstore written by him. This behavior greatly laid the social foundation of the Cultural Bookstore in the local area at that time. The opening of
Cultural Book Club has set off a considerable wave of new culture, and there are endless people coming to borrow books, reading books and buying books, most of which are young students.The bookstore is full of progressive publications carefully selected by founders such as Mao Zedong and He Shuheng. These books open the door to a new world that has never been seen before for readers.
In the early days of opening, the employees of the book club were in a very difficult condition. Not only did they have no salary, but they even had to find a way to solve their living expenses. Every day, when it was time for dinner, they ordered a small coal stove under the eaves of the book club and cooked on it with clay jars. After the rice was cooked, they also ate the pickles brought by the house with relish. Under such conditions, no one retreated.
With their passion and unremitting efforts, the Cultural Bookstore soon attracted a huge response in the local area and attracted attention from all walks of life, and many advanced people have helped. With more and more funds flowing in, the Cultural Book Club soon opened branches in cities outside Changsha. The founders, staff and a group of young students with advanced ideas became the earliest group of revolutionaries who shed blood and sacrificed their lives for the founding of New China and made indelible contributions.
In the process of creating Communist Party activities, the Cultural Book Club has also become an important gathering point for revolutionary activists.
- Changsha Cultural Book Club The secret revolutionary base hidden in the downtown city
The cultural book club can develop so quickly and vividly, which is inseparable from Mao Zedong's best knowledge of accounting management and his flexible business mind.
When he was a teenager, Mao Zedong had already taken over the account book given to him by his father Mao Shunsheng and took on the "heavy task" of managing the entire family's expenses. Mao Shunsheng, who had a business mind, has intentionally or unintentionally cultivated Mao Zedong's business skills since he was a child. For example, the account book and plan. The "payment" accounting method adopted by the young Mao Zedong managed the income and expenditure of a big family in an orderly manner. It was these basic skills that made Mao Zedong feel at ease in the process of expanding the book club later.
Cultural Book Club Ruins
In the early days of the book club, Mao Zedong strictly required his "employees" to record every income and expenditure of the book club clearly and not allow any confusing accounts.
At first, in order to solve the problem of insufficient funding for the book club, Mao Zedong took the business experience accumulated with his father to the extreme. He cleverly used the tools of public opinion to vigorously promote the Cultural Bookstore, and also sold a large number of easy-to-understand vernacular books and magazines based on readers' interests and hobbies, and designed appropriate soft articles based on best-selling books to promote them again.
With his efforts, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and others also became his "introducers" and worked hard to open a branch for the Cultural Bookstore. With the help of Chen Duxiu, well-known publishing houses such as Shanghai Commercial Press, Zhonghua Book Company, and Xinqing Nians Club gave priority to providing books and magazines for cultural book clubs, and there was no need to pay a deposit in advance. Li Dazhao also found the lowest-cost book supplier for cultural book clubs. In this way, the most basic "source of goods" of cultural book clubs is guaranteed, and a large amount of funds are saved.
And at this time, Yang Kaihui also became a mother. In 1922, their first child was born in Changsha. Mao Zedong named the child "An Ying", which means greatness and bravery. This name carries too many expectations of his father Mao Zedong. He hopes that his son can grow up healthily and inherit his revolutionary cause as soon as possible.
Yang Kaihui, who was a mother for the first time, "one heart and two purposes". While taking care of her hungry son, she was also concerned about whether Mao Zedong's revolutionary cause was going smoothly.
At the end of the second year, the second son Mao Anying was also born.
The two brothers once spent an unforgettable and happy time with their father. The gentle care of their mother and the careful teachings made them still miss this hard-won time very much after many years.
On April 4, 1927, their young son Mao Anyong was born in Wuhan.
If it was a peaceful era, how happy it would be for such a family of five. However, the never-stop revolutionary wave still swept towards them ruthlessly.
On April 12, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the April 12 counter-revolutionary coup in Shanghai.
Considering that the children were young, Mao Zedong had to arrange for Yang Kaihui and three young children to return to Bancang, Changsha, Yang Kaihui's mother's home.
It was not until mid-August that Mao Zedong returned to Changsha again and met his wife and children whom he had been thinking about day and night. This reunion was quite in a hurry, and Mao Zedong left Bancang and arrived in Anyuan in just three or four days, because there was another more important thing waiting for him, that is, the Autumn Harvest Uprising.
However, no one expected that this reunion would be the last meeting between Mao Zedong and his wife Yang Kaihui and his youngest son Mao Anyong.
As long as I can remember, Mao Anying knew that his grandmother Xiang Zhenxi loved the three brothers very much. His mother was often busy cooperating with her father and doing local work in the party, so basically all the three children were handed over to her grandmother to take care of.
There is a large area of red mountains in front of my grandmother’s house. The sensible Mao Anying often brought his two younger brothers to play nearby. Before returning home, he did not forget to pick a handful of bright red beans to give to his mother.
Bancang, Yang Kaihui's mother's home Bancang, Yang Kaihui's mother's home
Mao Anying was eight years old at this time, and it had been more than two years since the last time he saw his father.
Mao Zedong, who was far away in Jinggangshan, was of course very concerned about his wife and children. However, because the revolutionary situation at that time was too severe, the two were not only unable to meet, but even the letters were very small. Occasionally, he received a letter from Mao Zedong. Yang Kaihui always read it over and over again, and read it word by word to the children. Through these letters, Yang Kaihui learned that Mao Zedong's revolutionary cause in Jinggangshan was progressing very smoothly, and she felt relieved after missing her.
As the sparks in Jinggangshan became more and more vigorous, the crazy enemy retaliated against Mao Zedong and even shifted the target to Yang Kaihui and her children.
In October 1930, due to the information from enemy specialists, Yang Kaihui was exposed at Bancang's home. She and her eight-year-old son Mao Anying were taken to the Changsha Security Command for interrogation. Here, Yang Kaihui endured various poisonous punishments that ordinary people could not bear, and refused to succumb to the enemy's request to break away from Mao Zedong.
On November 14, 1930, Mao Zedong's wife Yang Kaihui was killed in Zhili Ling outside Liuyang Gate, Changsha City, at the age of 29.
The bad news spread to Jinggangshan, and the grief Mao Zedong wrote eight words "The death of Kaihui cannot be redeemed for a hundred bodies."
After Yang Kaihui died, Mao Anying, who was imprisoned in the cell, was rescued by the party organization under the CCP, and secretly escorted him and his two younger brothers to Shanghai.
In 1936, Mao Anying was arranged to study in the Soviet Union and did not return to Yan'an until 1946.
- Drinking water and not forgetting to dig the well. With the task assigned by his father, Mao Anying returned to his hometown to pay off his father's debts
1950, Mao Anying, who was newly married, took that important task under the appointment of his father, returned to his mother Yang Kaihui's hometown, Xiangtan, Hunan.
After Mao Anying came back, he did not forget his father's teachings: take off his military uniform, no guards are allowed to follow him, and he cannot enjoy a special car to pick him up and drop him off. All food and daily life must be based on local farmers.
After seeing his grandson Mao Anying, she was so excited that she couldn't speak for a long time. Her wrinkled hands gently stroked her grandson's forehead and kept saying in a trembling voice:
"I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, it's good to come back."
Xiang Zhenxi
After celebrating her grandmother's birthday, Mao Anying couldn't wait to inquire about her cousin's aunt Xiang Zhenkai's news. When he learned that his cousin lived in the Zhong family in Tianping, Shidong, Pingjiang, 10 or 20 miles away from Bancang, and Mao Anying, who had completed the task, hurriedly bid farewell to his grandmother and rushed to his cousin's house.
At this time, Xiang Zhenkai was seriously ill, and his only daughter, Zhong Huaijin, was left by his side. In the early years, when Yang Kaihui lived in her parents' home with her three children, she often went to Zhong Huaijin's house to play. Mao Anying had a deep relationship with Zhong Huaijin's family.
Xiang Zhenkai saw Mao Anying, who had grown up, standing in front of his bed, able to support his weak body, and chatted with Mao Anying for a long time.The most mentioned in the process is of course what Mao Anying’s parents were already in the event when Mao Anying was a child.
Just as Xiang Zhenkai was feeling a lot of emotion, Mao Anying took out a cloth bag from his arms. After he opened it layer by layer, he revealed the 100 yuan inside. He solemnly explained his purpose to his cousin. My cousin's aunt burst into tears:
"Our aunt Mao is now a famous big shot. She is so busy and still remembers these little things. It's great. My son-in-law is a good leader. I thank my son-in-law for his concern for me." Not long after, Xiang Zhenkai and Xiang Zhenxi lived together in Xisheng Park, Changsha City, under the arrangement of Chairman Mao, and sent living expenses to the two elderly people every month, and often wrote letters to them.
Chairman Mao never forgot the contributions made by the Yang family to the revolutionary cause. Under Chairman Mao’s care, the two old men lived happily in their later years until they passed away.
Mao Zedong was very sad when he learned that the old man Xiang Zhenxi had passed away. He even proposed to let Xiang Zhenxi have the same acupuncture as his wife Yang Kaihui, and said:
"Mao and Yang will always be a family"!
In the process of fighting against the enemy, the Xiang and Yang families made indelible sacrifices for the victory of the revolution. The people have not forgotten their sacrifices! Chairman Mao did not forget! History will never be forgotten!
——I would like to pay tribute to the great Chairman Mao with this article!
