Chapter 4 mother's teaching

Zhou Enlai's healthy growth in his youth was inseparable from the nurturing and teaching of the two great women behind him.One is the twelfth aunt of the Wan family, a shrewd, capable, and open-minded biological mother who was born in an official family; The mother's love devoted all her heart to Enlai; the difference is that each of them unconsciously influenced him with different backgrounds, upbringing and personalities, so that he acquired various intellectual abilities and moral qualities. Wan's mother is Enlai's biological mother. She is beautiful and has a hearty personality. She loves Enlai like a jewel in the palm of her hand.Although she has "hugged" Enlai to Chen Shi, she still maintains her parent-child love with him.Although her education level is not high, she is a very capable woman who is good at dealing with people and dealing with affairs.After the father-in-law passed away, there was a situation in which there were no successors in this family of officials.Uncle Yigeng worked as a staff member similar to a section chief in Fengtian Yamen, and his income was limited, so he didn't have much support for the family.Her husband, Yi Neng, failed to learn from his master and cut off his way to become an official. He could only do small errands such as clerical work in the government, with less income and unable to support his family.Two younger uncles: Yikui is crippled; Yigan Zaotian.There is no way to get money, but the magistrate's home still has to maintain its facade.The weddings and funerals of relatives and friends are celebrated, and the welcome and sending off during the New Year and festivals. This kind of entertainment must be maintained at the level of the year, so as not to lose face.This burden fell on the twelfth aunt of the Wan family.Because she followed her father Wan Qingxuan in and out of the official family since she was a child, she has experienced relatively large scenes, she is well-informed, intelligent, shrewd, and fair in handling affairs, and she is indeed capable of acting as the housekeeper of this declining Zhou family.In order to solve the contradictions of making ends meet financially, pawn loans and raise money; in order to maintain the face of Zhou Mansion, a certain ostentation must be maintained; ...And when she was dealing with these important household affairs, she often liked to bring Enlai by her side, just like her father used to like to take her by his side.This gave Enlai the opportunity to touch the darkness hidden behind the beautiful veil.His mother's ability to handle affairs left a deep impression on him.When Wan was resolving disputes, the young Enlai watched and listened. He admired his mother's method of listening to all parties patiently before expressing her opinions.Enlai learned many ways of doing things from his biological mother, which had an important impact on his ability to do things in the future.However, Enlai didn't like the things his biological mother did. On the contrary, as he grew older and wiser, he became more and more suspicious and disgusted. "Why do you want to save face when you are so poor?" He observed, thinking...

Decades later, Zhou Enlai, who was the prime minister, recalled emotionally: "Feudal families have always had a good face, and they would rather be in debt than lose face. Therefore, I knew that life was difficult since I was a child. My father often went out, and I At the age of ten or eleven, I started to be in charge of the house, taking care of the family’s daily necessities, rice, oil and salt, and going out to socialize. In this regard, I have been given some training.” The cheerful and straightforward personality of the birth mother Wan’s character and the shrewdness and decisiveness in dealing with things also had a great influence on Enlai’s childhood. .

In the spring of 1907, his biological mother, Wan Shi, died of poverty, illness and sorrow.Her passing was unfortunate and inevitable.Because she lost not only the material basis for maintaining her life, but also the spiritual power to cope with the environment.At that time, Enlai's father, who was working out of town to earn more than ten yuan a month, did not have time to come back to see her for the last time.Chen's mother caressed her beloved son En infinitely sadly and said, "Daluan, I won't live long!" The stepmother Chen Sangu is also from Qingjiangpu.Clever and eager to learn, she has become a woman with outstanding talents.Her father, Chen Yuan, was a talented scholar who was also proficient in medicine and well-versed in classics and history, but he did not achieve remarkable fame and status.Chen was good at calligraphy, painting and poetry since he was a child, with extensive knowledge and profound literary accomplishment.Her husband died a year after she got married, so she took the young Enlai as her only spiritual sustenance and hope in life.When Xiao Enlai was three or four years old, he read and wrote with her every day; after he was five years old, he learned Tang poetry and Song Ci from her, and he was familiar with many poems, such as "When we hoe the grain at noon, the sweat drops into the soil. Who Knowing Chinese food on a plate, every grain is hard work.” “One grain of millet is planted in spring, ten thousand seeds are harvested in autumn, the world has nothing to do, and the farmer will still starve to death.” And so on.When Enlai was a little longer, Mrs. Chen often told him some stories that were widely circulated in Huai'an, such as "The Injustice of Dou E", "Han Xin's Crotch Humiliation", etc., as well as stories about the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Boxers; It is the story of the patriotic hero Guan Tianpei and the heroines Liang Hongyu and Qiu Jin.Later, when Zhou En came to Nankai School, he wrote the article "Recalling the Past in Sheyang". .

In addition to reading and listening to stories, Xiao Enlai also insisted on practicing writing, no matter in the hot summer or the cold winter, he never stopped.He writes very seriously and meticulously. He doesn't like to draw red, but he is good at practicing hanging pens. He often dips water on the polished Luo floor tiles to practice repeatedly, and finally he has a good calligraphy with Weibei and Yan style.The vigorous and powerful characters on the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square are the result of Zhou Enlai's hard work in his youth.In addition, the adoptive mother also taught him to do various puzzle games, and the more common one is to compete in poetry.This kind of game is to first write the characters from an ancient poem on each square piece of paper, and then mix them together to see who can rearrange these single characters into a poem first.In such games, Enlai often plays quickly and well, spells verses accurately, and is sometimes creative.Unfortunately, only half a year after the death of the birth mother Wan Shi, the stepmother Chen Shi was again killed by tuberculosis.Enlai, who was only ten years old, finished the funeral for his stepmother in great grief, and took his two younger brothers to escort his stepmother's coffin back to his hometown in Huai'an, where he was buried with his uncle.To commemorate his dearest stepmother, Zhou Enlai wrote an article "Nianniang" in grief, expressing his endless yearning for his mother.The article wrote: "I opened the poem book written by my mother and read it several times. I burned the incense and sat quietly for a while. I felt very uncomfortable in my heart. The tears couldn't help but flow down. The year and month are exactly twenty-six years from now. At that time, my mother was only fifteen years old, and she was still at my grandmother's house. When I think of it, the time is easy to be imprinted. My mother has passed away for ten years. I don't know if I still want to have my son. No?" Between the lines, the sorrow is endless, and the affection is extremely long.

Throughout his life, Zhou Enlai was deeply influenced by his biological mother and stepmother's education and enlightenment when he was young, in terms of character, knowledge, cultivation, and conduct, which laid a good foundation for his future path and achievements.When he was in Europe, he said in a letter expressing his ambition to "believe in the principles of communism" that he was firstly "naturally harmonious" and secondly "seeking the truth very strongly".Both of these two characters are related to the influence of the two mothers in the early years.After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhou Enlai said to reporters in Chongqing: "I haven't returned home for thirty-eight years. I want to come to my mother's grave, but I regret that I have not repaid my kindness!" "To this day, I still have to thank Inspired by my mother. Without her love and care, I would not have embarked on the path of learning." In September 1946, Zhou Enlai once again recalled his dear mother affectionately in an interview with American reporter Lieberman: "My My mother is beautiful and kind-hearted, and she gave birth to three children—me and two younger brothers. After I was born, because my uncle Zhou Yigan passed away, according to the traditional custom, I was adopted to my uncle and raised by my widowed aunt. My aunt is My stepmother, Mrs. Chen, is an educated woman. When I was five years old, she often told me stories, such as "Tianyuhua", etc., and my stepmother stayed in the room all day long. It was inherited from her. But my biological mother was a cheerful person, so I also have this part of my personality.” The two mothers poured all their maternal love on Zhou Enlai; and Zhou Enlai later devoted all his love to his mother. Served to the motherland and all mankind.