Chapter 4 Chapter Three Zhou Enlai's Hometown Love

The land where childhood memories are buried is hometown. Comrade Zhou Enlai left his hometown to study at the age of twelve, seeking the truth of saving the country and the people. Later, as the Prime Minister of the Republic, he took care of all kinds of opportunities, "clothes" but failed to "return with honor", and he never returned to his hometown of Huai'an again. However, he always has deep feelings for the native land where he was raised. Whether it is the compositions and letters he wrote when he was a teenager, or the conversations he had with his relatives in his hometown, all of them are full of his deep nostalgia for his hometown.

One day in July 1958, when the night was slowly falling, a middle-aged man walked into the gate of Zhongnanhai and hurried into a courtyard with mottled trees.He is Wang Ruxiang, deputy magistrate of Huai'an County, Jiangsu Province. "Have you finished eating?" the Prime Minister greeted from afar, and pulled Lao Wang to sit down on the wicker chair in the living room.Lao Wang rubbed his hands awkwardly and lowered his head, not daring to meet the prime minister's eyes.Two days ago, when he met with the Prime Minister, he hinted at the difficulties in his hometown on the grounds of reporting the situation in his hometown, and hoped that the Prime Minister would help him solve some steel products to develop local industries.But the Prime Minister said straight away: "You came to open the back door to me, a fellow villager!" Old Wang's face was hot all of a sudden.What kind of criticism will be waiting for him this time?Pharaoh wiped his sweat restlessly.

The Prime Minister pondered for a moment, and said apologetically, "Old Wang, I didn't entertain you very well this time. I just let you have a light meal. You must complain that I am a stingy fellow." "No, no, Prime Minister, I ate very well that day." The prime minister shook his head: "It may be richer for you to entertain guests below. I am not free as a prime minister! The State Council has standards for hospitality, and I cannot make an exception." After a while, the Prime Minister suddenly asked Lao Wang: "I heard that you are going to rebuild my house. Don't think I am the Prime Minister!"

"It's not rebuilding, it's repairing. The house has been in disrepair for a long time and is about to collapse. We straightened it up. Ercui (the prime minister's nephew) has joined the army. Supporting the army and giving priority to family members is also what we should do." "When the house collapsed, it was demolished. How did you deal with the landlord's house in the city? My house, I think it can be confiscated." Old Wang was stunned.After a while, he had an idea: "Prime Minister, the city hasn't carried out land reform, so how can you just confiscate houses?"

After hearing this, the Prime Minister couldn't help laughing and said, "Okay, let's not talk about confiscation, let's not talk about confiscation." Lao Wang also laughed. The Prime Minister suddenly changed the subject: "Old Wang, bribery is not allowed among fellow villagers." "Bribe?" Old Wang was quite surprised.Thinking of going to Beijing this time, I brought some native tea products from my hometown, and asked the comrades in the Prime Minister's Office to hand them over to the Prime Minister. "This is a little thought from the people in my hometown. Please let the Prime Minister taste it."

"Try it? It's a big iron box! It's not allowed to treat guests and give gifts, the State Council has regulations." "This……" The Prime Minister saw what Lao Wang was thinking, raised his hand to touch his temples, and laughed loudly: "Look, you all regard me as a black-faced Baogong! After so many years, you are the first parent official who came to see me from my hometown, okay Well, I have to make an exception to enforce the law and break the law." The Prime Minister said with great emotion: "I have been away from my hometown for so long that even your parents don't understand me!" After that, he asked softly: "Is the Wenqu not blocked?"

"No." "When I was young, my friends and I used to row boats and fight water fights in Wenqu. The adults locked up the boats for fear of accidents, and we quietly knocked off the locks, and rowed far away. The parents were so frightened that they beat the big gong, and everyone Streets and alleys shouted and searched. One day at noon, a few friends and I secretly paddled the boat from Wenqu to the river. My aunt stood at the pier, looking left and right. She didn’t see the shadow of our boat until the sun went down. She hurriedly ran to meet Ying, I shook my body and almost fell. I was very scared, thinking, this time I will inevitably be punished! But my aunt didn't blame me at all, instead, she hugged me tightly, tears streaming down my face, This made me feel worse than being beaten, and I couldn't help crying too..."

The prime minister seemed to have returned to his innocent childhood and became much younger.Seeing that the Prime Minister had such a deep affection for his hometown, Lao Wang said: "Prime Minister, you have been away from your hometown for so many years, and now your hometown has changed a lot. You should always go back and have a look." The Prime Minister nodded, lay back on the rattan chair, slightly opened his eyes, and said with emotion: "Yes, why don't I want to go back and have a look! In 1946, I was in Meiyuan New Village, Nanjing, and dreamed I rowed a boat in Wenqu. When I woke up, I thought, when the whole country is liberated, I must go back and have a look. But there are so many things waiting for us to do these years. Sometimes we are busy with work, and when we encounter difficult things and difficult things Anxiety, I am so nervous that I can’t even eat, I can’t sleep, I really want to go back immediately to meet some childhood friends, climb the Drum Tower, fly kites..." The Prime Minister said, his eyes were moist, and he was completely immersed In the lingering homesickness.At this time, the courtyard of the West Flower Hall was very quiet, only the leaves rustling in the breeze outside the window, like a lullaby full of dreams, flowing in the quiet summer night, reminding people of the long time ago.

Lao Wang looked at the prime minister affectionately, and suddenly found that his old man with mottled temples and thin face was livid, looking so tired and haggard all of a sudden.Recalling what the prime minister’s aunt once said, when the prime minister was young, he had “black brows, big eyes, a full sky, and a very strong body”, Lao Wang’s heart trembled, and he persuaded him very earnestly: “Prime Minister, no matter how busy you are at work, you should always pay attention to it. rest!" The Prime Minister smiled and did not comment. After a moment of silence, he said: "Old Wang, you are a parent official, and I will not hide what is in my heart from you. Listen to what I have to say, and you are the referee. There is such a ferryman, he In the turbulent torrent, he rowed the boat to the center of the river. At this time, he felt very tired, and the other side was a place that tourists yearned for. Tell me, what should the ferryman do?"

After hearing this, Old Wang felt a strong whirlpool in his chest.He looked at the prime minister and said nothing more. In order to break the silence, the Prime Minister handed over a letter, which said: "Jiang Weiqing, Liu Shunyuan, Comrade Hui Yuyu received." I, a Huai'an native, have to fulfill my responsibilities as a Huai'an native. You submit this letter to the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, and ask them to help solve your difficulties as much as possible." After receiving the letter, Pharaoh didn't know what to say for a moment.He deeply felt that Premier Zhou had caused trouble.Unexpectedly, the Prime Minister did not blame too much, and kept it firmly in his heart.Without even reading it, he put the letter in his pocket.

"Slow down," the Prime Minister stopped him: "Open it and have a look. Does the content of the letter conform to your intention?" Lao Wang felt even more uneasy, and said repeatedly: "Yes, please." He wanted to put the letter in his pocket again.The Prime Minister saw Lao Wang's rigidity and said humorously: "If you don't read it, you won't be able to pay the job when you go back. Don't regret it!" Lao Wang carefully put this heavy letter integrating party spirit and humanity into his pocket.At this time, he only hated his job for not doing a good job, failing to change Huai'an's backwardness as soon as possible, and making the Prime Minister worry about it. The Prime Minister watched Lao Wang put the letter seriously, and said in a discussing tone: "Old Wang, I have an immature opinion. Last time, you said that you planned to change all the dry fields in the county into paddy fields. It may not be appropriate, we must take care of the habits and emotions of the masses, and dry crops can also produce high yields.” The Prime Minister’s words shook Lao Wang’s heart like Hong Zhongdalu, and caused a burst of guilt and anxiety. In a blink of an eye, three hours passed.Lao Wang bid farewell to the Prime Minister and walked out of the living room slowly.The moonlight is thin, the night wind is blowing gently, the forest waves in Zhongnanhai are sounding, and the air is filled with the fragrance of flowers and plants.Lao Wang looked at the Prime Minister, reluctant to leave for a long time.Standing in front of the steps, the Prime Minister also stared into the distance silently, as if looking affectionately at the bubbling Wenqu in his hometown, and as if he was happily pulling the kite floating in the white clouds in his hometown... In Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai, string music is melodious, gongs and drums are clanging, and Huai opera plays "Send Jing Niang A Thousand Miles Away" and "Growing Barley" are being performed.The joyful singing and dancing on the stage and the earthy performance of the heroine aroused warm applause from the central leaders including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. This is 1952.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the first national opera performances including 23 operas are being held in Beijing.As the National Day approached, the conference specially organized a repertoire to perform for the party and state leaders.Xiao Wenyan participated in the performances of the two small Huai opera plays starring Xiao Wenyan. The curtain fell with applause.Backstage, Xiao Wenyan was unloading.At this time, a man with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes walked in.Xiao Wenyan recognized Premier Zhou Enlai and hurried to meet him. Zhou Enlai stretched out his hand with a smile: "Your performance is very good, congratulations!" Xiao Wenyan felt a warm current flow through her heart, and tears filled her eyes.At this time, Premier Zhou told her that Chairman Mao also watched the play just now. He said that your "Growing Barley" had good dances, but there were fewer contradictions in the drama. After hearing this, Xiao Wenyan quickly replied: "Thank you Prime Minister for conveying the chairman's instructions. We will definitely revise them when we go back." Premier Zhou listened carefully to Xiao Wenyan's speech.As he listened, Xiao Wenyan's authentic North Jiangsu dialect caught his attention, and his black eyebrows immediately raised: "Where are you from?" Xiao Wenyan, who grew up in poverty and hunger, was sold twice and could no longer remember her hometown. Therefore, she followed her adoptive father and claimed that she was from Huai'an.At this time, suppressing her intense heartbeat, she hurriedly replied: "I am from Huai'an." "Oh, we're still from the same country." Premier Zhou did not let go of Xiao Wenyan's hand. At this moment, he took another hand and shook it lightly: "Is your hometown in the city or in the country?" "In the countryside, Dongxiang Cheqiao." "Cheqiao? That's right. When I was young, my family and I went to a temple fair, and we took a boat from Jianhe." Premier Zhou fell into fond memories, and asked after a while, "Have you ever been home?" "I left home when I was five years old, and I haven't been back for more than 20 years." Since it was the first time to meet the Prime Minister, it was difficult for Xiao Wenyan to tell her family background in detail. "My hometown is in Huai'an City, and I haven't been back for decades. I don't know how the life of the folks is. If you have a chance to go back, please say hello to the folks for me." For a moment, Xiao Wenyan endured such great happiness that she was so excited that she couldn't say a word, she just nodded her head vigorously. Back at the guest house, Xiao Wenyan tossed and turned on the bed, unable to fall asleep.Huai opera originated between the river and the Huai River, and has a history of more than 100 years.Due to successive years of floods, droughts, and locust plagues, bankrupt farmers sang songs together and begged from door to door. After several developments, Huai Opera gradually formed.Before liberation, Huai opera could only be performed in some small and dilapidated venues, and Huai opera actors were not much different from "beggars", so they were called "xihuazi".It was only because of the liberation that Huai opera could be performed in Beijing and be valued by the party and the government.Now, Premier Zhou personally visited them backstage, and even joined a local opera actor like her from the same hometown, which made her so excited that she couldn't restrain herself. Back in Shanghai, Xiao Wenyan took the initiative to persuade the comrades in the theater troupe, and together they asked their superiors to change the theater company from private to state-run.Soon, Shanghai People's Huai Opera Troupe was established.She followed the Prime Minister's instructions and returned to Huai'an with the Shanghai People's Huai Opera Troupe.Her famous plays such as "Qin Xianglian" and "Shuiman Sizhou" were performed from theater to square, from city to countryside, sending Premier Zhou's greetings to the villagers and elders, and sending herself and her comrades to serve the people. Enthusiasm. In the next twenty years, Zhou Enlai came to Shanghai many times and met Xiao Wenyan more than once.Every time we meet, he always tells Xiao Wenyan that Huai opera comes from the working people, you should always take root among the people and persist in performing among the people.The prime minister's instructions, like an indelible light, shone in Xiao Wenyan's heart. The National Day reception in 1974 was the last meeting that Zhou Enlai attended.Due to the torment of cancer, the prime minister's weight has dropped from 130 jins to a few dozen jins.He still talks and laughs happily, and ignores his body.Seeing Xiao Wenyan, Zhou Enlai deliberately shook hands with her.At this moment, Xiao Wenyan looked at the Prime Minister without saying anything, but secretly made up her mind to always keep in mind the Prime Minister's instructions and serve the people wholeheartedly for the rest of her life. Although the prime minister has gone, the light that illuminates Xiao Wenyan's soul will never go out. When the "Gang of Four" was smashed, she finally stepped onto the stage and condensed her infinite admiration and gratitude to the prime minister into a sincere and moving libretto: It was a sunny winter day in 1960.A group of students from Nanjing Institute of Physical Education came to Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. Zeng Shuying is a freshman who has just entered school.On this day, she dragged two big black braids and wore a blue cotton jacket that people in northern Jiangsu often wear, and walked up the more than 200 stone steps with her classmates. Suddenly, someone yelled, "Premier Zhou is here." Zeng Shuying hurriedly raised her head, and finally found the familiar figure in the crowd: Premier Zhou accompanied the foreign guests to visit Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. Visitors to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum were jubilant.Premier Zhou also smiled cordially at the people, and kept waving his injured right arm to greet the tourists. People flocked to Premier Zhou.It was probably Zeng Shuying who was dressed as a girl from northern Jiangsu that caught Premier Zhou's attention. When she approached Premier Zhou, the Premier's eyes full of wisdom suddenly stopped on her, and he asked kindly in a quiet voice: "is today your off day?" "No, I'm from Huai'an." Zeng Shuying never expected that Premier Zhou would ask her something, and she hadn't been in school for a long time, so she was so excited and flustered that she could speak incoherently. "Huai'an?!" Premier Zhou's big eyes showed a look of surprise, he quickly reached out his hand, held Xiao Zeng's hand tightly, and said to Prince Sihanouk beside him, "I'm so happy, I met you here. I am a fellow countryman." Then, Premier Zhou took her and introduced her to Prince Sihanouk and his wife, Princess Monique.Zeng Shuying blushed and shook hands with the two distinguished guests one by one. "Premier Zhou met a fellow countryman!" Sensitive journalists all know that the Premier has been away from home for fifty years and has never returned home once. What did they talk about, and they were busy taking notes from time to time.Premier Zhou immediately said to the reporters: "This news should not be published in the newspapers or publicized." After speaking, Premier Zhou treated Zeng Shuying's hand like a fellow villager who had reunited after a long time, and they all went up to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum together, walking Started a family routine with her. "How are the people in my hometown living now?" "good very good." "Are there any vegetables available in the market?" "Have." "How much does it cost per catty?" Zeng Shuying is from Huaicheng Town, Huai'an. She relies on her parents at home and eats in the cafeteria at school.Premier Zhou asked so carefully that she couldn't answer: "I...don't know." Premier Zhou looked at Zeng Shuying kindly, and said to her earnestly: "You young people should pay more attention to social affairs. When I was your age, I was very concerned about social affairs." Zeng Shuying nodded, feeling deeply guilty.She thought silently: Why can't I answer the Prime Minister's simple question?Premier Zhou seemed to have sensed the girl's guilt, so he changed the subject and asked her who else was in her family, how her life was going, and whether she had joined the party.Premier Zhou held Zeng Shuying's hand while walking and talking, and they climbed up the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum together, and did not let go until they came out of the sacrificial hall. Premier Zhou accompanied the foreign guests away.Zeng Shuying watched Premier Zhou's back as he walked down the steps, and couldn't help but shed two tears of happiness... An accidental road encounter, an ordinary hometown girl, aroused Premier Zhou Enlai's deep hometown love.The same thing happened in July 1965.Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Chen Yi visited and returned to China that day, passing through the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.Before they had time to shake off the dust of the journey, Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen Yi hurried to the Shihezi Farm of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps to visit the young people who supported Xinjiang from the mainland. At noon, Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen dined with everyone at the restaurant of the Corps Shihezi Guest House.A girl in a white jacket and blue trousers came in with food. The leader of the Corps pointed at the girl and said, "Prime Minister, this girl is still from your hometown!" Premier Zhou looked at the short-haired girl standing in front of him, and said kindly: "Okay, today I am entertained by my fellow villagers, and I must eat more." After a good meal, Premier Zhou shook hands with the waiters and kitchen masters in the guest house to thank him.When he walked up to the short-haired girl just now, Premier Zhou kindly grabbed her hand and asked, "Little girl, where is your home in Jiangsu?" "From Huai'an." The little girl still looked very shy. "From Huai'an?!" Premier Zhou shook the girl's hand vigorously, looking very happy, "That's a fellow townsman, what's your name?" "My name is Li Zhenglan." "Is it Li Kinoshita, the upright Zheng, and Hua Mulan's Lan?" Miss Li Zhenglan nodded shyly. "Look, I guess it's the fellow who can understand the words." The Prime Minister laughed again. "Are you from Huai'an city or the countryside?" "It's from Beixiang Qingong." "When did you come to Xinjiang?" the Prime Minister asked again. "He came from Zhibian in 1959." "Oh, I have been in Xinjiang for six years. Do you want to have a family?" "Sometimes I get homesick." "Yes, there is no one who loves the motherland who does not love his hometown. I have been away from home for more than 50 years." Premier Zhou said, gesticulating with five fingers.He treats his elders like his own relatives and juniors, earnestly teaching that it is very good and honorable for young people to respond to the call of the party and the country, stay away from their parents, and devote themselves to the frontier construction of the motherland.You must respect the fraternal ethnic groups in the frontier, unite with them, take root in the frontier, and build the frontier with peace of mind. "Xinjiang and Jiangsu are both good places. Look, isn't the sky in Shihezi the same blue as the sky in Huai'an?" All the people present quietly looked at the old and the young who left Huai'an one after another, listened to their questions and answers as if they were family members, and cast admiring and approving glances at them. The next day, the Prime Minister was leaving Shihezi.Before leaving, Premier Zhou and Vice Premier Chen Yi, accompanied by the heads of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the Production and Construction Corps, took a group photo with everyone at the gate of the guest house.More than 300 people, including labor models, branch youth representatives, waiters and cooks from guest houses, participated in the event.Premier Zhou also specially called Li Zhenglan in front of him, and left a photo of the "Huai'an girl" snuggling under Premier Zhou's knees, as well as more than 300 happy faces. Yes, there is no one who loves the motherland who does not love his hometown.Doesn't Zhou Enlai's hometown love reflect his strong, deep, sincere and persistent love for the motherland?