preface
Mao Dun never expected that his younger brother's family would end up like that.
Thirty-three, ah, too young!
Writer Mao Dun has only one younger brother, his name is Shen Zemin, and Shen Zemin's life is forever fixed at the age of 33.
Shen Zemin had a serious illness when he was a child, so he was weak since he was a child, and his parents often told Mao Dun to take good care of his younger brother. The two brothers were very smart and were admitted to university successively, and in Wuzhen at that time, the two brothers were able to go to college in other places, which was also unprecedented.
After the "May Fourth Movement", the two brothers all embarked on the road of participating in political activities, the difference is that Mao Dun met Chen Duxiu in 1920, and it did not take long for him to join the Shanghai Communist Group, while Shen Zemin sought the periphery of communism.
Shen Zemin's first and only "rebellion" was to drop out of the Hohai Engineering College and go to Japan to work and study, in this regard, Mao Dun talked to his younger brother several times, but never changed his mind. It turned out that the younger brother's insistence on dropping out of school was the opinion of the principal of Hohai Engineering College, because Shen Zemin's political activities were too much, and in order to protect them, the principal could only let them leave the school by dropping out of school, so as not to suffer from the poisonous hands of the Overseer.
After studying Japanese in Japan for half a year, Shen Zemin chose to return to China, and in the presence of his brother, he joined the Shanghai Communist Group.
After the "May Strike" movement, Shen Zemin got married, and the other party's name was Zhang Qinqiu. Speaking of which, Mao Dun's wife is still Shen Zemin's matchmaker.
Mao Dun's wife and Zhang Qinqiu were elementary school classmates, and the two became friends at school. After Mao Dun's family moved to Shanghai, Zhang Qinqiu lived in their house when he went to Shanghai, and in this way, Zhang Qinqiu met Shen Zemin.
Under the guidance of Shen Zemin, Zhang Qinqiu gradually realized the revolutionary truth after reading a large number of progressive books, and under Shen Zemin's introduction, Zhang Qinqiu entered Shanghai University to study, where she met Xiang Jingyu and Yang Zhihua.
In 1924, Zhang Qinqiu joined the Communist Party, and the following year, the two held a wedding, the wedding ceremony was new, they did not hold a big wedding banquet, let alone a luxurious wedding, some just went to the photo studio hand in hand to take a wedding photo to commemorate this unforgettable day.
The address of their new house is on the 14th floor of Shuntaili, Baoshan Road, and it is said that Zhang Qinqiu's brother also made a special trip to Shanghai to congratulate them on behalf of Zhang Qinqiu's family.
At this time, on the eve of the Fourth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, there were less than 1,000 CPC members in the country, but Mao Dun's family already had 3 CCP members.
Many years later, Zhang Qinqiu recalled that when he participated in revolutionary work, he was full of respect for Shen Zemin:
Comrade Zemin is my lifelong mentor and friend, and through him, I have found the party's ...... Without the guidance and help of the Party, we would never have embarked on the revolutionary journey. It's something I'll never forget.
After marrying Shen Zemin, Zhang Qinqiu and Shen Zemin's newlywed home became a place where CCP members often met, and elites in Shanghai's women's circles, such as Xiang Jingyu and Yang Zhihua, often went to Shen Zemin's and Zhang Qinqiu's homes to discuss research work, and in such a revolutionary atmosphere, Zhang Qinqiu's revolutionary consciousness improved very quickly.
After Zhang Qinqiu and Shen Zemin got married, the life of the small family was still revolutionary, they were busy with their own work, going out during the day and returning home late at night.
Not long after they got married, Shen Zemin and his wife left Shanghai to study in Moscow, and since then, Mao Dun has cut off news from them.
However, Mao Dun later got some news from his younger brother, at first, Shen Zemin was studying at Sun Yat-sen University, and later he was admitted to the Red Professor College, and since then he has focused on the study of Marxist classics, and it seems that he no longer cares about literature, but Shen Zemin is still very concerned about his brother's literary works.
And what about Zhang Qinqiu? She was pregnant before she went abroad, and after coming to Moscow, she entered Sun Yat-sen University to study. In May 1926, Zhang Qinqiu gave birth to a chubby daughter in Moscow, and the couple named the daughter "Maya".
The appearance of her daughter caught Zhang Qinqiu off guard, she and Shen Zemin both regarded the revolution as their lives, not to mention that Zhang Qinqiu still had to study and learn Russian, but no matter what, this was her own flesh and blood.
After Zhang Qinqiu and Shen Zemin got together to discuss, they decided to let Zhang Qinqiu temporarily suspend school and take care of the children by himself.
As a result, 22-year-old Zhang Qinqiu began his study life at Sun Yat-sen University, which was more difficult than others. In a foreign country, children, family, school, and schoolwork are all pressed on her, constantly testing her.
Zhang Qinqiu took a semester off in Moscow, and then devoted himself to intense study.
Zhang Qinqiu and Shen Zemin left Moscow almost at the same time, and the couple left their children directly at the First International Children's Home in the southern suburbs of Moscow in the Soviet Union, where there were already sixty or seventy children of revolutionaries from all over the world before Maya came here, and the children's home sent her to preschool according to her age. However, at this time, Shen Zemin did not expect that his secret departure from Moscow to meet his daughter this time would be the last goodbye between him and his daughter.
After Shen Zemin returned to Shanghai, he joined the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, while Zhang Qinqiu continued to work with women.
In 1931, before leaving Shanghai, Shen Zemin and his wife also went to his brother Mao Dun's house to say goodbye, and also made a special trip to Qu Qiubai's house to say goodbye, and Qu Qiubai and his wife warmly entertained them. Under strict escort, Shen Zemin and his wife secretly left Shanghai and went to the Hubei-Henan-Anhui revolutionary base area.
When she learned that her son was going to work in the Eyuwan Soviet District, Shen Zemin's mother was deeply shocked and cried on the spot, because in the three or five years since he returned from Japan, he has been running around, and he has not even had time to say a few words, let alone accompany her wife, and now he has returned from the Soviet Union with illness, and he has only met three or four times, and he has not even had time to treat the disease, so he has to leave again, and he still has to go to the Soviet District, where there is a war every day, how can the old man not worry about his son?
Seeing his mother's crying appearance, Shen Zemin was also sad, but he also knew that his fate trajectory was revolutionary, and he couldn't be in a safe corner, so he turned to comfort his mother that he had many friends who worked there, and they were all safe, as long as the elderly took care of themselves, there was no need to worry about them.
However, since then, Mao Dun has never heard from his younger brother, and some of them are only newspaper reports on the war situation.
One day in mid-December 1932, the maid of Lu Xun's family sent a note to Mao Dun, which said that an acquaintance came from there and wanted to see the contradictory side, and the time and place of the meeting were also clearly written.
The next day, Mao Dun went to the café to meet the visitor Cheng Fangwu, and the other party directly brought Mao Dun a bad news. He had just returned from the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet Region and wanted to tell Mao Dun the unfortunate news: Comrade Shen Zemin had died of illness in the Soviet area.
Mao Dun's first reaction was not to believe it, this was simply impossible.
Cheng Fangwu seemed to have expected his reaction a long time ago, so he explained: "The environment over there is too difficult, his work burden is heavy, and his body is already thin, but this time because of the recurrence of lung disease, coupled with severe malaria, under the conditions of lack of medical treatment and nutrition, he can't support it." ”
Mao Dun asked when his younger brother died of illness and where he was buried, as well as the whereabouts of his younger siblings.
Cheng Fangwu said frankly: "On November 20, the day before I left the Soviet area, I died, probably buried on the spot. Comrade Zhang Qinqiu was not around, she went to Luxi with the main force of the Red Army. ”
The air seemed to be stagnant, and Cheng Fangwu also got up to say goodbye when he saw this, and at this moment, Lu Xun took the lead and asked Shen Zemin's age.
"Thirty-three years old."
"Ah, so young!" Lu Xun sighed.
Mao Dun went home for a night, and only told his wife the news the next day, and at the same time told her not to let her mother know. Mao Dun's wife burst into tears after hearing this, saying that she didn't want to believe this fact.
For his mother, Mao Dun decided to keep this secret forever, and if the revolution succeeded in the future, tell her that if she couldn't wait for this day, let her think that her son had been doing the revolution somewhere in China.
A few months later, Mao Dun's mother asked him about Shen Zemin, and Mao Dun made up a reason to get involved. His mother shook her head: "Don't hide it from me anymore." Then, she took out a Kuomintang-run tabloid from under the chair cushion, and the newspaper stated that Shen Zemin had died in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Soviet District. Mao Dun knew that this white lie had been exposed, and the old man at this time was very peaceful, her son had not escaped a serious illness when he was two or three years old, and it had been exactly thirty years now, but he had escaped, and these thirty years could be regarded as doing something for the country, and she would want to open it.
In front of her son, she didn't show any sadness, but later the children saw her grandmother secretly crying alone in the room many times.
I didn't expect my brother's family to die
In 1936, Zhang Qinqiu and Chen Changhao got married, and in the middle of the evacuation, Zhang Qinqiu's baby did not survive, and at the same time, this childbirth left her with a very serious gynecological disease, and since then, she has completely lost her fertility.
After the defeat of the Western Route Army, Chen Changhao returned to his hometown of Wuhan and then to Yan'an, and it was only at this time that he was reunited with his wife, Zhang Qinqiu, who would go to her husband every weekend to take care of him and the young son he had with his ex-wife.
Unfortunately, this marriage did not come to an end.
Because of overwork, Chen Changhao's stomach disease recurred, and the medical conditions in Yan'an at that time were limited, and Chen Changhao's condition could not be cured. In 1939, Premier Zhou wanted to go to the Soviet Union for treatment, in view of Chen Changhao's illness, Chairman Mao directly approved him to go to the Soviet Union for treatment, but Zhang Qinqiu did not go together, but went to the airport to see off her husband, and she continued to devote herself to a new battle.
It's just that this time Chen Changhao went for treatment, and it happened to run into the Soviet-German war, for which he had to stay in the Soviet Union for a long time, and there was no way to return to China, and the marriage between the two existed in name only.
In 1943, Zhang Qinqiu was approved by the organization and married his comrade-in-arms Su Jingguan.
Five years later, as part of the women's delegation, Zhang Qinqiu traveled to Hungary for a short stay in Moscow, where she finally met her daughter Maya, who had been absent for 18 years.
Zhang Qinqiu looked at her daughter lovingly, Maya also looked at her mother affectionately, Zhang Qinqiu took her daughter into her arms, all these years, she has been living with guilt for her daughter, she has not fulfilled her responsibilities as a mother. She kissed Maya: "Do you resent your mother?" ”
Maya shook her head: "Mom is for the Chinese Revolution. ”
Zhang Qinqiu's nose was sour.
After this meeting, Zhang Qinqiu told Mao Dun about the mother-daughter meeting through letters: "She didn't disappoint me, she finally studied well, and there are many things in her personality like her father...... I have not fulfilled my motherhood, and that is something I should admit. Before leaving, Zhang Qinqiu encouraged her daughter to study hard and participate in the construction of the motherland in the future.
However, in Mao Dun's heart, Maya is very pitiful, just after being born, her parents couldn't take her with her because they wanted to return to China to make a revolution, so they left her alone in the Soviet Union and sent them to the International Children's Hospital, which is equivalent to an orphan, but Maya did not develop a self-pitying character, but grew up healthily, and grew up very well.
On October 1, 1949, Zhang Qinqiu came to the tower of Tiananmen Square, her identity is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou and other national leaders came over and shook hands with them one by one, Chairman Mao recognized Zhang Qinqiu for the first time, he said with his strong Hunan accent: "You are Comrade Zhang Qinqiu, Zhejiang, I remember ......"
Su Jingguan and Zhang Qinqiu have a family of 6, they have four daughters, but none of them are born to Su Jingguan, but they still get along happily, Zhang Qinqiu and Su Jingguan love each other very much, the only regret is that they do not have a child of their own, however, Su Jingguan is very open-minded: "It is enough to have a confidant in life, and I have four daughters by my side, isn't it enough?" ”
For Zhang Qinqiu and Shen Zemin's daughter Maya, Su Jingguan treated her as her own daughter, and Maya also followed her mother's instructions and returned to the motherland.
Maya studied Chinese at Peking University for a year, and then was assigned to work at a famous military academy in Harbin, in fact, she was able to stay in Beijing, but neither Maya nor Zhang Qinqiu were willing to do so, so Maya left her parents first.
Everyone should know that the first military electronic computer in China's history was born in the Kazakh military industry, but what you don't know is that Maya made a very important contribution to it.
During the three-year difficult period in the country, the teachers and students of the Kazakh military industry had a very difficult life, they lived a half-starved life, as the eldest sister, Zhang Maya also cooked soybeans for everyone, which was the best thing she could come up with.
On April 15, 1963, Zhang Maya accompanied her mother to the burial ceremony of her father Shen Zemin's remains.
In the days of Kazakhstan's military industry, Zhang Maya did not waste these 10 years, but shined in the post of national defense science and technology education, and realized the lofty ideal that her father dedicated herself to with her outstanding work performance.
The following year, Zhang Maya, who had the rank of lieutenant, was ordered to be transferred back to Beijing to engage in radar research at the 23rd Institute of the Second Academy of the Seventh Aircraft Department, serving as the deputy director of the research office. At this time, Zhang Maya is still full of hope for the future, and everything is developing in the best direction.
However, Su Jingguan was diagnosed with liver cancer by the hospital, and Zhang Qinqiu wiped away her tears outside the ward, knowing that her husband probably couldn't survive. In the last three months of her death, Su Jingguan could neither eat nor sleep, and Zhang Qinqiu was eager to bear everything for her husband.
On May 26, 1964, Su Jingguan passed away, and his ashes were placed in Babaoshan.
Four years later, Zhang Qinqiu's room was broken into, she was wronged, and in the end, she jumped to her death.
The day after Zhang Qinqiu's death, Zhang Maya was isolated and censored, Zhang Maya was implicated by her mother, and in the end, Zhang Maya also chose to die and committed suicide.
Zhang Qinqiu and Zhang Maya's mother and daughter both fought all their lives for China's revolutionary cause, but they didn't expect to end up like this.
After Zhang Maya committed suicide by drinking hatred, Mao Dun was grief-stricken: "I can't imagine that my brother's family died ...... death."