One day in October 1979, Xu Shiyou wrote a letter to his son, the main content of which was to let his son prepare what he needed for the funeral. It may be the fortune in the underworld, Xu Shiyou knows that he may not die soon.
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 1985, Xu Shiyou, who was preparing to celebrate the Spring Festival at home, suddenly felt that his abdomen was often swollen and painful, but Xu Shiyou, who had been a soldier all his life, did not take this pain seriously, in order to avoid making people around him feel that his health was not good, he did not tell anyone on his shoulders. In March, when Xu Shiyou went to Shanghai Huadong Hospital for routine examination, he was unfortunately diagnosed with liver cancer.
In the months that followed, Xu Shiyou's condition continued to deteriorate, and on September 30, the hospital issued a "critical illness notice". At this time, Xu Shiyou's old comrade-in-arms, Yang Shangkun, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, personally ran to Nanjing to visit Xu Shiyou, who was already critically ill. Seeing the arrival of his old comrades-in-arms who had not been seen for a long time, although Xu Shiyou felt very happy, Xu Shiyou, who was already in a critical state of illness at the time, could only make some confused sounds through his throat.
But the old comrade-in-arms Yang Shangkun understood, and Xu Shiyou was saying to him: "I am finished!" These four words also became the last words of Admiral Xu Shiyou. In just four words, it highlights the understatement of life and death of the older generation of revolutionaries, although rough, but it shows the domineering spirit of this founding general who has fought in blood for most of his life.
On October 22, 1985, Xu Shiyou died at the general hospital of the Nanjing Military Region at the age of 80.