In 1988, a peasant woman from Jiangxi came to Beijing and insisted on finding Cai Chang, the leader of the All-China Women's Federation.
At that time, Cai Chang was already sick in bed, not meeting guests, and the secretary did not want to disturb her. But as soon as she heard the name of the peasant woman, she immediately became excited and asked the secretary to bring people with her.
As soon as the two of them met, they held each other's hands tightly, and the peasant woman couldn't stop crying, she said, "Sister Cai, do you remember me, I am Lai Yueming." ”
She also revealed her identity — I was Chen Yi's wife.
The staff was shocked, general Chen Yi's wife was not Zhang Qian?
It turned out that Chen Yi had another wife before marrying Zhang Qian, that is, this Jiangxi peasant woman, Lai Yueming.
In that era of war and inconvenient communication, Lai Yueming and Chen Yi never saw each other again after they separated. Lai Yueming lived in seclusion in a mountain village for 54 years, and Chen Yi did not know that she was still alive until the end, and the love between the two turned into sadness.
What happened to Lai Yueming?
Strong and indomitable, she joined the Red Army
In 1914, the daughter of a private school gentleman in Xingguo, Jiangxi, was born, and she was later Lai Yueming, whose original name was Lai Sanjiao.
The Lai family relies on the income from teaching, has no worries about food and clothing, and is a very happy family.
However, the weather was unpredictable, and Lai Sanjiao's mother died of heavy bleeding during the birth of the next child. Lai Sanjiao's father, Lai Laiyi, became increasingly depressed, and even learned others to smoke a lot of cigarettes to anesthetize himself and alleviate the pain of losing his wife and the pressure of life.
In the end, lai Laiyi not only had no intention of teaching because he smoked a lot of smoke, but even sold his business, and even then he often could not open the pot. Once, he really didn't have the money to smoke a lot, and he actually sold his 14-year-old daughter to someone else as a child bride!
In that era of son preference, child brides were free laborers for in-laws, and all the dirty work was done, and if they did not do well, they would be beaten and scolded.
Lai Sanjiao's life is also like this, every day before dawn, she has to get up to herd cattle, work in the field, and be busy until late at night to sleep.
Although she did not have enough to eat, not warm to wear, and did a lot of work, after the tempering of life, Lai Sanjiao became very strong and optimistic, wiped away tears, and could continue to work. She believes that with her own efforts, life will be better.
Soon after, the turning point of life did come.
In 1929, the Red Army established Soviet power in Jiangxi, and while "fighting the local tyrants and dividing up the land", it also devoted itself to the liberation of women and propagated new ideas everywhere.
Lai Sanjiao was unwilling to succumb to fate, she was deeply influenced by the thinking of the Red Army, and resolutely signed up for the District Women's Improvement Committee, joined the Red Army, and severed her relationship with the previous "in-laws". She also changed her name to "Lai Yueming" and hoped that her future life would become brighter and brighter.
Lai Yueming remembered her own personal experience, she felt more and more that the work of liberating women could not be delayed, she worked very hard to help women improve their lives and bravely liberate themselves.
In 1931, because of her outstanding work, she was appointed director of the Committee for the Improvement of Women's Lives, and was later assigned by the Central Committee to participate in training at the Central Lenin Normal College in Ruijin.
During her studies at the Normal School, Lai Yueming listened carefully to the lectures, actively studied knowledge, and achieved very good results, which attracted the attention and appreciation of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee at that time, and the Provincial Party Committee also transferred her to work.
In the face of the injustice of fate, Lai Yueming did not give up on himself, but was strong and unyielding, and actively looked for a way out. The arrival of the Red Army gave her hope, and she seized this opportunity to become more excellent and start a new life.
Industrious and lively, she is happy to tie the knot
In 1932, a red army team came to Xingguo County to rest. Lai Yueming performed a mountain song duet with her partner at the literary and art evening organized by the provincial party committee, and a leader in the audience was attracted by her singing voice and asked her to sing more.
Lai Yueming later learned that it was Chen Yi who was sitting under the stage, and he was a little afraid, but fortunately he did not play abnormally in singing. Unbeknownst to her at the time, her fate had crept in.
Not long after, she met Chen Yi again.
On that day, Lai Yueming and his colleagues used the dining table to temporarily form a ping-pong table and play table tennis together. Chen Yi inadvertently spotted Lai Yueming as he passed by, and stopped to watch. Lai Yueming saw that there was a leader, coupled with the previous experience of singing, became nervous, and the playing was not as smooth as usual.
However, Chen Yi still praised her for "playing well." When Chen Yi saw that she ignored herself, he joked, "I know, this is the TianLuo girl in Jiangxi who has a big temper." ”
"Tianluo Girl" refers to both that she was born in Jiangxi, where there are many Tianluo, and also implies that she is very industrious.
However, Lai Yueming believes that she has joined the Red Army and is no longer a little girl who can only do housework, and it is inappropriate to use the metaphor of "Tian Luo Girl". So in a moment of urgency, she asked Chen Yi, "If I am Tian Luo's sister, then what are you?" At once, Chen Yi laughed and felt that this little girl was a true temperament.
Zhang Jizhi of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee saw the signs from this, and he pulled Chen Yi to the office, bent on being a matchmaker for him, and said to him, "Commander Chen, this Lai Yueming is not bad." Do you want me to talk about it, is it okay to find a sister-in-law to warm her feet? ”
Chen Yi waved his hand, "The career has not yet succeeded, what a wife idea." ”
In fact, Chen Yi felt that she was 12 years older than Lai Yueming, and she devoted herself to the work of the Red Army, and it was precisely when she was young and promising that she could not bear to delay her.
However, the people of the provincial party committee felt that Lai Yueming was very capable and very clean, which was very suitable for Chen Yi, and they persuaded him one after another.
Knowing Lai Yueming's life and encounters, and remembering her diligence and liveliness, Chen Yi admired her very much.
With a smile on his mind, Chen Yi relaxed, and he smiled and said, "Since you have this meaning, then fine, you go and talk to that little devil head." ”
However, there are many good things, and when Lai Yueming heard that she wanted to be a matchmaker for herself, the object was still the big leader Chen Yi, and she refused.
She felt that Chen Yi had stayed in school, had a high culture, or was the commander-in-chief and a great hero, but she didn't read much, just a flat-headed ordinary person, and she had impulsively replied to him before, how could she be worthy of him?
Chen Yi could not let go of Lai Yueming in his heart, he personally found her, expressed his good feelings for her, and asked her what she really thought. Hearing her say that her culture was not high, Chen Yi said, "Culture can be improved, and I will support you to learn when you get married." ”
Lai Yueming was touched by Chen Yi's true feelings, but she still felt that her life was not worthy of Chen Yi and hesitated.
After cai chang, the minister of women, found Lai Yueming and told her that advocating freedom and equality now is not the old society, "Yueming, you don't have to be angry about his class composition, everyone is born involuntarily." ”
After listening to Cai Chang's words, Lai Yueming's concerns were dispelled.
In 1932, Lai Yueming and Chen Yi got married with everyone's blessing. They have the same personality, similar interests, common ideals and pursuits, and love after marriage.
Helpless to separate, she remarried twice
The good times did not last long, and in 1934, the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" was lost, and the Red Army wanted to carry out the Long March, and according to the organizational regulations, Lai Yueming had to withdraw with the army. However, Chen Yi was wounded on the battlefield and had limited mobility, so he decided to stay in the Soviet zone and continue fighting with the enemy.
How could Lai Yueming let go of her beloved husband, she had to stay and take care of Chen Yi and advance and retreat with him.
Chen Yi knew that the reactionaries would not give up attacking the Soviet zone, and it would be extremely dangerous to stay at this time, and he could not bear that his wife was in danger, and no matter how hard her wife pleaded, he just did not agree.
Lai Yueming became excited, took the pistol and said, "Let me go, you just beat me to death."
Chen Yi did not want to drag her down, grabbed the pistol, and urged her to leave, "As a party member, you must absolutely obey the decisions made by the organization." "And let her live strong!"
As she was leaving, Chen Yi firmly told her, "Yueming, I will look for you." ”
Lai Yueming thought of returning to Chen Yi as soon as possible at the first opportunity in the future; Chen Yi also thought that when the injury was better and the situation was more stable, he would take Lai Yueming to his side.
However, in that turbulent and war-torn era, many couples were forced to separate, some met before or after liberation, and some could not see each other for life, Lai Yueming and Chen Yi were the latter. What was originally a parting turned out to be a farewell.
In the next 3 years, Chen Yi sent people to look for his wife many times, but he never got news. Later, when there were rumors in Xingguo, Jiangxi, that she had committed suicide, Chen Yi knew that she was in pain, but he never believed that it was true.
He sent several groups of people to help inquire about the news, "To be born to see people, to die to see corpses!" After the fruitless search, Chen Yi wrote a seven-piece poem under the grief to mourn his wife Lai Yueming.
The moon in his hometown was still bright, but Chen Yi could not see his own moon again.
During that period, Lai Yueming also inquired about Chen Yi's news everywhere, but due to the enemy's sweep, she could not get the exact news of Chen Yi after she was separated from the Red Army.
At that time, the enemy attacked the base areas everywhere and captured the Red Army, and the artillery fire was continuous, and the people were displaced one after another. Lai Yueming could not contact the organization, and a person dug wild vegetables in the mountains, traveled from place to place to make ends meet, and finally had to make a living begging.
Later, she saw in the newspaper that Chen Yi had been killed by the enemy, thought she would never see her husband again, and returned to her hometown after the civil war.
Unexpectedly, her father had a bad idea again, and despite his daughter's resistance, he sold people again, and spread the news everywhere that her daughter had committed suicide.
Lai Yueming remarried twice, first sold by his father to a shoemaker as a wife, and after the death of the shoemaker, he helplessly married a Red Army soldier who was disabled in the war and gave birth to 3 children.
It wasn't until 1959 that she went to town to buy candy for her newly ill son, and saw a newspaper in the grocery store with a picture of Chen Yi, who turned out to be alive and had become China's foreign minister.
She was so excited that she couldn't even hold the sugar she had bought, and she sprinkled it on the ground, shouting, "This is my good man!" This is my good man! ”
In the Jiangxi region, her husband was called a "good man", and when the people heard her say that she was the wife of Marshal Chen Yi, they smiled and shook their heads.
Lai Yueming was obsessed with Chen Yi and returned home to tell her husband Fang Zhiliang at the time that he was going to Beijing to find Chen Yi, even if he met and said a word.
Fang Zhiliang refused to let her go to Beijing, and the child pleaded bitterly, knowing that her current situation was very different from Chen Yi's. Obviously, the original lover is still there, but he can't find, touch, or touch, and even a sentence of "I think of him" can only be contained in his stomach and can't be said.
Lai Yueming was eventually unable to go to Beijing, and she wrote to Chen Yi in that era, and never replied, but she kept the newspaper with Chen Yi's photo and often looked at it. Perhaps, through the photos, she will also recall the good times with Chen Yi.
In 1972, Lai Yueming was deeply saddened when he heard the news of Chen Yi's death. She set up a tablet for him at home, burned incense every day, and sent her thoughts to him.
Fate tricked, the pair of bitter Mandarin ducks have not seen each other since their separation in 1934, sadly.
The war years left too many regrets, and few separated couples were able to reunite. Lai Yueming had no choice but to remarry, but her affection for Chen Yi never diminished, which made people sigh endlessly.
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The author | the eye
Editor-in-charge | Muyang
Typography | Li Yike