In 1959, in a small grocery store in Yudu, Jiangxi, a middle-aged rural woman took her son and prepared to come here to buy some candy for her son to eat. I saw that the two people were wearing shabby and old clothes, and the clothes on their bodies were also patched.
But when the middle-aged woman came to the grocery store, all kinds of delicious food and small items did not catch her eyes, and her eyes were fixed on a newspaper.
Looking at the woman's gaze, it is a very eye-catching one
Chen Yi
Photo of the Deputy Prime Minister receiving foreign guests.
Figure | Chen Yi
The woman took the newspaper and looked at it carefully, and was sure that it was Chen Yi. In an instant, tears silently slid down from the corners of the corners of his eyes, drops fell on the newspaper, and he muttered to himself, as if to say:"
Brother Chen Yi, my Lang Jun, it turns out that you are still alive...
”
Then the woman rushed out of the grocery store with the newspaper and said loudly in the street: ".
Chen Yi is still alive! Chen Yi is still alive!
Marshal Chen Yi's wife at this time was
Zhang Qian
So who is this person? Why do you say that Chen Yi is her Lang Jun?
Moreover, seeing that she already had a son, how could she be Chen Yi's wife?
Needless to say, this woman was Marshal Chen Yi's wife, her name was
Lai Yueming
。 The story of her and Marshal Chen Yi should start from their first encounter.
(1) Join the Red Army and get to know Chen Yi
Lai Yueming, born in 1914 in Baishi Village, Xingguo County, Jiangxi Province, passed her on to her uncle because her family was too poor.
Figure | Lai Yueming
But her uncle later contracted opium, and it wasn't long before the family ran out of money and everything that could be done. After the sale of the family property, her uncle sold the 14-year-old to a family as a child bride in order to smoke opium.
Lai Yueming's heart is like ashes, born in a chaotic world, and the fate of women is so bumpy. She thought that her life would be spent like this, but she did not expect the Red Army to come, which ignited a light in her life.
In 1929, the Red Army came to Xingguo and established Soviet power here. After learning about some of the policies of the Red Army, Lai Yueming decisively joined the ranks of the Red Army and became a Red Army.
Because of her conscientious and high motivation, she was appointed director of the District Women's Improvement Committee. In 1932, the organization arranged for her to go to Ruijin Normal School to study.
Unfortunately, the good times are not long, just studied for a few months,
Chiang Kai-shek
And a new round was launched."
Encirclement
At this time, she was assigned to the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee. then
Cai Chang
She is the director of the Organization Department of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and the minister of women, and Lai Yueming's appearance has attracted her attention.
Figure | Chiang Kai-shek
She saw that Lai Yueming was active and serious in her work, and she was beautiful and had good academic performance. It was the good age of eighteen, and I wanted to find a good home for her.
Cai Chang and her husband, then secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee
Li Fuchun
Said, "
We just got a little girl, people are very good, I want to introduce her to Commander Chen, what do you think?
The Chen commander mentioned in Cai Chang's mouth was Chen Yi, who was then the commander-in-chief and political commissar of the Jiangxi Provincial Military Region. At this time, Chen Yi had just lost his wife, and as his old comrade-in-arms and old friend, Cai Chang and Li Fuchun wanted to introduce him to another one.
Chen Yi's first wife was named
Xiao Juying
In 1931, they worked together in the Ganxian Special Administrative Region District Committee. At that time, the Soviet district was engaged in"
Purge campaign
"Many cadres have been persecuted.
One night, Chen Yi was also called to a conversation and a meeting. At that time, many cadres were called to a meeting at night, and then they never came back, and Chen Yi was also worried that there would be no return.
So he told his wife that if he hadn't come back in three days, he wouldn't have waited for me.
Figure | Chen Yi
This time Chen Yi did go to a meeting, and after the meeting, he immediately rode to his home, unfortunately encountering Kuomintang soldiers on the road. By the time he rushed home, it was already the fourth day, but he found that his wife, Xiao Juying, had committed suicide by throwing herself into a well the night before.
After the death of his wife, Chen Yi was very sad, and at that time, he often needed to fight in various places. Chen Yi's running back and forth coupled with the pain of bereavement of his wife was getting thinner and thinner, and people were also very haggard. This made Li Fuchun and Cai Chang look in their eyes and hurt in their hearts.
When they told Chen Yi that they wanted to introduce Lai Yueming to him, Chen Yi immediately refused, saying: "
People are assigned to work, introduced to me, then not to become the assigned daughter-in-law?
Cai Chang saw that he had a resolute attitude and did not say anything. Later, Lai Yueming was assigned to the Children's Bureau of the Provincial Youth League Committee as an officer, and at a condolence performance, she met Chen Yi for the first time.
Figure | Cai Chang
At that time, the main force of the Red Army crushed the Guangdong warlord troops who had come to "encircle and suppress" and then returned to Ningdu to rest. The Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee immediately organized personnel to go to the condolence performance, and Lai Yueming was one of them, and the mountain song she sang was used as the finale of the program.
It was also at this performance that she met the people who later influenced her life, allowing her to harvest a short but unforgettable love.
(2) Nine-nine Chongyang, married as husband and wife
18-year-old Lai Yueming was beautiful, and when he stood on the stage, he instantly attracted the attention of many Red Army soldiers. Her gentle singing voice reached the ears of the warriors and immediately touched the warriors.
After Lai Yueming finished singing, the soldiers were still unsatisfied, and Chen Yi, who was sitting under the stage, was also intoxicated. He turned to the warriors behind him and said in his Sichuan accent: "
Comrades, another one, do you think it's okay?
The soldiers clapped their hands and applauded, responding enthusiastically to Chen Yi. Lai Yueming was also very happy when he saw it, and immediately sang one song after another. After the performance, Lai Yueming learned that the original one was Chief Chen Yi.
A few days later, Lai Yueming and their performances have not left here. Once, in her free time, she and several female warriors fought on two wooden tables and played table tennis. While fighting, the surrounding area attracted a lot of warriors to watch, Chen Yi just happened to pass by, and also came to take a look.
Chen Yi immediately recognized lai Yueming as the girl who sang the mountain song a few days ago, and he also seriously watched them play. After playing a few rounds, Chen Yi saw that she was playing well, and he praised: "
You are not very old, you can't see that you are still quite energetic when you play the ball, and you are worthy of being a 'field snail girl'!
As soon as Chen Yi finished speaking, Lai Yueming became angry, and she couldn't hear others calling her Tian Luo Sister. At this time, he couldn't care that the person opposite was Chen Yi, and said with a little anger: "
I'm not, if I'm a 'TianLuo girl', then you are a Sichuanese.
Chen Yi immediately understood that she had misunderstood her own meaning, and quickly defended:
I don't mean that, I mean you Jiangxi are rich in field snails, this is...
Figure | Snail
Before he could finish speaking, Lai Yueming had already run away. Although this meeting was not very pleasant, it also deepened the impression of the two.
After this, Chen Yi asked Cai Chang about Lai Yueming, but who knows, this person is the person That Cai Chang wants to introduce to him, which makes Chen Yi feel that it is too coincidental.
Later, Chen Yi could not stand the secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Youth League Committee
Zhang Jizhi
The persuasion of Cai Chang and others, plus he did have a little heart for Lai Yueming. So I promised Cai Chang that she would go ahead and be a matchmaker.
So Cai Chang found Lai Yueming to discuss this matter, for Lai Yueming, Cai Chang is her sister, but also her teacher, but also her guiding light. It was precisely because of Cai Chang's guidance that she changed from a little girl in a mountain village to a party member with revolutionary beliefs.
After Lai Yueming heard Cai Chang talk about this matter, she felt a little embarrassed in her heart, and she and Cai Chang said:
That day I also confronted the chief and said that he was a Sichuanese, and later I thought that I was too impulsive.
Cai Chang said:
“
It doesn't matter, Comrade Chen Yi won't worry so much with you, besides, it would be good to have a misunderstanding solved. The two of you are together, and you just make progress together!
However, Lai Yueming's heart is still a little bottomless, after all, Chen Yi is the leader of the Red Army, and she is just a rural village girl, she has not read many books, nor does she know many words, and the gap in knowledge, position, and experience makes this girl a little afraid to accept.
Later, when Chen Yi and Lai Yueming met, Chen Yi plucked up the courage and said:
Comrade Lai Yueming, comrade Cai Chang should have told you about our affairs, I don't know what you think?
Lai Yueming whispered, "
I haven't been to school for a few days, I don't know any words, I'm a countryman, don't you hate me?
Chen Yi said: "
Not having gone to school is not your problem, it will be solved in the future. We, the Red Army, fight for the poor and the poor, so why should we abandon you?
Chen Yi's warm words gradually impressed Lai Yueming, and later under the persuasion of Cai Chang, Lai Yueming finally agreed to this marriage.
One day in October 1932, this day is the Ninth Yang Festival at the beginning of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, and the choice of this day is to mean that the two people are white-headed and old, and the sky is long. On this day, the two of them held a wedding ceremony at a restaurant in Ningdu, and comrades from the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and the nearby county party committee came to attend. Li Fuchun, secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, served as a witness to the marriage, and Chen Yi took out the gold watch he had never left as a wedding souvenir and gave it to Lai Yueming.
Figure | Li Fuchun
(3) Couples in distress are forced to separate
Although the two finally became husband and wife after some hardships, let us not forget that at this time there was a war, and the Red Army was often "encircled and suppressed" by the Kuomintang army, so how could they get together so often?
As the head of the army, Chen Yi commanded several divisions and armed forces in some localities, so his work was naturally very busy. Therefore, this troubled couple, in the six months after marriage, the two stayed together for less than a month.
Someone once proposed to Chen Yi that Lai Yueming be transferred to work in the military region so that the two people could see each other often. However, Chen Yi categorically refused, and Chen Yi thought that as the commander-in-chief of the troops, how could he take this lead? How can it be special?
Besides, Lai Yueming also has her revolutionary work, and as a revolutionary, she should be completely subordinated to the needs of the revolutionary struggle, and the family can only be put on the back of her mind for the time being.
In 1933, Lai Yueming received a notice that the organization decided to send her to study at the Ruijin Central Party School, which was undoubtedly a good thing. Lai Yueming has always wanted to learn knowledge, which is very beneficial to her. But she thought that if she went, she would have to stay for half a year, which meant that she would not see Chen Yi in this half year.
After Chen Yi knew, he said to her:
We are revolutionary, and our personal feelings cannot be too strong, which will affect the work. As revolutionaries, when it is necessary to abandon personal feelings, we must resolutely obey the organizational arrangement.
After Chen Yi's persuasion, Lai Yueming embarked on the road to Ruijin. After studying at the Central Party School, Lai Yueming went to Fujian to work for a while, during which time neither of them met.
Since then, due to the needs of the war, Chen Yi has been leading troops to fight against "encirclement and suppression" in various places, and there is no time to return to the rear to rest. Until October 1934, Lai Yueming learned that Chen Yi was injured, and the organization asked her to go to Ruijin Meikeng National Hospital to take care of Chen Yi.
At this time in the Soviet area, because the Kuomintang troops were chasing and blocking everywhere, the communication line between various places had been cut off, and Lai Yueming evaded the Kuomintang troops all the way and only reached Meikeng in late October.
Figure | Nationalist soldiers
But at this time, Chen Yi had already evacuated from Ruijin and moved elsewhere, lai Yueming searched all the way, and finally found a husband who had not been seen for nearly two years. After Lai Yueming's careful care, Chen Yi's leg injury quickly improved a lot, and he was able to get out of bed soon after.
At this time, the Red Army lost the fifth anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign, and continuing to stay in the Soviet zone would undoubtedly be wiped out by the Kuomintang, and only the Long March would be left as a way out. On October 10, 1934, the Central Red Army decided to begin the withdrawal from the Soviet zone.
Considering that Chen Yi was injured in the leg, and that he had a high reputation in the party and a long time in Jiangxi, he was familiar with the situation in various places and was easy to carry out his work. So the central government decided to let Chen Yi stay in the Soviet area and cooperate
Xiang Ying
Led the remaining Red Army in guerrilla struggle.
The red army's strategic transfer required the evacuation of the masses and the evacuation of the wounded, which required a group of red army family members to ambush and fight, and Lai Yueming was one of them.
When the husband and wife were separated, Chen Yi said to Lai Yueming:
Remember, you must live, I believe that the organization will find you, and I will definitely come to you.
When they were separated, Lai Yueming couldn't help but cry bitterly, thinking that she and her husband were about to be separated, and she didn't know when they would see each other again, and her heart was like a knife. But all this is for the needs of the revolution, and it is subject to organizational arrangements.
Sadly, they really never saw each other again until Chen Yi's death in 1972.
Lai Yueming, who returned to Xingguo, became a women's minister in the Soviet regime in his hometown. She endured the thoughts of her husband on the one hand, and on the other hand, she also threw herself into revolutionary work. She believed that sooner or later they would be able to reunite.
(4) Learn of the sacrifice and marry separately
After the Red Army left, the Kuomintang troops all occupied the Soviet area, and Lai Yueming hid in his sister's house during a siege by the Kuomintang troops. After living in her sister's house for half a month, some Kuomintang soldiers came to arrest her.
Figure | Sketch of Western Fujian Su District
Just then she went out to pick wild vegetables, and when she came back to see this scene, she quickly ran outside the village and never returned.
After leaving Nanshan Village, Lai Yueming returned to his hometown. Her father learned that his daughter was being arrested by Kuomintang soldiers, forced her to marry a shoemaker, and then spread rumors everywhere that her daughter had committed suicide by jumping into a well.
After Marrying this shoemaker, Lai Yueming bore him a daughter. But then the shoemaker went out to do business and fell ill and died. After a few years, Lai Yueming married a disabled soldier and later gave birth to a son and a daughter.
Lai Yueming also searched for news of Chen Yi many times, but there were rumors that Chen Yi had died, some people said that he was arrested, and some people said that he was seriously injured. Lai Yueming's father also told her that Chen Yi was dead, and Lai Yueming did not believe it, but in fact Chen Yi did not send anyone to find her. She slowly lost her expectations and accepted the arrangement of fate.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, the Kuomintang and the Communists cooperated again to form an anti-Japanese national united front. The Red Army and guerrillas who remained in the Soviet zone were reorganized into the New Fourth Army and sent to the anti-Japanese front.
Figure | Stills of the Red Army
The Kuomintang no longer "encircled and suppressed" the Red Army, and Chen Yi quickly sent people to Xingguo to find his wife, but the news he received was that he had died.
Chen Yi did not believe that Lai Yueming would commit suicide, and when he went to Nanchang in 1937 to negotiate with the Kuomintang, he deliberately stayed in Xingguo for a day, hoping to find out about the matter.
After Chen Yi arrived in Xingguo, he stayed in the Xingguo Hostel, and many people who had lost contact with the organization rushed to see him and report some situations. Chen Yi asked them about his wife's whereabouts, but everyone said that Lai Yueming had died!
That night, Chen Yi stayed in the room of the hostel and missed Lai Yueming incomparably. The thought that in his 36 years of time, he had lost two wives, which undoubtedly made him miserable. Thinking about the bits and pieces with Lai Yueming, I couldn't help but feel sad from it, and I wrote down the sad one with a pen
《Xingguo Hostel》
：
"Xingcheng Brigade is miserable at night,
The moon shines in front of the broken paper window.
I'm still left with a hard battle,
Amun was ashamed of his old feelings. ”
After that, Chen Yi, who deeply trusted Yueming's sacrifice, never looked for her again. What's more, the pace of Japanese aggression was getting faster and faster, and Chen Yi led the New Fourth Army to the anti-Japanese front, and there was no time to look for it again.
In the War of Resistance Against Japan, comrades-in-arms
Zhu Kejing
Seeing that Chen Yi has lived alone in these years, he intends to find another spouse for him. Therefore, under the introduction of Zhu Kejing, Chen Yi and Zhang Qian of the Field Service Corps became acquainted, and then the two entered the palace of marriage.
(5) When they learned of the news, they failed to meet each other
The two did not see each other for various reasons. After Lai Yueming married the disabled soldier, his life was very difficult.
In 1959, Lai Yueming's youngest son had a serious illness, and it took a lot of savings from the family to cure the disease. Lai Yueming had to take him to the grocery store to buy candy, so there was the scene at the beginning of the article.
Figure | The grocery store of the last century
When she held the newspaper from the grocery store owner, her eyes kept on the photo of Chen Yi and a foreign guest, and the photo was written in large characters:
Vice Premier Chen Yi received foreign guests in Zhongnanhai.
Lai Yueming cried excitedly, it turned out that Chen Yi was still alive, and she said in tears:
Brother Chen Yi, my Lang Jun, you are still alive...
The grocery store owner was startled to hear her say this, and quickly said:
You see clearly, that's Marshal Chen Yi.
Lai Yueming felt questioned and immediately said loudly: "
I can see very clearly, I am Chen Yi's wife!
Then she ran outside with the newspaper and shouted, ".
Chen Yi is still alive!
Even if her young son was crying, she didn't care at all.
At this time, Lai Yueming was like discovering a big treasure and announcing it to the world. At this time, her heart was extremely excited, and she did not expect that her husband, who had lost contact for many years, was still alive and was also the vice premier of the State Council. On the other hand, she was a little confused and complaining, why didn't Chen Yi come to find herself for so many years?
The more Lai Yueming thought about it, the more he felt the need to ask Chen Yi in person, so he decided to go to Beijing.
As soon as Lai Yueming returned home, she and her husband
Kataramatsu
He said he was going to Beijing to find Chen Yi. Fang Liangsong only knew that his wife was a party member, but he had no idea that it was marshal Chen Yi's former wife.
For Fang Liangsong, his heart is very painful, he is a disability, the family relies on Lai Yueming to be supported, once she wants to leave, the family will fall. Moreover, after living with her for so many years, he had long been inseparable from her, how could he bear to let her leave?
Fang Liangsong had no choice but to persuade her and plead with her. Several of her children heard that their mother was leaving and came to beg her not to leave. When Lai Yueming saw that the family was like this, she resisted the idea of going to Beijing and agreed not to go to Beijing to find Chen Yi.
In the blink of an eye to 1967, Lai Yueming's thoughts about Chen Yi did not diminish at all, and after many days of entanglement, she decided to write a letter to tell Chen Yi that she was still alive and explain her situation over the years, in which Lai Yueming also expressed her hope to meet.
However, after this letter was sent, no reply was received, and the stone sank into the sea.
Unwillingly, Lai Yueming wrote a letter to the Jiangxi Provincial Revolutionary Committee in 1968, hoping to seek help.
After some days, several cadres came to Lai Yueming's home, inquired about Lai Yueming's situation in detail, and then said to her: "
You now have your own family and several children, and Comrade Chen Yi now has his own family and children. We are sympathetic to your plight and if you have any difficulties, we can do our best to help you. But hopefully you don't go to Beijing, because that's not good for either side.
On January 6, 1972, Marshal Chen Yi, a loyal comrade and leader of our Party, died in Beijing at the age of 71.
Figure | Statue of Chen Yi
When Lai Yueming heard this news, it was like five thunderbolts.
In 1985, Lai Yueming thought that it was Cai Chang who was a matchmaker for himself, and it was necessary for him to explain his experience over the years to Cai Chang, so he wrote a sincere letter to Cai Chang.
But at this time, Cai Chang was also ill and was treated in the hospital. The staff replied to Lai Yueming, apologizing to her, saying that Cai Chang was receiving treatment in the hospital and it was not appropriate to meet guests, and politely rejected her idea of going to Beijing.
In 1988, knowing that Cai Chang was seriously ill, Lai Yueming could no longer bear her feelings, accompanied by her son, she was already 74 years old and came to Beijing to meet Cai Chang in a hospital bed. As soon as they met, she said to Cai Chang:
Sister Cai, do you remember me? I am Chen Yi's wife who has not seen each other for 54 years...
Under the arrangement of the relevant departments, Lai Yueming visited the Chen Yi Memorial Hall. At this time, Chen Yi had been dead for 16 years. From 1934 to 1988, it has been 54 years, Chen Yi and Lai Yueming have finally done so in this way."
Get together
"The...