Ju Li (Chrysanthemum East Hedge)
Today is the 100th birthday of my mother, open the relics left by my mother, a copper coin printed with a sickle hammer, on which is written the words "Mint of the Soviet Government of Sichuan and Shaanxi Province" and 1933.
Looking at this copper coin, I remembered my mother, and I remembered the story that my mother had told me about the origin of this copper coin.
I once heard my mother say that when my grandfather died, he was still holding this copper coin tightly in his hand, tears blending, and slowly chanting in his mouth: I don't know him... What's the matter, if you can see it, you must give it back to him on behalf of him, and give it back to the organization...
Grandpa closed his eyes, the copper coin in his hand fell to the ground, and my mother picked up the copper coin and cried...
My mother told me that at that time, my grandfather was an underground party member of our party, who opened a small medicine shop in the village and was also a secret contact point of our party, but no one in the village knew about it. The village is not very large, more than a hundred households, because of the surname of the many people, also called Shi Jiaxuan, there is a winding river in front of the village, the small river is built with a small wooden bridge made of trees.
Mother said that it was probably in May 1937 that the spring breeze blew green weeping willows on both sides, and the grass of the riverbed was green without horseshoes. One day in the dark, Grandpa got up as usual to clean the medicine shop, only to hear a few horse whistles in the distance, and a carriage on the other side of the river ran over the river (the wooden bridge can only be walked).
The sound of the horse's hooves came from far and near to the door of the medicine shop and stopped, and the person who drove the car hurried into the medicine shop and said something to my grandfather, who hurried outside, took a look, and saw a man lying on the carriage, covered with an old quilt that had fallen out, and was stained with blood. Grandpa hurriedly called out to my grandmother and my mother, and the four of them carefully carried the people in the carriage into the house, opened the quilt and looked at it, which frightened my mother into crying. At that time, my mother was young, and she was twelve or thirteen years old.
Someone came to tell Grandpa that he was our traffic officer, injured in the abdomen, had just finished surgery, because of the complicated enemy situation, did not dare to recuperate in the hospital in the city, rushed here overnight, to stay here for a few days, hide, recuperate. He also consulted with his grandfather, afraid of leaking the wind, in case outsiders knew, he said that it was my uncle in the back mountain, because he went up the mountain to dig wild eggs, accidentally fell and injured.
It was almost dawn, and the man and my grandfather explained a few more words in the back room, and did not dare to stay any longer, so they hurried to the car and left.
Grandpa sent him to the small river outside the village, hugged him tightly when he said goodbye, and said: Rest assured, I will take good care of the wounded!
The man took a copper coin from his pocket and said: When someone picks up the traffic officer in the future, he must take out the same copper coin to pick it up. Grandpa clutched the copper coin tightly, and after watching the carriage leave, hurried back to the house to scrub, disinfect, and apply medicine to the wounded. At that time, most of the underground personnel of our party were in single-line contact and could not ask more questions, only knowing that he was Commander Xu's traffic officer, called Zero Eight.
Time passed quickly, and under the careful care of my grandfather, after more than one episode, Zero Eight's injuries gradually improved and I was able to walk on the ground.
One evening a few days later, there was another sound of horses' hooves, and Grandpa went out to look at the road across the river, and vaguely saw a man carrying a box gun, riding a jujube red horse, and pulling a white horse in his hand, and when he got off his horse by the small river, led two horses, and walked across the small wooden bridge one after the other, toward the village.
The person came to the door of Grandpa's medicine shop, tied up the horse on the poplar tree in front of the door, entered the shop first begged for water to drink, sat down and drank a few sips of water, said something to Grandpa, and then took out a copper coin exactly like Grandpa's in his arms, saying that he was going to take Zero Eight away, which was also arranged by his superiors, and told Grandpa to quickly evacuate this place.
My grandfather hurriedly called out Zero Eight, hugged a little, said a few words of urgency, and walked to the river with his horse in his hand, crossed the river along the small wooden bridge, shook hands with the comers, and the two of them turned over on the horse, turned back to my grandfather and hugged his fist, turned around and disappeared into the vast night.
After returning to the drug store, Grandpa cleaned up a bit, said something to my grandmother, and also left the house, went out to hide, and came back after a year of illness. This was the first parting of my grandmother, mother and grandfather.
Grandpa walked to the other side of the river, and suddenly ran back, took the copper coin from his arms, and told Grandma: As long as anyone takes out the same copper coin, go with whom. Then he turned and left.
The mother looked at the disappearing figure of her grandfather and burst into tears. Grandma dragged her mother back to the medicine shop where she didn't know what would happen, clutching the copper coin tightly in her hand...
In the blink of an eye, a few years have passed, my mother has also reached the age of marriage, and after being reconciled, she married my father, of course, my father is also an underground party member of the Ccp, and my grandmother handed over the only remaining copper coin to my mother, and instructed: No matter what point you reach, you can't sell it. Remember what your father said when he was leaving, when someone can come up with the same copper coin, this person is a relative, and go with this person.
Now my mother left a few years ago, too poor to eat, and did not sell the copper coin.
The copper coin is real, such as the driver and the zero eight traffic officer in the story are still alive, please contact, the person who can take out the same copper coin is the closest person in our family.
(Family heirloom copper coin photo is the first time to be made public)
March 6, 2022
The author Ju Li (Caiju Dongli), a native of Laiyang City, Shandong Province, joined the army in February 1976 and returned to his hometown after retiring in 1980.
Editor: Liu Guoling, Li Xunxiu, Editorial Department of Qingyanwei Literature