After the founding of New China, Chairman Mao's Fellow Villagers in Shaoshan were very excited, and many people went to Beijing specifically to hope that Chairman Mao would arrange work.
For his fellow countrymen who came to visit him, he tried not to see him as much as possible, but in his later years he wrote a letter and handed it to the government of his hometown, in which he mentioned: I am old, please ask the government to take more care of him for me.
The person he took care of was the Ninth Cousin Mao Zelian.
Nine cousins
Those who are familiar with Chairman Mao's life know that when he was young, he was somewhat unaccustomed to his father Mao Shunsheng.
The most typical one was that the father took advantage of the illness of his relatives to buy several acres of paddy fields from the other party at a low price, and the chairman felt that his father was taking advantage of the danger of people and not talking about human feelings, and these paddy fields purchased by Mao Shunsheng were Mao Zelian's family.
Mao Zelian's father, Mao Jusheng, was Mao Shunsheng's cousin, and his family had only seven acres of paddy fields, relying on these fields to survive.
Chairman Mao and his mother were very sympathetic to their family, and had received this relative many times, and Mao Zelian was the ninth brother among his peers and was Chairman Mao's ninth cousin.
The age difference between the two is still relatively large, but since he was a child, he has admired this cousin very much, the chairman went out to study for many years, and returned to Shaoshan in 1925 to investigate, when Mao Zelian was 13 years old, joined the local peasant association, and later took the initiative to be a correspondent to Chairman Mao, responsible for the safety of the chairman.
When the chairman started a lecture at the agricultural school, Mao Zelian was standing guard nearby, he was young, he was particularly clever, and he was an excellent guard.
In the winter of 1925, the warlord Zhao Hengxi learned that Chairman Mao had returned to Shaoshan, so he sent someone to arrest him, when Mao Zelian saw the warlord soldiers approaching, he immediately climbed up to the roof and informed the comrades in the village, and the chairman quickly retreated, only to escape the warlord's pursuit.
Surgery in Beijing
When Chairman Mao left his hometown, he also considered whether to take this cousin with him, but seeing that the other party was really young, he hoped that he could put more thought into studying and finally give up taking him away.
The two separated for more than 20 years, and it was not until after the liberation of Hunan that the chairman contacted Mao Zelian and others again.
When Chairman Mao was fighting everywhere, Mao Zelian had been working hard for the revolution, and once he participated in the activities of the peasant association in the middle of the night, was hunted down by the enemy, and fled into the nearby mountain.
It was night, in a hurry to escape, the branch scratched his left eye, the left eye was seriously injured, the eyeball necrosis, as he grew older, there was some inflammation in the right eye, and in October 1949, when he was sent to Beijing, both eyes could hardly see anything.
After the chairman learned of this, he specially instructed his son Mao Anying to take him to the hospital to see his eyes and bear all his medical expenses, Mao Zelian did not want to cause trouble for Chairman Mao, and stayed in Beijing for two months.
It's hard to buy tickets
In December, during the Spring Festival, train tickets were hard to find, and Mao Zelian did not want to be special, so he went to the station to queue up, but still could not buy tickets.
Later, the guards around the chairman helped to queue for another three days before they could buy a ticket, and Mao Zelian returned to Shaoshan.
Before leaving, the chairman also prepared many letters and gifts for him, sent medicine and clothes to Mao Zelian's mother, and gave him a sum of money.
Knowing that Mao Zelian's life was difficult, the chairman took out 200 yuan from his own writing fee every year to send to this cousin, and wrote two letters to him.
Later, in 1954 and 1956, Mao Zelian went to Beijing twice, looked at his eyes, and each time he came to Beijing, he was warmly welcomed by Chairman Mao.
Mao Zelian
Low profile
Mao Zelian never flaunted his might because of his relationship with the chairman.
After returning to his hometown after watching his eyes, he was also very low-key.
The chairman wrote to him, and he did not mention it to outsiders, and some villagers asked him, and he deliberately pretended to be stupid and never answered.
After the treatment of eye disease, Mao Zelian was also a semi-blind person, coupled with the fact that the old mother in the family was getting older and older, life was very difficult, and later with the chairman's annual help, life was slightly better.
When Mao Zelian's mother died of illness, the family had no spare money to go to the funeral, and Mao Zelian did not want to trouble the local government, so he wrote to his cousin for help.
After the chairman saw it, he specially took out 300 pieces from his own savings and sent it to Mao Zelian to let him take care of his aunt's funeral.
Mao Ze's life was extremely difficult, but he tried his best to overcome it on his own, never wanted to go to the government for help, and never sought private interests for himself in the name of Chairman Mao.
The chairman also often sighed: Mao Zelian made a good start for everyone.
In 1959, Chairman Mao returned to his hometown after a 32-year absence, and on the afternoon of June 26, he also paid a banquet for more than 40 relatives and friends in his hometown, and Mao Zelian was also invited to come.
Deathbed entrustment
In 1961, Mao Zelian's eldest son was admitted to high school, and at that time the family was really difficult, and he could not afford to pay the tuition fee for school, Mao Zelian was unwilling to bother Chairman Mao anymore, so he simply let the eldest son drop out of school, and the eldest son later became a broadcaster at the commune radio station.
Chairman Mao later learned that he was both distressed and angry, and felt that his cousin should talk to himself and should not waste his child's future.
In his later years, he was always worried about this matter, and even felt that part of the reason why his nephew did not continue his education. That's why he wrote a letter to the local government: "After I die, please take care of him to a certain extent." ”
Hoping to improve the living conditions of his cousin's family, Mao Zelian did not disappoint the chairman, even with the chairman's exception, in the years since, he has never sought the government for his own affairs.
On the Lantern Festival in 1986, Mao Anqing and his wife returned to Shaoshan with their son, and also paid a special visit to Mao Zelian, the ninth grandfather, and on September 29, 1995, Mao Zelian died of illness.