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Preamble:
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 1929, Li Cailian, who was only 15 years old, officially married Chi Yuhua, a child daughter-in-law bought by her family nine years ago, under the control of her grandmother.
However, three days after the two had just had a round house, Li Cailian hurriedly said goodbye to his newlywed wife and left the country.
In the 67 years since, the husband and wife have only seen each other once.
So what happened between Li Cailian and Chi Yuhua?
初识
It all started when Chi Yuhua was nine years old.
In 1920, due to the warlords in the mainland, the people of Lebanon were living in dire straits.
Chi Yuhua's family was displaced by years of war, and in the end it was reduced to a state of hunger and cold.
Just when Chi Yuhua's family was facing the test of survival, Li Cailian's family from Xingguo, Jiangxi Province, appeared.
At that time, the Li family's family was not bad, and the Li family's grandmother was also looking for a child daughter-in-law for her grandson Li Cailian.
Coincidentally, Chi Yuhua's family, who came from a poor family, attracted the attention of Li Cailian's grandmother.
In order to help Chi Yuhua's family, Li Cailian's grandmother bought Chi Yuhua.
In this way, Chi Yuhua, who was only nine years old, became Li Cailian's child daughter-in-law.
Since then, Chi Yuhua has begun to take care of Li Cailian's daily life.
And Li Cailian did not dislike this bought "wife" at all, but took the opportunity to teach Chi Yuhua to read and hyphenate when she was able to go to school.
Under the day and night relationship, this relationship under the influence of feudalism has gradually become substantial.
It wasn't until the eve of the Spring Festival in 1929 that the two finally ushered in the happiest moment.
On that day, under the arrangement of Li Cailian's grandmother, the two finally officially got married.
However, what Chi Yuhua didn't expect was that after only three days of marriage, Li Cailian would say goodbye to herself and leave the country.
Chi Yuhua was very puzzled by this, and the next words of Li Cailian made Chi Yuhua understand that her husband, who had been with her for nine years, was still hiding a huge secret.
parting
Under Chi Yuhua's inquiry, Li Cailian confessed the secret in her heart to her in order not to worry her too much.
It turned out that as early as elementary school, revolutionary ideas had already appeared in the primary school where Li Cailian attended.
After Li Cailian came into contact with revolutionary ideas, she was out of control and spontaneously threw herself into the revolutionary struggle.
But gradually, Li Cailian found that the revolutionary struggle was full of crises, so Li Cailian made an important decision.
That is to hide this matter from Chi Yuhua, he does not want Chi Yuhua to be involved in the revolutionary struggle.
After that, Li Cailian devoted herself to the revolution and helped our party secretly complete its tasks many times.
Because of his lively thinking and quick work, Li Cailian was soon promoted to secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee of the Young Communist Party.
Coming to such a position at a young age is enough to see that Li Cailian has real talent and hard work.
However, when Chi Yuhua learned all this, Chi Yuhua was also full of disbelief, but nine years of getting along day and night had made her and Li Cailian really walk together.
Although he was reluctant, Chi Yuhua still agreed with Li Cailian's idea of leaving. But as everyone knows, the fate of the two has changed dramatically.
After Li Cailian left, Chi Yuhua did his best to take care of Li Cailian's family and help him keep the home in order.
It's just that in the dead of night, Chi Yuhua will worry about Li Cailian in the revolutionary struggle.
Because he knows that in the revolutionary struggle there are people who pay with their lives at all times.
It was precisely under the cycle of these thoughts that one day, Chi Yuhua finally couldn't help it.
Out of longing and worrying about her husband, Chi Yuhua decided to go out to find her husband.
After obtaining her grandmother's consent, Chi Yuhua resolutely embarked on the road of finding a husband.
However, after searching everywhere, Chi Yuhua couldn't find any news about her husband, which made Chi Yuhua think, could it be that her husband had sacrificed his life for the revolution?
Obviously, Chi Yuhua couldn't accept this result, so she could only walk on the road of finding her husband day after day, and this search was three years.
Three years later, in 1933, it was when the Red Army of our Central Committee won the fourth victory against encirclement and suppression.
Chi Yuhua, who has been looking for a husband for three years, finally heard the news of her husband Li Cailian.
At that time, Li Cailian had become a senior general in the Central Soviet Region, and Li Cailian was leading his troops to rest in the Ningdu area at that time.
So Chi Yuhua ignored the steep mountain road, walked more than 100 miles to Ningdu, and met her longing husband Li Cailian.
Reunion
At that time, Li Cailian was surprised when she learned that his wife Chi Yuhua was looking for her.
Because he couldn't imagine how many tribulations a woman had gone through in today's chaotic world, walking alone for more than 100 miles.
But fortunately, this loving couple finally ushered in a reunion.
The husband and wife, who met again, did not have many words, because they both knew the meaning of the revolution.
It was this encounter that laid the groundwork for the husband and wife not to see each other again for 67 years.
After the reunion, Chi Yuhua told Li Cailian all his experiences in the past three years.
Li Cailian also knew that it was not easy for her wife, and then Li Cailian said to Chi Yuhua affectionately: The news is very uncertain during the war, if someone says that I am dead, don't believe it, remember, wait for me!
A simple promise, Chi Yuhua was moved.
In order to follow in her husband's footsteps, Chi Yuhua also made an amazing decision.
That is to stay in the Soviet zone and follow her husband on the road of revolution.
After obtaining consent, Chi Yuhua and her husband fought for the revolution together, and during this period, the relationship between the two became more stable.
And the work of the two in the Central Soviet District also went very smoothly.
However, happy times are always short-lived, and just a year later, the couple faced separation again.
In 1935, the Red Army's fifth anti-encirclement campaign was defeated due to command errors and was forced to embark on the road of the Long March.
In addition to the transfer of the main force, the Central Soviet Region also left Xiang Ying, Chen Yi and Li Cailian and other 12 people to establish the Central Branch of the Central Soviet District of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Li Cailian served as the secretary of the Soviet District Bureau of the Central Committee of the Young Communist Party, and on the surface, Li Cailian stayed in the Central Soviet District and did not follow the Red Army's Long March, but this did not avoid the end of his separation from Chi Yuhua.
Due to the failure of the anti-encirclement and suppression at that time, the Kuomintang army's oppression of the central Soviet area became more and more severe.
This also made Li Cailian and his party have to constantly move and constantly deal with the Kuomintang army.
In order to protect Chi Yuhua, Li Cailian had to separate from his wife and face the harsh revolutionary environment independently, so the husband and wife, who had just been reunited for a year, separated again.
But what the two of them didn't expect was that this separation turned out to be a farewell.
No matter how parting is, it will be goodbye forever
After Chi Yuhua separated from Li Cailian, he fell into a state of loss of contact again.
But the words left by Li Cailian waiting for me before made Chi Yuhua very relieved, he knew that as long as her husband was alive, he would definitely come back to find him.
So he stayed and settled in the area and actively contributed to the revolution.
But as everyone knows, not long after the two separated, Li Cailian fell into a desperate situation.
In 1935, the revolutionary situation in the Central Soviet District became more and more severe, and in order to change the status quo, the Party Central Committee sent a telegram from Zunyi.
The troops left behind in the Central Soviet Region were instructed to break through the encirclement by road and in batches, and Li Cailian's direction of breakthrough was the western Fujian area.
After receiving the order, Li Cailian immediately led his troops to break through to western Fujian, but encountered a tight blockade by the Kuomintang army.
In order to protect the living forces, Li Cailian had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat into the mountains of Ruijin and fight with the other two troops. And guerrilla warfare was waged on the spot.
But soon after, the Kuomintang army was overwhelmed, our army was encircled, and Li Cailian's life also entered the countdown.
In order to cover the withdrawal of the main force, Li Cailian took the initiative to ask Ying to lead his troops to block the enemy.
In the battle, Li Cailian was not afraid of sacrifice and led his troops to suppress the enemy, but under the huge gap in numbers and weapons, Li Cailian's troops gradually could not resist.
But Li Cailian was not afraid, seeing that the troops were about to run out of ammunition and food, Li Cailian gave an order and led his troops to launch a counter-charge with a resolute mentality.
However, at this moment, a bullet suddenly shot from Li Cailian's back.
It turned out that the brutal battle made a guard squad leader of Li Cailian's department have a frightened mentality, and he just wanted to survive, in order to ask for merit from the Kuomintang army.
When Li Cailian led his troops to charge, he took advantage of his unpreparedness to shoot Li Cailian to death.
At this point, Li Cailian, who was only 22 years old, fell forever on the road of revolution.
But Chi Yuhua didn't know about this news, so she had been waiting for her husband to come home.
After the victory of the war, Li Cailian did not wait for her husband to return, and the neighbors around her said that Li Cailian may have died early.
But Chi Yuhua didn't want to believe it in his heart, because Li Cailian once told her that others couldn't believe it when they said they were dead.
So Chi Yuhua firmly believes that her husband will definitely come back, but she doesn't know that this wait is 67 years.
For decades, Chi Yuhua has always believed that her husband is still alive, and it is this belief that makes him wait day after day, year after year.
But waiting never waited for her husband's return, but waited for the news of her husband's death.
In 2003, when the relevant departments of the mainland were sorting out the information, they found the exact news of Li Cailian's sacrifice, so the news quickly spread to Chi Yuhua.
In fact, Chi Yuhua also understood in her heart that her husband had already sacrificed herself, but she was unwilling to accept it.
Three years later, in 2006, Chi Yuhua, who was 95 years old, left with a lifelong longing for her husband.
Epilogue:
Because of a promise, waiting for her husband for 67 years, obviously married for decades, and only a few years together, Chi Yuhua's waiting has touched countless Chinese people.
For more than 20,000 days and nights, her love, her youth, her beauty, all loyally melted into that boundless waiting.
Resources
Chi Yuhua, a legendary female Red Army: Endure humiliation and protect the bones and blood of martyrs to save her comrades-in-arms - China Military Network