Text/Wu Guan
On a summer evening in 1928, before the mist in the villages on the northern outskirts of Lyon had completely cleared, Zhang Ruoming, 26, heard a sharp knock at the door, opened the door of her apartment, and stood outside an old friend who had not been seen for many years and was also a former lover, Zhou Enlai.
Tears flowed down without a fight, and I haven't seen them for a long time, Enlai.
At this point, it had been exactly four years since the two had broken up.
Zhou Enlai wore a straight white suit and a white French helmet, and when he took off his sunglasses, Zhang Ruoming still saw those big eyes.
The night is dark. Neither spoke.
Maybe it was the pain of the breakup that hurt too much to say, or maybe the thoughts rolled up too many words and didn't know where to start.
"Won't you let me in?" Zhou Enlai was still as polite and easy-going as he was then.
Zhang Ruoming panicked and let open the door.
"Xiao Chao and I are already married, and she asked me to ask Sister Ruoming how she is."
The coffee in Zhang Ruoming's hand shook inadvertently.
This reunion, Zhang Ruoming waited for four years, four years, Zhou Enlai was just four years older than her, maybe this is providence, he was 26 years old, four years ago Zhou Enlai was also 26 years old, the two were flourishing, but also in Paris The two broke up, they went to Paris, and from then on, they embarked on different paths.
And now, he is a husband, his wife is his best friend, and he is still alone.
Is it fate, or is it because of his persistence that he has let the two of them miss it?
The students who studied in France in the past all said that they and Zhou Enlai were the best match, but now, do you regret it, maybe.
"I was transferred from Moscow to the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of China through Europe, and there were secret police following along the way, so ..." Zhou Enlai wanted to stop talking.
Zhang Ruoming immediately understood the meaning of the man in front of her, and she told him that although she had left the revolutionary ranks, she would never betray her friends and the secrets of the party.
Not to mention the former lover, she silently added in her heart.
It's just that you're going to change the world, and I just want a cup of coffee.
Zhou Enlai did not stay long before he hurriedly bid farewell and left, and this separation was thirty years.
The name Zhang Ruoming has not been buried for too long.
History sometimes leaves a blind spot, and this blind spot may be deliberately buried, or it may be unintentionally forgotten.
I tried to trace the scales and feathers of history to slowly reconstruct Zhang Ruoming, and then in the little corners of the book, I re-created a complete and new Zhang Ruoming, a female fighter from a hundred years ago, a forgotten pioneer.
Zhou Enlai's niece Zhou Bingde once said in her book "My Uncle Zhou Enlai" about Zhou Enlai that her seventh mother, that is, Deng Yingchao, once said: "Zhang Ruoming, who went to France with your uncle, turned out that they had more contact. I used to think that if your uncle didn't insist on celibacy, he might be the best fit with her, and everyone else thought so. ”
Zhang Ruoming was born in 1902 in Qingyuan County, Hebei Province, to a wealthy family. Father Zhang was open-minded, in that era when women were talentless and virtuous, he sent his daughter to school, encouraged her to learn advanced cultural knowledge, he knew that the world was about to undergo earth-shaking changes, and he knew that only by mastering a skill could he save himself in this world surrounded by great powers.
But what Father Zhang did not expect was that this study had gone wrong.
During her studies, Zhang Ruoming accepted the popular idea of women's emancipation in society at that time, and during the May Fourth Movement, she, Guo Longzhen and Deng Yingchao organized and launched the Tianjin Women's Patriotic Comrades Association and served as the director of the Commentary Department.
From June to October, she also went to Beijing three times as a tianjin representative to petition.
The daughter is in the outside world, and the father at home cannot be unaware.
Zhang Ruoming's father was anxious, Zhang Ruoming's approach was completely out of his intention, he repeatedly sent a telegram to his daughter, asking her to study with peace of mind and not to do these troublesome things again, but Zhang Ruoming ignored it and even intensified it.
In September 1919, she and Zhou Enlai founded the Awakening Society.
The awakening of consciousness, the consciousness of the self, the consciousness of the people, and the establishment of the Enlightenment Society gave Tianjin the core of leadership for the revolutionary cause.
At that time, there were 20 members of the Society, and in order to reflect the equality of men and women, there were exactly 10 boys and 10 girls, and the list of girls was provided by Zhang Ruoming.
Zhang Ruoming has always been very assertive, and often discussed with Zhou Enlai a good recipe for saving the country.
In the inaugural issue of "Enlightenment", Zhang Ruoming published the article "The Woman of the Vanguard" under the code name "Shirt Six". The article shouted: "Women's liberation starts from women's liberation, don't wait for others to liberate." ”
That is to say, women's liberation depends on the woman's own initiative to work hard and fight, and cannot sit there and wait for others to liberate herself.
Why do girls rely on others? Why wait for someone else to come and save yourself?
The slogans that were shouted loudly in the women's liberation movement a hundred years ago still sound deafening today.
In January 1920, the May Fourth Movement reached its climax. A massive petition demonstration broke out in Tianjin, and the leading petitioner was arrested and imprisoned by the authorities.
Zhou Enlai, Zhang Ruoming, Guo Longzhen and other members of the Awakening Society felt that a larger petition demonstration should be held to ask the authorities to release the detained representatives.
So the four deputies, led by Zhou Enlai, led a huge procession towards the official residence of Governor Cao Rui.
But the gates of the governor's residence were tightly closed.
Crowds waved flags outside the door and chanted slogans demanding that the authorities release them.
At this time, a small student found that there was a large gap under the gate of the official residence, and he and Zhou Enlai said a word, and they were about to drill in, but they were stopped by Zhou Enlai.
Zhou En said that we are representatives and should go, and you continue to shout slogans in solidarity with us outside.
After saying that, he and Guo Longzhen and Zhang Ruoming and four other deputies went through the crack in the door.
But when they looked up, they were surrounded by reactionary military police with guns, and they were surrounded.
Immediately after the door slammed open, military and police officers brandished batons and water guns to the crowd of demonstrators.
Zhou Enlai and the others were blinded, but there was nothing they could do.
In order to save the country, the students who rely solely on the strength of this group of chickens can only increase casualties in vain.
Revolution depends not only on blood, but also on force.
During the six months in prison, Zhou Enlai, Zhang Ruoming, and others who were imprisoned were fighting against the reactionary government while actively thinking about the road to salvation and survival.
On July 17, 1920, Zhou Enlai and others regained their freedom.
It was also after this period that they fully realized that peaceful means alone were useless, and they decided to go to Europe, to seek the truth.
Later Zhou Enlai wrote in a very precise way about the incident: "Thoughts flutter in prison. ”
At that time, going to France for work-study was a social trend.
According to the data, those who studied in France and later returned to China to serve as important leaders were Deng Gong, Nie Rongzhen, Chen Xi, Li Lisan, Xiang Jingyu, Li Fuchun, Cai Chang, and Chen Duxiu's sons Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian, who were well-known figures in the history of the CPC.
Why study in France?
At that time, society was in an era of great changes, and various new trends of thought on the reform of the social system were impacting the young generation, who hoped to "go out" to learn new ideas and new technologies and better build their motherland.
At that time, France was extremely short of labor due to the First World War, so China and France hit it off.
In 1916, educators Li Shizeng and Cai Yuanpei established the Huafa Education Association, which proposed a new way to study abroad in addition to public dispatch and self-payment, which made many aspiring young people from poor families in China have the opportunity to study and live abroad.
From 1919 to 1920, more than 1,600-2,000 people from all over the country went to France to work and study.
Zhang Ruoming also wanted to study in France at that time, but Zhang's father did not agree. She forcibly returned Zhang Ruo's name to her home and prepared to marry her off.
But how could Zhang Ruoming give in.
How can the air that has breathed freedom be bound by a forced marriage?
One night Zhang Ruoming secretly climbed the window and ran.
Zhang Ruoming's grandfather was the richest man in Qingyuan County, and after going to school, Zhang Ruoming lived in his uncle's house as a doctor and had close contacts with his uncle's cousins.
Later, when Zhang Ruoming was mentioned, the sisters still praised her, saying that she was a female Haojie.
On November 7, 1920, Zhang Ruoming, Zhou Enlai, Guo Longzhen and more than 100 other work-study students boarded the Bordeaux, France.
In the summer of 1921, Zhang Ruoming and Guo Longzhen moved to Blois in central France.
There he had close contact with Zhou Enlai.
According to the Chinese writer Han Suying in Zhou Enlai and His Century, "he seemed to be in love with another girl, whose name was carefully kept secret. ”
The girl who was "carefully protected by her name" was Zhang Ruoming.
Exotic, free air, like-minded comrades who have been in prison together, the union of two people seems to be a matter of course.
In 1919, Deng Yingchao was only 15 years old, and Zhang Ruoming was already a big girl at that time.
The girl's heart is always romantic poetry, not to mention the handsome and dashing "WuHao" Zhou Enlai.
Love is like a warm red wine, blooming in the ears of two young people.
They went to Paris together, strolled along the banks of the Seine, looked at the magnificent Eiffel Tower, and talked about life's ideals about freedom.
They hid under the long bridge in the rain and occasionally listened to the wandering violinist playing "The Blue Danube" on the steps in front of Notre Dame.
Years later, Zhou Enlai and his niece Zhou Bingde recalled that this relationship was still full of smiles, and the first love was too beautiful.
In 1922, Zhang Joined the Young Communist Party of China founded by Zhao Shiyan and Li Fuchun.
At that time, the Young Communist Party was a completely secret organization, and everyone had their own code name, Zhou Enlai was "Wu Hao", and Zhang Ruoming was pseudonym "Yifeng".
One copy of Zhang Ruoming's "Imperialism in China", published in 1925, is signed by Yifeng.
In 1924, Zhang Ruoming made an important decision in his life, quit the Young Communist Party, quit all political activities, and read behind closed doors.
It is difficult for us to know why Zhang Ruoming made this decision, but turning to the corner of history, we may be able to find a trace of the truth.
At that time, Zhou Enlai, who was a lover, was transferred out of France, and his friend Guo Longzhen also went to the Soviet Union to study, and Zhang Ruoming was unaccompanied and isolated in France.
At that time, ren Zhuoxuan and Zhang Ruoming, the main leaders of the Communist Youth League on the French side, disagreed.
Ren Zhuoxuan's ideas are very radical, and he is solipsistic, and he can't listen to the opinions of others, and Zhang Ruoming's distress can be imagined.
In fact, we can imagine such a scene, a person in a foreign country, lovers and friends are not around, there is a person next to you, you have no one to rely on, no one to talk to, you are lonely to the moon in a foreign country, missing and helpless, ideals, ideals are often destroyed by cruel reality.
Zhou Enlai is actually the backbone of Zhang Ruoming, and in prison in Tianjin, she can listen to Zhou Enlai's opinion, and she can publish a newspaper to break off relations with her father and run to France, which can be interpreted as an ideal or as love.
But now the ideal has been annihilated, and love, love is too far away to reach, can not see.
And according to Zhang Ruoming's husband Yang Kun, Lenin died in 1924, when the French Communist Party organization was preparing to hold a commemorative meeting in Paris, but the French authorities only allowed French party members to participate.
However, the Young Communists sent Zhang Ruoming to the meeting, but they were monitored by the French secret police and almost deported.
This encounter made Zhang Ruoming firm in his determination to break away from the organization.
Yang Kun was one of the first batch of government-funded international students enrolled by the University of Central Farion in 1921. She and Guo Longzhen were fellow countrymen, and later joined the Communist Youth League in France through Guo Longzhen's introduction, and it was here that he met Zhang Ruoming.
Yang Kun has never been a radical character, and he and Zhou Enlai are completely two worlds of people.
If Zhou Enlai in his youth was destined to change the world, then Yang Kun was the sentient beings of the changed world, and all he longed for was a stable study abroad career, which coincided with Zhang Ruoming at that time.
Zhou Enlai once sent a letter to Deng Yingchao, which mentioned Zhang Ruoming, saying that he and Zhang Ruoming might not be like-minded.
The path is destined to be different.
There is no right, no wrong.
Zhou Enlai followed the path of a sinister professional revolutionary, while Zhang Ruoming sought nothing more than a cup of coffee.
He was ready to sacrifice himself for the revolution.
Zhang Ruoming went to the University of Lyon after 1924, and four years later obtained certificates in psychology, general philosophy and logic, ethics and sociology, and education, and obtained a doctorate in 1930.
Among them, her doctoral thesis, "The Attitude of Gide", was rated as one of the best papers by the University of Lyon.
In the same year, she and Yang Kun consummated marriage and returned to China the following year.
Yang Kun also obtained a doctorate, and the doctoral couple met on the occasion of their new marriage to "no longer pay attention to politics in this life, and concentrate on academic research."
In 1955, when Zhang Ruoming was working at Yunnan University, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi went to Bandung for a meeting and passed through Kunming to secretly come to see an old friend.
The meeting lasted five hours, and this was the last time Zhang Ruoming saw Zhou Enlai in his life.
Three years later, Zhang Ruoming was persecuted and committed suicide.
In this life, there is nothing wrong with a girl's life, whether it is the goal of self-realization of a lifetime, or the pursuit of love for this life' career.
It's just a different choice.
A choice, a decision, a turn, may be your lifetime. Cowardice, resentment, regret, and commitment are all consequences that you cannot predict.
Then go and live your life, he wants to change his world, and the cup of coffee he wants may be the best for him.
Love is not compromised, what you want is the best.