In the late 1950s, generals Chen Geng and Admiral Li Kenong and Chen Shiyu went to the airport together to send off a foreign military delegation.
After the delegation left, Chen Geng suddenly proposed: "There is a Xi'an restaurant nearby, it is said that the northern Shaanxi cuisine is very authentic, we have been away from Yan'an for so many years, let's go and relive it together?" ”
Li Kenong and Chen Shiyu also readily agreed, so the three of them went to this Xi'an restaurant.
After the three of them finished ordering, the waiter said, "We're here to check out first." ”
The three of them hurried to put together money, but this time they came out too quickly, and none of them had money on them, and they couldn't help but look at each other, very embarrassed.
Seeing that a rare dinner was about to be lost, Chen Shiyu said: "My home is the closest, I will go back and get it!" ”
In this way, Chen Shiyu ran all the way home and brought money, and the three of them finished this rare meal.
This story was recorded by Chen Shiyu's son Chen Renkang, who later said: "My father's generation never thought of relying on their own status to make a special, these three generals are all high-powered, as long as they say their names, the owner of this restaurant will certainly not collect money, but none of them said, but strictly abide by the regulations, pay money first, and then eat." ”
Chen Shiyu is a founding general, the salary was 425 yuan at the beginning, after 1960 fell to 342 yuan, although not low, but Chen Shiyu's family has many children, but also often to help relatives and friends, so every month is also stretched, to difficult times, not to mention eating enough, a day can eat a meal is not bad.
But even if it was so difficult, Chen Shiyu never reached out to the organization, strictly forbidding anyone to take advantage of the public.
Chen Shiyu's monthly salary is collected by the secretary, once, when the secretary went to receive the salary, he found that 26 yuan was missing, so he asked the cashier whether it was wrong, and the cashier said that it was correct, and the 26 yuan was requested by General Chen Shiyu to be deducted.
It turned out that Chen Shiyu once had to go to a private affair in a foreign country, because the time was very tight, he took a special car to go, after returning, Chen Shiyu specially let the driver calculate the cost of this time, a total of 26 yuan, Chen Shiyu took the initiative to go to the financial room, saying that he used the car this time to do private affairs, can not be reimbursed, the cost is deducted from his salary.
The secretary later said with emotion: "In fact, Chen Shiyu's going to do things that time was not a private matter, it was to help the people solve their difficulties, but Chen Shiyu still believed that he could not take advantage of the public and resolutely withheld from his own salary." ”
General Chen Shiyu is not only strict with himself, but also very strict with the children, strictly forbidding the children to follow themselves, Chen Shiyu has a special car, and the children of the Chen family have not sat once.
Once, Chen Shiyu's daughter Chen Xiaoqin was ill, and did not want to delay the class, so he proposed to let her father's car take her to school, and as a result, Chen Shiyu was angry when he heard it, and severely criticized her: "Do the children of the common people have a car to send when they are sick?" This car is for the state to give me work, not for you to use, and if you dare to ask for such a request in the future, you will leave this home for me! ”
In this way, Chen Xiaoqin had a high fever and a strong wind, walked alone to the school, and never dared to mention the car again.
Don't talk about these principled things, it is an insignificant little thing, and Chen Shiyu will never allow children to want it.
One year, the Engineering Corps held a National Day party, Chen Shiyu also went with the children, after the release of the flowers, there were many small parachutes on the ground after the flowers burned, many children ran to pick up, Chen Shiyu's children also picked up a few back, but the result was severely criticized by the father, saying that this is a public thing, hurry to send it back to the Military Affairs Office!
The children reluctantly sent the small parachute to the Military Affairs Office, and as a result, the people in the Military Affairs Office looked at it and laughed and said, "Commander Chen's requirements are too strict, these things are useless, and we will throw them away when they are sent back." ”
In fact, Chen Shiyu did not know that these small parachutes were useless, and the purpose of his doing so was to make the children remember a principle: no public thing can be asked! Even if it is useless, you can't ask for it!
Under the strict requirements of Chen Shiyu, several children of the Chen family have also developed a strict self-discipline style, and in the 1990s, Chen Shiyu's son Chen Renkang went to a meeting, and the local department arranged for police cars to open the road in front of them in order to show their attention, and pedestrians on the road were also blocked by guardrails on the side of the road.
After Chen Renkang saw it, he immediately got out of the car and asked to remove the guardrail, which could not prevent the masses from traveling, and the police car also had to drive away, and there was no need to open the road.
The person in charge of the reception said that this was to save everyone's time, and it was not too late to let pedestrians pass by when everyone had passed.
But Chen Renkang said: "Our time is time, and the time of the masses is not time?" If we delay the time of the masses because we come, are we still Communists? ”
In the end, at the insistence of Chen Renkang, the person in charge had no choice but to remove the guardrail, and the cars of Chen Renkang and others were mixed among the masses and walked together.
Later, Chen Renkang said: "Don't say it's me, even if my father is still alive, he will never allow this to happen. ”
On April 14, 1995, it was the 86th birthday of General Chen Shiyu, when General Chen's health was already very bad, and everyone thought that this was probably General Chen's last birthday, so they decided to hold a more solemn birthday banquet for him.
Because of Chen Shiyu's high status, the relevant departments also gave instructions and agreed, and a banquet budget was listed side by side, and Chen Shiyu was asked to sign it.
When Chen Shiyu knew, he immediately frowned and said, "Who made this happen?" ”
Everyone said: "This is everyone's intention, the relevant departments have agreed, just wait for you to sign." ”
Chen Shiyu threw the budget list on the ground and said angrily, "When did I Chen Shiyu ever do this?" Don't change my life's style because of a birthday! You should know that our Party has always had discipline and cannot invite guests to dinner with public funds, and I have observed this all my life! ”
Chen Shiyu was very excited, gasped for a while, and then continued: "I heard that the national public funds to invite guests will cost hundreds of billions of yuan a year. Communists throw their heads and spill their blood, but not for their own enjoyment! ”
In the end, Chen Shiyu decided that all banquets would be cancelled and asked the staff to find a jar filled with water, which means "clear as water" as a birthday gift for himself.
In this way, on Chen Shiyu's last birthday, there was no imaginary luxurious feast, only the altar of clear water.
More than three months later, on July 22, 1995, General Chen Shiyu passed away at the age of 86.
Before Chen Shiyu died, he asked his wife to take paper and pencil and wrote a poem tremblingly, that is, the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji's "Fengqiao Night Berth"——
The moon is falling and the frost is full of frost, and the river maple fishing fire is sad and sleepy.
Hanshan Temple outside Gusu City, midnight bell to the passenger ship.
Why did General Chen Shiyu write this poem? Nobody knows, you know?
(References: "Follow Mao Zedong all your life", "Fight for ideals", "Motherland")
——To learn more about the story of the founding generals, you can check out the column of the history inn, a total of 100 founding generals.