May 19, 1950, was a big day for Chinese, and it Chinese Liberation Army liberated the Zhoushan Islands. For an ordinary Cantonese woman who has passed the age of confusion, this day is particularly exciting and unforgettable.
A pair of women's hands covered with the traces of age flipped through The Wen Wei Po, and the newspaper had a report about Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The picture of Ho Chi Minh in the newspaper, no longer young, looks a little familiar.
The woman read the report, learned about the life deeds of this great Vietnamese man, she locked her eyebrows deeply, the more she looked at it, the more excited she became, staring at the photo of Ho Chi Minh in the newspaper and looking at it over and over again, suddenly her eyes were red, and she choked: Isn't this Li Rui, my husband?
Young and old + transnational marriage
In October 1905, the Zeng Kaihua family in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, was overjoyed and named Zeng Xueming. Zeng Kaihua has been doing business in Honolulu for a long time, creating a solid family environment for his children, plus he is enlightened and has not deprived his youngest daughter Xueming of her educational qualifications. At the age of 7, Xueming went to a private school and later went to the school to attend elementary school.
When Zeng Xueming was 10 years old, his father died of illness, which was a big blow to the Zeng family. When she was 13 years old, she went to the medical center of her sister Zeng Xueqingkai to learn to be a midwife, and at the age of 16, she followed her sister to Guangzhou Dongshan Nursery as a nurse.
In 1923, her sister Zeng Xueqing saw that her sister was diligent and studious, so she decided to sponsor her sister to study at Panyu High School. Unfortunately, my sister died of illness the following year.
After that, Zeng Xueming made a decision to go to Guangzhou Baosheng Midwifery School to study. After graduating from school, she went to Guangzhou Luo Xiuyun Medical Clinic as a midwife. That year, Zeng Xueming was just 20 years old, and the flower was as beautiful as an age.
In Guangzhou in the 1920s, at the center of the wave of the Chinese Revolution, He Xiangning, Deng Yingchao, Cai Chang and other advanced Chinese women opened a women's sports exercise center in Guangzhou. Zeng Xueming, who was deeply influenced by revolutionary ideas, often went to listen to speeches and participate in activities, and became good friends with Deng Yingchao and Cai Chang, who were about the same age.
One day in 1925, Zeng Xueming went to the women's sports exercise to find Cai Chang with great interest, and people with similar interests discussed enthusiastically, and there were still some unfinished thoughts.
However, it was not early, and Zeng Xueming had to leave. Just around the corner of the stairs, she bumped into an older man approaching her, startling her. Out of courtesy and cultivation, she quickly packed up her mood and smiled politely to the other party.
The man stood at the top of the stairs, looking at the back of the young, beautiful and energetic girl who was far away, and after a long time, he came back to his senses and walked into the women's sports exercise center. After he and Cai Chang exchanged greetings, he asked curiously, "Who is the girl who just got out of here?" ”
Cai Chang said: "Zeng Xueming, a nurse at the hospital. ”
Cai Chang briefly introduced Zeng Xueming, but found that there was something wrong with the man in front of him, which was what men only looked like when they met the woman they liked.
Cai Chang had been working and studying in France for many years, and he was enlightened and enthusiastic, so he casually said: "Comrade Li Rui, are you interested in that girl?" ”
Li Rui, who was seen through his mind, was a little embarrassed, but he never twisted and squeezed, and did not hide his love for Zeng Xueming at first sight.
Cai Chang knew it and knew it in his heart.
After graduating from the University of The East University in Moscow, Li Rui was sent by the Comintern as a translator for Borodin, an advisory group sent by the Soviet Union to China, who came to Guangzhou in November 1924, and is now 35 years old, still alone.
Cai Chang and Li Rui have been old friends for many years, which has to start from her studying in France.
Li Rui's real name is Nguyen Bi Cheng, born in Vietnam in 1890, his father made a living as a teacher, under good tutoring, Nguyen Bi Cheng spoke fluent Chinese and could also speak Cantonese. In 1912, Ruan Bicheng went abroad as a seafarer and traveled to France, Britain, the United States and other countries, relying on some miscellaneous labor to survive. He joined the French Communist Party in 1920, becoming the first Communist in Vietnam. During his stay in France, Ruan Bicheng formed a deep friendship with Zhou Enlai, Li Fuchun, Cai Chang and others who worked and studied in France.
Later, Nguyen Bi Cheng went to Moscow and changed his name to Li Rui.
Cai Chang also hoped that his friend could be happy, so he and Deng Yingchao became a "red lady".
Zeng Xueming did not think that the story of "corner meets love" will happen to himself, when he learned of Li Rui's intentions, the young girl actually had concerns: first, Li Rui was 35 years old, and he was only 20 years old, and the two had a 15-year age difference; second, Li Rui was a Vietnamese revolutionary.
However, there are trusted friends Cai Chang and Deng Yingchao as matchmakers, and Zeng Xueming is also very curious about Li Rui. After learning about it, she also fell in love with the Vietnamese who was 15 years older than her.
Although Zeng Xueming had a good education, at that time, women who were free to love were a minority after all, so she took Li Rui to her second brother Zeng Jinxiang and asked him to be a staff officer.
Zeng Jinxiang studied in the United States in his early years, had a wide range of knowledge, and was also a former friend of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. After a long talk with Li Rui, Zeng Jinxiang decided that Li Rui was a humble and pragmatic, confident and enthusiastic, far-sighted person, and That Li Rui could also speak seven foreign languages, which was really admirable.
On behalf of the Zeng family, Zeng Jinxiang agreed to the marriage of his younger sister Zeng Xueming and Li Rui.
In 1926, Zeng Xueming and Li Rui officially held a wedding in Guangzhou, and Cai Chang and Deng Yingchao officiated as witnesses and matchmakers. The wedding was grand and the two couples were very happy.
Li Rui loves his elegant little wife very much, and the two live happily and sweetly after marriage. Under the influence of Li Rui, Zeng Xueming's revolutionary ideological consciousness also improved a lot, and from June to December 1926, she studied in the women's movement training institute for half a year, and then joined the Chinese Communist Youth League.
At the end of 1926, Zeng Xueming became pregnant, and Li Rui, who was looking forward to being a father, was also overjoyed.
However, there is one person who cannot be happy, that is, Zeng Xueming's mother, Liang Shi. The Liang family had 10 children in their lifetime, but most of them died of illness, and only the second son, Zeng Jinxiang, and the younger daughter, Zeng Xueming, were alive. Although it is common for women to have children, after experiencing the pain of so many children's deaths, Liang is no longer willing to let his young daughter risk her life to have children.
Therefore, Liang begged his daughter to beat up the child.
Li Rui begged bitterly, but his mother's life was difficult to violate, Zeng Xueming thought that he was still young and could have children for her husband, and finally chose to give up the child in her belly with tears.
Separation became a farewell
Although Li Rui is sad and sad, he can also understand his mother-in-law and wife, thinking that he will have children in the future.
Who knows, in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched the "April 12 Coup", completely betrayed the revolution, and wantonly hunted down communists. According to the instructions of the Comintern, Li Rui was to follow the Soviet advisory group to Shanghai via Wuhan, then to Vladivostok and then to Moscow. However, Li Rui could not bring his newly married wife.
Zeng Xueming, who was separated from her husband, was very panicked, the revolutionary comrades she knew before were arrested or transferred one after another, and she could not contact Li Rui, so she had to return to her mother's hometown of Leliuweiyu in Shunde County as a midwife.
Not long after, his mother fell ill, and Zeng Xueming had to resign to take care of his mother, until after his illness was cured, he went to Shunde Le to work as a midwife in Qun'an Medical Society.
Zeng Xueming painstakingly inquired about her husband's news and looked forward to her husband's return, but there was no result.
Once, when he returned to his mother's house on vacation, Zeng Xueming happened to meet a female teacher Huang Yaxiong of Leliuwei, and learned that her husband Li Rui had sent a letter from Shanghai to the Homestead of Leliuwei, and a person named Yu Bowen received the letter on his behalf.
After Zeng Xueming heard this news, he was sad and angry, fortunately, he learned from Huang Yaxiong that her husband Li Rui was safe.
However, one thing that stung her deeply was that Li Rui agreed in the letter that she would rush to Shanghai to go abroad together. At this moment, the agreed time has long passed, and she cannot go abroad with her husband.
If Zeng Xueming didn't know that the letter existed, she could still wait silly. However, when she learned of the letter, she was unable to reunite with her husband because of someone's fault, and her heart would be overwhelmed with panic when she thought about it.
In December 1929, Li Rui went to Hong Kong under the pseudonym Song Wenchu. In February 1930, on the instructions of the Comintern, he personally organized the establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Kowloon, Hong Kong.
In June 1931, Song Wenchu in Hong Kong was arrested by the British government and imprisoned in Victoria Prison. He found Zeng Xueming's sister, who asked a lawyer to help him win the case.
Zeng Xueming got the news that Song Wenchu was Li Rui from the group sister, and went to Hong Kong to see her husband, but she failed to do so, and she could not see her husband, so she had to leave Hong Kong sadly.
Zeng Xueming is a person of great affection, because Qunjie once helped her husband, and later when Qunjie was poor, she also tried her best to help him get through the difficulties.
Since then, Zeng Xueming has not heard from her husband. But she had been waiting for her husband, waiting for her to pick her up. Waiting is a happy thing, because there is anticipation, but waiting is a cruel thing. In the bitter wait, she often regretted, if she did not beat up her and Li Rui's children at that time, then she still had something to rely on, accompanied by the children to grow up while waiting for her husband to return, perhaps, it would not be so hard.
Waiting without a word, it was nearly 20 years.
A lifetime of waiting
In September 1945, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established, and the leader of Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh.
Because her husband is Vietnamese, Tsang Xue Minh inevitably cares about the affairs of neighboring countries, and may have heard ho Chi Minh's deeds, but she has never been able to associate the Vietnamese Founding Father with her husband. It wasn't until May 19, 1950, after seeing Ho Chi Minh's portrait and life story in Wen Wei Po, that she realized that the person she had been waiting for for more than ten or twenty years was actually the leader of the Vietnamese state.
Ho Chi Minh is his husband Li Rui.
The Vietnamese whose real name is Nguyen Bi Thanh, he has used many pseudonyms Nguyen Aiguo, Li Rui, Song Wenchu, Hu Guang, Ping Shan... He did not officially use "Ho Chi Minh" until August 1942, before he was arrested by the Kuomintang in Debao County, Guangxi Province, China, and the name remained unchanged for the rest of his life.
Excited, Zeng Xueming wrote to Deng Yingchao three times in order to confirm his ideas, but there was no reply. Instead, she wrote letters to the Vietnamese Embassy in China and ho Chi Minh himself, all of which were lost in the sea.
Tsang did not give up, and in February and June 1955, she wrote to Ho Chi Minh again, but still did not hear back.
The fact that Zeng Xueming was Ho Chi Minh's wife was widely publicized in Guangzhou's medical and health circles, and some people thought she was lying, so in 1958 the relevant departments sent a letter to Cai Chang, president of the All-China Women's Federation. Cai Chang replied to the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, affirming that Li Rui was Ho Chi Minh's pseudonym, and also confirmed the marriage between Zeng Xueming and Ho Chi Minh when he assumed the pseudonym Li Rui.
However, because Tsang Ishi Minh is only a grassroots medical worker and not a career revolutionary, there will be many obstacles if he proposes to rebuild his family with Vietnam's supreme leader, Ho Chi Minh.
Ho Chi Minh always thought that his wife was no longer alive, and for the sake of the revolutionary cause, plus for various reasons, he never remarried, which once made the world think that he had never been married in his life.
Tsang, who confirmed that her husband was alive and admired by the Vietnamese people, was relieved and seemed to have let go of their marriage. Nevertheless, his husband lived forever in her heart.
On September 2, 1969, Ho Chi Minh died. After hearing this news, Zeng Xueming was so sad that he hung a portrait of President Ho Chi Minh on the south wall of the place where he lived, covered with a black veil on the frame, and set up an incense candlestick in front of the statue, often standing in front of the statue in a daze. The person she had been waiting for all her life, before her, wondered if at the end of his life, would he think of her former wife or not?
Zeng Xueming has been waiting all his life, looking forward to her husband. However, time has passed, her husband is the supreme leader of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, and she seems to be the same, except for the traces of time on her face, everything seems to have not changed, and her loyalty and love for her husband have not changed.
Zeng Xueming lived to the age of 86 and never remarried. She spent her life writing a story about waiting for love, not perfect, but it should have been a beautiful thing for her.