In February 1947, at the Jiangjin Wharf in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the wind and water were cold, and a cargo ship set sail offshore. On board, in addition to a couple and their children, there are two coffins. The 37-year-old man, who looked rather old, held the coffin tightly and looked at the pier that was gradually going away, and his eyes were misty with tears.
"Father, son is not filial, let you and grandma stay in a foreign country for 5 years." Today, my son takes you home! My son is guarding you at home!" The man caressed the coffin, muttering to himself, and the cold wind blew tears from the corners of his eyes and dripped on the coffin.
YueFengdu, Wushan, and across the city of Lingji, Hankou, and Jiujiang, he guarded the coffin step by step, day and night, and finally arrived at their destination, Anqing. There were thrills along the way, and he was relieved. After nearly 10 years of separation, looking at the familiar hometown in front of them, the couple hugged each other tightly and burst into tears.
Jiangjin Pier
"Father, we're home!" There were no firecrackers to greet, no waiting in the middle of the road, and the boat docked in a secluded place. The man who looked quiet was ye Jiachong outside the north gate of Anqing and chose a hillside facing north and south as his father's final "safe place".
Almost everything was proceeding quietly, and an inconspicuous tombstone was written with the words "First Examine the Tomb of Chen GongQiansheng". Here, his father and mother are finally together, and no one will ever snatch his father again, and no one can separate them again.
After the burial, he did not want to leave the cemetery for a long time. Father, mother and himself, a family together, this is a happiness he has never experienced before. Now, he is able to be together, but he is outside the grave and his parents are inside the grave.
Looking at this family again, the grandfather and grandmother are gone, the parents are gone, the two brothers and one sister are gone, and there is only one left alone.
"Heavens, why should I bear so much life and death?" Why should I go through so much ordeal? Lying on his parents' grave, he cried bitterly, and the scene of grief came to his mind again.
Anqing of the Republic of China (postcard)
His name is Chen Songnian, and he is the third son of "Chen Gong Qiansheng" in the inscription, and "Chen Qiansheng" is actually the famous Chen Duxiu. The reason why the son did not put his father's big name on the table was that he was afraid that the "tree would be a big wind" and that the father would be disturbed in another world, which was a safe move and did play a role.
In 1910, in a mansion named "Fayue" gate in Nanshuiguan, Anqing, a baby cried, and a new life was born in this famous Chen family dayang house in Anqing. The owner of the house was Chen Xifan, an official to a provincial Daoist, who was Chen Duxiu's uncle. Regarding Chen Xifan, here are two more sentences.
During the Guangxu years, Chen Xifan served in Huaide, Liaoyang, Xinmin and other places in the northeast. When Xinmin was serving as the prefect, the bandit Zhang Zuolin was incorporated. Zhang Zuolin transformed into a Qing military officer, and also became the leader of the guard, grateful to Dade, he had to recognize Chen Xifan as a righteous father.
Although Chen Xifan married three rooms, he never had a son, and Chen Duxiu lost his father at an early age, so at the age of 17, Chen Duxiu passed on to his uncle Chen Xifan and followed his adoptive father. Since Chen Xifan had accepted Zhang Zuolin, the righteous son, he asked him to read and write with his adopted son Chen Duxiu after "leaving work".
The identity of the adopted son is different from that of the righteous son, and Chen Duxiu is very intelligent, Zhang Zuolin has great respect for him, and they have become righteous brothers. This is Chen Duxiu's insistence on a lifelong disposition, after his uncle resigned and returned to his hometown, the two brothers no longer had any intersection, but this love affair existed.
Chen Xifan built this mansion after his return from the crown and glory, with a five-entry consortium, three patios, a front yard, a backyard, and two gardens in front and back (this mansion was demolished during the War of Resistance). Chen Songnian was born in such a bureaucratic gentry's house, and according to the reason, he should be extremely happy, but in fact this is not the case.
Chen Songnian's mother Gao Shi (many sources say that her name is Gao Xiaolan, Chen Songnian has talked about this matter many times, saying that "the mother's surname is Gao, no name") can marry into the Chen family and become Chen Duxiu's wife, which is also the result of the door to the door. Her father, Gao Dengke, was the deputy general of Anhui in the late Qing Dynasty, and she was also the queen of the shogun.
Although Gao Was Born in the Family of Officials and Eunuchs, she had not attended school for a day, and she was three years older than Chen Duxiu. This is obviously not a one-way person for the erudite and radical Chen Duxiu, so when Gao Junman, Gao Junman, a naturally beautiful and highly educated literary young woman, appeared in the Chen family, the fire in the backyard rose.
Zhang Zuolin
When Chen Songnian was born, there was only his mother by his side, and his father Chen Duxiu had already come together with his sister-in-law Gao Junman, announced his marriage, and left his hometown. For a long time from birth to thereafter, the word father was only a theoretical existence for Chen Songnian, and single parents accompanied him from childhood to youth.
Fortunately, there were two older brothers and one sister, and he became the youngest child in the family. The eldest brother Chen Yannian is 12 years old, the sister Chen Yuying is 10 years old, the second brother Chen Qiaonian is also 8 years old, the arrival of Xiao Songnian, the family is more lively, the elder sister came back from school to compete to tease the younger brother to play.
There is always no shadow of the father, the mother always has a sad cloud and sadness on her face, and every time she sees the scene of other people's parents together, their brothers and sisters' hearts will inevitably be lost. "Father, where are you?" Why don't you go home? This question mark has been hanging in Chen Songnian's heart since he was a child, and he longed for his father's appearance.
Watching, watching, the sons are looking forward to piercing, the head of the family Chen Xifan also went to another world in anticipation, that year, Xiao Songnian was only 3 years old, this was the first time he experienced life and death. Although young children may not be able to read what death is, the cries and tears of his brothers, mothers, and grandmothers have always been imprinted in his heart.
Chen Yannian
Grandpa was gone, the coffin was still parked in the hall, and his father did not come back to give him the last trip to the old man's house, but it brought uneasiness and danger to the family. In 1913, Chen Duxiu participated in the "Yuan" revolution and was arrested and imprisoned, Yuan Shikai decided to cut the grass and remove the roots, sent people to Anqing to raid Chen Duxiu's home, and arrest his "descendants".
The two brothers escaped over the wall, but Xiao Songnian fell from the wall into the basin of the aunt next door. Fortunately, the aunt was clever, and three or two times she ripped off the 3-year-old baby's clothes, rolled up her sleeves, and pretended to take a bath with Xiao Songnian, which avoided the disaster.
Grandpa's top pillar fell, and the family experienced such a toss, the Chen family was seriously injured, and life was not as good as before.
In 1915, the eldest brother and the second brother decided to leave their hometown, leave them, and go to their father in Shanghai to see the outside world. The brothers Chen Yannian and Chen Qiaonian tearfully bid farewell to their grandmother and mother, and the four sisters hugged each other tightly. 5-year-old Chen Songnian held his brother's hand and did not let them go, crying and shouting, "I am also going to find my father!" ”
Chen Qiao Nian
Sister Chen Yuying had to hold Chen Songnian and send him far away. Looking at the distant backs of the two brothers, they didn't expect that this was actually a farewell, and after that, Chen Yannian and Chen Songnian never returned to their hometown until they died.
The two sisters and brothers who sent farewell stood there for a long time and could not bear to leave, and the two brothers who were far away had tears in their eyes and turned back three times in one step. The air echoed with Chen Songnian's childish cries: Brother, don't go! Brother, I'm going to see my father too————
A family is separated in this way, and her father Chen Duxiu and two brothers are desperately fighting for their ideals and beliefs outside; her mother takes Chen Yuying and Chen Songnian's sisters and brothers to support the Chen family, and she knows that she has suffered from not reading, so no matter how difficult it is, she must let them go to school and study.
The two brothers loved him very much when they were at home, and after going out, they often wrote letters to tell the pain of the brothers' thoughts, and Chen Songnian had always looked forward to his brother coming home and looking forward to seeing them again. Growing up in hope, but for Chen Songnian, growing up means bearing more hardships and facing the heavy blows of losing one loved one after another.
In 1927, the bad news came, and the eldest brother Chen Yannian was killed by the reactionaries! Chen Yuying learned the news and took her 17-year-old brother Chen Songnian to Shanghai. The enemy strictly forbade the collection of corpses, and the brothers and sisters did not even see the bones of the eldest brother, and could only burn candles and paper near the execution ground, holding their heads and crying.
Never kneeling, the executioners actually pressed him to the ground and slashed him to death, and when they heard about the sacrifice of the eldest brother, the sisters and brothers did not dare to tell the news of the eldest brother's sacrifice to the elderly grandmother and the mother who regarded the children as their lives. When they went out, they said they were going to visit their father and brother; when they returned, they said that both brother and father were fine.
The poor eldest brother, who was only 29 years old and had no family yet completed, had never seen his mother who had given birth to him since he left his hometown in 1915, and never saw his sister and brother who remained in his hometown. For Chen Yuying's sisters and brothers, there is no longer a big brother who cares about them, such a pain is in the hearts of the brothers and sisters, they still have to let the old man not be aware of it, so Chen Songnian can only continue to write letters to the family as the eldest brother.
Just after the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1927, Chen Songnian received a letter from Wuhan. The letter was sent by the second brother, and Chen Qiaonian said in the letter that he was seriously ill and hoped to see his mother. After 12 years, Gao Shi's eyes are eager to wear; there is no big brother, chen Songnian wants to see the second brother.
Mr. Taka
The mother took Chen Songnian and immediately rushed to Wuhan, and after several twists and turns, she met Chen Qiaonian lying on a hospital bed opened by foreigners in the Russian concession of Hankou. Looking at his haggard son, Gao Shi hugged their brothers and burst into tears. Under the white terror, this reunion of mother and son and brothers is very rare, and it is also the last time they will meet.
Accompanied by his mother and brother, Chen Qiaonian quickly recovered and was discharged from the hospital, and the family lived in Hankou for a while. Chen Qiaonian did not dare to tell his mother the news of the sacrifice of his eldest brother, he could only try to make his mother happy, and his wife Shi Jingyi took her grandson "Red Five" who was a few months old to accompany her mother-in-law and enjoy the short-lived happiness of heaven.
As his health improved, Chen Qiaonian, a member of the Central Committee and head of the organization department of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee, began a tense and busy work again, and his mother, Gao Shi, decided not to delay her son and prepare to leave for her hometown. Before leaving, the mother saw that her son and daughter-in-law were so busy, and she wanted to bring the little "Red Five" back to her hometown to raise.
For the sake of the four sisters, the mother poured all her efforts, how could she bear to toss and work on her old man's home again? Chen Qiaonian and his wife did not promise their mother, pulled their younger brother Chen Songnian aside, and whispered: "The eldest brother is gone, and I am ready to dedicate myself to the revolution at any time, and my mother can only rely on you and my sister!" ”
Chen Songnian carried his mother back to Anqing, and Chen Qiaonian was soon ordered to be transferred to Shanghai with his wife and children as the head of the organization department of the Jiangsu Provincial CPC Committee.
In June 1928, another bad news came that the second brother Chen Qiao Nian was gone, and he was also killed by the enemy in Shanghai! It was Shanghai again, and another brother was gone, and Chen Songnian did not believe in such a cruel fact, so he and his sister once again embarked on the road of mourning, to the city of Shanghai that hurt them immensely.
The reactionaries are mad and dead! Another relative is gone, and the second brother is only 26 years old! Even the second brother's son,"Red Five," died of illness because Shi Jingyi was too busy rescuing her husband and had no time to take care of it. Sister Chen Yuying (28 years old) could not face the blows that followed, the severe pain overwhelmed her heart, she was in a hurry, she vomited blood, and within a few days she fell ill and died (gas death) in Shanghai.
The mother gave birth to four of their brothers and sisters, and now only the lonely one is left, Chen Songnian knows that there is no way to hide it; Chen Duxiu's friends in Shanghai are also panicked, how can such a big "secret" be hidden? They could only pass the news back.
The shocking news spread to the courtyard of the Chen family in Anqing, and the cries were tremendous, the family looked at the sky and cried out, and the neighbors also cried for it. Grandma Xie and mother Gao shi were devastated and fainted from crying several times. Grandma was overly sad and cried blindly; Mother was suddenly a teenager old and collapsed on the bed unable to get up.
Chen Songnian understood that after that, this family could only rely on him, and he was determined not to fall, otherwise, the family would be scattered. Reluctantly, he left the college campus and went home to take care of his grandmother and mother, and to take care of the family. At this time, how he hoped that his brother and sister were still there and could help him; how much he hoped that his father could appear beside him and give him strength.
Obviously, these were extravagant hopes, and he could only think about it in his dreams. Gao Shi, who lost her heart and could not wait to return to her husband, washed her face with tears all day long, and rarely went out, and her health became worse and worse. After less than two years of suffering, the grief was mixed, and the mother Gao Shi also left her last child in 1930.
Without his brother and sister, his mother, who was most distressed about him, was gone, and in less than four years, four of his closest relatives had left him. Chen Songnian lay on his mother's coffin and cried bitterly, refusing to let go. Why was he so unjust to the heavens? Let him bear so much life and death alone; he blames his father, where are you?
What pains Chen Songnian even more is that his mother left a last wish before her death, hoping to be buried with her husband Chen Duxiu in the future. The father gave the mother so deep pain, but the mother was still thinking about her father until her death, listening to her mother's last words, Chen Songnian burst into tears and nodded her head in agreement.
Chen Songnian also fulfilled his mother's last wish, when he brought back his father and grandmother's coffin from Jiangjin in 1947, he buried his mother and father together, let them reunite, let the father go to deep repentance with his mother, so that they are no longer separated. This is the scene at the beginning.
In the vast sea of people, 20-year-old Chen Songnian is only left with a blind grandmother and a father who has never been born, after too many tricks, Chen Songnian has no hatred in his heart, the only hope is that his grandmother is healthy, his father is unharmed, and he can see the father who has never met as soon as possible.
With hope, he will be strong, Chen Songnian takes care of his aging grandmother, lives a simple life in Anqing, and always inquires about his father's news. But fate was so mean to him, and there was hardly any good news for him. A few years later (1932), my father, who regarded the prison as a "research room", entered the "research room" again.
This time, it was Chiang Kai-shek who invited him to the "research room," and the research site was changed to Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist government. When Chen Songnian heard the news, he couldn't wait to contact his father's friends, hoping to visit his father as soon as possible, after all, the departure of the two brothers had left too many shadows on him, and he didn't want to see his father alive in this life.
With the help of his father's friends, in 1933, the 23-year-old Chen Songnian met pan Lanzhen (Chen Duxiu's third wife) who "moved" from Shanghai to Nanjing and rented near The Tiger Bridge Prison, and his stepmother took him into the prison, where the father and son first met in this dark and cold place.
Looking at the son who has grown up in front of him, taking care of the aftermath for his mother, brother and sister, and carrying a broken home for himself, Chen Duxiu's heart is full of guilt and heartache. The first time he saw his father, who had been looking forward to it for many years, he was in prison and emaciated, and Chen Song couldn't help but shed tears.
But Chen Duxiu is Chen Duxiu, and he still sternly lets his son dry his tears and not be a man who has not shown up. Chen Songnian also felt the different spirit of his father, he obediently wiped away his tears and told his father: Take care of yourself, he will do filial piety for his father and take good care of his grandmother!
Chen Duxiu, Pan Lanzhen
Chen Songnian was really a filial piety, and all the resentment in the past had disappeared after seeing his father, and he only hoped that this only father could come out early and have a better life. Pan Lanzhen, a stepmother who is about the same age as herself, does not abandon her father, which makes Chen Songnian grateful. When he left Nanjing, he thanked his stepmother repeatedly.
Grandma could not do without him, and Chen Songnian soon returned to Anqing. The adult Chen Songnian also harvested love, which is a woman who has made him love all his life- Dou Hengguang. Dou Hengguang is a local an Anqing yishu Xiangmendi woman, Zhishu Dali, Chen Songnian's knowledge and suffering experience make her like this different good man very much. After they got married, although the ups and downs continued, Dou Hengguang never complained, and he acted stronger than her husband.
In 1938, Chen Songnian's eldest daughter, Chen Changwei, was more than a year old, and disaster once again befell him. With the fall of Anqing, all the property that Chen Songnian had transferred to the Chen Family Ancestral Hall was looted by the Japanese invaders. Fortunately, they hid in time, and it was a blessing that people were okay.
The family is gone, the family property is gone, Chen Songnian is not sad, he feels that the family should be reunited. His father, Chen Duxiu, was released from prison last year (1937), Nanjing fell, and with the help of friends, he moved to Jiangjin, Sichuan. Chen Songnian decided to look for his father.
Chen Changwei
With Si'er's heartfelt grandmother, carrying his wife and daughter, Chen Songnian traced the river up the river. The arrival of his son is a rare happiness for Chen Duxiu in his later years. Unable to return to the party organization, he was even more reluctant to accept Chiang Kai-shek's "appointment," and he also declined Hu Shi's invitation to go to the United States.
With four generations of the same family, Chen Songnian can finally get along with his father day and night, and Chen Duxiu can also enjoy this "luxury" of heavenly pleasure. In Jiangjin, Chen Songnian and his wife taught and raised a family, although they were not rich, but the family was together, and this kind of happiness was something they had never experienced before.
Mr. and Mrs. Chen Songnian served their grandmother, accompanied their father, and had great respect for their stepmother, respecting her as their mother, and his children called Grandma Pan Lanzhen. Pan Lanzhen also integrated into this big family, grooming her mother-in-law, trimming her nails, pounding her back and rubbing her waist. Looking at this, Chen Duxiu, who was nearly sixty years old, was very pleased, and the loneliness and desolation in his heart were much diluted.
To say that heaven is really unfair to the Chen family, such a day has not left much for them. First his grandmother died, and then his father Chen Duxiu also died in 1942. Before dying, Chen Duxiu instructed his son to transport his and his grandmother's coffin back to his hometown, and when he finished, his eyes fell on Chen Songnian's face, and he did not want to leave for a long time.
Chen Duxiu Jiangjin Former Residence
The gaze seemed to be trying to remember the son, as if he wanted to find the shadow of the sacrificed YanNian and Qiao Nian on the son's face, and it seemed to be full of guilt for the son and his wife. Chen Songnian knew that his father did not need his tears, and he had dried his tears over the years, so he tightly grabbed his father's hand and said firmly: "I will definitely take you home!" ”
The two brothers died, can not find the bones, and now that his grandmother and father have died and sent them to his hometown, Chen Songnian has taken care of too many aftermaths, and what he needs to consider is a longer aftermath. From Jiangjin back to Anqing, the waterway crosses Sichuan, Hubei, Xiang, gan, two coffins accompany, cost a lot, plus when the war is chaotic, this is not an easy task,
His father's last wish has always been in his heart, and he can't bear to let his grandmother and father's souls drift in a foreign land, and he wants to fulfill his mother's long-cherished wish a day earlier and bury his father and mother together. While he and his wife were meticulous and saving money, he was paying attention to the changes in the situation.
This is the beginning of this article, in early 1947, Chen Songnian returned to his hometown with the coffins of his grandmother and father, let them fall to their roots, and reunited their parents. All that's left is the days of their little family.
Dou Hengguang and her children
The family foundation is gone, the father's special status, coupled with the addition of two children, a family of three servants, a son, two adults and six mouths, the couple was also difficult for a period of time after liberation.
Chen Songnian worked as an accountant and taught, but when the true identity of "Chen Duxiu's son" was exposed, he was dismissed again and again. There was really no way, he could only bow his head and go to the kiln farm as a worker and work as a laborer.
The eldest daughter Chen Changwei and the second daughter Chen Changjie saw it in their eyes and were anxious in their hearts, and after they finished high school, they proposed not to go to college, came out to work, and helped their parents. The couple was very angry and told the children that they must read so that they could be worthy of their grandfathers and uncles, and the brand of Chen Family Shuxiang Mendi.
His wife, Dou Hengguang, said to her two daughters, "I just tighten my trouser belts, and I want to provide you with college without eating or wearing." When she did what she said, a woman's family went out of the house to the kiln yard to carry soil, build a railway, and paste a matchbox so that her husband's pressure could be lightened.
Chen Songnian (second from left)
Having to do both housework and hard work, so hard, how can a weak woman carry it? Dou Hengguang fell, and never got up again. The death of his wife was a heavy blow to Chen Songnian and the Chen family. Middle-aged widowed! Chen Songnian didn't understand, what did God want him to bear?
Chen Songnian did not fall, buried his beloved wife, he still stood up, let the children continue to go to school, sold the house also had to let them continue to study, the children did not disappoint him, Chen Songnian was so bitter and insistent.
Perhaps the heavens felt that they really couldn't stand this strong and poor man, and life slowly opened its smile to him. In 1953, Chairman Mao inspected Anqing and learned that Chen Duxiu and his descendants were living an extremely hard life, and instructed: "Chen Duxiu's descendants have difficulties in life, so they can take care of them!" ”
With the chairman's instructions, the local government began to issue Chen Songnian a monthly living allowance of 30 yuan, arranged for him to work in the kiln, and also issued martyr certificates to his two brothers, Chen Yannian and Chen Qinian.
In his later years, when Chen Songnian talked about the 30 yuan subsidy and the chairman's care, he still said gratefully: "I sincerely thank Chairman Mao, not only because of the money, but also because Chairman Mao gave me and the status that my whole family deserves, and thanks to the monthly subsidy of 30 yuan, three of my four children in my family went to college, and this money helped me solve great difficulties." ”
Yes, the party and the state did not forget the contribution of the Chen family to the revolution, Chen Songnian was later assigned to work at the Provincial Museum of Culture and History, and his children also became pillars. Chen Changqi, the eldest son of his grandfather Chen Duxiu, who resembles his grandfather Chen Duxiu, is a professor, doctoral supervisor, master of engineering in fluid mechanics and engineering at Hefei University of Technology, and was the dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering of Hefei University of Technology.
The eldest daughter Chen Changwei worked in a steel design institute after graduating from university and worked as an engineer (died of illness in 1984); the second daughter, Chen Changwei, worked in a military factory after graduating from university and is now a senior engineer; the youngest daughter Chen Changpu did not go to college, and after decentralization, recruited workers to return to the city, and after her own efforts, she later became the deputy director of the Anqing Municipal Administration of Cultural Relics.
In October 1979, with the consent and financial support of the relevant local departments, Chen Songnian rebuilt the family tomb in the name of the four sons of Yannian, Qiao Nian, Song Nian and Crane Nian, and the name "Chen Qiansheng" was no longer used on the newly erected tombstone, but was changed to "the tomb of Chen Gongzhongfu Duxiu and His Wife Gao". In 1982, the government designated Chen Duxiu's tomb as a cultural relics protection unit and rebuilt the tomb.
Chen Duxiu famously said, "What we love is a country where the country seeks happiness for the people, not a country where the people make sacrifices for the country." "Chen Songnian helped his father see this lovely country.
Before Chen Yannian sacrificed, he shouted: "Revolutionaries will never kneel, they can only stand and die!" Chen Songnian used his life of not kneeling to fate to fulfill the oath of the eldest brother.
Chen Qiaonian said before the righteousness: "Let our children and grandchildren enjoy the happiness of the predecessors who cut through the thorns!" Chen Songnian's descendants are enjoying the happiness earned by their uncles.
The children became timbered, the two brothers' martyr status was also confirmed in that year, and the father's cemetery was rebuilt and written with "Chen Duxiu's Tomb". He saw the peace and tranquility of the new world for his father and brothers, and there were no regrets.
Chen Songnian died in 1990 at the age of 80.