< Chairman Mao and Wu Liandeng >
In 2008, newspapers and periodicals reported a news story in black and white that read, "Chairman Mao's manuscript fees reached more than 130 million yuan."
Chairman Mao's former butler, 66-year-old Wu Liandeng, quickly stepped forward and reprimanded: "This is too outrageous, it is an absolute rumor." I have been Chairman Mao's housekeeper for 12 years, and I know best every dime of his dime."
After accompanying the chairman for 12 years, until the final years of the chairman, Wu Liandeng really had the right to speak.
In May 1961, Wu Liandeng, a 19-year-old rural teenager, was selected by the chief of the Zhongnanhai Service Section to work as a waiter in Zhongnanhai and pour tea and water for the chiefs.
There, he met Chairman Mao of Wei'an.
Wu Liandeng was nervous and did not know where to put it. Wang Yanping asked him to bring water to Chairman Mao, and Wu Liandeng reacted that he had come with a task. He walked tremblingly to Chairman Mao with a glass of water.
When Chairman Mao saw the living people, he had to ask questions. After seeing Wu Liandeng, he asked very carefully: "What is your last name?" What's it called? What kind of people? How old are you?"
Like a schoolboy, Wu Liandeng, with a thick neck and a red face, answered Chairman Mao's questions one by one.
Chairman Mao remembered this humble young man who "could take 10 warm water bottles at a time, carry 4 in one hand, and sandwich one between each arm."
In 1964, Wu Liandeng served the chief at Tiananmen Square. The director of the service department found him and said Chairman Mao was looking for you.
After Wu Liandeng left, Chairman Mao kindly told him if he could come to his house to "help." Mainly in charge of life and household chores.
Wu Liandeng nodded awkwardly.
Wu Liandeng's work in the previous years was "responsible for chores, doing sanitation, tidying up the warehouse, fetching water and delivering food" .
By 1968, he was officially appointed administrator to manage Chairman Mao's salary, the family's financial expenditures, procurement, and recipe-making.
Chairman Mao's salary was 610 yuan, and after three years of natural disasters, he took the lead in lowering it to the third level, that is, 404.8 yuan. This salary did not change until Chairman Mao's death.
More than 400 yuan salary, quite challenging. Wu Liandeng said that it was not enough at all.
The fixed cost is 200 yuan per month. These include hard expenses such as membership fees, rent, and children's tuition. It costs 100 yuan a month to eat, and no matter where you get the dish back, even if it is a green vegetable, Chairman Mao must insist on paying.
100 yuan is already according to the minimum standard.
At home, Chairman Mao's desk was always plain. Four dishes and one soup. A piece of roasted sweet potato, a stick of old corn, and two kinds of chicken or fish.
With these few dishes, Chairman Mao was satisfied. Although Chairman Mao loved to eat braised pork, he did not eat it every day, he could only eat it three times a month, usually based on miscellaneous grains and vegetables.
When he was not at home for dinner, Chairman Mao would invite friends of the democratic parties to the restaurant, and Chairman Mao would also pay money when settling the bill.
Another bigger expense is smoking, which is nearly $100 a month.
Chairman Mao treated himself very harshly. Every penny he spends on life, he cares. He would tell Wu Liandeng which dish to cook more, next time you have to do less, and strive not to waste. The house rented by the family was painted off, and I was reluctant to paint it.
He used 2 cents a box of matches, empty matchboxes are reluctant to throw away, ask Wu Liandeng to think of a way for him, see if he can continue to use.
Later, Wu Liandeng thought of a way to buy matchheads from the Beijing Match Factory and put them in, which could save a lot.
Chairman Mao often carried a watch, which Wu Liandeng carried from the first time he saw him until his death. Later, Wu Liandeng learned that it was the only watch that Chairman Mao had worn in his life.
The Omega watch was given to him by Guo Moruo in 1945 when Chairman Mao went to Chongqing for negotiations. After more than 20 years of wear and tear, Chairman Mao did not want to lose it, so wu Liandeng took it to repair it. Tinkering and taking the world with it.
Chairman Mao cut his own door and was very generous to the people.
People often come to their hometown in Hunan to borrow money to see a doctor or seek help, and Chairman Mao pays for transportation, food, and accommodation. If the salary is not enough, it will be raised from the manuscript fee.
The manuscript fee is not under the control of Wu Liandeng, and Zheng Changqiu is responsible. Zheng Changqiu once told Wu Liandeng that Chairman Mao's manuscript fee was not as exaggerated as the Internet rumors, only 1.24 million yuan, and by the end of 1983, the interest on deposits was raised, rising by 330,000, a total of 1.57 million.
The fee was obtained by his own hard work and belonged to himself, and Chairman Mao did not dare to spend more than one point. He always told Wu Liandeng that this fee is not mine, it belongs to the people, and the money must be used for the people and enough construction.
Most of the manuscript fees were used to help democrats, and the most helpful ones were Zhang Shizhao and Wang Jifan, each with 2,000 each.
Zhang Shizhao had a deep friendship with Chairman Mao, and in the early days Chairman Mao had no money to go to France for work-study, and Zhang Shizhao raised 20,000 yuan for Chairman Mao without saying a word, allowing him to survive the difficulties.
Chairman Mao was very grateful for this and repeatedly said that he would return it to Zhang Shizhao. But Zhang Shizhao resolutely did not want it, he said that it was raised by society and should not be given to him personally.
Later, Zhang Shizhao fell in his later years, and Chairman Mao must repay him after learning about it. Let the adopted daughter Zhang Hanzhi relay on his behalf, saying, "I will now pay off the debt he has owed for nearly 50 years, pay back 2,000 a year, and pay it off in 10 years."
Chairman Mao kept his promise and from 1963 onwards, asked the secretary to take 2,000 out of the manuscript fee and send it to Zhang Shizhao until 1972.
As Chairman Mao's butler, Wu Liandeng can almost be said to get along with Chairman Mao day and night. He also has the most say in his "private life".
Wu Liandeng was very distressed about the chairman, saying that the chairman had to work 20 hours a day. This meant that Chairman Mao slept less than 4 hours. After a long time, I will make up a dose of glucose. "Chairman Mao never enjoyed it in his life."
Whenever he thought about his life with Chairman Mao, Wu Liandeng would always choke up.
One of the things that impressed Wu Liandeng the most was that before he got married, the house in his hometown caught fire, and the chairman knew that Wu Liandeng's salary was small, only 33 yuan per month. When he learned about it, he gave him 300 yuan and asked him to go back to his hometown to rebuild the house. He told Wu Liandeng, "This money is not mine, it belongs to the people, and you young people must study hard and thank the people and the party for their cultivation."
After Chairman Mao's death, Wu Liandeng terminated his job as a housekeeper, but he never forgot the bits and pieces of life he lived with Chairman Mao. Seeing that there were rumors, he was furious and came out to stop them at the first time.
Chairman Mao lived a life of poverty all his life.
After his death, his entire body and property were only more than 700 yuan, and the 1.24 million manuscript fees left behind were not given to his children, and all of them were confiscated. Even the 700 pieces on his body, according to his last wishes, were finally confiscated.
The public has been ancient.