It has been 36 years since Lao Jintou passed away. During this period, many things happened in the house in Xihuangchenggen.
Teacher Liu and his wife left, taking their youngest son Liu Hanqing with them, and were taken to Wanwan before the peaceful liberation of the capital. Their eldest daughter Liu Hanwen, with the support of 20,000 US dollars from the Sun family (the grandson who received the inheritance of Lao Jintou)
(who was still very wealthy) was studying in Europe. Cao Tianbao wrote to tell her the situation. Liu Hanwen did not return to China, but went directly from Europe to Wanwan and found his parents and younger brother. In recent years, through the family of Zheng Ziyun in Xiangjiang
During the transfer, the correspondence between the Liu family and the Sun and Cao families remained uninterrupted.
After returning from work, Sun Cheng and Chef Cao returned to their old profession. Sun Cheng worked in the Capital Housing Authority at the department level, leading the engineering team to repair public facilities. Chef Cao was at the department level.
He went to the Huabeilou Restaurant to work as a store manager. Sun Cheng’s wife Jiang Xiuping had been working in the Education Bureau a year before them, and later she also brought Zheng Ziyun in, who was breastfeeding. They and other comrades formed a work team that had been working for more than ten years.
As one day goes by, they carry out publicity and education on literacy and school-age children's enrollment in rural areas of the capital. During this period, they have won the title of March 8th Red Flag Bearer, National Model Worker, Advanced Educator, etc., and were honored by the Chairman and the Chairman at the Great Hall of the People.
The cordial reception by the Prime Minister was the fundamental reason why the Sun and Cao families were not persecuted during the ten-year special period.
New faces appeared in the small courtyard. The third eldest child of the Sun family, Sun Cheng's youngest daughter Sun Weihong, and Cao Yong's sister Cao Yue were born one after another.
There is life and there is death, this is the objective law of biology.
Four elderly people in the small courtyard died of illness one after another. What is even more depressing is that Sun Cheng died in the line of duty.
It was the second year after Cao Yong went to Xiangjiang, that is, in the summer of 1964, on a stormy evening, Sun Cheng led a team to carry out emergency repairs on dilapidated buildings in the office courtyard of a certain ministry. The branches of a big tree next to the house were blown by the wind.
It broke off and fell on the already precarious roof. The house collapsed and Sun Cheng, who was leading the work, died at the age of 48.
Sun Cheng was the backbone of the small courtyard. His death was like the sky had fallen. At that time, the incident happened suddenly. Jiang Xiuping and Zheng Ziyun's work team were still working in the mountainous areas in the outer suburbs and could not be contacted for a while. Sun Weiguo, the boss of the Sun family, was
I am studying in the Civil Engineering Department of Shuimu University. I am preparing to enter my final year of study. I am currently using my vacation to intern with the engineering team.
The only people left in the courtyard were Sun Weimin, who was about to enter his third year of high school, Sun Weihong, who had just graduated from elementary school, and Cao Yue, three children, who were spending the summer vacation at home. At this time, Chef Cao, who was usually silent, stepped forward. After receiving the news, he did not panic.
. He suppressed the grief in his heart, accompanied and comforted the three children, and made proper arrangements for Sun Cheng's funeral, until the others got the news and rushed home one after another.
A few days later, in the farewell room No. 3 of the Babaoshan Capital Revolutionary Cemetery, the memorial service for Comrade Sun Cheng, who was posthumously named a martyr, was going on. In the solemn mourning hall, the leaders and colleagues of Sun Cheng’s unit, the former commander of the army, and comrades-in-arms
, and Sun Cheng's friends during his lifetime, gathered here to recall Sun Cheng's short but glorious life with the Sun and Cao families, and to bid farewell to Sun Cheng's body.
Jiang Xiuping took the two brothers Sun Weiguo and Sun Weimin to hold back tears, and it seemed that the guests expressed their gratitude. Zheng Ziyun, who was hiding behind, hugged Sun Weihong and Cao Yue and cried bitterly. Sun Weiguo's fiancée Li Cuifeng supported her in the hospital for many days and died.
Cao Tianbao, an old man who knew that his days were numbered, stood aside. She wiped the tears from the old man's eyes with a handkerchief from time to time, but she didn't know that her face was already covered with teardrops.
Chef Cao couldn't bear it anymore. He rushed out of the auditorium, squatted by the wall and cried loudly. Sun Cheng cared and loved him like a real brother. When he was a child, Sun Cheng used his own weak shoulders to shelter him from the wind and rain;
The queen set an example and led him to find the direction of life. With tears in his eyes, Chef Cao seemed to see Sun Cheng's generous and wise smile again.
In accordance with Sun Cheng's wishes during his lifetime, his body was cremated. The ashes were scattered into the sea by his eldest son, Sun Weiguo, a year later. After returning from work, Sun Cheng also disposed of Lao Jintou's ashes in the same way according to his will.
Approval of this approach. Sun Cheng said: "Can the dead still compete with the living for land? If everyone wants a piece of land after death, then in a few years, we will still have 9.6 million square kilometers of land.
What? From now on, my family members will all handle their funerals like this (cremation plus burial)."
The dead are gone, but so are the living. Life still goes on.
For the people in the courtyard, 1965 was a very ordinary year. Sun Weiguo graduated and was assigned to the State Administration of Construction. Sun Weimin graduated from high school, took a big red flower with him, and joined the army. These two brothers took over Sun Cheng's career.
, were inherited separately. Jiang Xiuping and Zheng Ziyun continued to study illiteracy in rural areas, and sisters Sun Weihong and Cao Yue were in the second grade of junior high school together. Sun Weiguo’s fiancée Li Cuifeng also graduated and was assigned to the Huaxia Youth Newspaper. There was nothing else.
Now, Chef Cao has gained another two pounds.
The small courtyard, which lost relatives one after another, slowly recuperated in 1965. It was supposed to gradually regain its vitality, but instead it ushered in an unprecedented movement in 1966.
The first to bear the brunt were Jiang Xiuping and Zheng Ziyun, who were cadres of the Education Bureau. When the red generals tried to capture them for criticism, Zheng Ziyun alertly took out a photo of them as national model workers in the Great Hall of the People.
Take a photo with the chairman. As soon as the photo came out, ghosts and gods took refuge. The red young generals left in a hurry. At this time, the work of the work team had already stopped, and everyone was panicked. The leaders of the Education Bureau, for the purpose of protecting them, moved them
They were transferred to subordinate kindergartens. At that time, the schools were closed, and Sun Weihong and Cao Yue also returned home. The only department in the education system that was not affected and could barely maintain operation was the kindergarten. At the same time, the China Youth Daily ceased publication, and Li Cuifeng
Because I was born into a third-generation poor peasant, and had been working for less than a year after graduation, and performed well at ordinary times, I was transferred to work at the Citizen Daily after passing the examination.
Chef Cao, the store manager of Huabei Building, also passed the test. Originally, his position was within the scope of criticism, but firstly, he was a transferred cadre from the army, which gave him a political impression; secondly, the Wuxuan District Red House to which Huabei Building belongs
Among the young generals, there is a leader surnamed Chen. He had dined with his family at Huabei Building before and was very satisfied with Chef Cao's cooking skills (Chef Cao often "doesn't do his job" and takes time to go to the kitchen to cook in person, and will ask customers' questions.
Opinions and suggestions.) Therefore, Chef Cao escaped.
It's a blessing or a misfortune. Chef Cao hid because of Chief Chen, but there was trouble in the small courtyard. The small courtyard belongs to the CX District, and the leader of the red general here is the enemy of Wuxuan District. Originally, there was no
He was concerned when he learned that Chief Chen over there had come forward to protect the people. Based on the principle that he must cause trouble when his opponent did something, he issued an order to requisition the small courtyard. Later, he thought that the small courtyard was too small, so he simply ordered it to be requisitioned.
The other half of the house on the original homestead was also requisitioned as a residence.
The Sun and Cao families, who were driven to the street, were at a loss with their hurriedly packed luggage, when a truck drove over and brought a dramatic turn. Boss Chen heard that his opponent was forcibly expropriating people's houses in order to attack him.
, drove the person he had just saved out of the house, and was immediately furious, feeling that he had lost face. So he sent a car to take the Sun and Cao families to Wuxuan District under his jurisdiction, and found a yard to settle the two families.
Come down.
The courtyard is in the alley between Hepingmen and Qianmen. It is a very small courtyard, with a total of just over 50 square meters. There are only four side rooms in a row (the house faces east and west). The rooms are also very small, less than 10 square meters. It turns out that Sun
In a house, the minimum main house is over 20 square meters.
The conditions were much more difficult than before. But at this time, the two families had no complaints. They supported each other and got through this turbulent period together.
Although the new home is small, it is well arranged by the two families. Chef Cao and his wife, Jiang Xiuping, each live in a room, Sun Weihong and Cao Yue share a room, and Sun Weiguo is getting married, so he also lives in a separate room. They live in a small open space in the yard.
, and also set up a small kitchen and a dining room, which were shared by everyone as before.
The movement was in full swing across the country, and the Sun and Cao families lived cautiously and on thin ice.
Two more years passed.
One evening in October 1968, Li Cuifeng, who was preparing to marry Sun Weiguo during the Spring Festival, hurried over after get off work and told the Sun and Cao families, especially Sun Weihong and Cao Yue, news that was like a bolt from the blue.