In Shiqiao Village, Taiping Commune, in front of the urn held by Li Jianyang, an old woman in her sixties burst into tears.
In the spring of thirty-seven years ago, she and her parents sent away the youngest Li Minglin in the family. The younger brother, who was only fifteen at the time, promised that he would come back safely.
Who would have thought that this separation would be an eternal separation. There were letters coming back in the previous few years, but starting from the second half of 1949, there were no letters at all.
They once speculated whether Li Minglin was unlucky, but before receiving the exact news, they still had a glimmer of hope in their hearts.
I thought that Li Minglin could go to Treasure Island and live a happy life there, but because of the situation, I couldn't send a letter to my family to inform him.
When the two elders were dying, they were still concerned about Li Minglin. They took Li Xiuli's hand and told her to stay in Shiqiao Village and wait for Li Minglin's return.
Now she finally waited until her little brother came back, but what came back was an urn.
There are five siblings in my family, the eldest brother died in the battle at Songhu, the second brother died in the Star City battle, and the eldest sister, who was a teacher, also unfortunately died ten years ago.
After leaving Sichuan to fight the war, my younger brother, who had not heard from him for decades, came back with only a box of ashes.
The only thing that makes her happy is that her younger brother has found a virtuous wife and has two sons and three daughters. The Li family has not broken its roots and can continue to pass on the inheritance.
At this time, Liu Xiaojuan and others faced an embarrassing situation, because Li Minglin's parents had passed away and the house where he once lived was gone.
Even though the second sister Li Xiuli married in the same village, they couldn't bring Li Minglin's ashes into her home. After all, it was unlucky.
In the end, Zhang Kewu asked the commune to coordinate, and Li Minglin's ashes were temporarily placed in a storage room in the commune these days.
As for the burial location, it will be decided by Liu Xiaojuan and others, and the commune will coordinate the land at that time.
Compared with Li Minglin's family, Chen Zhiyong's family is much better off. Both Chen Zhiyong's parents are still alive, and his younger brothers and sisters also have their own families.
When the second elder saw his grandson, his tears could not stop flowing down. When he learned that his eldest son was still alive and had found a daughter-in-law for them, and they had six grandchildren, they felt very happy.
In the only guest house in Taiping Commune, after dinner, Liu Xiaojuan said to Zhang Kewu who was accompanying him: "Minister Zhang, thank you very much for your hospitality and help, so that my husband can return to his hometown as he wishes."
After listening to the translation, Zhang Kewu said: "Ms. Liu, you're welcome. Mr. Li once stood up when the country was in crisis and went through life and death to defend our country.
Now that his soul has returned to his hometown, it is our duty to help him. If you have any needs, please feel free to ask. We will certainly help within the scope of our ability."
"If necessary, we will trouble Minister Zhang again. This time we came because we didn't understand the situation here, so we didn't make any preparations.
After all, this is my husband’s hometown. On behalf of my second son Xinjian Investment Company, I donated five million Hong Kong dollars to Taiping Commune, mainly for the campus renovation and construction of Shiqiao Village Primary School and Taiping Commune Middle School.”
The leaders of the Taiping Commune present were quite pleasantly surprised. They did not expect Liu Xiaojuan to be so generous and spend five million Hong Kong dollars.
Zhang Kewu seems to understand why Xiangjiang Xinghua Society attaches great importance to this group of people. If nothing else, he can win a lot of people's hearts with just this action.
Since the other party here can donate five million Hong Kong dollars, then Xiangjiang will definitely not be stingy. Coupled with Li Jianhui's legendary experience, he can imagine how great his influence will be.
Just when these people had not recovered from the shock of the five million Hong Kong dollar donation, Chen Zongwu said: "On behalf of Xinhui Group, I donated two million Hong Kong dollars to Taiping Commune, mainly for the construction of Simaqiao Village Primary School.
and the procurement of medical equipment for the Taiping Commune Health Center.”
The deputy county magistrate of the Guocheng County Party Committee in charge of foreign affairs also came to his senses at this time, and immediately said: "Thank you very much for your support to your hometown, and please rest assured that your donations will be earmarked for specific purposes, ensuring that all funds will be spent
On your designated projects.”
The top leader of the Taiping Commune also promised to set up a special team to ensure that not a penny of this batch of funds is wasted.
Although some people think that a village primary school and a town junior high school cannot use so much funds, and they want to use part of it to improve other aspects.
But the county leaders and the commune secretary have already spoken out, so no matter how many thoughts they have in their hearts, they can only hold them back.
This time, Liu Xiaojuan and others not only donated to the government, but also provided support to the two families' relatives here.
Liu Xiaojuan gave Li Xiuli 20,000 yuan so that she could rebuild her house and have enough money to improve her life.
Chen Zongwu also gave a sum of money to his grandparents, uncles and aunts so that they could build new houses and improve their lives.
In this current era, they can only do this for their relatives here for the time being. As for the future, it depends on future development.
If the relatives here have the ability and can develop in Xiangjiang, they are also willing to provide some help to help them establish a foothold in Xiangjiang.
If these people can't get out of here, then the worst they can do is give them some financial help from time to time so that their lives don't have to be too tight.
As for how to support Taiping Commune or even Guocheng County in the future, this is not something they can decide. This is an issue that Li Jianhui and Chen Zhiyong need to consider.
Compared to Chen Zhiyong, Li Jianhui's family actually doesn't have much affection for this place. If Li Minglin hadn't made his last wish to return here, Liu Xiaojuan would not have come here at all.
This donation of 5 million Hong Kong dollars can be regarded as a good deed for Li Minglin, allowing him to rest here.
As for giving some funds to Li Xiuli, it was also for peace of mind. After all, this was Li Minglin's relative. Although the two parties had never met before and had no relationship, the relationship between the two parties remained unchanged.
And with Li Xiuli here, they don't have to worry that one day Li Minglin's resting place will suddenly be gone.
Chen Zongwu has relatively more things to do. He still needs to communicate with this party to see if he can bring his elders and uncle and aunt to Xiangjiang to meet Chen Zhiyong.
Especially the second elder, who is now close to eighty years old. Although he seems to be in relatively good health and is still doing farm work, such a long journey is not that simple.
Chen Zongwu planned to see if he could take his uncle over so that the two brothers could meet. As for the two elders, he would think of a solution later.
The road is quite bad now, and he doesn't dare to take the risk. When the policies here continue to open up, maybe it will be better for Chen Zhiyong to come back by himself.