One day in 1942, ** received a letter from a lady.
The letter said that he fell in love with Wang Yingqiao, the teaching director of the ** nursery school, and wanted to get married, hoping that *** would approve it.
It stands to reason that Yan'an advocates freedom of marriage, why did this lady write a letter to *** and ask *** to approve her marriage?
Because her identity is a bit special, she is Mao Zetan's widow, that is, ***'s brother-in-law, named Zhou Wennan.
Zhou Wennan is a native of Guilin, Guangxi, his father Zhou Mobin was the governor of the Qing Dynasty, the family conditions are very good, and Zhou Wennan has also received a good education since he was a child.
Therefore, when Zhou Wennan and Mao Zetan fell in love, her family didn't look down on Mao Zetan from this peasant family at first, but later found that Mao Zetan was very talented and ambitious, so they agreed to the relationship between the two and got married in July 1926.
In March 1928, because of the traitor's informant, Zhou Wennan ** was imprisoned, and his newborn son Mao Chuxiong was also imprisoned, but fortunately, Mao Chuxiong was sent out after being rescued by relatives and friends, and Zhou Wennan has been in prison until July 1930, after the Red Third Army conquered Changsha, Zhou Wennan was rescued from prison.
However, what Zhou Wennan didn't expect was that Mao Zetan had already married someone else at this time, and his wife was He Zizhen's sister He Yi.
Some people may not understand and think that Mao Zetan is ruthless and unrighteous, his wife is in prison, but he is married to a new love. In fact, this is all the result of the historical environment at that time.
At the beginning of 1929, Mao Zetan was unfortunately injured in a battle and could not follow the troops, so he stayed in Donggu in Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province to recuperate, and the organization also sent He Zizhen's sister He Yi to take care of him.
It was at this time that the two developed revolutionary feelings.
Of course, at this time, the two only had a good impression of each other, after all, Mao Zetan already had a wife, and both of them were revolutionary comrades, both of whom put the overall situation first, and did not have many thoughts about their children's personal affairs.
In the following two years, Mao Zetan has actually been inquiring about Zhou Wennan's news, but due to the harsh revolutionary environment, he has never received accurate news, and many people say that she has sacrificed, and Mao Zetan gradually gave up.
It was under these circumstances that Mao Zetan and He Yi became husband and wife on July 20, 1931, and became revolutionary partners.
Later, Mao Zetan learned that Zhou Wennan was still alive, and he felt very guilty, and Zhou Wennan was also very sad to learn that Mao Zetan had married someone else, but the matter has come to this point, and there is no way to change it, so he can only accept this result.
On April 26, 1935, Mao Zetan died heroically at the age of 30 while covering the retreat of his teammates.
When Zhou Wennan learned the news, he cried a lot, and then continued to engage in revolutionary work.
In 1937, ** once wrote a letter to Zhou Wennan, inviting her to work in Yan'an, but because Zhou Wennan's work could not leave, she was unable to make the trip.
It wasn't until 1940 that Zhou Wennan finally went to Yan'an and was arranged to be a teacher in a ** nursery school.
It was here that Zhou Wennan met Wang Yingqiao, the teaching director of the ** nursery school, and the two gradually came together.
In 1942, when the two decided to get married, Zhou Wennan specially wrote a letter to ***, explaining the situation between himself and Wang Yingqiao, and asking for ***'s opinion.
**I was also very supportive of her decision, so I wrote back:"Marriage is free, if you remarry, I won't interfere. Remember that Runju (Mao Zetan's character) was sacrificed for the revolution, and his spirit is immortal and worthy of being missed by those of us who are alive. ”
As a result, Zhou Wennan and Wang Yingqiao officially became husband and wife.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, ** also met Zhou Wennan at home and helped her take her old mother to the Northeast.
Later, Zhou Wennan has been working in Northeast China, serving as the president of the civil trial division of the Heilongjiang Provincial High People's Court and a member of the Harbin CPPCC.
In September 1992, Zhou Wennan died in Harbin at the age of 82.
(Reference: "*Family Style", "*Family Affairs").