Grandma Zhao, the nanny of the family, was raised by the Liu family until she was oldDied years ago.
On a summer evening in 2004, Ms. Wang Guangmei, as the wife of ***, presided over a party of *** and *** family. The gathering was scheduled at 7 p.m. in a private room on the 26th floor of the Xinyuan Building in Kyoto, Beijing.
When 83-year-old Ms. Wang Guangmei walked into the box with an old lady, Li Min and Li Ne, who had been waiting for a long time, quickly surrounded and held the hands of the two old men tightly.
Li Ne's son Wang Xiaozhi found that the old lady next to Wang Guangmei was a little familiar, so he quietly asked Kong Dongmei about the identity of the old lady.
Kong Dongmei patted Wang Xiaozhi's head lightly, and scolded him with a smile: "You even forgot about her?" She was the one who hugged you when she was a child, she is Grandma Zhao! When he heard that the other party was Grandma Zhao, Wang Xiaozhi looked a little embarrassed, and hurriedly stepped forward to apologize to the old man: "I'm sorry, grandma, it's my bad memory, I should fight, I should fight!" ”
Wang Xiaozhi's words caused everyone to burst into laughter, and the old man known as "Grandma Zhao" was also amused: "Xiaozhi is still the same as when he was a child, so naughty!" ”
Zhao Shujun, formerly known as Zhao Shujun, was born on October 19, 1926 in Bei'anhe Village, Haidian District, Beijing, an ordinary rural woman. Although she is not highly educated, she is a very capable woman.
After the liberation, due to the care of the party and **, she was assigned to the field, which made her revolutionary enthusiasm even higher, she became a local activist, and joined the party, and was also promoted to the militia captain and women's director of the brigade.
In 1958, Zhao Shujun's life took a major turn: she was sent by the organization to work as a nanny at ***'s house to help Wang Guangmei take care of the children. Since then, Zhao Shujun has been in the Liu family for more than 50 years and has become a legendary figure.
From a rural woman to a leader's personal nanny, Zhao Shujun felt a little uncomfortable at first. Before that, the highest-ranking cadre she had come into contact with was the director of the commune, and she never thought that she could get along with *** day and night.
Therefore, when she came to Liu's house, she always warned herself to be cautious, for fear that she would not take good care of the Liu family's children and betray the trust of the organization. Wang Guangmei is a very attentive woman, and she quickly sensed Zhao Shujun's concerns.
Although the owner of the Liu family explained to Zhao Shujun many times that in the eyes of the Communists, whether they are serving as the chairman or as a nanny, they are all for the purpose of serving the party and the people, and everyone's status is equal, and the Liu family has no special rules.
In the Liu family, she is part of the family and does not need to feel pressure. However, Zhao Shujun could not fully accept this concept for a while. In order to help Zhao Shujun overcome her ideological troubles, Wang Guangmei asked Hao Miao, the chef at home, to often do her ideological work, so that she could let go of the burden in her heart.
Hao Miao is slightly older than Zhao Shujun, and coincidentally he is also from Haidian District, and he is a fellow countryman with Zhao Shujun. Under his persuasion, Zhao Shujun gradually adapted to his new role.
As time went by, Zhao Shujun found that *** and Wang Guangmei are both very simple people, with simple life requirements, dedication to work, and respect for their families.
Therefore, she is convinced of what Wang Guangmei said, "Since you have entered the Liu family, you are a member of the Liu family." Zhao Shujun has loved to listen to storytelling since she was a child, although she doesn't have much culture, but she is extremely smart, and she can always tell the storytellings she has heard vividly and interestingly.
Therefore, the children of the Liu family like to listen to her stories, and the relationship between Zhao Shujun and the children is getting closer and closer. Wang Guangmei was very happy to see that Zhao Shujun and the children got along so well, but she also asked Zhao Shujun to wait until the children finished their homework before telling them stories.
Zhao Shujun needed to take care of the children of the Liu family to do their homework, so she took on the task of supervising the children's learning in the busyness of *** and Wang Guangmei. Her requirements for her children were simple: to score at least four on exams (schools at the time used a five-point scale).
The children were also excellent and were at the top of their class in every exam. Zhao Shujun will keep a detailed record of each child's test results and report to Wang Guangmei at the end of the semester.
Wang Guangmei sighed because of this, she knows better than Zhao Shujun about her children's achievements. Wang Guangmei was very satisfied with Zhao Shujun's work, and the friendship between the two deepened.
Zhao Shujun also gradually integrated into the Liu family, and her relationship with Wang Guangmei was like a sister.
In 12 years of solitary care, Zhao Shujun has always treasured a small wooden box brought into Beijing from Xibaipo. This box is 84 cm long, 47 cm wide, 63 cm high, and has 5 brush words on it with *** handwritten "odd word No. 3".
This is a carpenter in Yan'an, used to hold important manuscripts and books, and it is also his only personal property. This small wooden box has witnessed the history of the Chinese revolution and accompanied *** through the difficult marching years.
When she was kicked out of Zhongnanhai, those people only allowed Zhao Shujun to take away the box containing her clothes, but she resolutely chose this small wooden box because it carried the historical memory of *** and the Chinese revolution.
This small wooden box has accompanied *** in the southern and northern wars, and it is both his file box and desk. In March 1949, the small wooden box arrived in Beijing with its owner and continued to serve the people.
After being rehabilitated, Zhao Shujun returned the box to Wang Guangmei. In June 1980, Wang Guangmei personally gave the box to the Xibaipo Memorial Hall.
Today, this small wooden box lies quietly in the Xibaipo Memorial Hall, silently telling people about its extraordinary experience and precious historical value. **After being forced to leave Zhongnanhai, Zhao Shujun returned to his hometown in Haidian with a small wooden box alone.
In order to make a living, she works in a factory, taking care of small wooden boxes while working. Despite her meager salary, she always saves money and buys something delicious in a small wooden box.
Although avoiding trouble, Zhao Shujun has always insisted on protecting ***'s daughter Xiaoxiao, and even declared that she was his own child. Since 1968, they have lived together for 12 years.
In 1978, Wang Guangmei came to Zhao Shujun's hometown and found them after hardships. I haven't seen her for many years, Zhao Shujun has aged a lot, and Xiaoxiao has grown into a sophomore girl.
When Wang Guangmei saw them, she couldn't help but shed tears. When she learned that Xiaoxiao had always called Zhao Shujun her mother, she clasped her little hands and said, "From now on, she is your mother, and you have two mothers." ”
In 1979, Xiaoxiao was admitted to the Department of Biology of Peking University with excellent results. Seeing Xiaoxiao become a college student, Zhao Shujun was full of emotion, silently hid aside, and shed a lot of tears.
Wang Guangmei's "special representative" returned to the family in the eighties, and the family members were reunited - the only regret is that *** has passed away. After the family reunion, Wang Guangmei trusted and entrusted Zhao Shujun to manage the family's finances, and the children also respected her as "Grandma Zhao".
Zhao Shujun has a straightforward personality and regards the Liu family as her home, she personally cooks dumplings, although Wang Guangmei feels that it is a waste of time, but Zhao Shujun believes that letting her enjoy the food is the most important thing, and she believes that Liu Yuan and Xiaoxiao will definitely eat with relish.
Zhao Shujun was sick at home, and Wang Guangmei took the initiative to go out to buy vegetables for her. However, when she got home to cook the fish soup, she found that she had missed ginger, garlic and other spices. Wang Guangmei couldn't help but smile and said to Zhao Shujun: "It seems that this family is really not good without you!" ”
Another day, Wang Guangmei received a letter from Peng Peiyun, then director of the Family Planning Commission. The letter mentions that there are 80 million poor people in our country, many of whom are poor mothers.
They live in remote mountainous areas, with inconvenient transportation, information blockage, no income, and no basic social welfare, and more than half of them suffer from diseases of varying degrees.
In order to lift poor mothers out of poverty, the China Family Planning Association and the Chinese Population Welfare Association jointly launched the "Happiness Project - Rescue Poor Mothers Action", which is committed to providing help to family planning families in poor areas.
Therefore, they invited Wang Guangmei to lead the operation. Although many associations asked Wang Guangmei to be the nominal "president" or "advisor", she refused all of them.
However, this time, she gladly accepted the invitation, because she is also a mother, and she is willing to become a "volunteer worker" for the "Happiness Project". Wang Guangmei also has a request, that is, not to hold a vacant position, hoping to do some practical work in the event.
Soon after, Wang Guangmei disposed of her mother's estate and donated all the proceeds to the "Happiness Project". Before donating, she also took out 10,000 yuan to Grandma Zhao to thank her for taking care of the Liu family over the years.
While thanking Wang Guangmei for his kindness, Zhao Shujun heartily suggested that the 10,000 yuan be donated to the "Happiness Project". Wang Guangmei's physical condition was not good in her later years, so Zhao Shujun took the initiative to take care of her, and ate and lived with Wang Guangmei, inseparable.
When Wang Guangmei was unable to attend some events due to health or other reasons, Zhao Shujun became her special representative and participated in these events on her behalf. Once, Hunan Province contacted Wang Guangmei, hoping that she could go to the Changsha Memorial Hall for cultural relics screening, but because Wang Guangmei's itinerary could not be opened, Zhao Shujun was entrusted to go to Hunan to assist in cleaning and identifying the cultural relics.
Zhao Shujun, an old man who had been associated with the Liu family all his life, died of illness. On September 9, 2021, the children of the Liu family specially held a special memorial service for her at the Changping Funeral Home.
After Wang Guangmei's death, she dragged her sick body to the memorial service, and hugged Wang Guangmei's children and wept bitterly, leaving a deep impression. Before Wang Guangmei died, she asked the children to treat Zhao Shujun well, and regarded Grandma Zhao as a family member of the Liu family to support the elderly.
Several children agreed, they knew that Zhao Shujun was an idle person, so they set up a "family exhibition room" in Liu's house and invited Grandma Zhao to be the administrator, which left the old man in Liu's house.
Xiaoxiao, who was raised by Grandma Zhao since childhood, has a deep relationship with Grandma Zhao. On the day of the memorial service, Xiaoxiao came to Grandma Zhao's mourning hall very early, and looked at Grandma Zhao's portrait alone with tears.
Due to their busy schedules, they haven't spent much time together in recent years. The last time the two appeared in public was on November 24, 2018, on the 120th anniversary of their birth, when they accepted CCTV's invitation to attend the premiere of "The Story of **".
In that interview, they recalled many little-known anecdotes about the Liu family.
In the first Spring Festival when she moved out of Zhongnanhai, in order to let Xiaoxiao forget the sadness of not being accompanied by her parents, Grandma Zhao specially bought a pair of shoes made of red corduroy fabric and put them on for Xiaoxiao herself.
Little put on these shoes and happily ran to the snow to play. However, there was a problem with the quality of the shoes, and it didn't take long for a large crack to open. Xiaoxiao didn't dare to tell Grandma Zhao, and when Grandma Zhao found out, Xiaoxiao's feet were already purple from the cold.
Seeing Xiaoxiao's frozen feet, Grandma Zhao was distressed and blamed herself all the time, more heartbroken than seeing her granddaughter wronged. Since then, every Spring Festival, Grandma Zhao will make a pair of cotton shoes for Xiaoxiao to prevent Xiaoxiao from freezing again.
The children of the Liu family, both near and far, rushed to attend Zhao Shujun's memorial service. Everyone laid a wreath in honor of this old man who was not his own grandmother, but had a profound influence on them.
The wreath sent by Xiao Xiao is in the middle, and the eight characters of "loyalty, goodness, diligence, simplicity, joy and wisdom" written by her own are prominently written on it. In her heart, although Grandma Zhao's life is ordinary, the brilliance of her humanity and kindness always illuminates everyone.