Lonely person
Zhang Qizhong followed his studies step by step and was admitted to Peking University at the age of eighteen.
At the beginning of university, I actively submitted my application to join the Party to the school's Party organization, and successfully completed all the previous procedures after ideological and political study and assessment.
However, they got stuck at the political background check.
The reason lies with his grandfather, Zhang Deyue.
Before Dai Zining knew about it, the news reached Ji Yuxing's ears first.
Upon learning of this, Ji Yuxing immediately wrote a letter of recommendation to the superior party branch of Zhang Qizhong's college—the Peking University party branch.
It details all the contributions Zhang Chenglin made to the construction of the Party and the country from the time he returned to China after graduating from Cambridge and followed Sheng Dongsheng, to his active participation in the War of Resistance against Japan in 1937, and his sacrifice.
That is a contribution that even the writing of Party history cannot ignore.
At the end of his letter of recommendation, Ji Yuxing wrote with heartbreaking emotion—
Comrade Zhang Chenglin, the father of Zhang Qizhong, sacrificed himself for the Party and the people. While families are enjoying happiness and peace, let us not let the hero left in the darkness feel disheartened.
After Ji Yuxing's letter of recommendation arrived in Beijing, it was mistakenly delivered to the Central Party organization first due to a postman's error.
After circulating through the central party organization, it was somehow resent to the Organization Department of Peking University.
So when the Organization Department of Peking University received the letter of recommendation, the letter was signed not only by Ji Yuxing, but also by Qi Ziyang, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Dai Zining, Vice President of the State, and Lu Xiaoran, Premier of the State.
How can you even play this card?!
How could they dare to conduct a political vetting of someone with such impeccable political credentials?!
Thus, Zhang Qizhong, who had a solid political background, was unknowingly subjected to political vetting and passed it repeatedly, and smoothly became a formal party member after the probationary period ended.
*
In the summer of 1958, during the summer break between Zhang Qizhong's junior and senior years of college, 22-year-old Zheng Xuewen graduated and got married, and Zhang Qizhong was invited to be Zheng Xuewen's best man.
Like his father Zheng Mingzhe, Zheng Xuewen's wedding was not grand, and he only invited a few close friends.
Like his father, he married the woman he had loved since he was a child. The two had known each other since childhood and were childhood sweethearts. They confessed their feelings for each other when they were young and just beginning to experience love, and no one else appeared in their destiny for many years afterward.
Later, Zhang Qizhong described Zheng Xuewen that day, saying, "Having married the person he loved in his youth, he was like a general who had won a battle, full of victories and high spirits. Nothing in the world could stop him from walking towards his beloved."
"I have to say, it's really quite enviable."
Because of the weather, Zhang Qizhong was delayed on the road. He was supposed to arrive at Zheng Xuewen's house the day before the wedding, but he arrived just one hour before the wedding.
Zheng Xuewen and the bride greeted the guests outside, while Zhang Qizhong changed his clothes and helped out in the hall.
Zheng Mingzhe and Peng Xi entered the venue half an hour before the wedding started. At that time, the bride went to the back to prepare, while Zheng Xuewen and Zhang Qizhong stood in the last row of the hall chatting.
"You brat, what time is it and you're still chatting here!" Zheng Mingzhe and Zheng Xuewen have been father and son for twenty years, and they've become like brothers. Peng Xi is used to their bickering and arguing.
Zhang Qizhong was standing with his back to Zheng Mingzhe. Hearing the voice, he turned around and greeted him with a smile: "Uncle Zheng."
Zheng Mingzhe and Peng Xi froze when they saw Zhang Qizhong's face. It had been twenty years since they last saw Zhang Qizhong and Fengyue after spending the New Year at Zhang Chenglin's house.
Many things happened in the past twenty years, and Zheng Mingzhe could only occasionally hear a few words about Zhang Qizhong from Ji Yuxing and He Zhonghua.
Twenty years have passed. The little baby who was once held in Fengyue's arms and learning to speak has long since grown into a handsome young man.
However, he was so similar to Zhang Chenglin and Fengyue. When Zheng Mingzhe met Zhang Chenglin in Cambridge that year, Zhang Chenglin was only twenty-one or twenty-two years old. Now, with twenty-one-year-old Zhang Qizhong standing in front of him, he hesitated for a moment, feeling as if it were Zhang Chenglin standing in front of him.
After the wedding ceremony, Zheng Mingzhe asked Zheng Xuewen, "How did you and Qi Zhong... meet?"
Having not seen each other for over twenty years, and with neither Ji Yuxing nor He Zhonghua in Beijing, even if they mentioned each other occasionally, they would likely only be nodding acquaintances, not close enough for someone to be his best man.
Zheng Xuewen and Zheng Mingzhe stood in the main room, which was filled with many guests and was noisy, but Zheng Xuewen's voice was crystal clear to Zheng Mingzhe's ears:
“I was a sophomore at the time. My professor, who was supposed to supervise my graduation thesis, suddenly introduced me to him and said, ‘This is Zhang Qizhong, a freshman. I will be supervising his graduation thesis as well. Could you help me with his studies?’ Neither Qizhong nor I are particularly outgoing people, and we never contacted each other again after that first meeting.”
"We made contact again in our junior year. One night, during the debate finals, our team won. On my way back to the dorm, I was ambushed by a few of the opposing team members because they were not satisfied. But just as we were about to fight, Zhang Qizhong appeared. That night, the fight didn't happen because he told those people, 'My father is the chairman,' and those people didn't dare to make any rash moves."
Zheng Mingzhe couldn't help but chuckle after hearing the last sentence, which reminded him of Zhang Chenglin's former playful and rascal nature.
"It was from then on that we gradually started to get in touch. I would help him complete the tasks assigned by my supervisor. When I was writing my thesis, I never hesitated to ask him to help me collect data. When he was writing his thesis, I provided guidance almost throughout the entire process, and we slowly became friends."
Zheng Mingzhe couldn't help but shed tears, exclaiming, "What a coincidence!"
Back then, he and Zhang Chenglin became friends through a "fight-to-the-fact" relationship. Many years later, without their parents' matchmaking, Zheng Xuewen and Zhang Qizhong became close friends again in the same way their fathers had met. How can this not be considered fate?
In the two years since he met Zhang Qizhong, whenever Ji Yuxing or He Zhonghua came to Beijing, he and Zhang Qizhong would go out to have dinner with them.
They had naturally heard many of the legends about the "Chinese F4" from their fathers' generation, so Zheng Mingzhe's phrase "fate" was something he and Zhang Qizhong had heard countless times from Ji Yuxing and He Zhonghua.
As the father and son talked, their gazes followed the window out, where a young man stood alone by the flower bed in the yard, full of vigor and ambition, a peerless gentleman who aroused envy.
Does he have a girlfriend?
For some unknown reason, Zheng Mingzhe looked at Zhang Qizhong's figure outside the window and suddenly asked a question.
"No," Zheng Xuewen replied quickly with a smile.
"Is there someone you like?" Zheng Mingzhe asked again, as if he hadn't given up.
“There are quite a few female classmates who like him at school, but I’ve never heard of anyone he likes,” Zhang Qizhong looked over from outside the window as if he had something in mind. Zheng Xuewen smiled back at him and then said, “He’s all alone.”
Zheng Mingzhe was amused by his description and said in a low voice, "Then he really can't compare to his father. His father and mother met when they were five or six years old, and by the time they were twelve or thirteen, they were already the dream lovers of countless young men and women in Shanghai."
As Zheng Xuewen listened, he glanced at Zhang Qizhong outside. The young man was tall and slender with striking good looks, the kind of person who would attract attention wherever he went.
“He’s always been the dream lover of many girls. There are quite a few girls in school who want to marry him,” Zheng Xuewen said, gesturing with his lips. “I’m afraid that such a good cabbage will be eaten by some pig. I think no one is good enough for him.”
Zheng Mingzhe's thoughts were instantly drawn back to the 1937 Puyu Chamber of Commerce leadership transition meeting, to Zhuang Eryi's words when Gu Shiyue was mentioned:
"Over the years, I've met so many men, both domestic and foreign, but in my heart, only Zhang Chenglin is worthy of standing next to Gu Shiyue."
"Of course, Zhang Chenglin is only worthy of standing next to Gu Shiyue; he is still not good enough for her."
It seems like the same scene again, and the same words again.
This time, Zheng Mingzhe retorted with a smile: "Don't say that. Usually, the white moonlight hides an even brighter moonlight in the heart, a sacred place that no one can touch."
It's a pity that, in the end, it left behind regrets amidst the chaos of war.
"Oh, by the way, not long ago at school, I overheard my advisor asking him if he had someone he liked." Zheng Xuewen's brows furrowed slightly.
Zheng Mingzhe had heard about his mentor many times from him and knew that his and Zhang Qizhong's mentor was Dai Zining.
"So?" Zheng Mingzhe glanced sideways. "What did Qi Zhong say?"
“I didn’t hear the answer,” Zheng Xuewen said, somewhat speechless. “If I had heard it, I wouldn’t have said all that before.”
Zheng Mingzhe: "..."
Good lad, you know how to chat.
Because Dai Zining suffered an accidental fall at home, Zhang Qizhong bid farewell to Zheng Xuewen's family and prepared to return to Beijing the day after the wedding.
They came without bringing anything, but left carrying more than a dozen bags.
All of them were local specialties that Zheng Mingzhe and Peng Xi brought him.
It wasn't all for him; some were for He Zhonghua and Ji Yuxing as well.
Zheng Mingzhe and Peng Xi kept stuffing more and more food into the car, and Zheng Xuewen couldn't stand it anymore. "Mom and Dad, can't you let him catch his breath on the way?"
Zheng Mingzhe and Peng Xi stopped there, while Zhang Qizhong, carrying his hands full of things, gave Zheng Xuewen a grateful look.
Later, when Shanghai sent things to Ji Yuxing and He Zhonghua, the two men heard about Zhang Qizhong's experience that day and burst into laughter, leaving Zhang Qizhong alone, helpless and speechless.
Ji Yuxing noticed this and reached out to pat him on the shoulder: "You should be glad that you were only asked to bring things for the two of us. If it were for your father, Zheng Mingzhe would have brought the whole house for you."
Zhang Qizhong: "...The four of you don't need to be this close."
He Zhonghua then adopted the demeanor of an elder, patted his other shoulder, and said earnestly, "Child, you are still young. You will understand these things later."
Zhang Qizhong's expression turned even more speechless. With a look of disdain, he removed the hands of his two uncles from his shoulders, one on each side, and said, "I don't want to understand, thank you."
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