When the people of the whole country were still immersed in the joy of the New Year, a piece of news caught everyone off guard. The air from north to south was filled with sadness, and everyone was extremely heartbroken.
When the host on the radio announced the death of the great Prime Minister in a tearful voice, Shen Anning stood up suddenly from her chair. Because of her big movement, the chair fell and hit the back of her foot. She had known that this day would come, but when she heard the news, she was still in so much pain that she couldn't breathe.
Shen Anning still remembered that when she was a child, her grandfather brought her brothers and her to visit this kind old man. He and his wife were deeply in love. They had no children of their own and devoted their lifelong energy and time to the motherland and the people. When her grandfather took them to play when they were young, Grandpa Zhou was afraid that they would not dare to eat as much as they wanted, so he asked Grandma Deng to buy two roast ducks. At that time, two roast ducks were equivalent to a worker's half-month salary, not to mention that they also sponsored many students and lived a frugal life.
When Grandpa Shen heard the news from the radio, he sat on the kang for a long time and couldn't let it go. He was still thinking that he could go back in his lifetime so that everyone could have a meal, drink and chat together. He didn't expect that the farewell a few years ago would be a farewell forever.
On this day, people across the country faced Beijing to mourn the prime minister who studied for the rise of China. It was also because of the departure of this great man that people across the country strongly wanted to resist, to change, and to develop.
At night, Shen An Ning went to visit her grandparents. The old man was lying on the kang, his whole body was confused due to fever, and he was talking nonsense, from carrying explosives to killing Japanese devils. No matter how Grandma Shen called him, he didn't wake up, immersed in his own inner world.
Seeing her husband like this, Grandma Shen was very anxious. She was about to go find her granddaughter when Shen An Ning happened to push the door in by herself.
"Hey, my dear, come and see your grandpa. He hasn't been feeling well this afternoon. He didn't eat dinner and started to have a fever while lying on the kang. I just gave him some fever-reducing medicine, but it didn't work. What should I do?"
Shen Anning could only hold grandma's hand and comfort her: "Grandma, grandpa is probably overwhelmed by grief. This is internal heat. I brought some alcohol. Let me wipe it for grandpa first."
The grandfather and grandson stayed by the kang for half the night, changing basins of water one after another. It was almost dawn when Grandpa Shen's fever subsided.
"Grandma, hurry up and get some sleep. I'll make millet porridge for you before we go back." Shen An Ning persuaded her grandmother to get on the kang, boiled the water, and put the millet in the pot. Looking at the time, it was already 3:30 in the morning.
Grandpa Shen was seriously ill this time, and his spirit was much worse than before. Shen An Ning was very anxious when she saw this. She went to Old Cheng to get several prescriptions, and stewed chicken and duck every now and then. It took two months for his complexion to get better.
In late March 1976, on Qingming Festival, people across the country publicly mourned the great Premier. Student and worker groups in Beijing held a rally in front of Tiananmen Square, and wreaths filled the entire square. At this moment, everyone no longer cared about bad habits and was no longer afraid.
Grandpa Shen received a transfer order in June and returned to Beijing with Grandma Shen first. They left without alerting anyone. Only the village chief and the party secretary of Gengjiatun knew that the old couple in the hut by the river had left the Northeast.
Before leaving, Grandpa Shen and Shen An Ning had a long talk all night. Shen An Ning knew that Grandpa would have a hard time in the first period of time after returning this time, so Shen An Ning suggested that Grandpa go directly back to the military region. With his aunt and uncle around, plus the generals that Grandpa had promoted before, they had a great chance of winning this struggle.
Because it was Grandpa's former guard who came to pick them up this time, Shen An Ning didn't bring too many things for them. She simply packed a few clothes, made a few egg pancakes, and brought them two kilograms of egg cakes. She would slowly send the rest of the food back to her aunt's house later.
After Grandpa Shen and Grandma Shen left, Shen Anning immediately took the time to go to the farm and told the good news to his parents and brother and sister-in-law.
The family sat together, big hands holding small hands, and Mother Shen couldn't stop crying. After five years, they finally waited for this day, the day when they saw hope.
"Oh right, Mom, Dad, Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, Grandpa and Grandma have all gone back. I guess yours will be soon too. Our country has been quiet for so many years. It's time for a change."
Shen's father is a professor of history. He quickly figured out the key point. If the country wants to change, it will inevitably need a large number of talents. However, the college entrance examination has been suspended for so many years, and students have been out of school for longer than in class. Most of the educated youth went to the countryside to become farmers. The Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University is basically a decoration. Teachers are criticized every day, and they are more polite to students than to their own elders during class. It is conceivable how big the problem is with the country's education system.
"Yes, it's time for the country to change. Ningning, don't worry, your parents will help your brother and sister-in-law prepare. The knowledge that has been stranded for so many years, it's time to pick it up again."
When Shen Anning heard what his father said, he hurriedly took out the books that he had hidden in the space before, "Mom and Dad, Big Brother and Sister-in-law, these are the books I secretly hid and brought here when we came to Northeast China. I have kept all your research project notes well."
Chen Anyan looked at his research notes, and the tough-looking man's eyes were red. In the past few years, working in the fields every day had turned him from a fair-skinned scholar into a dark-skinned rough man.
In September, another leader died of illness, and the whole country was in grief. That year, the people of the country lost their two backbones. At the same time, people in the cowsheds across the country were rehabilitated one after another, and these things were reported in the newspapers every day.
For a time, the attitudes of the villagers in Gengjiatun and Wangtu Village towards the people in the cowshed became much better, and the villagers couldn't help but feel fortunate that they had not made things too difficult for them over the years.
Shen Anning continued to live her life as usual with her younger siblings. They went to school as usual, and she herself started to pick up her high school textbooks again. This time, she didn't know when her grandfather would come to pick them up, so she had to make plans to take the college entrance examination in Northeast China. There was still a year left, which was enough for her to surprise everyone.
After returning to Beijing, Grandpa Shen also made various arrangements, thinking of transferring my uncle and aunt back to the Beijing Military Region first. After all, Uncle Shen had left Beijing to avoid disaster. Now is the time to reshuffle the power, and the Shen family has to come out as well. Even if the tree wants to be still, the wind will not stop!
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