In 1956, the head of the local grain station came to Beijing to be commended. Chairman Mao frowned: Old squad leader, you wear too little.

At the end of 1956, heroes and model figures from all over the country gathered in Beijing. A grain station director from Jinzhai, Anhui Province, as one of the model workers in the national grain system, ascended the rostrum of the conference.

When Chairman Mao walked up to him, he felt a little excited for a moment. He took his hand and greeted him cordially, and gave him a thumbs up:

What Chairman Mao said This "old squad leader" is named Li Kaiwen. After the conference, Chairman Mao sent someone to inform him that he would come to Zhongnanhai and that he would invite him to his home for a meal.

Two days later, Li Kaiwen, accompanied by staff, walked into Zhongnanhai Fengze Garden and met Chairman Mao, whom he had not seen for seven years. After Chairman Mao saw him, he looked him up and down and couldn't help but frown:

Beijing in December was already covered in ice and snow. Li Kaiwen was wearing a thin black cotton-padded jacket and a pair of worn-out black cloth shoes on his feet, almost exposing his toes.

Seeing Chairman Mao again, Li Kaiwen was so excited that he could still feel the cold. He replied in a loud voice: "Chairman, it's not cold, I'm not cold at all!"

"You're not telling the truth, are you? How could it not be cold?" Chairman Mao shook his head slightly, turned around and whispered to the guard, and quickly went to buy a fur coat and a pair of fur shoes for the old squad leader. The money came from his own salary. buckle.

Chairman Mao was particularly happy on this day and talked about many past events in Yan'an at the dinner table. Suddenly Chairman Mao asked Li Kaiwen, had he been in the special kitchen class for more than ten years? Li Kaiwen replied that he was transferred from the cooking class of the Central Organization Department to the special kitchen class and worked there for eleven years.

"You are almost sixty now, right?"

"It will be sixty next year."

"You were an old hero of the mass production movement back then. Now I have become a new model worker again. I am still strong and have made new achievements." Chairman Mao nodded happily.

Before the meal was finished, the guard had already returned carrying a fur coat and fur shoes. Chairman Mao signaled the guard to hand it to Li Kaiwen and said to him: "Put it on!"

Li Kaiwen didn't know what to say for a moment, so he stood up hurriedly to catch the clothes and leather shoes, and his eyes filled with excitement. After so many years, Chairman Mao still takes care of himself as usual. He also knew Chairman Mao's temper and did not refuse too much:

Li Kaiwen wore a fur coat and fur shoes given by Chairman Mao. After returning to his hometown, he became the focus of conversation among the villagers. Many villagers rushed into his home, touched the clothes given by Chairman Mao, and listened to his story about his experience of being a guest at Chairman Mao's home. They all expressed envy:

Later, the county held the "Tenth Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China" "Achievements Exhibition", the organizing team wanted the coat and leather shoes that Chairman Mao gave to Li Kaiwen, and Li Kaiwen readily handed them over. During the exhibition, these two things caused a great sensation in the county. For a time, the story of Chairman Mao and Li Kaiwen became a household name.

When he was 16 years old, Li Kaiwen began to work hard in farming. Although he was not tall, he developed a good body and could walk hundreds of miles of rugged mountain roads in a day carrying a load.

Li Kaiwen joined the Red Guard very early and worked for the Red Army. In 1932, enemies from all directions rushed toward the Dabie Mountains. The troops received orders to evacuate urgently. As for where they were going, no one knew.

Seeing that the enemy had surrounded them, the Red Army soldiers fought bloody battles, but in the end because the enemy was outnumbered, they had to retreat westward in tears and forcefully break through. After receiving the order to break out, the regiment leader singled out the strong Li Kaiwen and officially transferred him to the Red Army's stretcher-bearing unit, serving as the squad leader of the stretcher team.

Coincidentally, on the day of evacuation, Li Kaiwen set out from Jinzhai County with the army and happened to pass behind his house. At that time, his wife had just given birth. Li Kaiwen did not dare to enter the house and say goodbye to his wife, secretly After glancing into the room for a few times, he felt cruel and followed the team.

This young man is not afraid of the enemy's bullets, but he cannot resist his wife's tears.

Who knew that Li Kaiwen was discovered by his eldest son Li Jinxu who ran out to watch the fun. The 8-year-old child ran to his father crying and yelling, saying that his mother was asking him to go home every day. Li Kaiwen didn't dare to look at the child, let alone stop, for fear that once he stopped, he would never be able to leave again.

When the stretcher bearer on the side saw this scene, he couldn't help but persuade him to go back and take a look. Only then did Li Kaiwen stop and look back at his son who was already crying. He immediately turned around and walked faster without even realizing it. His eyes were filled with tears.

Li Jinxu rushed to his father's side like crazy and hugged one of his father's legs tightly. Li Kaiwen was shocked and did not dare to hesitate any more. He kicked his son away with a cruel kick. Li Jinxu, who was kicked, sat on the ground blankly and did not continue to pursue him. Li Kaiwen also did not look back.

In this way, he left his hometown Jinzhai for 17 years.

Although Li Kaiwen had never touched a gun for a day, he always rushed to the front line during the war and kept a close eye on the soldiers on the front line. Someone fell down injured, and he immediately took the stretcher squad and rushed up to carry the injured person down.

In order to get rid of the enemy, the troops can reluctantly throw away heavy weapons, but they cannot throw away the wounded. Therefore, the stretcher class led by Li Kaiwen is carrying a heavy load every day. Due to the continuous rapid march, the Red Army could not walk on the main roads. The straw sandals on Li Kaiwen's feet had long been worn out by the mountain roads, leaving a bloody footprint on the ground as soon as he walked.

In fact, in a situation like Li Kaiwen's, almost all the soldiers in the army were similar, and they all hurried forward with bared teeth. One time, a fellow villager couldn't stand it anymore and planned to sneak away, but Li Kaiwen caught him and taught him that going back would be like seeking death. It was better to follow the team and fight a way out.

The fellow was left speechless and followed Li Kaiwen back to the team obediently.

When passing through the enemy's last line of defense, Li Kaiwen carried the wounded and ran more than 30 kilometers of mountain roads in one breath. It was not until he heard that he had broken through the blockade that he dared to take a breath and put down the stretcher. In an instant, a mouthful of hot blood spurted out from his chest.

After a bloody battle all the way, the team finally reached northern Sichuan. As soon as the team arrived near Hanzhong that day, enemy planes followed and dropped dozens of bombs on the stretcher team. Before Li Kaiwen could react, he was already buried in the gravel.

When the soldiers pulled Li Kaiwen out, Li Kaiwen was already unconscious. Everyone thought he had been sacrificed, so they dragged him to the pile of dead people and prepared to find a place to bury him.

The fellow villager who was persuaded by Li Kaiwen to come back did not believe that Li Kaiwen had died anyway. He cried and lay in the pile of dead people, and finally found Li Kaiwen. He subconsciously used his fingers to check his nose and found that Li Kaiwen was still alive. Angry, he quickly asked the cooking team for half a bowl of rice soup, pried open Li Kaiwen's mouth and poured it in.

In this way, Li Kaiwen was fed to life. In the past, Li Kaiwen would carry others, but now he was lying on a stretcher. Soon he was sent to Tongjiang, Sichuan, where he stayed in the hospital for a full year.

After Li Kaiwen woke up, he found that he could no longer hear. He felt that he had become a useless person and could no longer be a Red Army soldier. He was so painful that he could not sleep for several days. Later, the doctor told him that except for his ears, there was no problem with other parts of his body, and Li Kaiwen calmed down.

After he could move his body, he began to move out of bed little by little, eating and going to the toilet on his own. After he could stand up, he clenched his teeth and held on to the wall to practice walking. He looked forward to the day when he recovered and was discharged from the hospital, so that he could return to the stretcher class.

Finally, on the day he was discharged from the hospital, Li Kaiwen found the regiment leader and asked him to give him a gun. He wanted to be a real soldier. The regiment leader said that he had been a real warrior for a long time. After saying that, he looked at Li Kaiwen and laughed.

Li Kaiwen didn’t understand what was so funny about his request to go to the front line to fight. The regiment leader pointed to his ears and said loudly to him, how can you fight with bad ears? He can't even go to stretcher duty now. Li Kaiwen was stunned. He couldn't hear, so what else could he do?

"Go and cook." The group leader gave him an idea. Li Kaiwen didn't answer the group leader's words. The group leader asked him loudly if he was unhappy. Li Kaiwen said reluctantly, as long as It would be nice to stay in the army.

Seeing that Li Kaiwen’s answer was somewhat reluctant, the regiment leader frowned. Li Kaiwen was afraid that the regiment leader would drive him away, so he took off his military uniform and hurriedly replied loudly in the Sichuan dialect he had just learned:

In this way, Li Kaiwen came from the stretcher class to the cooking class and became a cook. When the Red Army troops entered the grassland, it was wet everywhere, and they couldn't even find a piece of dry land suitable for camping. The weather on the grassland changed at any time. It rained and hailed sometimes. Many soldiers fell to the ground while walking and never got up again.

Li Kaiwen was no exception. Like everyone else, he became sallow and thin, his body began to swell, and he couldn't even walk as neatly as usual. But once the troops camped, Li Kaiwen's body was no longer bloated, which made Cai Chang and Kang Keqing very curious.

It didn’t take long for Li Kaiwen’s secret to be discovered. It turned out that every day when the troops set out, Li Kaiwen squeezed the wet dry grass dry, stuffed it into his clothes, then picked up the cooking utensils and walked behind the troops. As soon as he arrived at the camp, Li Kaiwen immediately took out the dried straw balls and lit a bonfire for his comrades to keep warm and boil water to cook food.

Only then did the comrades realize that Li Kaiwen's body was not bloated, but filled with life-saving straw balls. Relying on this method, Li Kaiwen was always the first to light up the smoke every day, and his military stove became the fire for the entire regiment and even the entire division.

After the Red Army joined forces in Huining, Li Kaiwen was transferred to the Central Red Army. In 1936, Zhou Enlai convened various military leaders for a meeting in Yan'an. At the meeting, he asked them to find some reliable people to work in the central government. Li Kaiwen was recommended and became the first batch of Red Army soldiers to be transferred to work in Yan'an.

After a month of long journey, Li Kaiwen and several comrades arrived in Yan'an from Gansu. On the first day he arrived, Li Kaiwen met a fellow villager. When he learned that he was reporting to the central government agency, the fellow villager immediately took him to see Chen Yun, the person in charge at the time, and introduced him as reliable and honest.

"Okay, let him work next to Chairman Mao." Chen Yun immediately made arrangements. In this way, Li Kaiwen became the leader of the cooking team at Central Xiaozao and became Chairman Mao's cook.

Sometimes Chairman Mao would work late, and the food would be cold before his secretary came, so Li Kaiwen would reheat the food and deliver it himself.

Once Li Kaiwen was waiting for a while, but Chairman Mao’s secretary did not come to get the meal, so he brought it to him with the meal that had been heated several times. It was the cold winter season, and when he walked into Chairman Mao's cave dwelling, a gust of cold wind made Li Kaiwen couldn't help but shiver.

Chairman Mao happened to raise his head and saw this scene. He put down the pen in his hand and said to Li Kaiwen: "Old squad leader, I think you are too thinly dressed."

"It's not cold. It's not cold, I'm used to it." Li Kaiwen quickly closed the door.

Chairman Mao stood up, found a sheepskin vest and handed it to him. Li Kaiwen kept waving his hands, insisting not to. Chairman Mao insisted on stuffing the clothes into his hands: "Put it on if you are told. I am big and can withstand the cold. If your old squad leader gets cold, I won't be able to eat my favorite dish you made." It’s ready.”

Li Kaiwen put on his sheepskin vest, raised his head and asked Chairman Mao which dish it was. Chairman Mao said: "Of course it's braised pork."

Chairman Mao said this, which made Li Kaiwen a little embarrassed. When he first came to Yan'an, he heard that Chairman Mao liked braised pork, so he secretly went to ask other cooks for advice. When he came back, he cooked it several times, but was not satisfied with it. Unexpectedly, he got Chairman Mao's approval.

In 1942, Yan'an launched the "Big Production Movement", calling on Yan'an's military and civilians to "do it themselves and have enough food and clothing." At that time, the Central Special Stove Team was also involved. Considering Li Kaiwen's age, everyone did not allow him to go to the fields to open up wasteland, and he was left to boil water for cooking.

How could Li Kaiwen be willing to just take it easy? When he learned how to make straw sandals, he set a goal for himself to make seven pairs a day. He also mixed the colorful threads he collected into the straw ropes to make the straw sandals both beautiful and durable.

When the pile of straw sandals in the small warehouse was as high as one person, Li Kaiwen and the young people from the special Zao class delivered the straw sandals to the soldiers who were opening up wasteland. Not only Chairman Mao, Zhou Enlai and other central leaders passed through , even Chairman Mao’s youngest daughter Li Na also wore it.

That year Li Kaiwen was named the labor hero of the large-scale production movement in the border area. Chairman Mao personally awarded him a certificate with a white cloth edge in front of thousands of people.

In February 1947, Hu Zongnan followed Chiang Kai-shek's instructions and gathered hundreds of thousands of troops to invade Yan'an, only to find that Yan'an had already been deserted. After Li Kaiwen followed Chairman Mao and other central leaders to fight in northern Shaanxi, he discovered that it was freezing cold and there was nothing to eat.

This time, Li Kaiwen was extremely anxious. In desperation, Li Kaiwen took advantage of the darkness and took two soldiers back to the enemy-occupied area 30 miles away to retrieve three loads of food secretly hidden in the cave dwelling.

At noon the next day, Chairman Mao noticed that there were suddenly many extra dishes on the table, and asked Li Kaiwen what was going on. Just as Li Kaiwen happily told the ins and outs of these foods, Chairman Mao's face darkened and he put the chopsticks on the table:

Seeing that Chairman Mao was angry, Li Kaiwen quickly explained that he was familiar with the small roads. The danger is not great. As a result, Chairman Mao was so angry that he didn't move his chopsticks for a long time. Li Kaiwen stood aside silently and kept wiping his tears. After a while, Chairman Mao's anger subsided, and he invited everyone to come and eat together:

In 1949, Li Kaiwen entered Beiping City with the central leaders and was arranged to study in a cadre school. After graduation, he replied: The group work department is waiting for work assignments. At that time, the director of the Mass Work Department was Li Weihan, who had a very good relationship with Li Kaiwen. He half-jokingly said to him:

Li Kaiwen was startled by Li Weihan's words and quickly asked how many people there were in the Tianjin Sugar Factory. When he heard that there were more than a thousand people, Li Kaiwen refused without hesitation. He had no ability to manage so many people. It would be best for him to go back to Dabie Mountain.

Li Weihan didn't understand very much. After liberation, many people wanted to stay in big cities but couldn't, but Li Kaiwen wanted to go back to his hometown. Li Kaiwen explained that his hometown was also liberated and he could go back to work. Besides, my wife and children are still waiting at home. I left them cruelly back then, and now it’s time to go back and “pay off the debt.”

Unable to overcome the stubborn Li Kaiwen, Li Weihan had to agree to his request to return home.

Before leaving Beijing, Li Kaiwen thought that after this farewell, he might never have the chance to see Chairman Mao in his life, so he asked all the way to Xiangshan and found Shuangqing Villa.

After Chairman Mao learned about the situation, he asked the old squad leader with concern, why not go to Tianjin to be the director of the factory? Li Kaiwen said that although he recognized some words, he knew that he was not qualified to be a factory director, so it was better to go back to his hometown and find a job he could do. Chairman Mao nodded in agreement and told him:

Soon Li Kaiwen's organizational relationship was transferred back to Anhui. The local leaders tentatively asked him what kind of work he wanted to do. Li Kaiwen modestly said that he can do any job and obey the organization's arrangements. Local leaders proposed that he return to Jinzhai County to serve as deputy county magistrate. Li Kaiwen was surprised. There were more than a thousand people in the Tianjin Sugar Factory, but he couldn't take care of his own. How could he have the ability to take care of hundreds of thousands of people?

So Li Kaiwen quickly declined, saying that he was not qualified. The local leaders didn't seem to be joking when they saw him and asked him to stay and think about it first. However, Li Kaiwen couldn't wait and was anxious to go home and have a look.

After two days of turbulence, Li Kaiwen finally returned to his hometown where he had not been back for more than ten years. I learned from my brother that after he left, his wife hid with her children in order to escape for her life. The two newborn twins starved to death because they had no food.

Later, his wife waited for him for 10 years without any news from him. She thought he had been sacrificed, so she remarried with her only surviving eldest son. The man she originally remarried was kind to her, but she didn't expect that he also died of illness two years ago.

Li Kaiwen’s eyes turned red after hearing about his wife’s experiences. He immediately decided to stay in his hometown to work and then bring his wife and son back.

When he was thinking hard about what he should do in his hometown, an accidental discovery made Li Kaiwen clarify his goal. At that time, he passed by Xiangshan Temple and found that the area near the once bustling temple had become deserted. The monks in the temple had long been driven away by the Kuomintang and were now used by the government to turn it into a food station for Xiangshan Temple.

This discovery greatly excited Li Kaiwen. There were so many empty houses in the temple. Once the work was completed, he could take over his wife and children, and the place to live would be solved.

Li Kaiwen immediately approached the local leaders and offered to work at the Xiangshan Grain Station. The local leaders found it inconceivable that an old Red Army soldier from the central government could go to such a place. But Li Kaiwen had made up his mind, and the local leaders had no choice but to introduce him to Jinzhai County.

After learning about Li Kaiwen's situation, the leaders of the Jinzhai County Party Committee also felt very embarrassed and persuaded him to stay and work in the county. Unexpectedly, Li Kaiwen said that he had been a cook for half his life, and he would still deal with food for the rest of his life.

In this way, Li Kaiwen took the initiative to ask the county party committee for the title of grain station director and went back to the mountains that day.

After completing the work, Li Kaiwen visited his wife's house several times, finally got through his wife's ideological work, and took his son to live with him at the grain station. After living a life of having a family, Li Kaiwen focused on his work.

After getting familiar with the business, Li Kaiwen realized that this "webmaster" was not that simple. Xiangshan Temple Grain Station is the central grain station, which also manages all grain depots within a hundred miles. In order to find out the following situation, Li Kaiwen personally went to each grain depot to investigate.

With the title of "webmaster", Li Kaiwen does not look like a webmaster. He arrived early in the morning, quietly walked into the dormitory of the granary, lit a charcoal brazier, and heated the cotton trousers of the young people guarding the granary, and then called them up to go to work. Where others were unwilling to repair the corners, he personally got in and repaired them piece by piece.

Under the grain station, there is a small market, next to a small river more than one foot wide. For many years, people have put a few tree trunks on the river as bridge boards, and adults and children are afraid to walk on them. When it rains and flash floods occur, not only can people not go to the market, they can't even buy food.

After Li Kaiwen learned about this situation, he took out all his savings and found a carpenter. After working for more than a month, he finally built a bridge. This incident became a favorite story among the local folks, and the bridge was also called the "Red Army Bridge" by the locals.

After Li Kaiwen passed away in 1992, he was buried in the back hill of Xiangshan Temple. His down-to-earth spirit, like a flag on Dabie Mountain, inspired generations of people in the old district.