The icing on the cake

Zhuang Jianhua was born in the fourth year after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Zhuang Jianhua's mother died of cancer less than a week after giving birth to her son. At that time, the medical level was limited, and there was nothing to do about cancer and other diseases.Zhuang Jianhua lost his mother's love when he couldn't call his mother.Master Zhuang, who had not yet been awarded a military rank at that time, entrusted his only son to his good friend Liao's family, that is, Minister Liao's mother, to help take care of him.

In 1955, the Chinese government decided to confer military ranks on the heroes of the founding of the country. Both Zhuang Jianhua's father and Minister Liao's father were awarded the rank of major general. The flying years have been dragged down, and he passed away in the second year after being awarded the major general, leaving behind his only four-year-old son.

Zhuang Jianhua became an orphan whose parents died at the age of four. Although the origin of an orphan is always pitiful, Zhuang Jianhua's life as an orphan does not require sympathy. Upbringing, in the end, Zhuang Jianhua chose his favorite Uncle Liao's family.

At that time, Major General Liao had four children in his family (the fifth one was not yet born). The oldest child was eight years old, and the youngest was only in his arms. Major General Liao and his wife loved Zhuang Jianhua who lost his parents very much. Busy, his wife has to take care of the four children in the family, especially the youngest one is not yet weaned, the couple can't spare time to accompany Xiao Jianhua, and the burden of taking care of Zhuang Jianhua falls on the eldest son of the Liao family.

Minister Liao went to school, and went to school together with a four-year-old tail. Minister Liao was in class, and Xiao Zhuang Jianhua sat on the small bench at the back of the classroom to do graffiti, which the teacher brought to Xiao Jianhua from his home.

Minister Liao was out of class, and Zhuang Jianhua ran to Minister Liao immediately. Minister Liao was out of school, and the two brothers went home together hand in hand.In the evening, Minister Liao did his homework, and Zhuang Jianhua continued to scribble beside him. He fell asleep at night, and the two brothers slept in the same bed.

Zhuang Jianhua has grown up and is old enough to go to elementary school, but Minister Liao is going to junior high school. The two brothers cannot go to the same direction when going to school. This makes Xiao Zhuang Jianhua very sad. In order to continue to go to school hand in hand with his dear brother, Zhuang Jianhua worked hard and skipped two grades. Finally, when Minister Liao was in high school, 11-year-old Zhuang Jianhua entered the junior high school of the same school. system, high school is a two-year system).

Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long. In 1966, the college entrance examination was suspended. Minister Liao couldn’t enter university after graduating from high school. In order to solve the employment problem in the city, the Chinese authorities called on young people to move to the countryside, especially remote rural areas to establish farms.Minister Liao responded to the country's call and went to the Great Northern Wilderness with his bags on his back. The 14-year-old Zhuang Jianhua really separated from his elder brother Liao this time.

Minister Liao stayed in the cold desert of the Great Northern Wilderness for two years, and then he saw his younger brother Zhuang Jianhua who smoked so thin that he was as thin as ribs. The thin 16-year-old boy came after his elder brother.

The life of the educated youth was difficult, and the period of the Cultural Revolution was dark. The educated youth calmed down from the enthusiasm for re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants, and began to reflect. Wing and ambition, the 16-year-old boy grew up listening to his elder brother's ideal, and both of them joined the party in the Great Northern Wilderness.

Since 1971, many problems of educated youths in rural areas began to be exposed, and the government began to assign some jobs to devolved educated youths in cities.However, most of the educated youths who returned to the city in this way obtained the opportunity to return to the city through connections.The conditions in the Great Northern Wilderness were too harsh. When Major General Liao learned that his son and the only son of his comrade-in-arms often fell ill on the farm in the Great Northern Wilderness, he used his connections to transfer the two children from the remote north to the relatively affluent Jiangnan countryside.

In the countryside in the south of the Yangtze River, the two started as production team members and gradually became the captain of the production team and secretary of the party branch. Minister Liao also met his future wife in the countryside in the south of the Yangtze River. The 24-year-old Minister Liao got married. Under the witness of his favorite brother, he went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get the red book. There was no wedding wine or firecrackers. Minister Liao's mother mailed it from the capital, and the rural supply and marketing cooperatives at that time couldn't buy so many candies.Liao Shengkai, the son of Minister Liao and his wife, was born in Jiangnan the next year.

In 1977, the country resumed the college entrance examination. The 29-year-old Minister Liao and the 25-year-old Zhuang Jianhua both participated in the college entrance examination. They were both admitted to Beijing University and entered a university at the same time.

That year, for the Liao family, there were both good and bad things. The good thing was that three of the five children of the Liao family took the college entrance examination and were admitted. Those on trial were a little closer.

Just when the Liao family was in turmoil, Zhuang Jianhua fell in love and got married. His girlfriend was the youngest daughter of Mr. Tang, a well-known tumbler in the capital. Mr. Tang's youngest daughter fell in love with Zhuang Jianhua at first sight. The two knew each other for three months. At the end of the year, the Liao family married the Tang family, and the adopted son of the Liao family married the daughter of the Tang family. With the help of the Tang family, the Liao family also gained a firm foothold in the political arena.

In 1980, Zhuang Jinyan was born in a maternal and child health hospital in Beijing. His father, Zhuang Jianhua, did not witness the birth of his son. Zhuang Jianhua was studying at the party school.

After graduating from university, Minister Liao and Zhuang Jianhua were successively sent to work in the Jiangnan area. At the end of the 80s, Minister Liao was promoted to the deputy mayor of Shenshi, and Zhuang Jianhua was also transferred to Shenshi to become the deputy mayor of a certain district not long after.Zhuang Jinyan also followed his parents, and Shenshi had Zhuang Jinyan's permanent home.

Zhuang Jianhua admired his elder brother. After becoming his right-hand man in Shenshi, he tried his best to accumulate political capital for his elder brother, and made great achievements in economics.Minister Liao sat on the position of governor as he wished.

Politics is always cruel. Sometimes your political performance looks good, but when someone secretly arranges the situation, this political performance will become your criminal evidence.A large project signed by Zhuang Jianhua was found to be a hidden danger three years after the completion of the project. The yellow sand used in the project was actually mixed with sea sand. Sea sand can be used in construction, but you must wash off its salt. If it is not cleaned well, it will corrode the reinforced concrete, and the construction using this kind of sea sand will become a hidden danger. In this large project approved by Zhuang Jianhua, the salt content of the sea sand seriously exceeds the standard.

Zhuang Jianhua knew he had fallen into a trap after receiving the report of hidden dangers in the project. The contractor in charge of the project was introduced by his brother-in-law, who swore in front of him to guarantee the quality.For the sake of his deceased father-in-law and wife, Zhuang Jianhua handed over the project to this contractor.And the builder was a pawn of the enemy, and when the incident was exposed, he had already left the country.Zhuang Jianhua's two brothers-in-law are moderate people. After seeing their brother-in-law being double-regulated, they quickly drew a clear line with their brother-in-law. Zhuang Jianhua's only channel to clean himself was blocked.

Zhuang Jianhua was placed under segregated review. At first he thought that he was only being investigated for his negligence, and he didn't want to point the investigation directly at Minister Liao, because Minister Liao strongly supported the project when he applied for the post of deputy mayor.

Zhuang Jianhua looked at the bath towel in his hand, and he knew that if he dragged himself along, his beloved brother would be invited to drink tea immediately, and their ideals and longings in the Great Northern Wilderness would become an unrealizable dream.

He remembered that when he was a child, his elder brother took him by the hand to go to school every day. He remembered that when he was in the Great Northern Wilderness, his elder brother put his feet in his heart and fell asleep every day. He went to seek medical treatment a few miles away. He remembered the cheers after the two were admitted to the university at the same time. He remembered that the two became a tacit understanding between the superior and the subordinate.

No, Zhuang Jianhua thought, if he pushes his brother out as some people wish, he will certainly be able to reduce his guilt, but what else is there to live like that?Faith is gone, ideals are shattered, and the elder brother is bound to miss the official career. It would be better to let him die, and let him bear all the blame, remove the elder brother and continue to pursue their ideal goals.

Zhuang Jianhua tore the bath towel into strips and tied them tightly, and put them on the iron frame fixed to the shower head to make a dead set. This is what he and his brother often did when hunting wild wolves in the Great Northern Wilderness. Now he has applied this dead set to himself.

Zhuang Jianhua's consciousness began to be confused, but he still exhausted his last bit of reason, not letting his hands touch the towel on his lap. Zhuang Jianhua's legs were tied up by himself, because he was too tall to stand upright. Zhuang Jianhua, who wanted to die, could only shorten his legs.

The feeling of suffocation was very uncomfortable, and when the consciousness was about to disappear, Zhuang Jianhua suddenly thought that his suicide would make his elder brother distraught.No!Brother, don't be too sad, this is my brother's willingness, in the next life, I hope we can be brothers together again.

Zhuang Jianhua didn't think much about his only son Zhuang Jinyan until his death, because he felt that as long as his elder brother was well, then his only son would be well too, just like when he was adopted by the Liao family to love and take care of him when he was a child, his only son would be fine in the future. There will be no one who loves him.