It's actually not that hard to dig into Shen Rong's background. He even published an autobiography, and although there may be some exaggerations, Cheng Yaozu hired a private detective to verify the details, and most of it aligns with the autobiography.
Shen Rong is sixty-eight this year, born a poor boy in a remote fishing village, from a family not worth mentioning—impoverished, the kind of unwanted child that neither grandfather nor grandmother loves, stubborn in nature, once he sets his mind on something, he does it regardless of right or wrong.
Before liberation, life was tough. Unfavored at home, after being beaten so badly that his leg almost broke, he ran away from home, venturing across the country.
According to him, he dug coal and even sneaked onto coal trains, visited the Capital, traveled to Jiangnan, did all kinds of odd jobs and sometimes resorted to petty thefts just to have a meal.
