Behind Zhang Yuhuan's 9778 days in custody: 27 years of absence between father and son
In 27 years, father Zhang Yuhuan and sons Zhang Baoren and Zhang Baogang were absent from each other's growth.
On August 4, the retrial of Zhang Yuhuan’s intentional homicide case was pronounced. The Jiangxi Higher People’s Court revoked the original judgment and declared Zhang Yuhuan not guilty with "unclear facts in the original judgment and insufficient evidence." Since October 27, 1993, Zhang Yuhuan has been detained for 9,778 days and is currently the longest detainee who has been acquitted.
Two brothers who grew up with the title "Murder Son"
In the long 9778 days, Zhang Baoren and Zhang Baogang grew up under the title of "Murder Son." When Zhang Yuhuan was taken away by law enforcement officers, the brothers were three and four years old. In their childhood, they were "accompanied" most by the villagers and classmates endless verbal abuse, and even beatings.
His brother Zhang Baoren's leg was interrupted by children of the same age in the village on the way from school, and he was forced to eat cow dung. "A lot of bullying is brutal and inhumane. He even pressed him on the ground and played with his genitals." Zhang Baoren is introverted, speaks softly, and never fights back when he is bullied. The younger brother Zhang Baogang was different. Seeing that his brother was being bullied, he picked up the stick and hit him.
From grade one to grade four, Zhang Baogang fought for four years, was expelled from school four times, and changed four schools, "either in a fight or on the way to a fight". Because of his father Zhang Yuhuan, the two brothers were often bullied by classmates. Zhang Bao just dropped out of school when he was in the fourth grade.
The sudden change broke the life of a family. After Zhang Yuhuan was taken away, his wife Song Xiaonv took the brothers to the county public security bureau and the county government to complain about grievances, sometimes in the morning and evening, staying in the reception room for one day, even two or three days, just to meet Zhang Yuhuan side.
The family had no financial resources and soon couldn't even eat. The mother and son wandered around, and when they arrived at the meal, they had to take turns to eat together with the grandfather to Song Xiaonv's siblings.
The more frequent visits, there will be conflicts within the relatives' homes, and they often become red-faced in quarrels in front of them. "Originally, we only needed to raise one grandfather, but now we have to raise three of our mothers and children." Zhang Baogang recalled, at that time embarrassment and self-esteem disappeared.
"My own cub, I don't know him, he doesn't know me, and even my mother is too old to recognize him."
Living in the shadow of their father, the brothers grew up to eighty or nine years old ignorantly. They were just a sensible age and took on the burden of the family. The children’s entertainment activities in the same village were sandbags, rope skipping, hide-and-seek, and play house. Their brothers The two "recreational activities" are cutting wood, weeding, plowing the fields, herding cattle, and doing endless farm work.
In order to make ends meet, Song Xiaonv left her youngest son Zhang Baogang to her father, and left her eldest son Zhang Baoren to Zhang Yuhuan's mother Zhang Binglian. The two brothers were brought up by her grandpa and grandma. After the death of his grandfather, Zhang Baogang was also sent back to his grandmother Zhang Binglian.
In the days of lack of care, danger often knocks on the door. Once the light bulb at home was broken and the wires were in poor contact, Zhang Baoren raised an iron rod and beat it, causing a big hole in his palm. Zhang Baogang went to pull when he saw it, and was also electrocuted. So far the brothers don't know how to break free.
More often, the two brothers live in the strange eyes of adults, and some parents will educate their children, "His child is the son of a murderer, don't play with them." Hearing this, Zhang Baogang couldn't help but want to go up for a fight.
On the afternoon of August 4, Zhang Yuhuan returned to his hometown in Zhangjia Village, Jinxian County, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province amidst the loud sound of firecrackers. He was wearing a black and gray striped shirt and a big red flower on his chest. Surrounded by the family, he was greeted into the house.
After getting out of the car, Zhang Yuhuan's eyes did not stop on the two brothers. His first sentence was: "Where is my mother? Where is my mother?" Then he searched for his mother Zhang Binglian. The eldest son Zhang Baoren saw that his father failed to recognize himself, so his expectations were lost, and he pushed Zhang Yuhuan.
Zhang Yuhuan explained afterwards, "My own cub, I don't know him, he doesn't know me, and even my mother is too old to recognize him." Not only the son, but the family of brothers and sisters in the crowd, all look like strangers in front of Zhang Yuhuan.
At 10:30 in the evening, the excitement dissipated, Zhang Yuhuan and Zhang Baogang and his son took a bath and lay in bed and chatted about their past lives. 9778 days later, Zhang Yuhuan re-educated her young son as a father, "You have to be obedient outside, don't do bad things, there are many young people in their teens and 20s who are living very hard." Zhang Baogang felt dumbfounded, "I will be over if you educate me now."
Zhang Yuhuan recalled his life in prison to his son, while Zhang Baogang talked to his father about his work and life outside the prison. The two worlds separated by a high wall were originally different. Both sides were talking about their sufferings. The original feeling of strangeness and distance between father and son was quickly brought closer because of this conversation about "suffering".
"Two people are sick and feel sorry for each other. The more they talk, the more sad they get." This father-son conversation that started at 11 o'clock in the night ended at 2 o'clock in the morning the next day.
It will take at least one or two years to lead a normal life
In fact, after returning home for 4 days, there is not much time left for the father and son to get along. Most of the time, they are facing media interviews and occasionally walk around for a while to breathe. Before the intense interview, Zhang Yuhuan fell asleep in the back room of his brother Zhang Pingfan’s house.
Zhang Yuhuan’s house is separated from his younger brother Zhang Pingfan’s house by a wall. The “good house” in Zhang Yuhuan’s memory has been battered by wind and rain over the years. The roof has broken through a large hole. In the rubble, weeds have grown to nearly two meters high. Only the sparse broken wood was left lying in the corner of the furniture, which was originally made by the carpenter Zhang Yuhuan.
Zhang Bao had just turned 12 when he left Jinxian. The moment he was far away from Zhangjiacun, he felt his pain was shut out, "It is happy to leave his hometown." In the first three years, Zhang Baogang worked in the clothing store opened by his mother. When he was 15 years old, he went out to work and began a life of home from all over the world. I just started making resin vase decorations, and later went to Guangzhou to make labels on clothes, went to Zhejiang to raise pearls, went to Fujian to fish, repaired motorcycles, learned haircuts, and wandered around. Smoking was also learned at that time. During the interview, Zhang Baogang's cigarettes were not broken one by one.
Zhang Baoren spent two nights teaching his father to call. Zhang Baogang saved the phone numbers of relatives and friends one by one in the mobile phone bought by his father. How to turn on the phone when the screen is black, how to dial the number, how to answer the call, a few simple operations, Zhang Yuhuan did not learn it after two nights.
The brothers taught him how to watch the video interviewing him on Douyin these days. Zhang Yuhuan mumbled about reading newspapers and TV. His youngest son Baogang told him, “There are no newspapers and TVs anymore. Everything you need in life is stored in your phone. , The money is also stored in the phone." Zhang Yuhuan's face was incredible.
"Now, like a two-year-old child, he is very strange to the outside world. Some things have been taught to him, and he immediately forgot." After a few days of contact, Zhang Baoren found that his father knew nothing about everything around him, and he would still have a sense of fear for strange things. I didn’t dare to click down on the screen of the mobile phone. The Tik Tok video played several times and didn’t dare to scratch the screen. When we answered the phone, we kept it close to our ears. He was holding it in his hand, so I didn’t dare to press the call button. Before doing an action, think carefully for a long time."
Zhang Yuhuan's 53 years of life was ruthlessly cut into two parts, only 26 years belonged to him, and everything that happened in the world in the remaining 27 years was blocked by the high wall. What is derailed is not only cognition, but also the imagination of future life: after he is released from prison, Zhang Yuhuan hopes that the government will allocate a few acres of fertile land to him, and his son will quit his job and stay at home to accompany him in farming.
Zhang Baogang smiled helplessly. He told his father, "Before you integrate into the society, don't make decisions in a hurry. If you really plant two acres of land, our whole family will starve to death."
The brothers discussed that they would spend a year or two taking turns to accompany their father at home, so as to bring his father back on track and adapt to social life as soon as possible.
All arrangements and plans are fine: first teach him how to use a mobile phone, then take him to go shopping in the city, understand normal prices, learn how to shop, take him to see roads and modern buildings, teach him to obey traffic rules, and learn How to take a bus, ride a battery car, use a water heater, an electric fan... "Living a normal person's life at least one or two years." Zhang Baogang estimated.
Most of the time, the father and son always hold hands, support each other and walk cautiously on the country roads. They have been working as tailors in prison for a long time. They have stepped on sewing machines with shackles for many years. Zhang Yuhuan’s feet are deformed. staggering.
Like his father Zhang Yuhuan, Zhang Baoren and Zhang Baogang were also stolen in innocence in 27 years.
On August 4, at the moment when he heard "Not Guilty and Released", Zhang Bao had just got goose bumps, "The hairs all over his body are erected. After finally waiting for this sentence, we no longer have to bear the charge of'murderer son'. Up".
In a few days, when the reporters and all the concerns are dissipated, a family of three is about to start their own lives: the son will lead the father to take photos, register for residence, apply for ID cards, and go to the hospital for physical examinations. Life will gradually integrate with society.
After 9778 days, Qing Bai returned to this broken family. The pain of 27 years of grievance will eventually dissipate, and the son will accompany his father to face the future life together.
Jinxian, Jiangxi, August 8th
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Chen Zhuoqiong Source: China Youth Daily