The Paper, Senior Reporter Wang Wanchun, and intern Li Jianning
In the past three years, after posting more than 1,000 Weibo posts, Xiang Mingqian has successfully attracted media attention-"A 9-year-old boy chased his father for 17 years after dropping out of school" has been widely reported by many media recently.
Xiang Mingqian and his mother Zheng Mingxiu check the doors and windows in the old house that they haven't lived in for many years.
The pictures in this article are all pictures of The Paper Journalist Wang Wanchun (except for signature)
The label "Vengeance for Father" is affixed to 30-year-old Xiang Mingqian, but he does not have the aura of the protagonist of a movie.
It has been more than 17 years since his father was killed in 2017 when Xiang Mingqian personally found the murderer who absconded.
For 17 years, the scene of his father being killed has haunted him like a nightmare.
During this period, he dropped out of the second grade of elementary school. After his mother remarried, he lived on the streets, stayed in Internet cafes with other single-parent family partners, and fought... Xiang Mingqian's life was a long and gloomy life, and he pursued murder for his father. Hard journey.
"Before my father was killed, I originally wanted to be a soldier when I grow up." He lowered his head, his tone full of loss.
However, when he returned to his father's case, Xiang Mingqian appeared determined. He had studied law by himself, and his knowledge clearly exceeded that of a second-year elementary schooler.
Just like a person who has become a doctor for a long time, he can also express some legal professional terms through his own understanding.
Although the murderer was found, he still cherished the negligence of the police.
After Xiang Mingqian's "17 years of chasing the murderer for his father" was widely reported by the media, on September 18, the Zhenxiong County Press Office of Zhaotong City announced that the Zhenxiong County Party Committee and the county government attach great importance to it and arrange the county party committee’s political and legal affairs as soon as possible. The Commission took the lead in organizing multiple relevant departments to carry out case verification.
If there is any violation of discipline or law in the case, it will be dealt with strictly in accordance with discipline and law, and the investigation will be promptly announced to the public.
On October 12, the relevant person in charge of the Propaganda Department of the Zhenxiong County Party Committee responded to The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that the investigation team is still checking.
Boy playing in water triggers murder of father
The scene of his father's death at the age of 9 is still vividly remembered by the 30-year-old Xiang Mingqian.
At noon on August 27, 2000, Xiang Mingqian and his partner Zhang Lei (pseudonym) threw stones at each other in a ditch on Old Street, Changba Town, Zhenxiong County. The splash caused a dispute. .
Originally, the two of them were close partners.
In Xiang Mingqian's memory, he and Zhang Lei were together at school and after school, and the relationship between the two adults has always been good, especially the mother of the two, who usually take care of each other like sisters when setting up stalls on the street.
Xiangjia and Zhangjia are across the street.
Zhang Lei’s parents, Zhang Guangming and his wife, also said, “The two families used to set up a stall on the street to sell fruit. The relationship is very good. They have to cook ten glutinous rice balls and eat them separately.”
However, the dispute between the two children in the water that day quickly attracted both adults.
Xiang Mingqian recalled that Zhang Lei's grandma came first and gave him a push. Xiang Mingqian's sister, Xiang Mingxiang, joined the dispute when she saw it, and then the conflict escalated after Zhang Lei's aunt arrived.
"My sister was carrying her child to pull me, and was beaten, and the child fell to the ground." Xiang Mingqian said.
Xiang Mingqian said that in the afternoon, after Xiang Mingqian's father Xiang Wenzhi and mother Zheng Mingxiu, who had returned from the county town, heard the news, Zheng Mingxiu went to the Zhang family to make a theory and was persuaded to return.
And Zhang Guangming, Zhang Lei's father, went to the Xiangjia yard and made a "silent" circle.
At about 20 o'clock that night, Xiang Jia, who was having dinner, learned that Wang Jianxiang, Xiang Mingqian's brother-in-law, went to Zhang's house after hearing that Xiang Mingxiang was beaten.
"My father was afraid of an accident. He threw down his job, wore slippers, and flashed a flashlight. He went to Zhang's house, and I followed suit." Xiang Mingqian said.
Xiang Mingqian said that after arriving at Zhang’s house, he and his mother did not enter the house. His father entered the door of Zhang’s house alone. In the room were Zhang Guangming, Zhang Guangqi and other brothers and sisters and the two elders of the Zhang family. Then he heard the theory of both sides. After the home's light bulb was knocked out, he heard the screams of his father Xiang Wenzhi.
Xiang Mingqian recalled that when the door of Zhang's house was opened, his father tried to climb out of the threshold. The Zhang family dragged his foot into the room. Zhang Guangqi who ran out had blood on his body. Zhang Guangming took a kitchen knife and chopped it. Brother-in-law Wang Jianxiang had three swords on the back.
In this regard, the Zhang family have different opinions.
Afterwards, Zhang Guangqi confessed to the police that Xiang Wenzhi and his son-in-law Wang Jianxiang entered the room with a knife. Xiang Wenzhi first slapped Zhang Guangying and then slapped him. After fighting with Xiang Wenzhi, he touched a handful of Xiang Wenzhi’s pants pocket. With the knife, he cut Xiang Wenzhi's stomach three times with the knife.
Zhang Guangming also claimed that Xiang Wenzhi brought the knife at the time.
"My father was originally carrying food, and he was very strong. If he was carrying a knife, why didn't one of Zhang's family get injured? Otherwise, he wouldn't wear slippers to his house." Xiang Mingqian said.
In the early morning that night, after Xiang Mingqian's second uncle and cousins arrived, they used a wooden ladder to lift the injured Xiang Wenzhi to the town health center. The doctor told them that the person was no longer saved.
The autopsy results showed that Xiang Wenzhi pierced the heart with a sharp instrument, causing death from pericardial tamponade.
The appearance of his father during the autopsy is still engraved in Xiang Mingqian's mind, "face is black".
Xiang's old house was unoccupied for many years after Xiang Wenzhi was killed. As soon as the media visited him recently, Zheng Mingxiu put a picture of Xiang Wenzhi in the room and lit candles.
Living on the streets after dropping out
Since then, Xiang Mingqian's life trajectory deviated from his original vision.
After Xiang Wenzhi was killed, the Xiang family lost the economic pillar.
Before Xiang Wenzhi was alive, he was a worker hired by the Changba Town Grain Management Office. He was responsible for dispatching workers to carry grain, which gave Xiang's family a fixed source of income.
In addition, the two brothers Xiang Wenzhi also made coal stoves for the neighbors in order to increase the family's income with this craft.
Provide pictures to Mingqian interviewees
In Xiang Mingqian's memory, there were few people who owned a TV in Changba Town. Every evening, the neighbors came to sit at his house and watch TV series around his black and white TV.
On the day his father was killed, his parents were still buying color TV sets and TV receivers before returning from the county town.
The two-story brick-concrete house built by Xiang Jia more than 20 years ago, although uninhabited today, it still feels strong and spacious after entering the house.
Xiang Wenzhi’s death left Xiang Mingqian and his brother’s life without a destination, and they were even unable to build a tombstone for their father.
Xiang Mingqian, who claims to have excellent academic performance, didn't want to go to school when he was in second grade.
"Some neighbors look down on us, and food and clothing have become a problem. I played truant on the back mountain of the school." Xiang Mingqian said that the teacher insisted that he go to school, but he dropped out after only the second grade.
In 2002, his mother Zheng Mingxiu took Xiang Mingqian and his brother out of Changba Town and rented in the county seat.
Since then, he has become a teenager living on the streets.
The relationship between him and his mother, Zheng Mingxiu, seems to be still not harmonious.
In an interview, he said in front of his mother, "My mother has never taken care of me, she has her family", with some complaints in his tone.
Zheng Mingxiu said: "I can't take care of it, nor can I take care of it." So far, his mother has remarried three times, and they have not lived together.
Photo courtesy of the lean Xiang Mingqian and the introverted brother interviewee
On days unattended, Xiang Mingqian and his brother rented a house alone.
In Xiang Mingqian’s memory, his elder brother went to study decoration, or worked to carry urea bags for seven or eight yuan a day. After he came back, he was divided into three or four yuan. The two brothers had no food to eat, so they ran to the farmer’s market to pick leftovers. Bring it back and cook the vegetables in white water."
His elder brother is 4 years older than him. He is an introvert and slow talker.
Xiang Mingqian said that more often, he was with his friends from other single-parent families. They hugged together to keep warm, and went to the Internet cafes on the streets of Zhenxiong.
For Xiang Mingqian, who dropped out of the second grade of elementary school, the computer aroused him enough interest, “I didn’t know how to do it at the beginning, but my Chinese pinyin was good. A friend applied for QQ for me, I chatted, and fell in love with the keyboard. I have learned a lot." Sometimes they have no money. Three or four of them turn on a computer and take turns to surf the Internet. They sleep on an idle computer desk late at night, "rarely go home."
In addition to the Internet cafe, he spent the night curled up by the fire in the entrance of the restaurant, which left a deep impression on him.
At that time, Xiang Mingqian, a "mixed society", fell in love with Chen Haonan in the movie "Young and Dangerous."
He aspires to be like Chen Haonan, being embraced by the brothers, slashing his enemies, winning the status of the arena, "getting revenge for his father".
There were many scars on his back, waist and legs.
He said that once he had a conflict with someone and was slashed with a knife by a gang in Zhenxiong County. Because he had no money for treatment, he ran out of the hospital after being hospitalized for 3 days. "The thread stitched on the leg was later cut and removed with my nails." .
Once again, the street gangs in Kunming fought fiercely and he was taken into custody. "But for so many years, no matter how hard I am, I have never stolen or robbed him. The police can investigate if I voluntarily go to jail for 10 years."
It has been 20 years, and Xiang Mingqian has no concept of "home" since his father died.
He hates the New Year, is afraid to hear the sound of firecrackers, and he rarely remembers being reunited with his mother, brother, and sister. "I don’t want to go home, and I don’t have a home. I will eat out with my friends for the New Year, or sleep alone. Go out and walk alone to relax."
Find the murderer at the end of 17 years
On the night of his father's death, Xiang Mingqian's cousin rushed to the police station to report the case, and the Zhang family was summoned one by one for questioning.
However, Xiang Jia was informed by the police station that the principal criminal Zhang Guangqi absconded.
Xiang Mingqian's cousin who went to the police station after the incident
In the year when the mother and son moved to Zhenxiong County, Xiang Mingqian was 10 years old, and he thought of "avenging his father" in his mind.
He said that since then, on the one hand, he has been in the society, on the other hand, he inquired about the whereabouts of the murderer Zhang Guangqi, and frequently talked, "Who knows the whereabouts of Zhang Guangqi, in order to catch him, what conditions and how much money will do, even if it is It's all about selling iron or selling the house in my hometown."
He recalled the experience of chasing the murderer and said that in 2007, when he was 17 years old, someone told him that Zhang Guangqi was running on a motorcycle next to the Kunming Railway Station to carry passengers.
He drove to Kunming Railway Station, 600 kilometers away, by himself in a van, but the search was fruitless.
At that time, I didn't have money to stay, and I slept in the green belt on the roadside, under the overpass, and in the Internet cafe. My mother and brother didn't know anything about it. After earning the toll from the construction site, they returned to Zhenxiong after raising the concrete.
In 2013, a wired person told him that Zhang Guangqi was working in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, but he needed a salary of 20,000 yuan for a specific address.
He went to Jinjiang, Fujian Province by himself, working in a clothing factory and a shoe factory, while inquiring about Zhang Guangqi's whereabouts.
Because there was no money to pay the informant, he returned to no avail after 7 months of searching.
Now in his opinion, the information provided by the informant is true, "because it is not far from where Zhang Guangqi was later captured."
In August 2017, Xiang Mingqian received a mysterious call. The other party claimed to know that Zhang Guangqi was in Nan'an City, Fujian Province, but he needed 60,000 yuan in remuneration.
Under Xiang Mingqian's plea, he met with the informant and persuaded the informant to go to Zhenxiong County Public Security Bureau to meet with relevant leaders to explain the situation.
After that, Xiang Mingqian went to Xinzhen, Nan'an City, Fujian Province by himself, and the informant went with them.
He bought a plane ticket for the informant and took the bus with his mother and friends.
According to the clues provided by the informant, the exact location was a tableware factory named Hengsheng, but when they arrived, the tableware factory had been closed due to fire protection problems.
Reluctantly, they expanded their search scope and rented a car to look for in nearby villages and towns.
Xiang Mingqian also bought gifts, and kept visiting relatives and fellow villagers who worked in Nan'an City, and provided Zhang Guangqi's black and white photo identification.
They found out that Zhang Guangqi might be in Kangmei Township in New Town, Nan'an City. He used the alias "Shao Liang". He was mainly engaged in polishing and polishing work in a tableware factory. He liked thrush and would go up the mountain to catch birds in his spare time.
Xiang Mingqian said that one day he drove to Qingshan Village in Kangmei Township to find out because there are 3 tableware factories in the village.
He squatted guarding two tableware factories to no avail, so he came to the third tableware factory named Hengxin. When he was picking longans under the longan tree because of the hot weather, he saw a birdcage with thrush.
The three people at the entrance of the tableware factory quickly dispersed after seeing him walking by, which made him suspicious.
Later, Xiang Mingqian clarified the geographical location of Qingshan Village and learned basic information about the village's more than 1,400 people, three tableware factories, one Matsu temple, and the location of village road entrances and exits.
He said that he spent 380 yuan to buy a telescope, and after squatting in the factory for three days and two nights, at 18:00 in the afternoon of the third day, he saw a man in a basketball uniform going to pick up the birdcage.
Through his own observations and photos, he compared the appearance and clothes of Zhang Guangqi in his memory. He confirmed that the man in front of him who was going to carry the bird cage was Zhang Guangqi, who he had pursued for more than 10 years. “I wanted to rush to trouble him, but in the end, No".
Xiang Mingqian stated that he called the Fujian police to the police, and the police from the Kangmei Town Police Station who rushed to inquired that Zhang Guangqi was not chased online.
Afterwards, he asked the Zhenxiong police and learned that Zhang Guangqi's account had been cancelled, showing that he was dead and cancelled.
However, the above statement has not been confirmed by Zhenxiong police.
Xiang Mingqian said that the police quickly took Zhang Guangqi from the tableware factory. Across the glass of a police car, he saw Zhang Guangqi up close for the first time in 17 years. The day was August 30, 2017.
Afterwards, Xiang Mingqian learned that at that time, Zhang Guangming's wife was working in the tableware factory.
Xiang Mingqian claimed that he spent no less than 100,000 yuan in pursuit of the murderer for 17 years.
The murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment
Zhang Guangqi was subsequently taken back to Zhenxiong. In October 2018, the Zhaotong Intermediate Court found him guilty of intentional homicide and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The court found that the defendant Zhang Guangqi’s family and the victim Xiang Wenzhi’s family were neighbors. On August 27, 2000, Zhang Guangqi’s nephew Zhang Lei and Xiang Mingqian had a dispute while playing together. For this reason, Xiang Wenzhi’s daughter Xiang Mingxiang There was a fight with Zhang Guangqi's mother and others.
In the evening, Xiang Mingxiang’s husband, Wang Jianxiang, went to Zhang Guangqi’s house to make a theory. Xiang Wenzhi and his wife followed into Zhang Guangqi’s house. The two sides clashed in the room. During the scuffle between Xiang Wenzhi and Zhang Guangqi, Zhang Guangqi stabbed Xiang Wenzhi with multiple knives in the chest. Wenzhi died of ineffective rescue.
That night, Zhang Guangqi fled and was arrested by the Public Security Bureau of Nan'an City, Fujian Province on August 30, 2017.
In addition, Zhang Guangqi's brother Zhang Guangming was also involved in the case, but was not prosecuted in the end.
According to the decision not to prosecute made by the Zhenxiong County Procuratorate in June 2018, Zhang Guangming was detained in October 2017 on suspicion of intentional injury.
After the investigation by the Zhenxiong County Public Security Bureau ended, Zhang Guangqi was transferred to the Zhenxiong County Procuratorate for review and prosecution for Zhang Guangqi's suspected intentional homicide and Zhang Guangming's suspected intentional injury. The Zhenxiong Procuratorate reported it to the Zhaotong City Procuratorate. The case was then returned for supplementary investigation twice. The City Procuratorate returned Zhang Guangming to the Zhenxiong Procuratorate for statutory non-prosecution for suspected intentional injury in this case.
The decision not to prosecute stated that after investigation, in the conflict in August 2000, Zhang Guangming used a kitchen knife to cut Wang Jianxiang’s back. It was identified as a minor injury, but the case was caused by the public security agency’s failure to complete the relevant legal documents. The time limit for prosecution has passed, and it is decided not to prosecute Zhang Guangming.
Xiang Mingqian feels stubborn about this. On the one hand, he believes that Zhang Guangqi should not be the only one responsible for the murder of his father. On the other hand, the negligence of the police caused Zhang Guangming’s intentional injury case to pass the statute of limitations, "I must appeal to the end." .
On October 12, the relevant person in charge of the Propaganda Department of the Zhenxiong County Party Committee stated to The Paper that the investigation team led by the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Zhenxiong County is currently verifying, and the latest situation will be announced to the public in time.
"I don't pray for absolute fairness, but at least I want to be relatively fair. I believe in the law." Xiang Mingqian said that he had read law books when he was squatting in the detention center in Kunming, and he knew how to deal with the crime of deliberate injury. He also ran in Zhenxiong. Go to the library to read the "Criminal Law" to see how to blame for intentional homicide.
Now, he has a short haircut, a black leather jacket on top, jeans on the bottom, and a briefcase full of legal documents and materials under his arms. He looks very capable, "After solving this matter, I just want to go to a strange city. , I can have enough food and clothing when I go to work every day, and I want to live a normal life."