Two mothers of murdered children behind Zhang Yuhuan's case
In 27 years, the pain is hard to settle
Shu Ailan exhausted all her strength to turn her paralyzed husband Zhang Guowu over.
She is less than 1.6 meters tall and only 80 kilograms thin. Her husband who is not burly looks like a mountain to her.
Shu Ailan has experienced this exhausting moment every day since her husband was paralyzed by stroke in December last year.
The "Zhang Yuhuan Child Killing Case" 27 years ago changed the fate of three families.
Today, Zhang Yuhuan was acquitted on the principle of “no guilty suspected of guilt”, waiting for the long-lost justice, but for the families of the two victims, the pain that this tragedy has continued to this day continues. .
Qilu Evening News Qilu One Point
Reporter Guo Chunyu Tian Ruye
Live, find the murderer
In early November, it rained in Jinxian, Jiangxi, and the temperature quickly dropped below 20°C.
The pale sun shone out from the gray clouds, allowing blurry light and shadow to be seen in the dark room.
Shu Ailan's home is a small three-story building located a distance from Zhangjia Village, next to County Road 075.
In the countryside of Jinxian County, building such a small building is a decent family, and it is also a customary rule of a family with a son.
The interior decoration is extravagant and simple according to the family's economic situation.
The house was built five years ago, and it looks neat on the outside, but inside it looks like a project that was only half done and ended abruptly.
The wall is still a rough cement surface, the house has no ceiling, and steel bars can be vaguely seen.
There are four walls in the house, and the only piece of furniture is a sofa with a sponge exposed.
Turning her husband Zhang Guowu over and scrubbing, Shu Ailan walked out of the gloomy room, pulled a plastic stool and sat down in front of the reporter.
She did not speak.
Such an environment and atmosphere is so depressed that I don't know how to speak.
In the end, Shu Ailan broke the silence, "My child is so good."
The "child" Shu Ailan said was her first child.
The 6-year-old son was brutally killed 27 years ago, and then the body was thrown by a pond near the village.
Zhang Yuhuan, who has always been identified as the murderer, was acquitted this year, and now the family's paralysis has made the family worse.
The suffering that life adds to Shu Ailan seems to have no end.
Except for her husband who needs to be taken care of while lying on the bed, it is the idea of chasing the murderer.
"They said my son was not killed by Zhang Yuhuan. But my son was killed. Who killed it? Always give me an explanation."
Only 48 years old this year, Shu Ailan's hair is basically white, looking like a thin and old woman.
But she tried her best to maintain the decentness of the family-the family was so embarrassed that there was no mattress, but the husband who was paralyzed on the bed had no odor, and the house was neat and tidy.
Shu Ailan wore a pair of artificial leather shoes with heels, which had exploded, but they were cleaned.
Shu Ailan showed the reporter her hand, with scars and thick knuckles, and some of her fingers were deformed and could not be straightened.
This is the trace left by the workmanship in the hardware factory in the county seat.
Such hard work can only bring more than 2000 yuan in one month.
Today, this work cannot continue.
After her husband was paralyzed, she could only go home to take care of her husband.
The only son works in an electronics factory in Shenzhen and has not yet married. Shu Ailan does not know what kind of girl would be willing to marry her.
"Nothing to say, our family has no hope." After a while, she again mentioned "find the murderer" as if thinking of something, "Who killed the child? My child was killed. Give us a fair."
Two murdered children
After 27 years, Shu Ailan clearly remembered everything that happened on October 24, 1993.
It is the season of harvesting rice, and the whole village is busy with farming.
At that time, Zhang Guowu, Zhang Jianfei, and Zhang Yuhuan lived next to each other. Zhang Guowu’s son Zhenrong was 6 years old, and Zhang Jianfei’s son Zhenwei was 4 years old. They were about the same age as Zhang Yuhuan’s two sons, and played together all day long.
"At 10 o'clock in the morning, I came back after cutting the straw and saw four children playing in front of Zhang Yuhuan's house. But when I went home for lunch, I found the child was gone." Speaking of this, I kept looking dull. Shu Ailan became emotional, "I searched everywhere, but I didn't find it. People in the village also helped to find it everywhere, and I didn't find it until the evening." After many years, Shu Ailan's tone was still anxious.
The next day, someone from the village ran and said that the bodies of two boys were found in the Xiamatang Reservoir.
This reservoir is about half an hour away from the village, and it is difficult for children to go so far to play.
After confirmation, the bodies were Shu Ailan’s 6-year-old son Zhenrong and Zhang Jianfei’s 4-year-old son Zhenwei.
When the bad news came, Shu Ailan fainted.
After waking up, the family members were afraid that she could not think about it, so she was not allowed to go to the scene.
"My relatives stopped me at home and didn't let me go out. I didn't even see the last side of the child." Shu Ailan said. Later she heard her relatives say Zhang Yuhuan was the murderer and the police had arrested him.
She didn't believe it at first because the relationship between the three family members had been good, but the various evidences that the police said forced her to believe it, until the police informed that Zhang Yuhuan had admitted, Shu Ailan believed it and hated Zhang Yuhuan in her heart.
"During the autopsy, I took off my child's clothes, saying that the child's chest was blue and purple, and they were all beaten." Shu Ailan stared at the reporter, "After so many years, who killed my child? Why did the murderer kill me? Didn't catch it?"
While Shu Ailan was telling her story, her husband Zhang Guowu lay in the bedroom, groaning loudly from time to time.
Shu Ailan said that in March last year, the Jiangxi Provincial Higher People's Court made a retrial decision on the Zhang Yuhuan case.
News of the retrial of the case reached the village, and the Public Security Bureau asked her husband to take a statement and went to the Provincial Procuratorate.
After coming back, my husband kept screaming for headache, and suffered a stroke at home the day before New Year's Day.
After being sent to the hospital, the man was rescued, but his illness ran out of the family's small savings and owed a debt.
The fall of the pillars also plunged the family into an abyss.
"He can't understand a lot of things now. He doesn't know what we're talking about, he just shouts when he feels uncomfortable. He panicks."
In a sense, Shu Ailan envy her husband lying on the bed.
"It's easier to know nothing."
Couples in distress
The same lost his beloved son. After the child was gone, the two families moved out of the village one after another.
Zhang Jianfei and Liu Hehua's new house is next to Shu Ailan's family.
The child was gone, the "murderer" was caught, and Zhang Jianfei and his wife thought that life could start again slowly.
But Liu Hehua's health has always been poor, even after the two had a second child, Liu Hehua often needed to be hospitalized.
The accident happened at this time, and the misery did not intend to let this poor family go.
At that time, Zhang Jianfei was working outside, and Liu Hehua was in poor health and was hospitalized. The second child was sent to grandma's house without supervision.
There is a pond next to my grandmother's house, and the child was out of breath when he caught it.
The bad news one after another, the successive blows completely crushed Liu Hehua.
Zhang Jianfei was afraid that his broken wife would do stupid things at home, so he took Liu Hehua out to work.
Since then, the two have basically never separated.
For Zhang Jianfei and Liu Hehua, love is an unspeakable word.
But couples who have experienced a catastrophe are more able to experience oneness.
Zhang Jianfei went to Guangzhou to work as a wall painter, and he worked for a whole day to earn more than ten dollars. He took Liu Hehua; he went to the county to do odd jobs and rented a house with Liu Hehua; he went to a construction site to work with Liu Hehua. ; He went to the next town to dig earth, and also brought Liu Hehua.
Even after the two had two more sons, Liu Hehua's body still weakened visibly.
Zhang Jianfei loves his wife. The place where he was digging the earth is more than 40 miles away from home. He will go out at 6 in the morning. Before going out, he will cook food for his wife. He will work until more than 8 in the evening before returning home.
Liu Hehua's illness was lingering, and Zhang Jianfei paid all the money he earned from his hard work to the hospital.
His hearing is not good, one ear is basically inaudible, and he needs the reporter to shout loudly to hear it.
The doctor had long recommended hearing aids, but he was reluctant to buy them.
There is a thick stack of medicine lists for my wife at home.
There are a large package of various Chinese and Western medicines, and Zhang Jianfei is very clear about these medicines.
"If I treat her well, she will have no one, no hope at all." Zhang Jianfei didn't say much.
When Liu Hehua was crying, he would say repeatedly, "You have to want to open it." How do you want to open it?
After Zhang Yuhuan, who has always been considered a "murderer," was acquitted, Liu Hehua felt that her heart was held down by the boulder.
She often feels that she can't breathe, and the person she has always hated is innocent. Then who should she hate?
Liu Hehua often yelled when she couldn't breathe, using her voice to vent her uncomfortable heart.
His wife can collapse and shout, but Zhang Jianfei can't.
This silent man is even more uncomfortable than his wife.
He wanted to find the murderer who killed his child, but he didn't know who to look for. He hoped that the Public Security Bureau would look for it, and the Procuratorate would look for it, but there was no response.
He loves his wife, but he can do nothing, his ability is limited to this.
Zhang Jianfei was full of guilt for his two sons later.
"My eldest son is very smart, but he stopped going to school after he was in elementary school. The family was too poor and he said he wanted to go out to earn money for his younger brother to study." Zhang Jianfei said, the younger son did not go to high school either.
The younger son said that it is useless to study because even if he is admitted to a university, he does not have the money to go to school, so it is better to go to work earlier.
After dropping out of school, the eldest son went to the county car repair shop as an apprentice. He was alone in the torrent of society; the younger son later went to work in Xi’an and taught himself accounting.
Work and life had already been on the right track. After Liu Hehua fell ill again this time, the youngest son returned to work in Jinxian and helped Zhang Jianfei take care of his sick mother.
Heart's knife
The dead are gone, but the living are still in the bitterness of life.
Liu Hehua slowly walked out of the bedroom, clutching her chest.
She walked very slowly, about 5 meters away, and walked for nearly a minute.
Zhang Jianfei explained that after the once-identified "murderer" Zhang Yuhuan was acquitted, Liu Hehua went to the hospital again and just came out of the hospital a few days ago.
Since the child was killed when the child was 4 years old, Liu Hehua's body has collapsed.
She often felt chest tightness and shortness of breath. At the beginning, she took her to see a western doctor, but couldn't find out the specific condition, and then went to see a Chinese medicine doctor. The Chinese medicine diagnosis was "qi depression", and she suggested to see a psychologist.
The psychiatrist has also seen a lot, but the body is still not getting better.
Slowly, as I grow older, various diseases have been added, and now I need to take medicine for a long time.
Before the child had an accident, she was a very capable woman.
Her husband works outside, and she planted four acres of land at home alone. She also raises cows, pigs and takes care of children.
Zhang Jianfei remembers Liu Hehua at that time, capable and hearty.
His mother was sick all the time and the family was very poor, but Liu Hehua did not dislike his family.
The two met on a blind date, and he fell in love with her almost as soon as they met. Although they were always "married first, then fall in love", the couple had never quarreled in their entire lives.
"We are both very responsible people and get along well." Zhang Jianfei said that the child was born in the first year of marriage.
If it hadn't happened 27 years ago, my family would have been well.
"I have a big rock in my heart, and I can't get better. I feel uncomfortable when I think of my child. I don't want to live anymore." A lost child is a hurdle that will never pass.
In every moment of these years, recalling the tragedy of the child's death, Liu Hehua felt that there was a knife in her heart.
The child wore a zippered half-high collar dress when he died. When it was picked up, the zipper on the dress was pulled all the way to the neck. For a 4-year-old child, the clothes were rarely neat.
In the following 27 years, the shadow of this dress has been shaking in Liu Hehua's heart.
The two murdered children were sharp knives in the hearts of their parents.
In fact, these two children have no shadow in the world.
Family members and relatives are afraid of looking uncomfortable, throwing away and hiding children's clothes and toys.
Coupled with moving house many times, the children's small clothes and toys are gradually missing.
When the child was dissected and sent for cremation, the men from both families were working in Shanghai.
Liu Hehua and Shu Ailan once went to the crematorium to find the child's ashes, but were told "no, I don't know which one is."
At that time, who sent the ashes and where did the ashes go? The two women didn't know anything, only crying.
Unable to criticize them, Liu Hehua was 23 years old and Shu Ailan was 21 years old.
For these two young women who are not literate and have never walked out of Jinxian's countryside before, all the changes in the outside world, their only way to respond is to cry.
But the pain will not go away over time.
Every year they think about their children’s birthday and calculate how old the children are.
According to their estimates, if the children were alive, they are now married and have children.
"My child was killed, there is no grave, nothing at all. Why hasn't the murderer caught for so many years, we want justice." Shu Ailan said.