Guangxi mother has been searching for her son for 16 years . The
DNA comparison of the suspected object fails and still expects a miracle
Beijing News reporter Liu Yipeng
On January 10, a photo from Yongzhou, Hunan was forwarded to Cao Meiling's mobile phone through the anti-trafficking volunteer team.
She glanced at it, then put it down quickly, as if nervously avoiding something.
After calming down a bit, she turned on the phone again, this time with her fingers lingering.
The photo has been magnified several times by her, so that every small detail can fill the screen.
"Like, the eyebrows are similar, the age can match, but I'm not sure. After a long time, as long as there is a little hope, I will feel like." This night, Cao Meiling did not close her eyes all night.
In 2006, a foreigner who often came to her for injections took away her son Jiang Zheng, who was under 5 years old.
Almost immediately, she learned who the other party's last name was and where they lived. However, in the past 16 years, the hope that seemed to be within reach has been crushed by unexpected reality time and time again.
On the evening of January 10, a reporter from the Beijing News learned that the local police in Yongzhou had collected blood overnight for a young man suspected of Jiang Zheng, and were stepping up their DNA comparisons with Cao Meiling and his wife.
On January 13, she received a call from the police in Jianghua County, Hunan, and the miracle did not happen.
Cao Meiling went to the parents' house of the "human trafficker" again as originally planned.
She knew the hope was getting slimmer, but she was still looking forward to a miracle that had been waiting for 16 years.
Disappearing "Uncle Peng"
Wearing quilted clothes, Jiang Zheng disappeared on an early spring morning.
At the same time, there was the stranger who lived in the hotel for a long time in the town.
Caiwan Town, Quanzhou County, Guilin, Guangxi.
At 11 a.m. on March 4, 2006, seeing that her 4-year-old son Jiang Zheng had not come back, her mother, Cao Meiling, left her clinic work and went to the nearby open space where he often played.
Halfway through, he met his son's playmate, Taotao, who told her, "Jiang Zheng was taken away by 'Uncle Peng'."
Cao Meiling reported the case immediately, she knew who "Uncle Peng" was.
A few days ago, this out-of-town man who likes to buy lottery tickets and always wears a peaked cap, "appeared like a sudden appearance" and became a frequent visitor to the clinic.
"He told us that his surname was Peng. Because he was the only foreigner who came to the clinic to see a doctor, I was very impressed." In Cao Meiling's memory, the other party rarely gave drips, but mostly small needles for pain relief and blood replenishment. "It was cheap, it was only a few bucks at the time."
Cao Meiling's father-in-law practiced medicine in his early years. In the 1990s, his family's clinic was settled in Caiwan Town.
This is a peaceful and simple town with simple folk customs. The daily communication is with old neighbors for many years. There has never been a child abduction incident before.
When Jiang Zheng was a little older, he liked to play with his friends near the clinic, and Cao Meiling would visit him every once in a while.
Neighbors all know that if she is not at the clinic, she must have gone to see Jiang Zheng. "At that time, people in the town used to laugh at me, saying that they would go to see my son at every turn."
In fact, Cao Meiling at that time did not have any awareness of precaution, she was just a "baby" child.
In 2001, when she gave birth to Jiang Zheng, she stayed in the hospital for two days and one night. "The oxytocin injection didn't work." The fat boy of 7 pounds and 8 taels was "very rare" in his family.
On the way to look for the child anxiously, Cao Meiling remembered that when the man surnamed Peng came to the clinic for the second time, he had bought Jiang Zheng two sheets of milk candy. At that time, she also told him not to buy things indiscriminately if he had no money or work.
At this moment, she suddenly understood that the other party had started trying to contact Jiang Zheng so early.
She also remembered that once, this person took Jiang Zheng out and was seen by her sister, so she brought Jiang Zheng back.
The first valuable clue was provided by the post and telecommunications office in the town, where the man surnamed Peng once received the remittance slip, "I learned at that time that he was using a fake name. The only useful content was his ID card. address above."
"In Daoxian County, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, next to our county." At 12 noon that day, Cao Meiling arrived at the town's railway station.
"At that time, in the neighboring counties, we were the only one with a train station. I thought the traffickers would take the train, so I looked from the front of the train to the back of the train and looked at it from position to position. I was desperate and found nothing."
While the whole family was frantically looking for Jiang Zheng, at 7 o'clock that night, an unfamiliar phone call called home.
Grandma Jiang Zheng, who was alone at home, clearly heard little Jiang Zheng on the other end of the phone crying loudly, "Someone was comforting him, it was a male voice, it should be a trafficker, he said that he took Zheng Zheng to the next door in Huangshahe Town. , and bring the child back early tomorrow morning."
When Cao Meiling and her family and relatives heard the news and rushed to Huangshahe Town, the man surnamed Peng and Jiang Zheng seemed to have evaporated from the world, and there was no trace of them.
last clue
Quanzhou County is located in the northeast of Guangxi, adjacent to Hunan.
Cao Meiling never thought that her life would be related to Hunan, but in the following 16 years, all her hopes were tied up here.
On March 6, 2006, the third day after Jiang Zheng was abducted, following the only clue left by the man surnamed Peng, Cao Meiling and her relatives rushed to Daoxian County, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, and posted the missing person notices overnight. In the streets and alleys, advertisements were also published on local TV stations to find children, but they always found nothing.
Cao Meiling's husband was overwhelmed by the sudden change. "He was not an outgoing person at first. After losing the child, he was completely closed off. He relied on alcohol to numb himself all day. The people in the town asked me to keep an eye on him. , but I know it can't be watched, he drinks to catch his breath, it's too depressing."
During the chaotic two months, Cao Meiling was physically and mentally exhausted, until the new news from the police gave her hope again.
It turned out that the "human trafficker" was not named "Peng", his real name was Chen Guangxing, he was originally from Tani Village, Longshan County, Hunan Province, and he was the youngest of the four brothers.
In 1996, Chen Guangxing, an accomplice who committed a murder case with his eldest and third brothers, was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Shortly after his release, Chen Guangxing was imprisoned again for robbery.
When Jiang Zheng was kidnapped, it was only a few months after his second release from prison.
The remittance slip that Chen Guangxing received at Caiwan Town Post came from his eldest brother Chen Guangwen, who was still a fugitive at that time.
According to this clue, Chen Guangwen was arrested by the police in Jiangmen, Guangdong.
But Chen Guangwen said that he did not know where his younger brother would go from now on.
Hope is dashed again.
Looking at her alcoholic husband and her rapidly losing mother-in-law, Cao Meiling felt that she had to hold on and use all the slightest possibilities to bond her hope.
She forced herself to keep on going.
At the end of August 2006, Cao Meiling went to Chen Guangxing's hometown, Tani Village, Longshan County, Hunan for the first time.
"We expressed our intention to come, and the first words of his parents were that you arrested our youngest son, but also caught our eldest son."
Chen Guangxing's house is made of wood. The room is dark, and the wood is mixed with moisture, giving off a rotten smell.
Cao Meiling felt very depressed, "Although she is full of hatred, but looking at the old man who is pulling his grandchildren alone in front of her, she feels that she can't hate them."
Cao Meiling began to insist almost paranoid.
In those years, every once in a while, she would run from Quanzhou to Tani Village, bringing gifts every time, and even helping the old couple work when the farming was busy.
"I'm selfish, and I hope I can move them—what if they know something?"
From Quanzhou to Longshan, the whole journey is more than 600 kilometers. There is no direct car or train. The road needs to be bumpy for a day and a night, and then you have to walk over the mountain to reach Tani Village.
Cao Meiling still clearly remembers that on May 12, 2008, she felt the earthquake on the mountain road to Tani Village.
Also this time, a little unexpected "harvest" made her feel "finally close to the truth".
At that time, Mother Chen said unintentionally, "Even if I find it, I have helped you to support it for two years." Father Chen gave a wink, but Mother Chen did not continue talking, and since then, she has never taken up the relevant words again. .
"Actually, many people in Tani Village told me not to come again, 'This family can't be moved.'" But Cao Meiling was always unwilling.
She felt that she not only knew who the "human trafficker" was, but also knew where his home was. The situation was much clearer than that of many families who had no clue.
She and her lost son were separated by a thin layer of window paper. Even a place name or a buyer's surname could pierce through this barrier and let the light of hope in.
But all of this never happened.
Unchanged "4611210"
In 2010, Xiaohao, who was born unexpectedly, finally interrupted Cao Meiling's tireless rush.
This young son has a strong interest in swimming, but he has never been allowed to go into the water with his buddies; when he reaches school age, the daily pick-up and drop-off by parents has become an unshakable rule-the family can no longer afford to lose again, even Since childhood, Xiaohao's mantra was, "Don't worry, Mom, I won't go with anyone like my brother."
"He looks a lot like Jiang Zheng, but his personality is not the same." Now when it comes to Xiaohao, even when Jiang Zheng is mentioned, Cao Meiling will occasionally smile.
But she never sang Jiang Zheng's favorite song to Xiaohao before going to bed, "'Mom should sing 'My Song' to put me to bed.' - Jiang Zheng always said this before going to bed."
Xiaohao, who is less than 12 years old, always smiles when he hears his mother talk about his brother whom he has never met before, "It was our destiny to give birth to me." The falling Cao Meiling.
In the past 16 years, everything has changed. The original red landline at home has also been replaced by a brand-new gray landline. Only the phone number has not changed, "4611210, Jiang Zheng would recite it when he was very young."
Cao Meiling is still working hard to prop up this home that "hasn't had a good life".
In the years when Jiang Zheng was just lost, she was treating patients in the clinic. She often had no strength in her hands, couldn't hold the syringe, and had to close the door to rest whenever she could.
Now she is still non-stop. Sometimes she is washing rice and cooking. When someone comes to the clinic downstairs, she must stop what she is doing and deal with the condition first.
But when it comes to finding Jiang Zheng, Cao Meiling almost completely lost her direction.
In October 2021, she learned from the police in Quanzhou County, Guilin, Guangxi, that the suspect, Chen Guangxing, committed suicide in a hotel in Jianghua County, Yongzhou, Hunan ten years ago. The person who carried the secret seemed to have left with the secret forever.
Grandma never saw her lost grandson again until she died.
"Actually, after Xiaohao, she rarely mentions Jiang Zheng again." But my grandmother knew that her own mother, like herself, hid many photos of Jiang Zheng in the old house, and she would always look it up when she was free.
And Jiang Zheng's father, who was trapped in place, seemed to have lost the strength to move forward.
"Drinking every day has completely ruined my body. This time I was hospitalized because of a cerebral infarction, and I have no way to get out of bed." A few days ago, he told his wife that he had a hunch, "It should be impossible for Jiang Zheng to come back."
At the same time, many volunteers who have devoted themselves to the cause of finding relatives for a long time have set their sights on Jianghua County, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province.
On the afternoon of January 10, 2022, a recent photo of a 22-year-old youth suspected of Jiang Zheng was also forwarded to Cao Meiling.
"It's very similar, but after a long time, as long as there is a little hope, it will feel similar." Cao Meiling is not sure.
On the evening of January 10, a reporter from the Beijing News learned from a local informant in Yongzhou that the local police in Yongzhou had collected blood for the young man overnight, and were stepping up their DNA comparisons with Cao Meiling and his wife.
On January 11, Mo Kaidong, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Jianghua County Public Security Bureau, said in an interview with the media that the cause of Chen Guangxing's death and related circumstances that year, the police are further investigating, and hope that insiders can provide clues or information.
With great hope, Cao Meiling decided that she would not rush to Jianghua, Hunan until the results of the DNA comparison, but she was going to visit Chen Guangxing's parents again, "His father's ears have gotten worse in recent years. , the connection between us is also much less, and now that I know that Chen Guangxing has left, I want to try my luck again."
the last time we meet
Cao Meiling's clinic is the largest in the town.
On weekdays, at 7:00 in the morning, patients would come to see a doctor one after another, and she was used to getting up early and opening the door.
Cao Meiling's sister, Cao Xiangrong, usually rides a battery car and goes to the clinic after 8 o'clock to help her sister start the day's work.
On January 12, Cao Xiangrong came to the clinic at 7:20.
"When I came to the clinic, I didn't see her for the first time. There were already patients waiting to get medicine. The door of the clinic was opened by my mother, and I knew her mind was no longer here."
Cao Meiling didn't sleep all night. "I lay down just before midnight, and I woke up three times in the middle. I didn't dream." She was in a tense state all the time. She was holding a crumpled tissue in her left hand, and her eyes were red.
A black backpack was quietly placed on the bench in the clinic. The yellow embellishment had begun to fade, and there were some mildew in the middle.
This is the bag that Cao Meiling bought after Jiang Zheng lost it. The largest layer in the bag has stored all kinds of information about Jiang Zheng for many years.
"Excited, contradictory. I haven't seen Chen Guangxing's parents for many years. I have been in contact with them over the years, and I think they are family. Now that Chen Guangxing is dead, I don't know if I can find new clues at this meeting. But I Afraid of losing hope.”
Near noon, a fellow countryman wanted to buy a bottle of medical alcohol, but Cao Meiling didn't move, but the sister on the side took it out of the cabinet and handed it over.
This series of actions brought Cao Meiling, who was at a loss, back to reality.
She took out a small black leather bag from the cabinet behind her, and carefully placed the four photos of Jiang Zheng on the innermost mezzanine.
At noon that day, Cao Meiling bought two bottles of Xiangshan craft brew from Quanzhou County, two bottles of Sanhua wine from Guilin, and a red real dragon cigarette from the town, which were packed in red plastic bags.
Cao Meiling's sister packed another bag of fruit from home.
It is 642 kilometers from Caiwan Town, Quanzhou County, Guilin, Guangxi to Longshan County, Hunan.
On January 13, Cao Meiling's car drove into the mountains of Longshan County. The car was running on the winding mountain road. She felt a little nauseated, but she kept her eyes on the front, for fear of going wrong.
In the trunk, the wine bottle bumped crisply from time to time.
During the half-hour mountain road, Cao Meiling did not speak.
She has already cried a round.
At about 10 am, just after the car got off the expressway, she received a call from the police in Jianghua County, Hunan Province. The miracle did not happen, and the DNA comparison was unsuccessful.
The car drove all the way to Group 2 of Tani Village, Nongche Town, Longshan County, which is Chen Guangxing's hometown.
When they met again, Chen Guangxing's mother grabbed Cao Meiling's wrist, and the red plastic bag that was too late to put down got stuck between them.
Cao Meiling allowed the 79-year-old to bury her head in her chest again and again. She no longer restrained herself. She leaned against the wall and her nose turned red from crying.
Except for Chen Guangxing, the elder brother Chen Guangwen, who has been confirmed dead, the two remaining sons of the Chen family are at home.
The second brother Chen Guangwu and the third brother Chen Guang, who was released from prison in 2015, both told reporters that when their parents named the four brothers, it was full of hope for the family - Wenwu Duxing.
Clearly, the script of fate did not evolve in the desired direction.
Cao Meiling originally expected that Chen's father and Chen's mother might give new clues after learning of Chen Guangxing's death, but the hope failed again.
Village Party Secretary Peng Yingjun also confirmed that Chen Guangxing had never contacted his family in the 16 years after he abducted Jiang Zheng, and he even seemed to have no such person in his mind.
This may be the last time Cao Meiling has come to Chen Guangxing's house. Her son Xiaohao is still young, and Jiang Zheng's father's physical condition does not allow her to run around like before.
When the car drove away from Chen Guangxing's house, there was a bag of bacon wrapped in a snakeskin sack and a handful of shallots under her feet.
This is what Mother Chen forced her to get into the car.
The 200 yuan in cash that Cao Meiling gave to Chen's mother returned to her purse before getting into the car.
Cao Meiling knew that hope was getting slimmer.
But before leaving, she still tore a piece of paper from the book she carried with her, wrote down her contact information three times, and left it to Chen Guangdu, the third child of the Chen family who met for the first time.
She hoped that the third child of the Chen family, who was going to work abroad, could help her find out new news outside Dashan in Longshan County.
Cao Meiling is still looking forward to a miracle that has been waiting for 16 years.
Beijing News reporter Liu Yipeng