In November 2017, I returned to Jinan, the former site of shandong Science, Technology and Defense College.
When I arrived here a year ago, there were about a hundred students in camouflage fatigues on the playground. Boys play basketball, girls jump rubber band, everywhere is a piece of laughter. Just over a year later, there was only a large reed swaying with the wind on the playground. A month before I arrived, the army had asked the “Shandong Science and Technology Defense College”, which had been leased here, to retire.
The school moved out, the sign was taken down, a mess. I walked from the first floor to the sixth floor. At the end of each corridor was a word for “quiet.” I entered each room and found it to be more like an abandoned hospital: the walls of the student dormitories were pale, one room had the words “Disposal room” written outside, and there were calling bells by the bed.
Once lived here, but can not be regarded as a patient.
In November 2017, the original address of Shandong Science, Technology and Defense College was empty
After leaving here, I went to Dalian, Nanchang, Hefei and Jinan to visit several “net-addiction schools” that had once been the focus of news. There were a group of chickens fighting for food outside the closed gate of “enabling Education”. “Yuzhang Academy” on the playground there is a kind face of Confucius, there are parents outraged, “pat-a-pat, pat-a-have no you also want how?
Knowing more didn’t make me any less confused. Since I interviewed Xinran Chen, a 16-year-old girl who killed her mother in October 2016, I have felt an unspeakable absurdity: parents cheat their children out of love and send them to these schools by force, but the children’s experience in these places turns out to be evidence that they think their parents do not love them.
These schools have become the biggest rift between children and their parents.
1
“I don’t have much hatred for you, and I won’t kill my mother like that girl in Shandong. I understand how she feels. I did, as a matter of fact, when I first went.”
“Yesterday and the day before yesterday, I was disturbed by nightmares. I dreamt that In the course of my capture I had accidentally killed you and my captors.”
“The handcuffs grew tighter and tighter until they grew in the flesh…”
“With those same words, I came out. But my heart died there.”
That’s what Xiao Yong, 16, said to his parents a month after returning home from Yuzhang College. Specifically, his heart died on June 23, 2016.
That day, he traveled with his mother from Dalian to Jiangxi province. The mother and her son went to Mount Lushan for a day, and were picked up the next day, “because I trust my mother very much, I did not expect what would happen”.
The car to pick them up drove to a red gate with black characters: Yu Zhang Academy. Xiao Yong visited for 15 minutes before he lost touch with his mother. He felt something was wrong and wanted to dial 110, but he thought, “What if it’s really a scenic spot and we misunderstand?”
Unexpectedly, the small yong that stands alone is being pressed immediately by 7 or 8 adult, pushed a room-later he just knows, this is the “small black room” that the student says.
His first reaction is “pyramid selling”, but also worried that his mother is also dangerous, just took out the phone to call the police, the phone was hit to the ground, he shouted “I want to find my mother”, several adults said, “your mother sent you here”. “Are you doing this legally?” Xiao Yong asked. Another said, “We have a contract.”
Xiao Yong did not believe it, and these people clashed, “with his elbow to a drill instructor’s nose bleeding”. Then, the adults handcuffed Xiao Yong, handcuffed him, and he couldn’t move.
“They took me to the toilet to clean up. They took off my clothes. They couldn’t wear them and threw them away. Clothes and pants, all thrown away, naked to me. And bring it back naked to me.”
There was nothing in the little black room — no, to be exact, a urine basin, a mattress, a broken air conditioner. The room was so empty that Xiao Yong noticed at the first moment that there were two air holes on the wall, “slightly larger than the bottle cap of Nongfu Spring, because there was light coming in from there.” The smell was so bad that Xiao Yong covered the urine basin with a damp mattress and slept on the floor.
In November 2017, I made a careful observation in this “little black room”, which the headmaster Ren Weiqiang called a “quiet ventricle”. On the surface, the room did not seem so horrible. The wall was newly painted blue, “it was originally white, and students daubed it on it”. A new urinal was fitted to the white tile floor; There’s air conditioning, there’s lights, there’s bamboo MATS, there’s futon. I asked the principal, “Would you be afraid if you were locked in there?” He smiled and said, “I would rather have a space like this now, to be alone.”
The little Black Room of Yuzhang College is shown in this photo from November 2017
But Xiao Yong said that the “little black room” was not what I saw: “the light was broken, the whole room was dark”, and it was only when it was time to eat that someone came in to bring him food. He spent the first two days in it, crying and wailing. “When he was dry with tears, he felt less sad,” he said. About the fourth day, the basin was full, and someone took him out to pour, the only time he ever went out.
Breakfast eggs, he began to talk to the eggs. He didn’t know how long he was going to be in jail. He couldn’t brush his teeth or take a bath, so he had to use the drinking water they gave him and pour some of it out to wash his face.
About a week later, someone opened the door and Xiao Yong was led out of the house, “whatever it takes to get out of there.” Then someone took him to get his “hospital clothes” and things.
A week later, my father came to Nanchang on business and met xiao Yong. He expected his father to take him away — “not hope, but total hope, intense longing” — and he told him almost incoherently about the handcuffs and the little black room and all the nightmares.
Xiao Yong thought his father would take him away, but he didn’t.
At that time, the teachers of the academy often sent little videos to Xiao Yong’s mother, in which xiao Yong was reading in the morning and practicing calligraphy in his school uniform.
The video is reassuring to the mother, who had a moment of anxiety before the decision to send Him: “This is the way I saved him. He doesn’t go to school, he just goes online. Is that the end of his life?”
In fact, before Xiao Yong became addicted to “Internet addiction”, he was a good student. “He was very enthusiastic and was the organizing committee member of his class”.
In 2014, Xiao Yong fell ill with a fever that lasted for a month and rested at home for three months. When he returned to class, Xiao Yong obviously felt unable to keep up with his studies and wanted to drop out. The mother supported, the father opposed, and the family conflict gradually increased.
In the end, Xiao Yong suspended his schooling, but his condition became worse and worse. “I went to the hospital in Beijing to have a check-up for depression,” he said. During the treatment, he went back to school several times, the longest lasting more than half a semester.
After a series of physical ailments, Xiao Yong finally could not go to school normally, so he began to play games at home, “ten hours a day.” The mother knew that her son was unhappy. “He didn’t go anywhere, he didn’t go out with his friends, he was alone at home.”
“I will save him.” With this idea in mind, Xiao Yong’s mother contacted yu Zhang Academy. “At least the place can work normally and the child can learn some cultural lessons,” another fellow from Dalian told her at the time.
On June 23, 2016, the moment Xiao Yong’s mother stepped out of the college, “Tears were streaming down her face. Really, I don’t know whether This step is right or wrong”.
2
“My parents didn’t tell me when I could leave. I was so desperate.”
In the college, every time xiao Yong answered his parents’ phone in front of the drillmasters, he could only press “hands-free”, saying that he had a good life against his will — in fact, he only wanted to leave every minute and second as soon as possible.
On August 8, 2016, Xiao Yong saw laundry detergent on the table and “just decided to drink some”. He took a couple of gulps. “I hope I get their attention, but if it’s really toxic and it’s over, it’s over.”
Xiao Yong is sent to the hospital to have his stomach washed — something the academy has become adept at handling: the cutlery in the “little Black Room” is spoons, not sharp objects; Students’ supplies are stored uniformly, and from time to time there will be a “housekeeping” check. “Shan chang” (the name of the leader in ancient academies) wu junbao later communicated with people with WeChat, saying that he thought xiao yong “didn’t drink at all, check to check, but when he bit the bag, his mouth was touched. The doctor washed for a long time, but nothing with foam came out “– and the students’ liquid was replaced with washing powder.
Wu Junbao, the dean of Yuzhang College, and other netizens communicate with xiao Yong about drinking laundry detergent
“They despised me for a long time because of this,” Said Xiao yong.
Later, Xiao Yong called his parents to “report safety”, “in front of the drillmaster, said he had drunk by mistake, and it was all right”. My mother still believed in the academy.
More than a month later, Xiao Yong said he would go back to school, and his mother finally came to Nanchang again after three months. It was not a visitor’s day as prescribed by the College, and she and her “drillmaster” requested a glimpse of her son from a distance. “The child in front of me, lost 50 jins, he go when 200 jins, that time 150 jins, 1 meter 83 son, I touch the child’s face, say, oh child, I too afflictive.”
Through the iron gate, mother and son wept together. Xiao Yong said, that feeling can not be described, “I do not know why, one is missing, one is, finally have the feeling of home.”
Because Xiao Yong didn’t stay in Yuzhang College for “one semester”, the “drillmasters” surrounded xiao Yong’s mother and said, “You can’t take him away. You have to take him away. All your previous work is wasted.” The four words “wasted effort” have a life-saving charm for many desperate parents, but this time, Xiao Yong’s mother insisted.
In September 2016, Xiao yong walked out of Yuzhang College and returned home in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival. But the atmosphere at home has been the same as the temperature in Dalian, has begun to turn cold. Xiao Yong is so mistrustful of his parents that he carries a knife with him.
Little did Yong know at the time that a greater tragedy was about to unfold in the body of another peer.
3
September 16, 2016, the second day after mid autumn. At 6:30 a.m., Chen gang, 43, was called downstairs by a friend who said, “Something happened.”
His wife, Li Mei, 41, died and his 16-year-old daughter, Xinran Chen, was a suspect during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was supposed to celebrate the full moon.
The public is used to thinking that behind an extreme case there is always a corresponding “problem family”. In fact, without this tragedy, it would seem that The Chen family is no different from ordinary families. Even in Chen’s description, “people still envy our family. Both of them have jobs, and the elderly in our family also have pension, and they can cook for us at home.”
In 2015, Chen and his wife discovered that their daughter Xinran, who was in the first year of high school, had changed her “temperament”, not coming home on time, not studying or even going out for the night. The couple’s way of discipline made Chen Xinran disgusted, proposed to break off the relationship. In January 2016, during the winter vacation, Chen Ran away from home and went to a KTV to serve fruit dishes.
So the Chen family made a tough decision:
Chen just searched on the Internet to “Shandong science and Technology defense college”, ask friends about, heard good reputation, they contacted the school.
“I asked them, ‘Do you beat or scold the children? They said, we have so many instructors, hundreds of children, can beat and scold over it? It makes sense, when I think about it.”
Chen Xinran’s aunt asked, “These are disobedient children. Why do they behave when they get to school?” “The instructor told us at that time that children are like this, parents in front of a son, to the school environment, the nature is good.”
These are common words, but in every anxious parent heart waves – Chen Xinran is not it? In the eyes of her classmates, teachers and neighbors, she is very clever. Why in the eyes of her parents, she suddenly became a devil? Is it the kind of school that will keep her off the “wrong” path?
On February 26, 2016, Chen Xinran in the DORMITORY of KTV, “his feet were not off the ground, and he was directly taken away”. His father, Chen Gang, looked at me coldly, just as if I were an enemy.
Xinran Chen took it all down to his father.
She spent three months, more than 100 days, at the “inhuman” school. After returning home, the 16-year-old girl made a series of aggressive moves. She tied up her mother, stabbed her mother, became angry with her father, and drove two people out of the house… Until the last time, eight days under her control, her mother died.
When she was still free to move, her mother, Li Mei, threw the note downstairs. One, thrown to husband Chen Gang, reads: “I can bear it. Even if she wanted to help her, she didn’t trust me. It hurt her a lot. Her parents didn’t believe her, so she didn’t trust them… She was so young, had few friends and didn’t trust her family, so it was normal for her to misunderstand her parents. In her world, everyone disapproves of her and makes her sad and disappointed.”
Another was addressed to her daughter: ‘I want you to put it down so you don’t get too tired. If we talk about it, if we talk about it, then we’ll be relieved… You are an excellent child, but we communicate too little, leading to the parents misunderstanding you, so in order to the so-called good for you, thinking of ways to just want to rely on the parents’ experience, let you take fewer detours, but the result is counterproductive.
4
More than a month after returning home, Xiao Yong read news of Chen Xinran on the Internet. He felt he had to write a letter to his parents that “might have come a little late.” He felt, “There’s something I have to say.”
After returning home from Yuzhang College, he knew he had let his parents down. He came back on the condition that he promised his mother he would go to school, but “after one day, he stopped going. He’s angry. Can I give it to you?”
But she had no time for the question of whether he would go to school, for she was horrified to see that he had always carried a knife. “A fruit knife, without a scabbard, has cut himself several times.”
Xiao Yong keeps the knife with him 24 hours a day. “He sleeps with the knife under his pillow at night.” He doesn’t go out by subway because of the security check. To far places, he only takes the bus. He said he could not go back to Yuzhang Academy. “If you can stab someone to death, you can stab yourself to death. Just don’t go back.”
Photo by Xiao Yong and her mother
Xiao Yong’s mother decided to find a psychology teacher for her son. Just began psychological counseling, xiao Yong or with a knife. The psychology teacher said, “He’s on guard wherever we go. Once watched a movie, a documentary, I did not watch it, fell asleep. I woke up to find that he was extremely tight, his back was extremely straight, and he didn’t relax at all. Another time he went out to sing and kept looking in the mirror to see if anyone had come in.”
Understanding his parents’ love, Xiao Yong said he forgave them early on. “I see you still love me, but in the wrong way. I have forgiven you, but I am still wary of you.” Most of all, he wanted to tell his parents what he had experienced at Yuzhang College, a feeling “you’ll never understand” because “you won’t listen.”
“I’ve changed, I’m sorry. I will fake a smile to you, to my teachers, even to nobody, to myself, to everybody, and it will be all right. I felt like I was being torn in two, and it was painful. I don’t know how to put it into words. Sometimes I love to be alone, sometimes I need to care, sometimes I need to die. I don’t know how to have a normal heart. I’m sorry.”
Xiao Yong wrote six “I’m sorry” letters, each more frantic than the last. The letter also ends with “I’m sorry” — “I can’t take it back, I’m sorry.”
Xiaoyong letter author for the picture
After receiving the letter, Xiao Yong’s mother felt sad for several days. She couldn’t bear to hear her son say, “Our relationship is weak.” She loved what happened to her son in Yuzhang Academy. She finally began to take counseling classes. She wants her husband to change his attitude and parenting too, “but, alas, some people are stubborn.”
During more than a year of psychological counseling, Xiao Yong also insisted on reporting “Yuzhang Academy” through various channels. In June 2017, the jiangxi Provincial Education Department’s petition working platform sent him a reply, saying that “the complaint content is not true”. At the end of October, he found a “Big V” on Zhihu, and his post finally attracted attention.
5
It is ironic to say that Chen Gang transferred the news related to yuzhang Academy to me at the very beginning. “There are few good schools,” he said, adding, “I understand my daughter’s point of view now.”
Another man had been waiting for this day: “Three years, finally someone comes. Justice is late, but justice will come.”
Nanchang, Jiangxi province, Sept. 3, 2013. Luo Wei, 20, and his parents had another violent argument.
Luo Wei failed in the college entrance examination once. He read and read newspapers at home every day and arranged his own time. He knew about his “home” but did not care about it.
For the first few months after he failed the college entrance exam, he tried to repeat it, but then he slacked off. His parents gave him the name of a local college, paid for him, and majored in computer science, “without my permission, so I didn’t want to go. They urge me to go to school every day.
The argument that day was particularly intense. “I was freaked out, totally furious, out of control, smashing a lot of things,” he said. After losing his temper, Luo Wei closed the door to sleep. “At night, my parents opened the door suddenly, followed by a middle-aged man wearing a police uniform, numbered. Said someone had thrown a projectile from a high altitude. Witnesses saw me on my floor and asked me to assist in the investigation and cooperate with them.”
Luo Wei’s parents in a side to help, “Oh how can this thing, you go to help the investigation, we will testify to you later, that you did not throw things”.
Without doubting, Luo Wei followed. Two men took his arm. “I thought it was an assistant policeman, but I still thought it was strange: I was at most a suspect. Why did I have such a big fight?”
Luo wei grew up with his grandparents hiding in the supermarket downstairs, “hiding to cry,” his grandmother said, they were also required to cooperate with the play, but the old man did not have the heart.
“Then I was put in a van, and I was sitting in the middle, and there were people in front and behind me, and the man on the left was holding the heavy handcuffs, and he was glaring at my eyes with the reflection. The man on the right is holding a flashlight and letting off an electric current. I knew what he meant, threatening me, telling me not to move. I just kept my cool. But while it was on, the lights were dimming and there was a dog’s voice. There was a phone call in front of us, and we drove through a red door, and inside, it was locked twice, and they let me out, and Of course I listened to them.”
Luo Wei was taken to Yuzhang Academy and put into the “little black Room”. “I’m 93, you can see my ID!” he kept Shouting.
Nobody paid him any attention.
The first night, Luo Wei could hardly fall asleep. He also felt a mouse passing by. He was covered with a quilt and dared not go to see it.
The next day, someone threw a note to Luo Wei through the bars. “It was an ancient Chinese poem, and I was asked to recite it. When I said I couldn’t recite it, what would I do? He said I would be beaten if I couldn’t recite it. I was devastated.”
Lowe made a general judgment that the place was “almost brainwashed” : “I think they’re definitely going to brainwash me into an idiot. That’s why they have to wash it off. I have to protect it. I put heavy locks on those.”
After seven days in the dark room, he was set free.
6
In yuzhang Academy, in order to get rid of “oneself”, everyone is not allowed to call his own name — Luo Wei’s “scientific name” is “Dai Xin”, and the “Dai” generation is all students who came in in 2013 — and the one who came in three years later, Xiao Yong, is called “Yi Cheng”. Every day, the students read to Confucius on the playground of the academy in the morning. They did not know whether they were angry or desperate.
Confucius is pictured on the playground of Yuzhang Academy
Every day at Yuzhang Academy, Luo Wei “wanted to die”. Every night the College held a “Calder’s Club,” where the instructors publicly punished the students for their mistakes. “It’s really annoying to hit people every night, even during the holidays. My ruler back then was still a steel ruler, and the most exaggerated thing I ever saw was that the ruler was pulled sideways.”
The first time Luo Wei was punished by the ruler was because he failed to recite the ancient Chinese text, “it seems that he was beaten ten times”. But it didn’t hurt, he said, “because I felt like my heart was dead, like a walking corpse.”
No pain, of course, is a sham. Almost everyone shouts when the ruler is taken. Soon, Luo Wei’s beaten hand slowly itching, red and swollen, he occasionally to scratch.
In addition to the ruler, there is also a ring called “dragon whip”, which seems to be a very mysterious thing. “I have seen, a meter long, eating chopsticks thick, smooth surface, painted, reflecting the gun color of metal sheen. They hit the floor with it and it makes a crisp metallic sound.”
Luo Wei once saw a dragon whip punishment: “People on the ground, need to hold down, because after the fight there is a strong reaction, you have to hold down both hands and feet. The man took off his pants, the woman his underwear — and, of course, the woman won’t fight until we’re gone.”
Luo Wei hears what he describes as a “terrible voice.” He wants to leave, but he can’t. “I force you to look and I force you to listen. I closed my eyes, but the sound was enough.
Luo wei feels violence more deeply than most people because he was often beaten as a child. “The most memorable moment was when my father picked me up, and My instinct was to scream. He said don’t yell, then he picked up a pair of scissors, a silver one, and scraped my teeth.” Lowe shrugged. “Maybe he doesn’t even remember it.”
His father belted him, too. “A belt folded in two or four, and when heavy, with a metal buckle. The whole body was covered with the marks of the head of the skin. It’s not hyperbole, it’s true.
The slip of paper written by Luo Wei in Yuzhang College is written by the author
Luo Wei is the son of his parents, who have been growing up with his grandmother. When he was old enough to go to school, his parents took him home. He saw two strangers and refused to go. “I clung to the door, and he [father] stepped on my hands, my head, my back. He was a foot, of course, and he could control his strength, but I was cursing. I used up my last ounce of strength and was carried away.”
Growing up with an overwhelming dislike of his parents’ parenting style, Luo watched a lot of foreign movies. “I really agree with the Western idea of not hitting children,” he said. He has never been abroad, and describes himself as a banana man, “yellow skin, western ideas”.
Luo Wei’s father was a fan of traditional culture. He once wrote to his son in the academy, asking him to “learn more about the essence of Chinese culture” and understand the profound connotation of “filial piety, loyalty, morality, integrity and shame”. Luo Wei is still disapproving: “Probably he saw the calligraphy class, the Guqin class, the Chinese studies class in the academy, he is very fanatical. It’s hard for me to understand. I think I just need to read English well.”
On the outside wall of Yuzhang College
More than three months later, “I can’t remember the exact month”, Luo Wei only thought it should be the Spring Festival, the streets were decorated with lights – he finally walked out of Yuzhang Academy. My grandmother said that my grandson “couldn’t stand.” “When he first came back, he stood at the door and put on his shoes. People would fall over. I’m so skinny, I’m dying.”
The yuzhang Academy experience, in Luo wei’s opinion, deepened the rift between him and his parents, and now the relationship is “not easing up, let alone talking”.
“I really don’t know my parents, I don’t know their past,” he said with emphasis after a pause. “I don’t want to know their past. They always talk about how much they suffered when they were children, how much they were beaten, and how hard they tried, as if it was just our generation that failed.”
After yuzhang Academy was exposed, Luo went to the local public security bureau to report that Yuzhang Academy was suspected of illegal detention.
On December 8, 2017, he received a “filing notice” from the local public security bureau. Fortunately, he said, the police thought he had provided enough evidence to file a case, and if they didn’t, he even thought about suing his parents.
7
Luo’s parents don’t apologise to their son in a serious way, which bothers him: “Because they don’t realise they’re doing it wrong. And I, of course I thought I was right.”
Li’s parents will never have a chance to say “I’m sorry” to their son in person.
Li Ao’s mother never dreamed of her son again. “He must have hated me,” she said. One day, she gave me send WeChat messages at two or three o ‘clock in the morning, saying that she did not want to delete her son’s WeChat, miss his son, or will talk to his son. “I still fantasize that when I open the door, he’ll be at home waiting for me. He’s been out, he’ll be back.”
Li Ao, 18, is 1.78 meters tall and of thick build. On August 3, 2017, li Ao was sent to an Internet addiction treatment institution by his parents. Forty-eight hours later, his parents saw nothing but bruises all over his body at the funeral home.
In his mother’s eyes, Li Ao has nothing wrong with him. “He just loves surfing the Internet.”
Li Ao’s family is well off. “My children are very particular about the clothes they wear. They all need to wear a suit and match well.” After graduating from junior high school, Li Ao did not go on to school. His parents wanted to start a business with him. “He didn’t want to,” they said. “He was young, so we left him alone at home.”
While his parents were busy with their work, Li Ao began to play games.
“I don’t understand. It’s the kind of thing that requires teams and equipment,” Li’s mother said, not expecting much from her son but hoping he wouldn’t go to the Internet cafe. “I told him to stay at home and play for as long as I care. It’s a mess in the net bar, smoking and drinking. I’ve heard of drug use.”
In addition to worrying about the child’s bad behavior, the mother also worried about the child’s health, “always watch the news about who died in the Internet bar”.
But contrary to the expectation of the mother, Li Ao spends more and more time in Internet bar, even night does not return home. The mother went to find him and argued with the net supervisor, “I mean, how did you let a minor in here? They say won’t, take id card of. They don’t look it up. They want to make money.”
So looked for a few times, Li Ao may also have some antipathy, and mother played “hide and seek”, as long as the mother to find him, he will slip away quietly, “because I in the light he in the dark”. Later, the mother asked other friends to persuade her son to come home. “He promised to come right away,” she said. Then he doesn’t come back.”
Because of this problem, the distressed adult and son talked many times. They sent Li Ao to learn animation design and didn’t take many classes. But up to that time, Li Ao had not gone too far. At most, he stayed up all night and went home. His parents taught him, he also did not talk back, laughing in response.
The mother was still pleased with her son. “You give him instructions,” she said, “like where to get something and what to get, he can do it well. The relatives liked him very much, and said he was handsome and good-natured, and did not say much.”
In late June 2017, his parents took Li Ao on a trip to a scenic spot in southern Anhui province, and he was so happy. In early July, li Ao went to Qingdao again. He shot a short video at the seaside. In the front-facing lens of the camera, he carefully fingered his hair, which was dyed yellow.
Next up is July 5, 2017. “That day he went to the Internet cafe, this time is the longest, eat and live in the Internet cafe.”
The mother’s confusion, combined with the family’s accident at the time, may have contributed to the final tragedy.
My mother searched for “abstinence schools” online, compared them, and finally settled on “Zhengneng Education” in Hefei, Anhui province — not too far from home. When she called for counseling, the principal told her that psychological counseling would be provided on arrival, followed by physical training. “I said, ‘How long will it take for this situation like my child to change? He said two months or so.
The agreement signed between Li Ao’s parents and the school in person
On August 2, 2017, three people came to “Zhengneng Education”, with the principal and two instructors. But Li Ao could not get in touch with him. That night, his mother went to a few Internet cafes and returned in the early morning. A few of them slept in the car.
August 3 at 4 o ‘clock in the morning, the mother got up and quietly went to the Internet bar for a turn, still did not see his son.
“At 3pm, he called me. He said mum, can I help you? I said your grandma was touched by the car. Do you want to come back and see her? He said yes, when will you be home? I say, I’ll be at home whenever you come back.”
Then, Li Ao’s father took the drillmaster to find his son, the first time to slap his son in the face, just let Li Ao obediently get on the car, follow the drillmaster.
In my mother’s mind, “I can’t think.” She wished for him to be less good this time, and when she didn’t return that call that afternoon, she said, “I was hoping I wouldn’t find him.”
Li Ao was just picked up.
After being taken away, li ao’s mother has been calling, send WeChat messages, asked his son where, what the situation. More than 9 o ‘clock “headmaster” gave her back a WeChat, “safe to school”, and said li ao “when I got on the bus some resistance, attitude is not very good”.
On August 3, li Ao’s mother and the school’s exchange author
August 4 early in the morning, Li Ao’s mother called again, the other side did not answer. Around 11:30, the school called her back, “asking if my child has any physical problems at home.” On Aug. 5, she called a few more times, but didn’t answer. Shortly before 6 p.m., the school called her and said, “Your child is suffering from heatstroke. Your parents should come here.”
The family was having dinner, put down the dishes and left. “I didn’t have far to go before I made two more calls to the school. I mean, why is heatstroke so bad? You tell me the truth.
Halfway through the car, mother’s heart seemed to jump out. “It just didn’t feel right. When I said what was going on, he said the baby was gone and could not be saved.”
Late at night, the family went directly to the Lujiang County funeral home, only to see Li Ao’s body covered with bruises: “All rotten. He was green all over. Chest and back, hips, arms, head, feet, calves… It’s all wounds.”
They came to know that Li Ao had been put in a solitary cell since he had been taken to school. If you are obedient, you will be punished to stand. If you are not obedient, you will be handcuffed. If you are not obedient, you will be handcuffed to the window.
Li Ao is not obedient.
He may have been constantly resisting, so there is a very deep trace of the wrist being cuffed; The night was hung up, the window was open, and his calves were covered with mosquito bites; During the day, the drillmaster let him stand in the hot sun; For 40 hours, he had little to eat, drink or rest.
More than a month later, the autopsy report showed that the death was caused by water and electrolyte disturbance caused by high temperature, restricted body position, lack of food and water, trauma and other factors.
When Li Ao’s mother saw the autopsy report, she said: “I think of how helpless he was at the end, and I feel really sad. I’ll never know what he was thinking at the last moment.”
On the night of the incident, several people were detained and the school was closed.
The words on the gate of Hefei Intellectual education have been cut off
There is a mess in the classroom
A few months later, When I re-entered Zhengneng Education, the rented primary school in the town, the campus was crumbling. Send all the personnel to keep the key, yellow leaves on the bottom of the feet with a crisp sound, the whole place is very quiet.
On the floor of the classroom, there is still no time to take away the camouflage clothes, shoes, students’ diary, instructor’s notes… Outside the enclosure was a vegetable field, with small yellow flowers swaying gently with the wind in the early winter, and two fallen leaves fluttering outside the window sill, which had dried up a little, and the grapevine bearing the seeds of the coming year.
Afterword.
During the shooting of this series, a teacher once asked me seriously, “I think my children are addicted to the Internet. He’s 17. At boarding school, they’re not allowed to bring cell phones. When I came back this weekend, I watched him play with his phone for a long time. I said let him play on the weekend. He left and stole his phone.”
“I’m really angry.” ‘He added.’ If he really wanted to play, why did he have to put on some flimsy cover-up? I don’t understand these post-00s…”
When I interviewed Xiao Yong in Dalian a few months ago, he was living in a psychological consulting room instead of going home. Because the move to expose the academy had strained the relationship between father and son, the father did not want his son to be noticed and probably felt disgraced.
I actually want Xiao Yong to understand his father’s love. I told him that growing up means two people being close to each other. You have to try your best to understand your parents. “I’ve been trying,” he said with a wry smile. “Am I sabotaging now? I just hope no more parents send their children there.”
From October to December 2017, xiao yong did not see his father for two months and “WeChat did not speak to him”. Small yong several times open and father WeChat dialog box, word lost delete again. He didn’t know how to begin. At the end of the year, he had a severe fever. Father sent a red envelope, finally opened his mouth to ask xiao Yong’s situation.
On January 3, 2018, Xiao Yong moved back home.
(The characters in this article are pseudonyms)
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