Zhou Yujie, 18, was buried halfway up the mountain, not far from his home, where he could see his hometown and school, and five rowan trees several meters tall were planted behind his grave.
His mother Yu Juan told Red Star News that the two plants close together were her and her eldest son Zhou Yujie, and the other three were Zhou Yujie's father, brother and sister, "These five rowan trees symbolize our family of five." ”
Mom burns paper in front of Zhou Yujie's grave
"Hello everyone, I am the prototype mother of the film "Desperate"..." In the early morning of August 24, in Puxin Village, Didong Town, Yibinheng County, Sichuan, Yu Juan still couldn't hide her inner grief when she thought of her son Zhou Yujie, who died three years ago, and updated this circle of friends.
Recently, after the release of the movie "Desperate", which draws on tens of thousands of real cases and exposes the overseas telecom network fraud industry chain, it has aroused the public's great concern for telecom network fraud, and the box office has exceeded 3 billion yuan so far. The film tells the true story of programmer Pan Sheng and model Liang Anna who were attracted abroad to pan for gold by "high-paying recruitment", but fell into the trap of scamming factories abroad. According to media reports, Yu Juan's 18-year-old son Zhou Yujie is one of the prototype characters in the story.
Back on November 27, 2019, Zhou Yujie, an 18-year-old boy in Sheng County, Yibin City, Sichuan Province, fell to his death in a high-rise building in Chinatown in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and his parents rushed to Cambodia afterwards, saying that they saw the four words "murdered and wronged" written on their son's body.
Before the incident, Zhou Yujie was suspected of engaging in online gambling online promotion, and the local police's investigation result was "suicide by falling from a building". But until now, Yu Juan and her husband Zhou Hong do not believe that their son will commit suicide. A few days ago, the police of China, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos launched a special joint operation to cooperate in cracking down on gambling and fraud groups. Yu Juan and his wife are also full of new hope, looking forward to the local police restarting the investigation and finding the truth about their son's death...
It is reported that from August 15 to 16, the Ministry of Public Security of China, the General Department of the Thai Police, the Myanmar Police Headquarters and the Ministry of Public Security of Laos jointly held a special cooperative crackdown on gambling and fraud and human trafficking, kidnapping, illegal detention and other crimes in the region in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The parties decided to jointly establish a comprehensive coordination center for special operations in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and set up joint action points for regions where gambling and fraud are rampant, so as to severely crack down on telecommunications network fraud and online gambling crimes in the region with closer cooperation, more proactive offensive and more professional actions, and resolutely reverse the high incidence of human trafficking, kidnapping, detention and other crimes.
A shadow that is difficult to come out of
The son was buried halfway up the mountain, not far from his home
After more than three years, the couple still can't let go of their nostalgia and often visit the grave
"His right wrist was broken, his body was beaten, he was kicked, and there was mud on his feet, indicating that he tried to escape before he died, and the only possible fatal injury was a large wound in the lower jaw near his neck..." Although three years and nine months have passed, Yu Juan still remembers the condition of her son's body.
After Zhou Yujie's death, Yu Juan, her husband Zhou Hong, and Zhou Yujie's two uncles spent 17 days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and finally they brought back Zhou Yujie's ashes. The couple buried their son halfway up the mountain, not far from home, with an open view overlooking the town of Didongchang and even part of his alma mater, Didong Middle School.
Yu Juan is from Hubei, and after marrying Zhou Hong, she gave birth to a total of three children, Zhou Yujie is the eldest, originally a family of five is very happy. Their home is next to Didong Middle School, and Yu Juan fries potatoes in front of Didong Middle School and also helps take care of the school's children; Zhou Hong ran freight, and in order to take care of his family, he did not dare to run too far, and basically only moved in Sichuan or neighboring Yunnan. The death of the eldest son Zhou Yujie has almost dealt a devastating blow to this originally happy family.
Zhou Yujie before his death
Halfway up the mountain, there are many large and small tombs, and Zhou Yujie's cemetery is the most special existence - in addition to the bluestone tomb wall and cement flat worship platform, there are many plants and flowers planted on and around the top of the tomb, including monk pine, green cypress, chrysanthemum, immortal bird, rose flower, apple tree, and crystal pigs, pagodas and other crafts are placed in front of the tomb. The most unique thing is that behind the grave are planted five rowan trees several meters high.
"These five rowan trees symbolize our family of five." Yu Juan pointed to the rowan and told the Red Star News reporter that the two rowans that were close together were her and her eldest son Zhou Yujie, and the other three were her husband Zhou Hong, second son and younger daughter. The reporter noticed that the surrounding area around the other graves on the hillside was almost overgrown, but Zhou Yujie's grave was cleaned up and without grass. Zhou Yujie's youngest sister said: "When my eldest brother was alive, he always liked to play with flowers and plants. ”
The first two characters of Zhou Yujie's name come from his parents' surnames, and the last word "Jie" pinned on his parents' expectations for him, hoping that he would be an outstanding person when he grew up. Unfortunately, the parents' wishes can never be fulfilled today. Since his death more than three years ago, his mother Yu Juan has made a lot of efforts, but she has not been able to come out of the shadows. Father Zhou Hong also didn't think much about sports cars, and always felt sorry for his son.
On August 24, Yu Juan and Zhou Hong came to the cemetery again and brought their son two pots of moon season, the first time they had come to "see" their son in two months. In the past, Yu Juan would visit her son's grave almost every day, plant some flowers and plants, clean up, or "talk" with her son. According to local customs, people usually only plant flowers and burn paper at the graves of their loved ones during the Qingming or Spring Festivals. Therefore, Yu Juan's behavior of "going to the grave" of her son every day is quite strange to the locals.
"They'll call me crazy." Yu Juan told Red Star News that she didn't care about worldly eyes, she just wanted to "talk" with her son, and no one cared. "I don't care if my son goes to heaven. It's not better, just stay here with me, where I am, he is..." Speaking of sadness, Yu Juan still couldn't help but cry, while Zhou Hong kept smoking silently, or doing things silently...
The unacceptable conclusion was that the local police said it was "suicide by falling from a building", and the family said that they saw the body with the words "killed, wronged";
Zhou Yujie was born on December 2, 2000, his home is separated from Didong Town Primary School and Didong Middle School, and he spent his childhood and adolescence in his hometown.
After graduating from junior high school, Zhou Yujie went to the county town of Sheng County alone to learn hairdressing. According to his grandfather Zhou Xingwu, in December 2018, Zhou Yujie claimed to have gone to Cambodia to work. In June 2019, I returned to Sheng County for a while, prepared to study at a driving school, and also applied for the name of an adult university.
"My grandson said that he wanted to go to a driving school, the tuition fee was 6,800 yuan, I said grandpa gave you 3,000 yuan, and you asked your father to get 3,800 yuan." After the case, Red Star News reporters went to Zhou's home to interview, and Yu Juan and other family members had gone to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Zhou Xingwu, who stayed in his hometown, told reporters that around September 2019, his grandson Zhou Yujie returned to his home in Didong Town for a few days, but rarely talked to his family about his work in Cambodia. Zhou Xingwu remembers that before his grandson went out for the last time, he went to stay with a classmate in the town for one night and borrowed money from a classmate to leave.
Zhou Xingwu didn't know that his grandson had been abroad for a long time, but he remembered that around October 2019, he suddenly received a strange phone call, and the caller told him: "Zhou Yujie is no longer in Sheng County and went to Cambodia to work." His wallet and phone were lost..." Zhou Xingwu recalled, and the other party did not say anything else. After Zhou Yujie's incident, Zhou Hong and Yu Juan did not dare to tell the old people at home, worried that they would not be able to withstand the blow. Zhou Xingwu accidentally heard that his grandson had an accident, and his son and daughter-in-law had already rushed to Cambodia at that time.
Zhou Yujie's parents are interviewed by Red Star News reporter (middle).
Yu Juan told Red Star News that on the evening of November 27, 2019, young people from Didong Town, Liangxian County, rushed to her home and informed Zhou Yu of the outstanding incident. She immediately turned to her cousin, who was doing business abroad, and the cousin was the first to set off for Phnom Penh, Cambodia. That night, two young men drove her to the airport, where she joined Zhou Yujie's uncle and rushed to Phnom Penh. Since Zhou Hong did not have a passport, the Yibin police expedited the passport for him, and he arrived in Cambodia a few days late.
"After our plane landed in Phnom Penh, it was two young people who came to pick us up." Yu Juan is not familiar with Cambodia, and although she has some doubts about the identity of the pickup, they can only obey. "On the first night, someone took us to a luxury hotel with armed defense in Phnom Penh, where one room cost $700 and asked for two rooms." Yu Juan recalled that the villagers and translators in Sheng County, who assisted them in Cambodia in dealing with the aftermath, seemed to control them, and the other party even took her mobile phone, transferred her money, and communicated with the outside world in her name.
Yu Juan told Red Star News that the place where Zhou Yujie died was the "China Town" in Cambodia's Sihanoukville port (referred to as Xigang), but when they arrived in Cambodia, Zhou Yujie's body had been transported to Phnom Penh. The local police told them that Zhou Yujie died of "suicide by falling from a building". Because of the complicated situation in Xigang, they were told not to go to the "Chinatown" crime scene, and only Yu Juan's cousin had been to Westport. According to him, Mr. Zhou's company is located in a five-story building with about 10 people in the company, including translators. Zhou Yujie's fall location is located in the dormitory area on the 4th floor, and the 5th floor is the office area.
Later, through many efforts, Yu Juan and Zhou Hong finally saw their son when the forensic doctor examined Zhou Yujie's body. "His body is full of evidence." Yu Juan said that in addition to the obvious knife wounds, footprints and mud on his body, when the forensic doctor unfastened Zhou Yujie's jeans, the family and others at the scene were stunned by the scene in front of them: "On the inside of the left leg of the corpse, two lines were written with a water-based pen, namely 'killed' and 'wronged'." After the identification of Yu Juan and Zhou Hong, it was determined that these four characters were indeed Zhou Yujie's handwriting.
This made it difficult for Yu Juan and other family members to accept the conclusion that the local police "committed suicide by falling from a building". As for whether she reported these situations to the local police at that time, Yu Juan said, "We reported the situation to the local police, but it did not help." The local police in Cambodia still believe that Zhou Yujie "committed suicide by falling from a building".
Difficult to stop questioning, often tell the story of his son's encounter, and the young man hopes that the local investigation will be reopened and the truth of the death will be restored
"The moment I cremated him, I felt particularly cruel." Yu Juan recalled to the Red Star News reporter that they originally wanted to transport the body of their son Zhou Yujie back to China, but they were prevented by the local authorities before leaving, and they were only allowed to return to China with their ashes. When the ashes were rolled out, she wanted to put away all of her son's ashes as much as possible, but the staff splashed water to wash away a large amount of the ashes and only put back the remaining part.
"After confirming that he was dead, I promised in my heart that I would take him (the body) home, but the result still did not come true, and I felt very sorry for him..." Yu Juan and her husband Zhou Hong told Red Star News on August 24.
Tomb of Zhou Yujie
Yu Juan told reporters that six months after Zhou Yujie's death, two local guys who "assisted" them in Cambodia to deal with the aftermath also returned to Didong Town. Yu Juan once asked them to repay the money they transferred in Phnom Penh, and one of the other parties returned her 6,000 yuan. However, the questioning of the cause of Zhou Yujie's death still has no results.
Now, whenever Yu Juan meets teenagers similar in age to Zhou Yujie, she will always tell them about her son's unfortunate experience, hoping that more people can learn from Zhou Yujie's personal experience, and not be fooled into Cambodia or northern Myanmar, she feels that she is an "anti-fraud volunteer".
"Whether in Cambodia or northern Myanmar, there are many domestic lawbreakers in the gangs that lure Chinese engaged in telecommunications network fraud, control them as hostages, and abuse and injure them, and those who have been deceived can rarely escape..." Yu Juan and her husband Zhou Hong hope that the police at the place where the crime occurred can re-investigate Zhou Yujie's death and restore the truth to the family. It is also hoped that young people will keep their eyes open, not be tempted by "high salaries and get rich", and be deceived into becoming the next victim of overseas telecommunications network fraud.
Red Star News reporter Luo Min photo report