Since his birth, Zhang Wen has shown introverted and withdrawn personality traits. His heart is filled with a longing to be noticed and heard, but unfortunately he has never been able to find a person who can deeply understand his heart's desire. Perhaps because of this, after graduating from junior high school, he began to embark on the path of pursuing an illusory "high school life", and created a well-planned system of lies for it.
Looking back on this journey, I have to sigh that Zhang Wen's simulation of "high school life" was indeed prepared and carefully planned for a long time. He studied in detail all the schedules of Bazhong No. 5 Middle School on the Internet, including class time, self-study arrangements, as well as school start dates, examination times, holiday arrangements and other aspects, and he knew everything well.
With these thorough preparations, he began to implement them step by step according to the predetermined plan.
Every morning, when the sky is just white, Zhang Wen leaves the house with his schoolbag on his back, and like a diligent student, he always arrives at the Internet café on time before the school bell rings. There, he could intently browse through the information or post to ask for advice on volunteering.
When night falls, when it's time for school, he turns off his computer and sets out on his way home, as he has already made to do.
As the days passed, the years passed, and Zhang Wen's life trajectory has always remained stable and regular. Aside from that seemingly distant online world, he hardly has any other entertainment activities or social circles.
Xiao Yuan's family regarded him as a model and good student, while his parents, Daniel Zhang and Li Fang, did not care about their son's academic performance, as long as it did not cause trouble to his family.
In fact, Zhang Wen's inner loneliness and depression have reached an uncontrollable level. The two online accounts he used used published a whopping 5,254 posts in just over a year, an average of more than 12 per day.
From his passion for fantasy novels, game music, to the trivial details of daily life, Zhang Wen unreservedly shares his thoughts and thoughts, just to find even the slightest response from strangers in the vast sea of people.
However, this passive one-way output could not fill his deep desire for intimate communication. Compared with those short-term comments and interactions on the Internet, Zhang Wen is more looking forward to being cared for and listened to by relatives and friends in real life.
However, the family environment in which he lived became the culprit that caused him to fall into the quagmire of lies.
The time reached August 27, 2014, which was the third year of Zhang Wen's weaving lies. However, at midnight on this date, a sudden tragedy, like a heavy punch, shattered the peaceful night of the Bazhong community.
At that time, Xiao Yuan's family, who were immersed in sweet dreams, were awakened by the shrill honking of two ambulances. In her later memories, Aunt Yuan still remembers the horror of that night. "I had to crawl around and crawl away from the scene, surrounded by shocking blood," she described. ”
That night a few months ago, Xiao Yuan's family had already fallen into a sweet sleep. Suddenly, however, there was a loud and earth-shattering noise outside the window, which scared them away. Xiao Yuan originally thought that it was a high-altitude object thrown by the residents upstairs, but he just complained in a low voice. However, immediately after, the chaotic sound of footsteps and the violent "knock knock" of the door followed, completely shattering his sleepiness.
The moment he opened the door, he was shocked by what he saw - Daniel Zhang, covered in blood, stumbled into the room, shouting the bad news that "someone is killing". Xiao Yuan had never experienced such a thrilling scene, and he was at a loss for a while.
After the initial panic, he finally came to his senses and immediately called the emergency number 120 and the police number 110. At the same time, Xiao Yuan rushed to the fifth floor without hesitation to check the situation. I saw that the door of Zhang's house was open, the living room was in a mess, and the items were placed at will. However, no one knows Zhang Wen's whereabouts, and his life and death are uncertain.
Xiao Yuan thought to himself, maybe he just went out to play for too long and hasn't come back yet. He tried to comfort himself with this, after all, young people can occasionally be a little willful. However, the next scene that happened happened to him unexpectedly.
Shortly after Daniel Zhang was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, Xiao Yuan had not yet recovered from his panicked emotions, and his mother suddenly let out a scream, which frightened his heart and pounded. Looking in the direction of my mother's finger, I saw a figure lying on the platform on the second floor!
According to common sense, Zhang Wen should have celebrated with his father Daniel Zhang that night and shared a happy time. However, at the celebration banquet just a few hours ago, something unpleasant happened. When someone proposed to show the university acceptance letter, it should have been the most enthusiastic moment in the audience, but the atmosphere instantly became cold and silent.
Looking back, we remember that Zhang Wen's eyes were floating and his facial expression showed panic; on the other hand, Daniel Zhang's face was gloomy and chilling, obviously full of doubts about what his son said. In the midst of this confrontation, the audience retreated, and in the end, only the father and son were left to face each other there.
As it turns out, things are not as uneventful as they seem. Behind Zhang Wen's lies, there is the fuse of their family's poor living environment.
Daniel Zhang and his wife Li Fang have walked hand in hand for many years, but the family's financial situation has always been stretched. In order to subsidize the family, Li Fang had to work outside for many years, and only had the opportunity to reunite with her family on holidays.
Zhang Wen's sister Zhang Qian is a diligent and studious girl who is determined to get ahead and is now studying hard in other places.
However, as the only boy in the family, Daniel Zhang lacks cultural knowledge and skills, so he can only rely on working as a security guard to support the entire family. Every late at night, when Zhang Wen was still studying hard in school, Daniel Zhang had already started his night work; and when he returned home from work at 7 a.m., Zhang Wen had to carry his school bag and go to "school".
Such a difference in the pace of life makes the father and son feel like strangers even though they live under the same roof. In addition, Daniel Zhang is an avid mahjong player, spending almost all of his spare time at the poker table, and the conversation between him and his son is limited to daily greetings and can no longer have in-depth conversations.
In fact, Daniel Zhang did not care about his son's academic performance. He only hopes that Zhang Wen can keep to himself and not bring additional burdens to his family. Even when his son was in junior high school, the school held parent-teacher meetings every semester, but Daniel Zhang never attended.
He is well aware that those so-called parent-teacher meetings are nothing more than formalism in the school, so he chooses to ignore them.
This laissez-faire education method undoubtedly laid a hidden danger for Zhang Wen to fabricate lies. Due to the lack of love and communication from his parents since he was a child, he felt lonely and empty deep inside, and at the same time became more sensitive and vulnerable.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this psychology that he is so eager for attention and recognition from the outside world, and creates the image of a "high school student" by weaving lies to fill the inferiority complex in his heart.
As Zhang Wen's father, Daniel Zhang, he knew in his heart that his son was by no means a heinous sinner. On the contrary, deep in his heart, Zhang Wen hides well-intentioned motives that he does not want to worry his parents. Therefore, when reality prevented him from getting into high school as he wished, he chose to bury this cruel truth deep in his heart instead of having his parents feel sorry for his failure.
In the face of this confusing case, the Pakistani and Chinese police paid great attention to it, quickly set up a special investigation team, and went all out to devote themselves to the investigation of the case. However, the first to reveal Zhang Wen's lies turned out to be Daniel Zhang's sister - Zhang Li.
As a member of the family, Zhang Li experienced first-hand the strange phenomena that happened at the grand dinner to celebrate the victory. When someone suggested that Zhang Wen show his college acceptance letter, it should have been the most enthusiastic moment in the audience, but the atmosphere suddenly became cold.
Zhang Wen's eyes began to flicker, and his face showed panic and uneasiness, while Daniel Zhang's face was iron blue and gloomy, obviously having deep doubts about his son's lies.
As expected, when Daniel Zhang regained consciousness from his serious injury, he personally verified this guess. It turned out that because his own education level was not high, Daniel Zhang was full of pride and joy that his son could be successfully admitted to university.
However, whenever he asked to see the admission letter, Zhang Wen always made excuses to avoid it, which made him both angry and helpless.
This undoubtedly deepened Daniel Zhang's understanding of his son's perfunctory behavior, and at the same time began to question whether Zhang Wen was really admitted to university. On that fateful night, Zhang Wen finally could no longer continue to cover up the truth, and could only confess the lies he had woven in the past three years.
Subsequently, the police conducted an in-depth and detailed investigation of Zhang Wen's "high school career". They found the junior high school where Zhang Wen had attended, but in the school's files, there was no record of Zhang Wen's later admission to high school.
What is even more shocking is that it was learned from the teachers that Zhang Wen's high school entrance examination score was only 405 points, which was not even lower than the minimum admission score of 425 points in Bazhong City.
This fact reveals a shocking truth -- Zhang Wen has never set foot in a high school campus, and the "full and colorful high school life" he describes is actually nothing more than a deceptive lie that he has carefully weaved! He is like a vigilant goalkeeper who strictly follows the routine of a normal high school student, and whenever the bell rings, he will leave home on time with his schoolbag on his back, and when night falls, he will return home on time, as if that was his "school" time. For the doubts he encountered, such as filling in the volunteers, he sought help and advice from others by posting.
In the past three years, how did Zhang Wen manage to cover all this so seamlessly? The courage and determination contained in this are truly breathtaking, and I can't help but be moved.
During an in-depth investigation of Zhang's online activities, the police unexpectedly discovered his extreme desire to socialize and confide. In just over a year, Zhang Wen has published a whopping 5,254 posts on two online accounts, an average of more than 12 per day. These posts are rich and varied, covering his favorite fantasy novels, game music, and trivial details of daily life, and he does not hesitate to share his thoughts and thoughts on the Internet, hoping to get even a little response and resonance from strangers.
This phenomenon undoubtedly reveals that the loneliness and depression in his heart have reached an uncontrollable level. However, the contradictions and pressures behind him are unimaginable to ordinary people. For Zhang Wen, who is still young, it is undoubtedly a huge mental burden to maintain such a long and intricate lie.
In order to avoid revealing his feet, he had to cut off all contact with the outside world and completely close himself off. The originally narrow social circle is now the only one left. Except for the occasional posting on the Internet for brief comfort, Zhang Wen's spiritual world is almost enveloped by endless loneliness and depression.
However, even so, he still couldn't find a real way to psychological catharsis. Compared with those fleeting online comments, Zhang Wen is more eager to get the sincere care and patient listening of relatives and friends in real life. However, the indifference and neglect of his family made him completely lose confidence in this regard.
Under the double blow of huge life pressure and endless loneliness unaccompanied, Zhang Wen's deep contradictions have become more and more acute in the past three years, until he reached a climax on that special night arranged by fate.
At that time, Daniel Zhang's angry doubts and accusations sounded like thunder, and the long-tense situation between father and son finally broke into a fierce physical duel, which made Zhang Wen's lie that he had held for three years instantly collapse, and his reason was gone.