Text/Figure Gao Yidan Jiangnan Metropolis Daily all-media reporter Zhang Na
On the morning of March 27, Ouyang Feng followed Wang Jianyong, a volunteer of the "Baby Homecoming" Volunteer Association, and set off on the way home. Since being diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2016, searching for relatives has become Ouyang Feng's greatest wish. After volunteers and netizens visited again and again, clues were stranded again and again... Recently, finally Feng Huilu turned to Ouyang Feng's hometown. In a mood of excitement and anxiety, at 10:30 a.m. on March 27, Ouyang Feng finally returned to his hometown in Chaisang District, Jiujiang City.
Ouyang Feng (back row, second from right) reunites with his family
The scene when Ouyang Feng reunites with his family
Seven or eight years old ignorant of leaving home After suffering from cancer, my wish is to find my separated family
In 1969, when Ouyang Feng was seven or eight years old, he left home by train due to his naughtiness, got off the train at the Nanchang Railway Station, where he was not familiar with his life, and was eventually sent to the Nanchang Welfare Institute by the police, and was later adopted. Over the years, Ouyang Feng has clearly remembered the scene when he was lost, even if he became a family and had a child, he could not let go of his obsession.
In 2016, Ouyang Feng was diagnosed with kidney cancer. After falling ill, he became more anxious to find his relatives, and he hoped to see his parents in his lifetime. Before the operation, he kept saying, "My wish is to find my home and relatives." ”
Ouyang Feng's son, Ouyang Yizhang, said that his father would often talk to him about looking for relatives, but considering that he was in school, he did not say too many details. After Ouyang Feng suffered from cancer, looking at his father lying on the hospital bed in front of him, Ouyang Yizhang decided to help his father to do something that he had thought about for a long time but did not implement - to find a family member who had been separated for more than 50 years for his father. He wanted to help his father fulfill his wish.
Enthusiastic netizens went north from Fuzhou along the Minjiang River to search for visits
In June 2018, after listening to his father's story again, Ouyang Yizhang provided the information to the volunteers of the "Baby Homecoming" Volunteer Association, "Rotating Memories" (screen name), and "Rotating Memories" forwarded the search for relatives to the Fujian group based on the "Memories of Fujian and Eating Seafood" provided by Ouyang Yizhang.
Subsequently, Fujian netizens began to search within the scope of Fujian, volunteer "Ruo Linglang" found this family search information, according to the online information began to go north along the Minjiang River from Fuzhou, along the Yingfu Railway to find and visit the scene, he found a lot of similarities with the search for relatives information. Moreover, he learned from the mining retirement office that the children of a family had gone missing. This visit seems to have found a glimmer of hope for home, but because many people have moved out of the mine, it is impossible to get news of the family who lost their children for a while.
The volunteers tried to search again and again, but they had no choice but to run aground again and again
"Ruo LinLang" and others decided to visit again, and the kung fu paid off, and the volunteers found out that the family who lost the child was also surnamed Wang, but the family had been moving away for many years without knowing where to go. Moreover, "Ruo Linlang" also found the ancient camphor trees, small rivers, railways mentioned by Ouyang Feng... However, when he sent the photos and the satellite map of the town of Sunkou to Ouyang Feng, he vetoed it, saying that it was not his hometown in his memory. The clue seems to be broken again here.
5 months later, Ouyang Feng, who was eager to find a family, learned and explored on his own, personally logged on to the website to register the search information again, and the volunteer "BMW" helped him patiently sort out and then released Ouyang Feng's family search information again. This time, the volunteers turned their attention to places with mines, railways, and rivers. "Ruo Lin Lang" is located along the main railway trunk line in Jiangxi Province in the 1960s, Zhejiang Gan, Nanxun and Yingxia Railway. When searching along the Zhejiang-Gansu Railway, "Ruo Linlang" found that Jiangshan Railway Station is not far from the river, and Jiangshan built a cement mine in the 1960s, which is somewhat similar to the mine described by Ouyang Feng. "Ruo Linglang" immediately contacted the local volunteer "Sister Mei" to inquire, but learned that no one had ever lost a child.
Ouyang Feng later mentioned something to volunteer BMW, saying that his adoptive father said his accent resembled that of Anfu County, Jiangxi Province, when he adopted him. Through inquiries, the volunteers determined that the construction date of the penny railway was in 1971, which did not match the time when Ouyang Feng was lost. Subsequently, the volunteers turned their attention to the Zhejiang-Gansu Railway and the Xiangle and Nanxun Railways again. However, neither the Zhejiang-Gansu nor the Xiangle Railway found the place where the railway highway described by Ouyang Feng was located side by side across the river.
"Ruo Linlang" found a place where railways and roads crossed the river side by side next to the Yongxiu Railway Station in Jiangxi on the Nanxun Line, but no information about the railway line and minerals was found in the north direction of the bridge. The search process ran aground again on the banks of the Xiushui River.
Narrow down the search to lock in Jiujiang with little-known customs
According to the existing clues, the volunteers are convinced that Ouyang Feng's hometown is in Jiangxi, but Jiangxi is so big, how to narrow the scope step by step? Later, "BMW" and others came to Nanchang from other places to collect more relevant information from Ouyang Feng, and obtained a map of his hometown from memory after he had just lost his childhood.
Mentioning his lost experience, Ouyang Feng couldn't help but burst into tears. He said that from the moment he was separated from his family to the present, he has never stopped looking for his family for more than 50 years. According to Ouyang Feng, he has used the opportunity of work trips to many places in Jiangxi and Hubei, Jiujiang, Ruichang, Pingxiang, Xinyu, Zhangshu, Lushan... But he didn't find the shadow in his mind.
In order to get more clues, the volunteers of the "Baby Homecoming" Volunteer Association have once again posted Ouyang Feng's family search information on the Internet. Among them, Ouyang Feng mentioned that the custom of "children knocking gourd scoops around the courtyard during the New Year" has attracted the attention of netizens. Some netizens pointed out that this custom is found in Jiujiang, Ruichang and Hubei Wuxue and Daye in Jiangxi, which means to drive away rats, but this custom is now little known.
In order to confirm this information, the volunteer "BMW" contacted the local people in Chaisang District (where the Zhuling Mine is located) to "become a person" (net name), and learned that there was indeed a special railway in the Zhuling Mine, which was the ore base of Nangang Steel, but at present, this railway line has been dismantled. "Becoming a human being" also found out in the Zhuling Mine that a family had lost a child surnamed "Huang" that year. The family's situation is very similar to Ouyang Feng's description, but due to the other party's strong defensiveness, they are reluctant to disclose too much information.
Feng Hui Lu turned and stepped on the way home to confirm that he had found his hometown in his memory
In order to dispel the other party's concerns, the volunteers drove more than 200 kilometers to the place where Ouyang Feng was suspected of being lost, to verify the situation and finally helped Ouyang Feng find his family.
In Chaisang District, volunteers met Ouyang Feng's brother. According to his brother's recollection, Ouyang Feng was lost from home because of naughtiness. Unfortunately, Ouyang Feng's father died in 1998. After Ouyang Feng went missing, his family published a search notice through television in 1969, and Ouyang Feng's mother has been depressed since because of the disappearance of her son. For more than 50 years, Ouyang Feng's mother recognized multiple "sons", and her disappointment again and again crushed her, and her health deteriorated. In 2018, Ouyang Feng's mother passed away with regret.
The volunteers and Ouyang Feng's brother came to the foot of Lushan Mountain with the map that had been sealed for more than 50 years, and found that the homes, mines, trains, railway tracks and the "small enclosure" where he and his friends often played together on the map of Ouyang Feng, and all the memories were so consistent with the scene.
Ouyang Feng climbed the wrong train away from home for decades because he was a child, and he treasured his memory, and his father's distant back and the wheel that flew away from the dust were pains that he could not talk about for more than 50 years. The hope that was ignited again and again accompanied by countless disappointments did not crush him, but only made him more and more frustrated and courageous.
With the arrival of a DNA test sheet, he returned to the foot of Lushan Mountain, which grew up with the sound of frogs and cicadas, which was the home he wanted to find in his dreams. After more than 50 years of struggle and thoughts, Ouyang Feng did not dare to imagine that he could return to the courtyard where he grew up in this life, and he could not believe that the day he went back was his 60th birthday. This time, he not only found his hometown, but also found himself. At 10:30 a.m. on March 27, Ouyang Feng, who finally returned to his hometown in Chaisang District, Jiujiang City, hugged his brothers tightly and cried silently. "My father has always been a more serious person, and I have never seen him so sad and happy." Ouyang Yizhang said that his father finally found his hometown, he is also relieved to be able to fulfill his father's wishes, he is very happy, he is also very grateful to the volunteers of the "Baby Homecoming" volunteer association who have been helping them in the process of searching for relatives.