On December 2, 2016, I accompanied Zhou Yong to a middle school in the suburbs to participate in a donation. As the principal spoke, I kept looking at the students in the audience. They are all tired, they don't even have the energy to whisper, and they don't look like junior high school students who eat well and sleep well. I didn't realize the school's secrets at the time.

The donation originated from Zhou Yong's mother, who is a Buddhist and often does good deeds. I heard a friend say that there is a school in Yan City for migrant children, and the children who go to school in it are all migrant children whose family conditions are not very good, so she was kind-hearted and asked Zhou Yong to come over and donate 200,000 yuan to improve the children's food.

At 10 a.m. on December 2, Zhou Yong and I drove south for more than three hours before finally arriving at our destination.

This school is easy to recognize, and adult men can step over the earthen wall in one step, and make an opening in the north direction, and the name of the school is written in chalk on the left side of the mouth - Yuxing Middle School for Migrant Children.

The headmaster was a man who looked to be in his fifties and was already bald. He stood at the door to greet us, shook our hands and showed us around the campus.

When we arrived, we were in time for class. Junior high school students in gray and white school uniforms walk on the dirt playground, and a teacher maintains order. On the right side of the playground is an open-air toilet, and several girls more than a meter tall line up at the door of the toilet. Zhou Yong and I went into the men's toilet and took a look, and the floor was black soaked with urine stains.

On the left side of the playground is a two-story school building, and on the right side of the second floor the window is broken and wrapped in plastic sheeting. On the left side of the building is a blackboard with the outstanding students of the last week written on it, and on the right side is a red chalk written "Study hard, go up every day". In front of the teaching building, there is a three- or four-meter-long wooden flagpole, which is a little crooked, and the national flag floating on it is a bit old.

Entering from the main entrance of the school building, there are twelve classrooms on the first floor and dormitories on the second floor. Next to the school building is a large simple room-like cafeteria. According to the principal, their school is all-inclusive.

After chatting with the principal for a while, he said that he would use the recess time to hold a donation ceremony. Zhou Yong strongly objected, but the principal said that he had already said it to the teachers and students: "The children know it, even if they don't give me face, they should be given face, right?" ”

Zhou Yong had no choice but to agree.

During recess exercises, the children stood in the playground, and after doing radio gymnastics, the principal climbed the simple iron platform in front of the simple flagpole, took the loudspeaker and said a bunch of words of thanks for the donation, and then asked Zhou Yong to also come to the stage to say a few words. There was weak applause from the audience, and Zhou Yong walked up to the stage and said two words: I hope to improve the food and let the students make up for their physical growth.

Before Zhou Yong finished speaking, a boy below fainted to the ground with a "plop". A few classmates next to him drove him back to his dormitory.

The principal exchanged a few words with a teacher and told us, "It's okay, the child is just a little tired, let's continue." Then he took the horn and continued to talk about donations.

The boy's fainting reminded me that something was wrong in the audience—every student seemed extraordinarily weak. No one whispered, no one fussed, yawned incessantly – it was so abnormal, not at all like a teenage junior high school student.

According to the principal, the school homework is not heavy, and the lights go out early every day, so you should never be so tired. This is a boarding school, and most of the parents of the students live at the interface between urban and rural areas or on the construction site. Except for a very small number of students who are day students, the rest are dormitory. If there is something unusual about the child, it is difficult for the family to notice. I decided to find an opportunity to ask if there was any abuse in the form of corporal punishment or forcing them to work in order to make a profit for the school.

It was almost 11:30 a.m. when the principal finished speaking. He dismissed the students and invited Zhou Yong and I to the school cafeteria for dinner, saying that today he specially told the canteen master to raise the food standard. The "high standard" lunch was lamb soup and pies, which was quite delicious. I quickly ate two of them, gave Zhou Yong a look, and told him to talk to the principal first, and I will go to the toilet.

Zhou Yong dragged the principal to chat, and I went out to the toilet. Outside the men's restroom, a short boy with glasses is queuing.

I stepped forward and asked him, "Classmate, when you go out for exercise today, I see that you are all a little tired, have you held a sports meeting these days?" ”

He said no, he just hadn't slept well in the past two days. I asked him why he hadn't slept well. He snorted a few times, saying that he just hadn't slept well, and then said that he had something, turned around and trotted away.

I asked five more children, three of whom did not say anything, and two who also said that they had not slept well, but would not tell me why. It's also weird that the whole school didn't sleep well.

Seeing that I couldn't ask anything, I went back to the school cafeteria. Zhou Yong and the principal were still chatting, so I sat down and interjected: "I went to the toilet just now, and I heard a few children chatting and saying that they didn't sleep well at night, is the school holding any activities?" ”

The principal took a sip of mutton soup and denied it: "I made trouble in the dormitory at night, and I didn't sleep well." ”

I couldn't get any useful news at school, so I had to drive out of the school with Zhou Yong. At the intersection, I asked Zhou Yong to stop.

He stopped the car: "Brother Xu, you gave me a look just now and asked me to drag the principal, do you want to do it?" "I told him what I thought, and said that something wasn't quite right with the students here, and I wanted to investigate why.

Zhou Yong nodded: "Okay, where do we start?" ”

I pointed to the kiosk at the intersection and said I was going to buy a pack of cigarettes first. Zhou Yong took out a cigarette from the storage box and said, "I bought it, I still have it here." ”

I said, "Can you use your brain, am I here to buy cigarettes?" Let's start with the commissary. ”

This kind of commissary is common in the urban-rural area, and the boss is always well-informed

The owner of the commissary at the entrance of the school usually has a few well-connected students and teachers, and he knows all kinds of things that happen in the school. They often have a good relationship with the "gangsters" in the school. When I was in middle school, the "gangsters" in the school would leave some inconvenient fighting utensils at the commissary in front of the school. Some commissaries will even sell these things directly to students, and there are fights or something in the school, and the commissary owner knows about it earlier than anyone else.

We pulled over and walked into the kiosk. A middle-aged woman in a floral coat is sitting at the cash register at the door, watching TV. Seeing me and Zhou Yong, she stood up and asked what we wanted.

We bought two packs of the most expensive cigarettes, and when we paid the money, I accosted her: "Sister, let me ask you something, I have a relative who works in Beijing, and his child wants to go to school." I think this school is boarding, I think it's quite suitable, is it easy to get into? This school. ”

The hostess said that it must be no problem, let me just bring the child directly. I asked her if she needed the "five certificates", and she said no.

Zhou Yong interjected next to him at this time: "Brother Xu, is this school okay?" I don't think this child has any energy, is the accommodation condition too poor? ”

I turned to look at the proprietress and asked her if that was the case. She said: "No, there are two female students who haven't been back to school for two days, and last night the school organized students to look around and find them in the middle of the night." ”

Zhou Yong asked her why she didn't call the police.

The proprietress shook her head: "What kind of police!" The parents of the children here generally work in the city, and many of them work with the construction team. Today in Yan City, tomorrow may go somewhere else. The child was fine the day before and did not come to school the next day, and some of them were normal. ”

I asked her if the school had asked the parents, and the proprietress shook her head and said she didn't know. When asked about the names of the two girls, she knew - one was named Meng Qiuyue and the other was Lin Huan, and the two were from the same dormitory.

When we returned to the car, Zhou Yong lit a cigarette: "Brother Xu, why don't you call the police?" I didn't answer him directly, I only asked him if he knew what the "five certificates" were.

He shook his head and said he didn't know, and I explained it to him - children from other places need five documents to go to school in Yan City. They are: 1. Proof of local employment by parents or other legal guardians of school-age children, 2. Proof of actual residence in the local area, 3. Household registration book of the whole family, 4. Proof of local residence, 5. Certificate of no guardianship in the local area issued by the sub-district office or township people's government where the household registration is located. If you don't have these five certificates, you won't be granted a school registration at all. In addition to this, the various districts of Yan City have different requirements, and only if these conditions are met, can they go to school in the city.

This school does not need "five certificates", does not need other additional conditions, and it is impossible to give school registration. In other words, this is a "black middle school".

To confirm this speculation, I logged on to the official website of the Yan Municipal Education Commission to check if there was such a school – and found nothing.

Zhou Yong: "What the hell, there is still a black one in the school?" ”

I said, "Of course there is, and I guess your mom will have to run down the drain." ”

I had read a feature article about a school for migrant children. Many of these schools do not have the qualifications of private schools, and can only be regarded as "black schools". A few years ago, Yan City once conducted a strict inspection, and 24 schools were ordered to be closed and demolished.

Many people do this kind of school, not for public welfare, but for profit. Treat the school as an industry, and according to the article, after deducting expenses, you can make a profit of two or three hundred thousand yuan a year. Coupled with Zhou Yong's donation of 200,000 yuan, this year's profit is estimated to exceed 500,000 yuan.

Zhou Yong scolded: "That's why they didn't call the police!" ”

I nodded, if the school called the police, it was very likely that the government would find out that it lacked qualifications and then be banned. If you don't call the police or notify your parents, the two girls may have been lost, or they may have just gone somewhere else with their parents. In the end, even if they really lost it, the worst result was that the school was closed, so they didn't choose to call the police.

Zhou Yong was indignant: "It's so dark! The proprietress of the commissary should also call the police, why don't these people have any sympathy at all! ”

I said that the surrounding businesses all depend on this school, and if the school is gone, they don't have to make money.

The main thing now is to find out the whereabouts of those two girls, so that nothing really happens.

Some young people like to spend time in the billiard room

Zhou Yong and I got out of the car and walked around the school. It's a remote place, and there are basically no people except for a few small restaurants and stationery stores for students. Walk straight along the commissary to the east, about more than 100 meters, there is a small restaurant, in addition to the sign of the restaurant, there is also a small sign next to it, which reads: The first floor, billiard hall.

According to my experience, the billiard hall near the school is generally a gathering place for "gangsters" on campus. I discussed it with Zhou Yong and decided to go in and have a look. "Gangsters" are generally people who don't follow the rules of the school, and it is much easier to get a gag from them than it is to ask for information from ordinary students.

Zhou Yong and I entered from the restaurant, went down the stairs on the side, and entered the billiard hall.

The billiard hall was dark and filled with the smell of smoke, the dim light bulbs flickering on and off, and the pungent smell of cheap smoke combined with the rotten damp smell caused by the lack of light made me want to vomit. There were only three billiard tables in the billiard hall, but it was crowded with dozens of people, three adults, but most of them were school students.

There was a bar in the southeast corner of the billiard room, and the bar had a drink list with some drinks that I couldn't read at all. The most expensive wine on it is called "-If you can control °C", 19 yuan. A few boys and girls with pictures on their school uniforms ordered drinks and gathered around the bar to talk and laugh loudly, eight out of ten sentences with dirty words. The boys around the billiard table basically have a cigarette in their hands, holding the cigarette and squinting when hitting the ball.

Those three adults have a very "big brother" style. They occupied the relatively new billiard table in the innermost corner, and hugged the girl who was much younger than themselves. Several boys gathered around and clapped as they entered the cave.

Zhou Yong: "Brother Xu, why do I think we are so out of place?" ”

Before he could answer, one of the three adults in the innermost part walked over in a black tweed coat: "Are the brothers here to play ball, or do you want to do something else?" ”

I said I wanted to find two girls, Meng Qiuyue and Lin Huan, I don't know if they know each other.

He said that he knew, and turned around to ask a "little brother" who looked like a student, if he knew where Meng Qiuyue and Lin Huan were.

The "little brother" said: "I don't know, those two girls haven't been at school for the past two days." ”

"Black tweed" nodded, facing me and Zhou Yong: "Dude, change the two." I remember they had a good dormitory, and it was very well developed. Or when you get out of school, you take a look at the school gate, and I'll give you a line if you like it. ”

Zhou Yong was just about to speak, but I stopped him: "Just the one you said about sleeping together." ”

He said yes and asked us if we would play once or for a night, 500 yuan at a time, and take away 1,000 yuan for a night, but we had to send people back the next day. I asked Zhou Yong to transfer 1,500 yuan to him and take it away.

At 4:30 p.m., school ends. The little brother of the black tweed brought a girl in a school uniform and motioned for her to come with us.

Zhou Yong and I took her and went to the nearest mall for dinner first. She was so nervous that she never spoke again except for saying "yes" when she was asked what she was eating.

After eating, we took her back to the car and told her not to be nervous. We won't do anything to her, we just want to ask about Meng Qiuyue and Lin Huan. She nodded, and Zhou Yong and I asked a few questions separately. I soon found out that she preferred to answer Zhou Yong's questions than me. So I stopped talking and motioned for Zhou Yong to ask her questions.

She is indeed Meng Qiuyue and Lin Huan's roommate. She has a good relationship with Meng Qiuyue, but her relationship with Lin Huan is not very good. Zhou Yong asked her why, and she said that she and Meng Qiuyue were both killed by Lin Huan.

Lin Huan has a boyfriend in the class. When he was just in the second year of junior high school, this boy was blackmailed by several "gangsters" in other classes, and was beaten several times because he had no money. Later, the boy began to hang out with the people who beat him, and he didn't do well in class, so he fooled around outside the school every day. In order to improve his status, the boy drunk his girlfriend Lin Huan and dedicated it to the "big brother" he recognized in the billiard hall.

After a while, Lin Huan took advantage of her birthday to invite her and Meng Qiuyue to go out to sing, and then drugged the drink. After she and Meng Qiuyue were raped, they were severely beaten and photographed to coerce them into prostitution. It's been more than four months now.

Zhou Yong: "The guy in the billiard hall told me that he can help you get started with any girl in your school, is what he said true?" ”

The girl said it was possible. There are more than 600 people in the school, and about 20 of them are his younger brothers.

Zhou Yong wondered what the characteristics of these bullied students were, and how they were so easy to bully. I have listed five types of students who are vulnerable to bullying at school that others have summarized:

1. Jealous type: because of good grades, wealthy family, good looks, etc., being jealous and harmed.

2. Self-esteem: arrogant attitude, looking down on others, exaggerated speech and behavior, easy to have disputes and conflicts with classmates.

3. Low self-esteem: Feeling that you are weak, clumsy, or sickly, and are easily bullied by your classmates.

4. Lonely type: going to and from school alone, going alone, easy to become a victim alone.

5. Good bullying type: swallow your anger in everything and do not pursue it.

But if you think about it, these five basically cover all types of students – if I had to say, everyone in the school could be bullied.

Zhou Yong nodded: "Will the disappearance of Meng Qiuyue and Lin Huan have anything to do with the big brothers in the billiard hall?" ”

I don't think so, when they were mentioned that day, the people in the billiard hall behaved very naturally. And the "leading brother" also asked the younger brother first, only to know that they were not at school.

The girl recalled that in the two days that Meng Qiuyue and Lin Huan had been missing, there was only one abnormal place. On the first day, Lin Huan posted a photo of himself wearing revealing clothes on Weibo, asking if he was beautiful. I asked her to find out the message and show it to us, and it turned out that Lin Huan's account had been blocked.

And the people Lin Huan and Meng Qiuyue have been in contact with recently, except for classmates, teachers, and people in the billiard hall, there are only prostitutes. Meng Qiuyue mentioned it once, and recently a regular customer often came to her, but she had never seen what the girl looked like.

After chatting, at about 9 o'clock, Zhou Yong and I drove the girl back to school, and then parked the car outside the billiard hall.

Around 11 o'clock, people began to come out of the billiard hall in twos and threes, some to school, some to other places. But the "black tweed" never appeared.

Zhou Yong waited a little impatiently: "Brother Xu, how late did you say he had to stay in the billiard hall?" ”

I didn't answer him. More than 30 people walked just now, which is about the same as the total number of people in the billiard hall in the afternoon, and there has been no one for half an hour, could this billiard hall be opened by "black tweed"?

We got out of the car, through the side door of the small restaurant, and walked down to the billiard hall - the "black tweed" was pulling down the iron door in the billiard hall door, ready to close.

I stepped forward and dragged the iron door, and he looked at me, and was about to speak, when I pushed him through the door and lowered my head and got inside. Zhou Yong followed me, got in, and closed the iron door.

"Black Butto" is a little confused: "What, the brothers are not satisfied?" ”

I said, "Indeed, we like Meng Qiuyue." I heard from her roommate that she may have been taken away by a regular customer, and I want to ask you if you have the contact information of this regular customer. ”

He said: "I have the contact information of regular customers, but I can't just give them to people." ”

Zhou Yong took out the 5,000 yuan we took on the road and handed it to him: "5,000, we want a phone number." ”

He thought about it, took the money, took out his phone, and read us a phone number.

I wrote down the phone, stepped forward, snatched back the 5,000 yuan in his hand, and handed it back to Zhou Yong: "Call your cousin to call the police." ”

"Black Tweed" turned around to get a billiard cue and wanted to fight. I went up and grabbed his coat, and Zhou Yong turned in front of him to block the way.

When the police took away the "black tweed", Zhou Yong and I went to the police station to make a record. When I came out of the police station, I sent the phone number of the prostitute to the private detective Lao Kong and asked him to help check it. Not long after, Lao Kong returned me an address, the place that this person rented.

Zhou Yong and I drove to the community and arrived at the community. I said go upstairs first, pretend that the courier knocks on the door, and if he doesn't open the door and come out, he will call the police directly. I hid by the door, Zhou Yong held the cardboard box from the car, knocked on the door, the people in the house asked who it was, Zhou Yong said it was the express.

A slightly chubby young man opened the door, and Zhou Yong threw the cardboard box on the ground. He didn't see it right, and as soon as he closed the door hard, Zhou Yong stretched out his foot to jam the door, and the two of us worked together to open the door, and then he pushed us away and ran out.

Keep yourself safe and don't just open the door to the courier

Zhou Yong wanted to chase after him, but I grabbed him: "He can't run away from the house he rents under his real name, let's go into the house and take a look." "On the sofa in the living room sat a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl watching TV. I said, "Are you Meng Qiuyue?" ”

She nodded, and I asked her where Lin Huan was. She pointed to the back room, and I asked Zhou Yong to guard the door and entered the bedroom. A poorly dressed girl was taped to her mouth and tied to the bed, with bruises from the beatings.

I took off my coat and put it over her, unwrapped the tape from her mouth, told her not to be afraid, and said that I had come to save her. She cried out with a "wow", and her snot flowed into her mouth: "Don't let Meng Qiuyue touch my phone, don't let her take my phone to send photos." ”

I asked her what she meant.

At this time, Meng Qiuyue came in with a black mobile phone and shook it: "Don't shout, I've already sent your photos to everyone." ”

Zhou Yong and I couldn't deal with this mess, so we had to call the police again and make a record again.

Meng Qiuyue and Lin Huan were both taken away by the police, and the prostitute who helped Meng Qiuyue was estimated to not be able to escape for too long. As for how to deal with it next, we don't know now.

Two days later, Zhou Yong and I went back to Yuxing Middle School to take a look, and the school's underworld forces were swept away. Even the school itself no longer exists, with locked gates and seals, dismantling written on the walls, and shops at the crossings posted for sale.

Every time he encounters this kind of gloomy thing, Zhou Yong will always be unhappy for a few days. I usually take him to drink, eat and eat, and enlighten him – of course, he pays for it.

That evening, we had a barbecue. After dinner, the two of us lit cigarettes, strolled around the street to eat, and then saw a movie advertisement on the bus stop.

I tried to enlighten Zhou Yong and said, "Don't be upset, we have done a good thing this time, so that those bullied children will not ruin their whole lives because of this." ”

He nodded: "Brother Xu, I was just about to talk to you about this, let's go to the movies tomorrow." I asked why.

He pointed to the advertisement and said: "My mother also invested some money in this movie to increase the box office for her." ”