On October 26, Jinsong Village, Hexing Township, Zhongjiang County, Sichuan. The 27-year-old Leng Wenbing returned to his hometown more than four years after being taken away by Somali pirates. Beijing News reporter Liu Ziheng photo
November 11, 2016, the 13th anniversary of the founding of the Beijing News. In 13 years, Fenghua Zhengmao set off again.
This year, the Beijing News recorded millions of faces. They are either the "two-child mothers" under the influence of national conditions and the peasant women who used their own power to pursue the murder for 17 years; or the anti-narcotics police who stood by the border after the Mekong operation, entrepreneurs who changed the world at the top of innovation, deep in the mountains The children of Cliff Village; or the disaster-stricken villagers of Daxian Village, the prospective college students who died after telecommunications fraud...
In the noisy and complicated era, it is more necessary to have the original beliefs and ideals, love and conscience for the world.
On the 13th anniversary of the Beijing News, we launched the "2016 Faces" series of reports. Looking back at the helplessness and pain, happiness and joy of these news figures. The land under their feet and the light on their faces are carved with the imprint of the times, which symbolizes the power to advance.
Faces of this issue: hostage Leng Wenbing
text | Beijing News reporter Liu Ziheng editor | Hu Jie
beauty editor | Gu Lexiao Guo Yi proofreading | Lu Aiying
► On October 26, Leng Wenbing returned home the second day. In the early morning, the sun has not yet come out, and the coolness is hidden in the humid air and penetrates into the human body. It was late autumn in Zhongjiang County, Sichuan Province, and Leng Wenbing hadn't experienced it for a long time.
He was busy cleaning the room. There were some tables and baskets in the hall, and the baskets were filled with dishes and chopsticks. These bowls and chopsticks were used for the banquet the day before, when relatives sat at three tables to welcome him back from Somalia.
"The villagers laughed at me, saying that he could not come back, so he came back, I must put wine." Leng Wenbing's father Leng Yan, who had grown up for a long time, took a breath.
In 2006, the 17-year-old Leng Wenbing moved away from home and chose to be a seaman. He did not want to go away for ten years.
In March 2012, the Omani Taiwanese fishing boat "NAHAM3" was hijacked by Somali pirates. The Taiwanese captain died on the spot, and 29 crew members including Leng Wenbing became hostages.
1671 In the past few days, Leng Wenbing and other crew members were threatened with starvation, disease and violence at the guns of Somali pirates.
Until October 22 this year, after many efforts, all the 26 surviving crew members were rescued safely. Among the
Chinese crew, one stayed in Kenya for treatment, and the other nine arrived in Guangzhou in the early morning of October 25 after an 11-hour long-distance flight.
At noon on October 25, Leng Wenbing returned to his home after ten years of absence.
On October 26th, Leng Wenbing sat on the roof of his house to peel onions (WeChat ID: boyangcongpeople) and said: "When I get home, I feel relaxed, at ease, and free. This feeling is completely different from the original feeling. In this life, ( This feeling) I’ve never had it before, and I probably won’t be there anymore. "
Return
Two hundred-meter-long firecrackers rang at the entrance of the village, and the red paper was scattered by the power of gunpowder and fell back to the ground. Turn the village road into a red carpet.
Leng Wenbing got out of the car and hugged Leng Yanchang tightly.
"Dad, I'm back."
Leng Yanchang waited for his son's words for ten years.
has been away from his hometown for many years. For most of the time, Leng Wenbing lived a life in isolation overseas. After he returned home, he sighed at the changes in front of him, and things that were familiar to him seemed new to him.
What interests him most is the mobile phone. This electronic product, known as an external organ, has profoundly changed the lives of modern people. Leng Wenbing's cousin gave him a smart phone. He is attracted by all kinds of dazzling functions, but he is like an old man who is derailed from the times. Not only is he not able to master the complicated technology, but he can't even remember the basic operations of taking pictures and storing phones.
"It has changed too much." Standing on the roof of his house, Leng Wenbing pointed to his feet, "It used to be farmland", "There", he pointed to the mountain next to the village, "There used to be houses on it."
PresentThe house, he also moved in for the first time.
When he left, his home was still a dirt house. After the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the old house became a dilapidated one. Leng Yanchang built this new house. The 49,000 yuan of the house was paid back by Leng Wenbing as a seaman for three years.
Leng Wenbing could have come back to build a house with his father, but the captain promised him a salary increase, and Leng Wenbing signed another three-year contract. In the third year, his ship encountered Somali pirates.
went to sea
When Leng Wenbing was two years old, his mother left this home. Everyone in the village knew that there was no other reason, just because Leng Yan grew up too poor.
Leng Yan grew up illiterate, busy farming, farming slack hard work, hard to support a family. When he was working, the young Leng Wenbing had no one to care about. "Bingbing was naughty when he was a child, and he didn't read it until the fourth grade." Leng Yanchang recalled.
A poor family needs labor. Leng Wenbing went out to work at the age of 15 to build a railway in Shandong. When
was 17, he had plans to go to sea. "At that time, our TV station ran a lot of advertisements, so there were a lot of people going out to run boats in Zhongjiang."
Leng Wenbing had never seen the sea and did not know what the career of a seaman meant. He only knows that his family is poor and he needs to earn money, while seafarers can save as much as they earn.
According to the advertisement, he found a local labor service company. After nearly a month of physical training, Leng Wenbing left Zhongjiang in April 2006. The group of 7 Sichuanese went to Guangzhou, then Shenzhen, transited through Hong Kong, Japan, and finally came to Fiji Island.
This is a world-famous holiday destination, the islands are like pearls, and the sea water is like gems.
Here, Leng Wenbing saw the real sea for the first time. "The boat floats in the sea like a leaf." The fishing boat "Naham3"
is parked here, beside the clear waters of Fiji, with the shadow of the coconut trees in the background. At one point, this 400-ton fishing boat left a very good impression on Leng Wenbing. The newly painted white paint of
makes the fishing boat brand new. There is a freezer on the fishing boat, which can store food for more than one year, and the water generator can produce fresh water. These are all necessary conditions to ensure deep-sea fishing.
But the beautiful appearance deceived Leng Wenbing. "After running the boat for almost a year, I saw the information on the ship and realized that it was a Japanese scrapped ship."
6 fellows who were traveling with Leng Wenbing went on board with him. The crew of this ship comes from all over the world, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Taiwan.
"Naham3" drove out of the harbour and moved slowly to the depths of the vast ocean. In about 20 days, the fishing boat arrived at the operation area to catch bigeye.
Leng Wenbing started to collect the glass fleece fishing line, which was a skill he learned when he was training physical fitness.
They first fished in the Pacific Ocean and then in the Indian Ocean. Working fifteen or six hours a day can catch fish ranging from half a ton to several tons. They enter Hong Kong once in a month or two at the shortest time, and the longest time is 28 months.
At around 5 o'clock on October 25, nine Chinese compatriots who were rescued after being kidnapped by Somali pirates arrived safely at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Picture from Xinhua News Agency
was hijacked
to live at sea for three years. Leng Wenbing became an experienced old crew member. He is technically versatile, knows how to hook, close the net, kill fish, and sail.
In 2009, his three-year contract expired. At this time Leng Wenbing could have returned to his hometown, but after he negotiated with the captain, the captain agreed to give him a salary increase, gradually increasing from US$200 to US$800 per month. Leng Wenbing decided to work for another three years. The old crew of
left, and the new crew added that "Naham 3" set off from Mauritius to continue its fishing mission.
March 27, 2012, Leng Wenbing clearly remembers this day. At that time, he was sailing on the high seas of the Indian Ocean in a fishing boat, and there were no big waves in the early morning. The fishing boat on
that day caught about 5 tons of fish, which is a pretty good harvest. After he gave the account book to the captain, he went to the room to rest.
His room is not far behind the cab, it is a double room. Roommate Song Jiangxing got hooked for fishing, making him smelly, and was taking a bath. Leng Wenbing lay on the boat, going to bed after watching TV for a while.
is at this moment, Song Jiangxing is in a hurryEntering the room, he told Leng Wenbing that there were pirates outside.
was floating on the sea. Leng Wenbing had long heard stories of pirates. He did not believe that such a thing would happen to him. What's more, "they were not in the waters of Somalia at the time, seven or eight hundred nautical miles away from Somalia."
However, Song Jiangxing didn't seem to be deceiving, and vaguely heard the sound of "Papa Papa" coming from outside.
is the sound of a gun shot, and the bullet hits the iron plate of the ship, crisp and rapid. On the sea surface, two speedboats are approaching the "Naham 3". When they got close, Leng Wenbing saw that there were about five or six people on each speedboat. The fishing boat
did not have any protective measures. After the speedboat caught up with the fishing boat, the pirates threw a special iron ladder with a hook on the front section to hook the fishing boat.
The four pirates did not encounter any obstacles and easily boarded the fishing boat. The crew members of
didn't have decent weapons, they could only watch the pirates get on the ship and hurried to hide.
Leng Wenbing ran back to the room, locked the door tightly, and found a 30-centimeter-long fish-killing knife in the room and held it firmly in his hand.
The door of the room was smashed open. The Somali pirates were standing at the door. They were tall and thin, dressed in dirty short sleeves, holding AK47s in their hands, saying things they didn’t understand, and gesticulating to ask people in the room to come out, "They I used a gun at us. I couldn’t help it, so I threw the knife.”
Taiwanese captain Zhong Huide is about 60 years old. In Leng Wenbing’s opinion, he is usually a drunkard. He drinks whiskey all day. The crew always think he is drunk than sober. Time is good. That day, Zhong Huide instinctively tried to resist under the pirate's muzzle, but at the moment he raised the stool, a bullet penetrated his throat. The
pirates took about two hours to control the entire ship. Several of them used guns to watch over the crew, while the rest searched the cabin and looted all valuables.
was under the guns of the pirates, and the fishing boat drove towards Somalia and arrived ashore in 40 to 50 hours.
Leng Wenbing who came home sat in the yard and smoked. After being away from his hometown for many years, when he returned home, he sighed the changes before him. Beijing News reporter Liu Ziheng photo
Life in prison
After being kidnapped, Leng Wenbing suffered from insomnia for many days. Fear and despair eroded his spirit. After
was allowed to talk to his family for the first time, Leng Wenbing called his cousin and told him that he had been kidnapped by pirates. The cousin didn't believe it at first.
Leng Wenbing cried out on the phone. Cousin told him, don't do stupid things, be calm.
recalled that Leng Wenbing passed through the difficult days. When he was not talking to people, he recalled his hometown, and he was full of people and things in his hometown.
"I have always been thinking about things in my home, my father, my relatives and friends, and these neighbors, as well as the place where I lived, and the characters in this scene, which are memories. All the memories are in it. Just thinking about these things over and over again." About a year after
was kidnapped, Leng Wenbing had a plan to escape. In the first year when
came to Somalia, the fishing boats were docked on the beach, and the crew still lived on the boats, concentrated on the deck during the day, and went to sleep in the room at night.
One night, Leng Wenbing found a speedboat docked behind the fishing boat. The speedboat and the fishing boat were connected with a rope. He found a blind spot and jumped into the sea when guards were unprepared.
He broke the rope and wanted to escape by speedboat. Unexpectedly, the speedboat was too light and the rope was taken away by the waves as soon as it was untied.
Leng Wenbing didn't want to lose the chance to escape. He ignored the danger and swam desperately until he was exhausted before he went ashore.
Walking in the desert, Leng Wenbing, who had not eaten or drink for more than ten hours, gradually exhausted his physical energy. When he met a shepherd, he stepped forward to beg for water.
"The host looks good, but he did not expect that he took out the AK and called the pirates." After Leng Wenbing was captured, the pirates beat him severely. The butt of the gun opened flesh on his forehead, and a scar can be seen today, from the hairline to the eyebrows.
also started from this time, the hostages were successively transferred from the fishing boat to the forest on the shore.
The conditions in the woods are much worse than those in fishing boats. A piece of plastic sheeting is tied to a few trees as a resting place. Pirates are vigilant and hostageHe has no permanent residence and is frequently moved between the woods. He stays in one place for half a year and only a few days. After the food stored on the
fishing boat was eaten up, the food for the hostages became very poor. They had two meals a day, with batter in the morning and red bean rice in the evening. They were too small to eat, so they caught some wild animals to satisfy their hunger.
"Squirrels, birds, snakes, cats, but later the pirates would not allow us to eat. They told us that there are too many squirrel viruses."
In the eyes of the hostages, the pirates regard the hostages as wealth that can be realized. The bottom line of this wealth preservation is to let the hostage live, so this has become the only way for the hostage to check and balance the pirates.
"Pirates are uncles. They treat us as their nanny, and we want to cook for them." Leng Wenbing said to Peeling Onions (WeChat ID: boyangcongpeople). Normally, the hostages would obediently agree to them out of fear. , But once, a Cambodian crew member refused the request of the pirates. After the argument, the Cambodian crew member was shot in the leg, which aroused the anger of the crew members. They went on a hunger strike to protest such violence and demanded that the injured be treated as soon as possible.
Finally, the hunger strike was exchanged for the pirates' compromise.
unknown diseases are also threatening the lives of hostages.
On Christmas Day the second year of being detained, a Henan crew member named Wang Zhao died suddenly. In just 25 hours, his neck swelled first, then the swelling spread to his hands and feet, and then he fainted continuously. Until death. The same symptoms of
appeared on another Indonesian crew member for one day, and he never woke up again.
October 26th is Leng Wenbing's father's birthday, and Leng Wenbing, who arrived home the day before, caught up to celebrate his father's birthday. Beijing News reporter Liu Ziheng photo
Birthday
On October 24, Leng Yanchang saw his son in a dream. Leng Wenbing told him that he ran away, but after he ran to the house on the mountain, he was still being chased by someone and couldn’t run away. .
Leng Yanchang woke up, the room was pitch black and there was no son.
It has been a long time since Leng Wenbing was kidnapped by Somali pirates in 2013. Leng Yanchang has not dreamed of his son, nor has he heard of him.
In the days when Leng Wenbing was kidnapped, Leng Yan grew up living in the newly built house, but he did not have many happy memories. The new house of
is empty so far. The furniture is pitiful. There is only a square table in the hall, a bed and a wardrobe in the master bedroom, and the walls are exposed concrete without any decoration.
With the gradual increase in age, no one is willing to hire Leng Yanchang to work. He has a handful of income. He can receive 105 yuan per month for the subsistence allowance in 2015, and his sister gives 20 yuan per month, plus three points. There is no other crops on the ground.
Because of poverty, he did not have an electric light for a long time, and only lighted a dim kerosene lamp at night. In fact, at that time, he basically had nothing to do at night, "After dinner, I will go to bed."
Leng Yanchang also learned to eat only two meals a day, "No breakfast, one lunch at night." Let’s have a meal in the evening.”
During the New Year’s holidays, Leng Yanchang’s saddest time is when he sits alone in a dark house, holding a photo of Leng Wenbing when he was one year old. In the photo, his son is wearing a small hat and is dumb. Toot is very cute. Leng Yanchang thought while watching, crying while thinking.
This is the only photo left by Leng Wenbing at that time. Leng Yanchang put it on the bedside at night and put it in his pocket during the day. But when he went to the market last winter, the thief slashed his pocket and stole the 180 yuan he had saved from food and frugality, as well as the picture.
Leng Yanchang was sad for a long time, but no one knew that Leng Wenbing would come back one day. On the other side of the
world, the 26 hostages of "Naham3" have received no less than 30 notices of their release. They were ecstatic when they first knew "to be released", but then nothing happened. After that, the hostages felt that this was a deliberate trick by the pirates.
On October 21, 2016, as usual many times, the hostages were again notified by the pirates to "let you home".
"I can't believe it. I thought it was a lie to us again." Leng Wenbing said to Peeling Onions (WeChat ID: boyangcongpeople). He didn't know until he stood in the Somali police station that he could really return.Home now.
The second day after Leng Wenbing returned home, it was his father's birthday. He and his father had a birthday cake together. Sitting in the crowd, Leng Yanchang said to the neighbors who came, "I'm so happy, this is my first birthday cake."
The neighbors asked Leng Yanchang if he had any birthday wishes. Leng Yan had a creamy face and grinned: "I just hope Bingbing will find a wife and give birth to a baby."
Leng Wenbing hugged his father's shoulder from behind, "There should be a birthday present, that is, I'm back, and I won’t go anymore.”
Q&A with the same question
Beijing News: How can one word or sentence describe the current state of mind?
Leng Wenbing: , let’s relax, come home, very relaxed, very at ease, and free. This feeling is completely different from the original feeling. In this life, I have never had it before, and may not be there again.
Beijing News: Are you satisfied with your current life? If there is any regret, what is it?
Leng Wenbing: can't be said to be satisfied, only in my heart, I am very relaxed.
Beijing News: What is your most urgent expectation in the future? If you first set a possible goal, what would it be?
Leng Wenbing: What will I say in the future? In the future, I will live a little more steadily and be a down-to-earth person. There is no hope or requirement. I also think more thoroughly in that place. You don't need to be too rich or need to have a good life, as long as you have food and clothing.
Beijing News: If the happiness index is 1 to 10 (from low to high), how would you rate yourself now?
Leng Wenbing: now, if you can reunite with your family, that should be 110 points.
END
peeling onions people
(WeChat ID: boyangcongpeople)
records the real and sensible life
produced by the Beijing News in-depth report department
