Chapter 6 The Youth Bound to the Execution Ground

Death penalty - these two words, when typing on the keyboard, the hands suddenly began to tremble.The ten fingers seem to be struggling in the void like the panic of a drowning man.I told the stories of the times in the world, but I have been unconsciously and as if deliberately avoiding these two bloody words; it seems that this kind of cruel telling is suitable for the underworld where the blood has cooled. Recently, the issue of whether or not to abolish the death penalty has suddenly become a hot topic among the public.Because death didn't happen around them, they didn't have to face the bleeding bullet holes; their sleeves were never stained with blood, so they felt that there would be no nightmares in this life.Regardless of whether the master kills the master or pardons, most people have no experience of discussing face-to-face with specific living and dead people, so these metaphysical debates will appear to be irrelevant to personal pain and itching.

Twenty years ago, six people who slept with me were kidnapped to the execution ground.I know their stories by heart, and everyone's struggle before execution is still vivid in my mind. In 2009, I traveled with Mr. He Weifang, a jurist. I asked him about this issue while driving—he was a scholar who advocated the abolition of the death penalty.He said that there is no research data to support the statement that "the death penalty can scare crime, and the abolition of the death penalty will increase the crime rate". He is a peer and scholar I respect, so I began to tell the following story for the first time on the way of roaming.

The No. 1 Detention Center of Wuhan Public Security Bureau is located in the back street of Baofeng Road in Hankou.This is a place that makes all the criminals in Hubei change their faces. As long as they hear that they are sent to "one", they know that the best result may be life imprisonment.The Jianghu jargon says this is the wharf of death, slowness, and nothingness. If you don't die, you have to shed a layer of skin. Many law-abiding citizens have never understood the concept of a detention center. Simply put, it is a place where suspects awaiting trial are detained.Prisoners in a cell are ten times more miserable than prisoners in a labor camp, because apart from being open to the wind for a quarter of an hour, eating, drinking, and heavy manual labor have to be carried out in a small room.It is not allowed to meet relatives and friends in the hall, nor to write letters, read books and smoke.To be precise, it is a sealed can, where everyone yearns for death and an early sentence.Human dignity and awareness of rights do not need to go to prison, they will destroy you here first.All kinds of "peek-a-boo" deaths that occurred across the country generally took place in chanting.

The No. 6 cell where I live is facing the duty room, where the most important prisoners stay, so I can get close to many death row prisoners.The area of ​​our house is about three meters wide and four meters deep. A full bunk occupies half of the room, and six people are required to sleep on it.The other half of the area is where labor washes, eats and defecates without any isolation.The toilet is a squatting pit, but it is not a flushing type, but a cold water faucet is installed half a foot above it.All the water used in the cell had to be settled in this toilet.Therefore, everyone has to do laundry, dishes, faces, showers, and flushing toilets in the squatting pit—the inmates scrub here every day as clean as a six-star hotel.

If the six people are all serious criminals, who will have the right to speak in the chant?Who will be the coolie to clean the toilet?Of course, there is a set of rules in Jianghu, which will be discussed in another article.In ordinary detention centers, most of the death row inmates are the cell bosses.But in a hospital, because there are too many death row inmates, everyone is used to it, so they have to rely on other skills. In the early winter of the 1990s, our cell had just sent away a death row prisoner, and everyone was expecting a new prisoner to wash the toilet. At this time, the iron door was opened with a "bang".

Pushing through the door was a handsome young man with no beard and fluffy lanugo.The face is very correct, with low eyebrows and pleasing to the eye, revealing purity and simplicity.She was wearing a thin shirt, but inside was a Montagut sweater.He doesn't need to speak, these old prisoners can basically tell that he is from the countryside, and he is less than twenty years old; he is definitely not a street gangster, he is very honest.Then why did he come to a horrible school?Even a petty thief and abduction can't come here, so he must have killed someone. The newcomer usually has to be interrogated by the old prisoner. He squatted down by the toilet very well, not daring to look directly at the five seniors sitting on the bed.Asked, he answered one by one humbly.His name is Luo Xiaomao (Gu Yin's real name), he is just eighteen and a half years old, and his hometown is a village in Huangpi County in the suburbs. He was arrested for murder.The old prisoner smiled and said, can you still kill people like a bear?Why did you kill, did you kill?Who did you kill?He stammered, because of the fight, he hit me and must have killed me.Ask who the other party is and why he beat you, but he suddenly started crying, crying very sadly.Everyone saw that he was indeed too young, so we didn't make things difficult for him.

Luo Xiaomao is indeed a child of a poor family, and he seems very sensible.Since I had already stayed in the cell of the sub-bureau for several months before I transferred to another school, I knew that I had to do hygiene without any guidance. Huangpi accent began to hum a ditty tune.Everyone laughed, he blushed suddenly, and stopped talking.Our manual work is pasting matchboxes, and each person has to complete 3,500 matchboxes per day, usually until dark.During the daytime, everyone was chatting and laughing, or telling each other about criminal experiences and stories about the rivers and lakes-the jargon is called "mixing", which is to pass the time.After work is over and before going to bed, it is often time for each to fall into thinking about their own destiny.I often find that Luo Xiaomao at this time will quietly cry alone at the bars.

Idle criminals like to analyze each other's cases and predict their own endings; these people who have been in the rivers and lakes for many years are almost better than legal experts.As long as you take a look at someone's indictment, you can judge the approximate sentence or life and death.Because Luo Xiaomao's indictment did not come, and he himself has always avoided detailing his case, so everyone can't guess his fate.Sometimes I tease him on purpose, saying that killing someone pays his life, he must be sentenced to death, otherwise he wouldn't be sent to a school.At first he was very confident that he was not worthy of death, but suddenly he started to cry like a child, and everyone felt sorry for him, so they couldn't bear to joke anymore.

Seeing this 18-year-old child who is about to face life and death, and gradually becoming silent and mature, I couldn't help thinking to myself: Will he really be executed?I await his indictment as eagerly as he does, because it is there that the truth of his case will be revealed to us.He must have something to hide that kept him from speaking out about his case. Before New Year's Day, he was taken out.This is the arraignment of someone from the court, and we know his indictment has arrived.Experienced prisoners said that Luo Xiaomao must be finished. Sure enough, as soon as Luo Xiaomao returned the chant, he threw himself on the bed and sobbed.Everyone didn't urge him to get up and complete the labor quota. He was used to these scenes of life and death, and no one comforted him.An old criminal took out the indictment from his pocket to read, his face changed drastically after reading it, and he circulated it to everyone—it turned out that he killed his cousin, and killed more than 30 stabs, nine of which were fatal, and the cousin was killed on the spot , that is to say, after his brother died, he at least made up a few more knives.

For such a gentle child, how much hatred must he have to kill red eyes like this without knowing how to stop.What happened between their brothers?How can he defend himself against his death? Everyone waited for him to stop crying before calling him up to eat, and then teasing him with all kinds of dirty jokes, and he finally burst into laughter.At this time, someone came up with an idea-according to your indictment, your head may be floating.Brother Ye is an ex-policeman. You'd better explain your case in detail and ask him to analyze it for you to see how you can save your head. He looked at me as if asking for help. I asked him if the family hired a lawyer. He shook his head and said that he had no mother and father had no money. Besides, he killed his cousin, so the family would definitely not hire one.The court said, let the court appoint one.

I asked again, would you like to tell us more about your case?Because details determine life and death, although we cannot save you, we may be able to help you analyze the pros and cons, teach you how to defend yourself in court, and strive for a chance of survival. He bowed his head and pondered for a long time. He knew that we sincerely wanted to help him, but he was too embarrassed to speak out. After hesitating for a while, he finally began to narrate, with tears streaming down his immature face from time to time... Luo Xiaomao lost his mother when he was young, and was sent to work with his cousin in Hankou after graduating from junior high school.My cousin was a "street ruffian" who grew up in Wuhan. At that time, he happened to open a sausage processing factory, which required a large number of meat cutters.In this way, fifteen-year-old Luo Xiaomao became a swordsman who played with knives and forks in the bloody workshop every day. Speaking of this, Luo Xiaomao still paused and told us——If you guys go out alive, don’t eat the sausages bought in the market, they are all made of dead pork.Every day, we have people go to various pig farms to buy dead pigs, because this kind of pork is cheap, and our profits are much greater. Of course, the cousin who specializes in dead pig sausages made a fortune quickly, and basically ignored the affairs of the factory, eating, drinking, and gambling outside for a long time.The sister-in-law took care of all this alone, and was exhausted every day.Luo Xiaomao often saw his sister-in-law wiping her tears secretly because she was staying at her cousin's house. He counts as a member of his own family, except for food and housing, his cousin only gives him a little pocket money.Seeing his hard work and pity, my sister-in-law always secretly bought him some clothes, shoes and socks, and tried to make him eat and drink better than other workers.It is this kindness of uncle and sister-in-law that makes this rural orphan feel some rare maternal love. A prisoner interjected and asked—is your sister-in-law beautiful?Because of his obscene expression, Luo Xiaomao, who was usually an honest child, suddenly turned his face away angrily, dropped the matchbox in his hand, and ran to the window to cry.I scolded the prisoner, then went to coax him for a long time, and then came back to talk in a low voice. I can already guess the secret behind his murder.The question is what are the details?Is it the conspiracy of the uncle and sister-in-law, or the duel between the brothers?Was it planned for a long time, or just a whim?Since it was life and death for him, I had to encourage him to continue what must have been a cruel memory for him. The sister-in-law is indeed beautiful, only ten years older than him.Because her natal family was poor, she married this upstart man who was a butcher.The cousin is neither good nor bad to him, he is just working as a long-term worker anyway.But the sister-in-law felt pain in her heart for him.When I saw his clothes were dirty, I washed them for him, and bought them for him if they were worn out.Give him a little money from his own house during the holidays, and let him go back to see his father and younger siblings.The warmth of ordinary people is just such a simple and simple cherishment, but if it is placed on a poor child like him, it is as high as the sky and as deep as the sea. The cousin came home less and less.Rich men have a place to go whoring and gambling, and having a beautiful wife at home is considered a will of success or failure.The husband and wife quarreled unavoidably because of this, and the cousin was a rude person, who would throw fists at each other if they didn't agree with each other.The sister-in-law has a delicate body and is often beaten to the point where she is covered in bruises like a panda.As a younger brother, he didn't even have the guts to persuade him to fight.Compassion and respect for my sister-in-law can only be given to a handkerchief to wipe away tears after my cousin leaves. Gradually, my sister-in-law's thousands of tender feelings were no longer placed on her own man.Whether the man came home or not, she had no intention of asking, and instead showed infinite love for this uncle who was not as weak as the crown.On a hot summer night, his sister-in-law asked him to help wipe his back after taking a bath. The ignorant he saw a woman's round body for the first time, panicked and flustered.His sister-in-law moaned comfortably from wiping, which made him lose his mind and his body began to lose shape.But this is my sister-in-law after all, how dare he have the slightest evil thought when he is not a human being.The sister-in-law couldn't help herself when she saw him stunned, so she encouraged the young woman a little more.The life-and-death struggle that night actually buried the tragedy of their life ever since. Since then, the sister-in-law has looked like new, her youthful beauty has returned to her face, and her face is no longer full of bitterness like before.And he, from the guilt he felt secretly at the beginning of the crime, to the righteous first love, has completely changed his appearance.The sister-in-law also slowly moved from the initial affair to the feeling of love.Although there is a difference of ten years in age, the 17-year-old him and his 20-year-old sister-in-law, in the world of mortals, can be called a golden boy and a jade girl, and no one can see the slightest disharmony. They fell in love like a raging fire, even during the day, he would react impulsively whenever he heard his sister-in-law's voice in the workshop full of dead pigs and bloody flesh.He is obsessed with everything about his sister-in-law like an Oedipus child. Every day after get off work, he rushes to help his sister-in-law with housework, greedily and infatuatedly squandering his youth that has just begun but will soon end. The cousin didn't notice all this, he still returned drunk occasionally, and beat and scolded his wife from time to time before walking away.The sister-in-law no longer cares about her husband's misfortune because her heart belongs to her.However, because of his early love, he felt more pity and resentment when he was healing his sister-in-law.However, the cousin is the older brother after all, the benefactor who brought him from the countryside to the city to give him a full bowl of food.Even though he has all sorts of fascinations with his sister-in-law, it is ultimately an unethical love when he speaks out.As for the sister-in-law, although she is obsessed with this healthy and pure uncle physically and mentally, but she knows that she is cheating on her, how can she be greedy for a long time.Therefore, they love each other as they love each other, but they have never discussed the destination of this life, let alone conspiring to kill their husbands and fighting each other for a different way of life. The problem was that a young boy began to entangle hatred because of love, and because of his natural fear of his cousin, this hatred had nowhere to vent, and he gradually became more reticent.Whenever his cousin came home, he avoided it as much as possible, he was afraid that his own eyes would reveal the secret. There are many things in the world that are really caused by the consequences and are doomed.One day at noon, his cousin came back drunk and seemed to have a sudden desire for his wife.The sister-in-law, who had long been disgusted, naturally refused, which seemed to annoy her husband extremely, and the beating began immediately.The sister-in-law tried her best to escape from the room and ran to the crowded workshop; the husband chased and beat her all the way, and the cries and shouts of the sister-in-law resounded through the shed.Luo Xiaomao who was cutting meat endured, not daring to look at them who were beating them, the knife trembled in his hand, and the cold light pierced his tearful eyes. At this moment, the sister-in-law, who really couldn't stand the punches, shouted instinctively and desperately—Xiao Mao, save me.It was this fatal cry that sounded like death's charge.His long-suppressed resentment finally heard the call of fate, and the horns of rebellion together with the rage of youth suddenly made him feel evil.He rushed to his cousin's back with a knife and shouted - let go!The cousin watched him grow up obediently, but he never saw him who had become a man, turned around and scolded you to "go away", and continued to hurt his beloved sister-in-law. Facing this mighty man, he tremblingly raised his sharp blade behind his back.He knew that with this knife, the grievances between him and his cousin I were all over.If he couldn't stop his cousin, then both his and his sister-in-law's lives would be over.At that moment, completely involuntarily, the blade inevitably flew towards the cousin's neck in the air along the trajectory of fate, and the blood—the red and fishy that he was familiar with every day, spurted out in an instant.The cousin turned around and snatched the knife. At the thought of life and death, he was like the boy who played with a knife to kill sheep in "New Dragon Inn", waving it like a chainsaw.The poor and fierce cousin fell to the ground in a blink of an eye, he went completely crazy at that moment, and continued to ride on his cousin and slash until his sister-in-law reacted and hugged him desperately. When the sister-in-law saw that her husband was not breathing, she knew that disaster was coming.She yelled at the stunned staff to call an ambulance and call 110, dragging Luo Xiaomao into the house, quickly changed his bloody clothes, and gave him a handful of money to escape, and she will take care of it here.He is not yet fully conscious, and has never traveled far, so there is no way to escape.Just like a dream bug, I went out to hitchhike and walked to my hometown in the countryside.As soon as I saw my father at home, the police came in. Afterwards, the branch bureau, and then the city bureau, did not have any trouble with simple cases, and they were directly sent to the procuratorate for prosecution.I read the indictment, which did not mention the "adultery" between him and his sister-in-law at all, and of course they did not believe that they were premeditated.Obviously honestly, he had already confessed the motive for the murder, but his sister-in-law did not acknowledge it. The reason why my sister-in-law was prosecuted in the indictment was the crime of covering up, because she funded his escape.I analyzed that the reason why she resolutely refused to admit the affair with her brother-in-law was because she was worried that her brother-in-law would be charged with adultery and murder—this nature is more serious than murder in a moment of anger.In addition, of course, there is also the issue of the woman's reputation. If she admits it, it means that she will bear the notoriety of killing her two brothers.Even if she is not convicted, she will not be able to face the hatred of the Luo family and her future life. The court session is imminent, and Luo Xiaomao, who committed the crime shortly after turning 18, is no longer a minor in law.Is it in his interest to believe that there is love, or not to believe that adultery is in his interest?This problem has also become a big problem for us old prisoners.If a young man kills impulsively because of love, he may be placed in a country with a jury system and get some forgiveness.But in our country, adultery and murder have been serious crimes since ancient times, not to mention the unethical love with sister-in-law. There was an unwritten rule in the indictments back then. If two "special" words were used in the writing—for example, the circumstances were particularly serious and the methods were particularly vile, then death was certain.Luo Xiaomao's indictment already has two "special", and everyone knows that his young life is in danger. The problem is that he still loves his sister-in-law deeply.He has no idea that his sister-in-law has also been arrested, and now she is going to be put on trial for protecting him.He cried and begged the person who came to deliver the indictment that he would bear all the charges and die for his sister-in-law, hoping that they would not sentence his sister-in-law. In my opinion, his main crime is killing people with a knife. If he was killed with a single knife, he must still be alive-because there is no intention to kill, let alone murder.Assuming that today, the Supreme Court came to make a final judgment on life and death, then he might survive.But in that era, a grassroots youth like Luo Xiaomao with no background would probably have died. Finally, the trial of the first trial began, and he was escorted back in the afternoon with a pale face, and when he entered the door, he got into bed and cried.The old prisoners all sympathized with his experience and let him bury himself in his despair without eating or drinking—this is a despair that no one can persuade. After getting up the next day, everyone cautiously asked about yesterday's court session - we all knew that this was his only chance to see his sister-in-law.Half a year of life and death is boundless, and we also want to know how his sister-in-law will face the reunion in court. Before he could speak, he lowered his head and sobbed, and then, like an aggrieved child, choked up intermittently and said-I'm sorry for my sister-in-law, she cried when she saw me.After that, it took him a long time to slowly explain the pain in court between him and his sister-in-law.My sister-in-law unpacked some sweaters in the hall, knit a pair of woolen pants for him, and asked the bailiff to put them on for him.The sister-in-law still insisted in court that they had no adultery, and he just felt sorry for her and went to persuade the fight, out of youthful anger.After the attack, the husband wanted to grab the knife. He was no match for her husband. He killed people with knives indiscriminately in order to save himself. In fact, I believe that all judges will believe in their hearts that there must be love between this pair of uncles and sisters-in-law.Luo Xiaomao's lawyer also tried to defend from this perspective, standing on the standpoint of human nature, in order to impress the judge and try to give him a reprieve.Because Luo Xiaomao's previous confession had already given all the details, this is a picture of the sexes that a child of his age would never be able to fabricate.But he, who doesn't understand the law, doesn't understand why his sister-in-law refuses to admit it.What really hit him was this, he was momentarily dumbfounded by the lies of the kind sister-in-law, who he felt betrayed their love. For him, death is nothing to fear, but if you doubt his love and deny the true relationship between him and his sister-in-law, that is the greatest punishment for him.They, who had no chance to collude, talked to themselves in court; one said they had love, the other said there was no love. I don't know if the judge did it on purpose, or if he had other deep meanings, and finally asked him a fatal question-you said you were in love and had sex, so what evidence do you have?It's about privacy, it's about his lover, and in his opinion, it's about his life and death. At the age of eighteen, he had a heartbroken heart and made a difficult choice. In the end, he whispered stupidly and timidly—there is a mole on his sister-in-law. As soon as he finished speaking, the public prosecutor and the judges smiled contemptuously, while his sister-in-law suddenly looked pale, tears poured down her face, and she almost fainted on the trial platform.For these judges, the verdict is already in their minds, and there is no need to examine his testimony.When they were taken away separately, he saw his sister-in-law's tearful eyes, which contained a trace of resentment and infinite pity.He suddenly regretted his defense in court. He shouldn't have shared the secret joys and sorrows between him and his sister-in-law.However, he no longer had the chance to see his sister-in-law again, and since then there has been a long period of darkness, and they can only look at Menghun across the Wangchuan River. We know that Luo Xiaomao's days with us are numbered, and the Spring Festival is just around the corner.In other words, when the prison guard came to mention him again, he would open the door and say to take the quilt with him, which meant that he was going to the death row cell.The so-called second court is to directly pronounce the death sentence.After reading it, the prisoner is not killed immediately, but transferred to a more rigorous single cell for custody.From then on, the prisoner became even more inhuman.Death row prisoners will be shackled and then lie flat with their limbs chained to a hard plank bed.There are special light criminals who come to help you eat and drink every day, waiting for your appeal period to end. The appeal period is ten days. If you do not appeal after ten days, you can choose another day for execution.If you appeal, it will have to wait for the final judgment of the Provincial High Court.As long as the final judgment is not over, you will always be nailed to this bed.Some cases are complicated, the final trial takes a long time, and sometimes the death sentence is changed with a reprieve; then during this whole period, you have to suffer from sleeplessness.Doesn't this instrument of torture mean sleeping all day in the eyes of ordinary people?But everyone who has been there knows that within three days it will make your life worse than death. In the eyes of the police, this method is to prevent death row prisoners from committing suicide, but the inhumanity involved is beyond words.I don't know if today's detention center still retains this practice, because after the power of final adjudication is transferred to the Supreme Court today, the reply time will be longer. Even those who have been wronged are willing to give up their lives and choose to die quickly. Luo Xiaomao still doesn't seem to believe that he will be sentenced to death, sometimes happy and sometimes sad.And we have all seen his ending, and we all feel pity when we see that he sometimes fantasizes about apologizing to his sister-in-law after serving his sentence.The cell at that time did not allow the prisoners to have any entertainment, and the boring prisoners had their own entertainment, which they called "death drills".I also think that this kind of cruel hospice care is not necessarily a bad thing, so I also participate in their games. The specific method is to call the prisoner who may be executed to simulate kneeling on the bed as if he was already in the execution ground.Everyone lined up behind, listened to the password and raised their guns, and then shot.The prisoner fell down and pretended to be dead, and everyone went forward and covered him with sheets, then sat around him, bowed three times solemnly, and held a memorial service.The eulogy will recall and exaggerate his "battle life" in a dignified way, and trace the deeds of why he "fighted to death".In short, everything was arranged according to CCTV's specifications, such as the farewell to the body and flowers, etc., and there was also an oral reading. Although a certain leader did not come, he also presented a wreath, and so on. Usually such games can dilute the death fear of the executioner, making the imminent execution less sudden.Many prisoners lay down, often laughing at the seemingly sad eulogy; we call it a fraudulent corpse, and they have to be shot again. Although Luo Xiaomao didn't believe that the end was imminent, he was still willing to cooperate with everyone in the game - the black sheet finally covered his immature lanugo face.I presided over the eulogy this time, and I mourned according to Luo Jing's method as lightly as possible but with a heavy tone-Comrade Luo Xiaomao is a good son and daughter of the party and an excellent flower of the motherland.In his short life, he has always been fighting on the front line of our country's dead pigs.He was born in poverty, kind-hearted, industrious and brave, and went astray on the way of pursuing love... Our plausible mourning has just begun, and Luo Xiaomao under the sheet has already started to sob; his body is convulsed from crying, and we all suddenly become serious—five grotesque criminals of all kinds, at that moment, their hearts were really serious. Solemn and full of pity.We lifted the quilt and saw his big, beautiful eyes were always open, gurgling water like two springs. At that moment, he may have truly seen the appearance of death, and saw how the darkness that covered the sky and the ground oppressed his frail body.He seemed to realize at that time that he would never see his old father and younger siblings again, and he would never see the only sister-in-law who loved him and gave him warmth. Not long after, there was a sound of the iron gate——Luo Xiaomao, rolled up the quilt. He who was talking and laughing suddenly turned pale and was at a loss for a moment.We helped him roll up the quilt, and he walked to the door in a panic, suddenly remembered something, turned around, bowed deeply to us, and then went out... An eighteen and a half-year-old child walked into his long night like this.Twenty years have passed, and I still often think of his pure smile, occasional annoyance, and silent weeping against the bars.