Zhang Shenguo's daughter has just turned one month old, but only her father's photo is with her.
Written and photographed by our reporter Zhang Jiandong and Kong Yutong, with correspondents Haitao and Fude.
On the 21st, at the burn department of Yantai City Yuhuangding Hospital, 10-year-old boy Xing Wanli, injured in a big fire, finally passed the danger period after many days of treatment. "An uncle took me out of the window, but he himself did not come out," said little Wanli.
On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, just before the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, young Wanli who went to take a bath at a neighboring village's bathhouse was trapped in a fire. Villager Zhang Shenguo rushed into the burning building twice and handed little Wanli out of the window with his hands, but he was crushed under a falling beam and never came out again.
The sudden fire at the bathhouse trapped a 10-year-old boy
On the 21st, Xing Hongyan, the mother of the rescued boy Xing Wanli, told the reporter about the situation at that time. On February 12th, the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month evening, Xing Hongyan's family from Panjia Village of Guxian Office in Yantai City came to Qingyan Bathhouse in the neighboring Dawangjia Village to take a bath. Qingyan Bathhouse has a total of eight large rooms, which can accommodate dozens of people. "Fire! Fire! Run outside quickly!" At around 8:00 pm, while taking a bath, Xing Hongyan heard cries from outside the window.
"I looked up and saw flames on the roof." On the 21st, at the burn department of Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Xing Hongyan told the reporter that when the fire started, she was bathing in the women's bathroom, her 10-year-old son Xing Wanli and her husband were bathing together in the men's section. After hearing the cries for help, she only wore a pair of pants, put on a down jacket, and rushed out with many others in panic. Smoke was already rising inside the room, the electricity had short-circuited and it was pitch black, she even heard the creaking sound of the roof beams breaking.
After rushing out of the bathhouse door, Xing Hongyan began looking for her husband and child among the crowd, but she only saw her husband being pulled out, who had disabled legs, and could not find her child. "My child is still inside." In the chaotic crowd, Xing Hongyan and her husband tried several times to rush into the fire scene, but were firmly held back by the surrounding villagers. By this time, the fire had sealed off the entire entrance, and there were constantly falling beams.
Rescuing people twice, the brave man was buried inside the house
When Xing Hongyan and her husband were heartbroken, 31-year-old young man Zhang Shenguo rushed into the fire scene for the second time.
Bathhouse owner Wang Xueqing told the reporter that when he noticed flames around the chimney and shouted for help, Zhang Shenguo, who had come to take a bath, rushed into the already burning bathhouse without hesitation, knocking on each room door and calling everyone to run out. Dozens of villagers from the bathhouse all rushed out upon hearing his shouts.
No one knows how Zhang Shenguo found the young Wanli in the fire scene at that time. Beside the eastern window where a large number of villagers were anxiously waiting, a hand handed out little Wanli, who had been choked into crying loudly, from the already softened window frame. In the chaos, someone unknown took the child. Not long after, the roof of this bathroom collapsed with a loud noise.
At around 9:00 pm, the fire gradually extinguished under the rescue efforts of the firefighters. Near the window where little Wanli was saved, everyone discovered the body of Zhang Shenguo. This man who was 1.8 meters tall knelt not far from the window in a position as if lifting something, with one hand higher than the other. His whole body was completely charred black, and his feet had burned off.
It was the first time he held a baby on the day of the accident
In the afternoon of the 21st, the reporter visited Zhang Shenguo's home in Dawangjia Village, Guxian Office. "This child has a very kind heart. Whenever any family asks him for help, he always goes," said an elderly neighbor.
"When he left, the child was less than 30 days old, and we originally planned to celebrate the child's full moon on the seventh day of the new year," said Wu Meina, Zhang Shenguo's wife, while comforting the sleeping child on the southern bed, tears welling up in her eyes. Little Yuhan lay sweetly asleep in the small quilt, unaware of what had happened.
"On the night of the fire, it was the first time her father held her," said Wu Meina. That night, due to too many people in the bathhouse, Zhang Shenguo returned halfway through, coinciding with the child not sleeping. Thus, this robust man picked up his tiny daughter and gently patted her to sleep, looking like a happy child. "The child was too small, we didn't let him hold her because we thought he wouldn't know how, but now this child will never be able to be held by her father again."
"Shenguo is a chef. He always said, when the time comes, he would prepare a big table of dishes. He loved children and often teased the neighboring children with candy," said Zhang Shenguo's mother, sobbing uncontrollably talking about her son.
"It was an uncle who lifted me onto the window," said little Wanli in the hospital on the 21st. His mother said that when the child grows up, she will definitely let him repay this uncle.
And the bathhouse owner Wang Xueqing and many villagers also kept saying one sentence: "If it weren't for Zhang Shenguo, it would be impossible for only little Wanli to get injured while everyone else is fine."