What Can't Be Overcome
The Son Stabbed His Father for Five or Six Minutes
Having been stitched over 300 times, the old father on his hospital bed repeatedly urged the reporter:
"Don't write anything bad about my son. It would be best if you could help me talk to the police and get him released."
Tan Yong (a pseudonym), aged 41, lived in Hengxi, Yinzhou with his wife, two sons, and his father Lao Tan for more than 10 years. Tan Yong and his wife were in the beer transportation business. Before the incident, Lao Tan, 64, helped his son manage a warehouse.
On the evening of December 9th, Tan Yong entered the warehouse where his father Lao Tan was sleeping and slashed at him for five or six minutes. Lao Tan was rushed to Mingzhou Hospital by 120 emergency services and received over 300 stitches all over his body. Currently, after surgery, Lao Tan has been moved to the intensive care unit, while Tan Yong has been criminally detained by the police.
□ Correspondent Zhao Ting, Reporter He Yan / Text & Photography
An Elder Stitched Over 300 Times All Over His Body
Around midnight on December 10th, an emergency patient who looked like a "bloody man" was brought to the emergency department of Mingzhou Hospital.
According to Dr. Luo Tao, the on-duty doctor that day, when Lao Tan was brought in, he had already gone into shock due to excessive blood loss. His head was covered with dense wounds, his hair dyed dark red from the blood, and the number of wounds all over his body was countless. The hospital urgently organized a team of doctors from various departments including neurosurgery, orthopedics, and ENT to save Lao Tan's life. After the surgery, Lao Tan was moved to the intensive care unit.
On the 11th, Lao Tan, having passed the critical period, was transferred to the orthopedic department. According to Dr. Wang Xiang from the orthopedic department, Lao Tan suffered multiple fractures on his head, face, and right hand, and received over 300 stitches all over his body, with more than 200 just on his head alone.
Sixty-Year-Old Father: I Was Asking My Son for Living Expenses
Yesterday, we met Lao Tan in the orthopedic department of Mingzhou Hospital. His head and face were densely covered with worm-like sutures. Due to either fractures or bruises on both hands, intravenous drips could only be administered through his feet.
Lao Tan can now speak, but recalling that stormy night, he said he felt a headache coming on. His son is not a bad person; it’s his daughter-in-law who sows discord between them.
Our family is from Sichuan. My wife passed away over 20 years ago, and I raised him (his son Tan Yong) all by myself. He does beer transportation business, and when I was in good health, I helped him carry beer and do odd jobs.
This year in the first half, I was diagnosed with cerebral infarction and hypertension, so I was hospitalized in a local hospital in Hengxi. With my illness, I couldn’t help my son work anymore, and my daughter-in-law found me annoying. After being discharged, I moved to live and eat in the warehouse where my son stored beer.
You know, living alone requires oil, rice, soy sauce, vinegar, and everything else. With prices rising fast, daily expenses are at least 10 yuan per day, which means 300 yuan per month isn't enough for living expenses.
On the evening of the 9th, after dinner, I asked him for living expenses. At that time, he was playing cards with a few friends.
Seeing me asking for living expenses, he was probably in the middle of a card game and got a bit impatient. No money? You have money to play cards then? I couldn't help myself and slapped him twice. Many people came to mediate at the time, and later, I went back to sleep in the warehouse.
At around 9 p.m., he suddenly burst into the warehouse, holding a kitchen knife. He called me Dog Wa (Lao Tan's nickname) and said he wanted my life. Then he rolled up my bedding, wrapping me inside so I couldn't move, and started hacking at me with the kitchen knife.
He stopped after about five or six minutes, and I heard him call 120 and 110.
Later, I was taken to the hospital by the doctors, and he was taken away by the police.
Daughter-in-Law: My Father-in-Law Never Acknowledges Me as His Daughter-in-Law
After the incident, the daughter-in-law, Ms. Li, visited Lao Tan at the hospital twice.
Yesterday afternoon, we managed to contact Ms. Li. She said that on the day of the incident, she washed clothes and went to sleep, unaware that her husband would become so angry and stab his father.
On the phone, Ms. Li didn't want to say much. However, she frankly admitted: "My relationship with my father-in-law is indeed not good."
"My father-in-law has never liked me or acknowledged me. It was because my husband really loves me that we got married. Even so, it doesn't matter that we've been married for 20 years, but he still publicly denies me as his daughter-in-law in front of relatives and friends several times."
Nephew: Uncle Has a Bad Temper and Scolds My Cousin Severely
Lao Tan's nephew Xiao Tan also works in Ningbo. After the incident, he rushed to Mingzhou Hospital to visit his uncle and hired a caregiver to look after him.
Seeing his uncle full of wounds, Xiao Tan felt very disheartened, "If the elder isn't kind, how can the son be filial?"
"My uncle is a good person in every way except for his bad temper and poor character. I've attended a few family meetings at his house, and my uncle scolded my cousin very harshly, leaving him unable to respond. I think the resentment in my cousin's heart accumulated this way!"
Speaking of his cousin, Xiao Tan seemed almost unable to believe how severe his actions were. "My cousin is usually gentle, even though my uncle scolds him severely, he treats his uncle quite well and doesn't make him do much work."
But Xiao Tan never expected the situation to escalate so seriously this time.
● Lao Tan's Wish
Even though his son had injured him so severely, Lao Tan lying in the hospital bed did not blame his son. "You shouldn't write anything bad about my son. It would be best if you could help me talk to the police and get him released."