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chen youyin, 76, is an ordinary farmer living on the loess land of shaanxi. except for a few years of military service in kaifeng, henan province in 1970, he has never left his hometown, lantian county, xi'an.

when he was in the army, the company commander described the scene of the wuhan yangtze river bridge in his hometown, which always lingered in his mind. in the nearly 50 years since then, he has faced the land and crops day after day, and the details of those scenes have blurred. he only remembers how "beautiful" and "how good" the bridge was.

in the past two years, some elderly comrades described the outside world to him and said that they should hurry up to go out and see it. he was really excited. would he be able to experience with his own eyes the "beauty" that had taken root in his mind in this lifetime?

on august 8, 2024, taking advantage of the slack season in the fields and the recent improvement in the condition of his wife who had been ill for more than 30 years, chen youyin took a military raincoat he brought back when he retired from the army in 1975, three sets of clothes, a large bottle of water, and more than a thousand yuan given to him by relatives and friends more than 30 years ago because his family was not well off. he borrowed a yellow bicycle from a nearby child, removed the battery of his old mobile phone, and without wanting to trouble anyone, he quietly left home to "realize his dream" alone.

chen youyin did not count the days and nights during this thousands of miles of cycling. after learning that his family had been anxiously looking for him for a whole month, he realized that he had brought even greater "trouble". when his family took him home from wuhan, he had not yet found the wuhan yangtze river bridge that the company commander had mentioned. he chose to let this thought dissipate silently: what he had seen along the way was enough.

△ on september 7, chen youyin rode his bike to see the yangtze river bridge in wuhan. qiaokou police provided a screenshot of the video surveillance. source: yangtze river daily

the missing 76-year-old

in early august, a missing person notice issued by multiple local rescue teams in xi'an lantian went viral, saying that a 76-year-old man named chen youyin rode a yellow shared bicycle out of the village at 12 noon on august 8 and went missing. he has not returned since then. cctv footage showed that the old man appeared near the local bailu square at around 1 noon on the same day. when he went missing, he was wearing a white-bottomed blue plaid shirt, gray pants, and brown leather shoes. his family members failed to find him and reported the matter to the police.

chen youyin himself was completely unaware of this. in his version of events, at noon on the 8th, he cooked three bowls of noodles as usual and ate them with his wife and grandson. then he took a good bath, changed into clean clothes, and took out his savings of 1,000 yuan that he had hidden for more than 30 years - usually the money in the family was managed by his wife, and even if he got a change of one yuan when buying things, he would give it back to his wife. that day he bought a barrel of oil, and as usual, he put the change on the table, so his family thought he was penniless when he left.

before leaving, chen youyin took out the battery of his old phone. he didn't want to let his family know, firstly because they were afraid that he would be dissuaded by his age, and secondly because they were afraid that he would be determined and would have to trouble them to help him realize his dream. he should be able to do it by riding a shared bike and saving money along the way. he also considered leaving a note, but thought it would only be a matter of a few days, so he gave up.

△ in 2023, chen youyin took a photo with the "50 years of glory in the party" commemorative medal. an old comrade sighed that he should go out more often. photo provided by the person concerned/source: yangtze river daily

i walked along the national highway and asked for directions. i met many good people.

chen youyin speculated that he could reach wuhan by following the national highway along the river. he went east through tongguan, went to sanmenxia in henan, kaifeng where he had served in the army, and zhengzhou, and then went south to wuhan. he rode 50 to 100 miles a day. he felt a little tired in the first ten days, but it became easier as he rode later. when he was hungry, he bought some steamed buns and noodles. at night, he used his military raincoat to spread the ground and slept in his clothes.

on the way, chen youyin saw a landform that was very different from the yellow soil of his hometown, and all kinds of crops that he had never planted before. when he was a soldier in kaifeng, the road was full of yellow sand and pedestrians dared not open their mouths. now it has become a green forest, and the muddy roads and earthen mounds have become wide avenues and high-rise buildings. he also went to find his "old company", which was completely new. the comrades who stayed behind heard that he was going to ride to wuhan, and sponsored him a new set of clothes and shoes.

chen youyin also felt that there were many good people on the road. when he met some shaanxi natives who opened shops, they refused to take money from him because he was alone outside, and treated him like a neighbor.

for safety reasons, he usually does not ride his bike at night, but pushes it. once he met a lesbian on a motorcycle, and they didn't know each other, but they kept following him. he later realized that the other party was turning on the headlights to light the way for him. he said that the other party was a lesbian, and the direction was completely opposite to his, so he didn't want to help him anymore. then he found that the motorcycle had gone, and the police car came soon after. the lesbian called the police out of concern. after the police learned about his situation, they also turned on the headlights to light the way for him until he found a place to stay.

along the way, chen youyin was afraid of getting lost, so he followed the national highway without entering any city until he reached wuhan.

△ chen youyin's veterans certificate. photo provided by the person concerned/source: yangtze river daily

how can a taxi run on the road when there is no one in it?

the first bridge he saw in wuhan shocked chen youyin. this must be the beautiful and wonderful bridge that the company commander had mentioned. he counted the layers one by one. it was a five-layer steel-frame bridge, which was very spectacular. it was a pity that people could not go up. this morning, chen youyin walked around nearby and thought for a long time what the five layers were used for. if it was for the convenience of soldiers standing guard at the bridge, it would not need to be built so high. his guess was denied by passers-by, and he later learned that this bridge was not the one the company commander had mentioned. there are twelve yangtze river bridges in wuhan, and the distance is quite far. he had to go into the city and look for it slowly.

chen youyin then saw two more bridges. they only had one level of bridge and looked a bit ordinary compared to the first one, but they were still very beautiful when lit up at night. he also saw a large ship passing by on the wide river, with people getting on and off. how could the river in his hometown accommodate such a ship?

during the two days in wuhan, chen youyin did not travel much. he wandered around the bridge and encountered many new things. "let's talk about other things. for example, the taxi was very strange. i wondered why there was no one driving it on the road. when i asked others, they said it was driverless!" chen youyin thought that the development is really fast now. the village where he lives has not changed much, but the city outside has changed so much.

the next night, chen youyin fell asleep on a chair near the bridge head, but was woken up by a passing sprinkler truck. chen youyin walked around again and got lost in a group of tall buildings.

△ chen youyin in his hometown. source: bailu video

one month after being “missing”, the bridge was not found, but life is back

late at night on september 7, chen dongyi suddenly received a call from the police, saying that his father, chen youyin, had been found in wuhan. chen dongyi immediately drove there overnight.

chen youyin didn't want to alarm his family. he couldn't find the way and walked into the police station he passed by. the police saw his appearance and thought he was a homeless person. they didn't let him go, cooked for him, let him rest, and wanted to buy him a ticket back to xi'an. chen youyin said he had money and didn't need to bother. the police were worried and wanted to contact his family.

after this contact, it was discovered that the old man was a missing person who had been searched for a month in lantian county. chen youyin then realized that he had been out for a whole month. his children were extremely anxious. not only did they search for him themselves, they also mobilized the young and middle-aged people in the entire village to search everywhere in and outside the village.

△ at 11 p.m. on september 7, chen youyin went to the zongguan street police station in qiaokou district, wuhan city to ask for help from the police. photo by correspondent wu gongxuan/source: yangtze river daily

at around 9:00 a.m. on september 8, when his family arrived at the police station, chen youyin knew they were angry, even though they didn't say anything. he followed their instructions to get a haircut, checked into a hotel room for a short break, and then returned to xi'an. chen youyin didn't mention the wuhan yangtze river bridge again. he felt very sorry for his child, and he also heard that a scammer claimed to know his whereabouts and demanded 10,000 yuan. he felt very sorry that his son was cheated of 200 yuan.

but after their anger subsided, the son and daughter felt extremely guilty. the daughter, ms. chen, said that they never knew their father had such a wish. their father was always like that, he would bear all the hardships by himself, and there was a lack of communication between them. he was also particularly afraid of causing trouble to them.

on september 15, chen youyin in his hometown in shaanxi received a photo. the qiaokou district branch of the wuhan municipal public security bureau printed out a photo of the "first bridge across the yangtze river" taken by a reporter from the yangtze river daily and sent it to him.

△ on september 15, mr. chen youyin took a photo with the "bridge". source: yangtze river daily

he said he no longer wanted to go out, as he still had to make a living. he did not feel any regret for going out this time.

xiaoxiang morning news reporter wu chenxingzi