China

A 31-year-old female PhD student committed suicide by jumping from a building; her parents tearfully revealed the inside story: their son-in-law's unusual fetish killed their daughter.

"You could have spared my life, why did you have to drag me into this quagmire?" In 2012, Luo Hongling, a desperate female PhD student from Sichuan University, jumped from her 13th-floor apartment, ending her young life.

Afterwards, her parents tearfully revealed the inside story, accusing their son-in-law of being the murderer, claiming that his unusual fetish drove their daughter to this point.

So, what exactly happened between the two? What did Luo Hongling mean by the "quagmire"?

The Sudden Tragedy

On the evening of June 14, 2012, Luo Dahua and his wife from Chongqing felt inexplicably uneasy before going to bed and couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

They initially thought it was just a health problem due to their age, until they received a phone call, and they realized it was a special telepathic connection between blood relatives.

Around 5 a.m. on the 15th, they received a call from their son-in-law, Cheng Jiansheng, who said, "Dad, come quickly, Hongling jumped off a building."

Hearing this, Luo Dahua was shocked; he couldn't believe his daughter had committed suicide. After ending the call, he and his wife immediately rushed from Chongqing to Chengdu.

Meanwhile, Luo Hongling's colleagues, classmates, and friends also learned of this tragic news, and they were equally incredulous.

In everyone's eyes, Luo Hongling had always been sunny and optimistic, a recognized "talented woman," with a stable and respectable job as a university teacher, and she had just been admitted to her doctoral program—her future seemed bright.

After the incident, Cheng Jiansheng, as someone present at the scene and the first person to report it, was required to cooperate with the police investigation and be questioned. Luo Dahua and seven or eight others also arrived at the police station.

After Cheng Jiansheng finished giving his statement in the afternoon, a group of people surrounded him, extremely agitated, demanding an explanation: "Why would someone who was perfectly healthy jump off a building?"

Why would they "besiege" their son-in-law after their daughter's suicide? Because the day before Luo Hongling's suicide, she had told her parents a shocking secret about her husband.

This secret convinced them that "Cheng Jiansheng never loved my daughter" and that his death was inextricably linked to her.

What this secret was, however, requires looking back at their marriage.

The contrast before and after their whirlwind marriage

In 2007, Luo Hongling graduated with a master's degree in foreign languages ​​from Ocean University of China. She had spent seven years in Qingdao, the city where she completed her undergraduate and graduate studies.

Like most young women, she wanted to work closer to home after graduation, so she went to Sichuan University, not far from her hometown of Chongqing, to work as a Korean language teacher.

During this time, she continued her studies, having loved literature since childhood, and successfully gained admission to the university's doctoral program in literature. She had just graduated shortly before jumping to her death.

Unexpectedly, this outstanding young woman's life was ruined by a marriage.

In the autumn of 2011, through an acquaintance, Luo Hongling met Cheng Jiansheng, and this ill-fated relationship began.

They were high school classmates, though in different classes. At that time, Luo Hongling stood out in a crowd due to her excellent grades and beautiful appearance, and it was then that Cheng Jiansheng noticed her.

However, this "notice" wasn't from a boy's attraction to a girl; it was simply a matter of knowing Luo Hongling existed.

After they met, Cheng Jiansheng acted as if he really liked Luo Hongling.

This tactic worked very well for Luo Hongling, who was immersed in her studies and lacked experience in relationships. She felt the beauty of love, to the point of losing her rational judgment, believing that he was the best person to entrust her life to.

Another incident further solidified this idea. One day, Cheng Jiansheng suddenly told Luo Hongling, "I've thought about it for a long time and decided to tell you a secret: I'm actually bisexual, but I really love you now and don't want to lose you."

Normally, hearing this would shock most people and make them feel uneasy, but Luo Hongling seemed indifferent.

To the naive Luo Hongling, her boyfriend's willingness to say this meant he was honest and trusted her, so she was deeply moved and fell deeper and deeper into this "love trap."

On January 8, 2012, after only five or six months of knowing each other, the two quickly got married and obtained their marriage certificate.

The Luo couple, Luo Dahua and his wife, had some reservations about their daughter's actions. After all, they had only known each other for a short time and didn't know much about the man's character.

But then they thought, their daughter had always been very independent and had her own judgment, so her taste in men shouldn't be bad.

Moreover, Cheng Jiansheng would sometimes hug Luo Hongling in front of them, creating the illusion of doting on his wife. So, gradually, the two elders lowered their guard and accepted their son-in-law.

After the marriage, Luo Hongling moved out of the school dormitory and rented an apartment herself, full of anticipation and hope for the future.

However, Cheng Jiansheng, after achieving his goal, was completely different from the "good man" persona he had cultivated before marriage.

He had worked in Shanghai for two years, earning a considerable income, and even bought a house there. After returning to Chengdu, he sold it and made a large profit.

But he never let Luo Hongling see the money from the house sale; he basically gave it all to his brother-in-law, who worked in construction. In Chengdu, almost all his food, clothing, and daily necessities were paid for by Luo Hongling.

However, Luo Hongling didn't mind. She believed that couples should support and rely on each other. But one thing deeply troubled her.

The Quagmire of "Marriage Deception"

In her mind, after marriage, the two should be even more loving and sweet than when they were dating, with frequent contact and often spending time together.

In reality, their marital life was extremely infrequent, countable on one hand. During the day, Cheng Jiansheng used work as an excuse to avoid calling or texting.

After work in the evenings, when he had no social engagements, he should have gone home to have dinner with his wife, but instead, he would go to the gym first, not returning home until after 10 PM.

Luo Hongling had repeatedly suggested going to the gym together, but he refused with various excuses. Even on weekends, he would go out, afraid of being alone with her.

Luo Hongling confided in her best friend several times about this, and even posted on the Jinjiang Forum seeking help from netizens, asking, "What is marriage really like? How should couples get along?"

After the post was published, many netizens believed that her husband might have a problem with his sexual orientation, and some even suspected him of "marrying fraud."

"Marrying fraud" here refers to homosexuals, under pressure from society or family, choosing to conceal their sexual orientation and marry a heterosexual, thus deceiving them into the quagmire of marriage. Women who marry homosexuals are called "wives of gay men."

Sociologist Li Yinhe once stated that "wives of gay men" is a concept very unique to China. In the West, very few gay men choose to marry women.

However, in China, influenced by the traditional concept of carrying on the family line, many gay men choose to marry women to fulfill their parents' wishes and thus have children. This practice is clearly extremely selfish and despicable.

According to relevant statistics, there are over 40 million gay men in China, of whom approximately 80% are either about to enter marriage or are already married.

This means that the number of "wives of gay men" is in the millions, even tens of millions. This group, from the moment they enter marriage, is destined to be "victims."

They face not only a lack of sex and love, depression, domestic violence, and cold wars, but also the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. In this quagmire, their lives are filled with endless darkness.

When netizens raised accusations of "marriage fraud," Luo Hongling naturally refused to accept them. She quickly explained that everything was normal before her marriage, and there was no possibility of a sexual orientation issue.

Seeing the online debate escalating and Luo Hongling unable to find the answer she wanted, she had no choice but to leave the forum.

After the truth was revealed, she was driven to despair.

But in reality, her husband's cold and evasive attitude constantly reminded her that their marriage was indeed in trouble. This filled her with anxiety and fear.

She had mentioned divorce before, but Cheng Jiansheng always feigned a pitiful state, his forte being tearful explanations and begging for forgiveness. Being soft-hearted, she would always forgive him in this tactic.

However, Cheng Jiansheng would then repeat the same behavior, leading to further explanations and forgiveness, creating a vicious cycle. Under these circumstances, Luo Hongling's emotions reached a breaking point, and she even began to suspect that the problem lay with her, eventually developing depression.

Until May, she finally received a clear answer.

On May 21st, Luo Hongling accidentally saw an ambiguous text message on Cheng Jiansheng's phone, and the sender was a man.

Afterwards, she carefully searched through the phone and discovered a large amount of obscene chat content. Only then did she believe that her beloved husband was indeed gay!

He spent his own money buying gifts for other men; he used the iPhone she gave him while flirting with other men; he even did unspeakable things in her rented apartment.

“You could have spared my life, why did you have to drag me into this mess?” Luo Hongling angrily questioned in her post.

With his identity exposed, on the evening of June 14th, Cheng Jiansheng publicly apologized on Weibo, admitting he was gay and had committed marriage fraud to cover it up.

This belated truth became the final straw. It turned out everything was wishful thinking on her part; she had given everything, only to be met with deception and betrayal.

In the early hours of June 15th, utterly despondent, Luo Hongling wrote her last Weibo post: “This world is so tiring, let it all end!” Afterwards, she jumped from her 13th-floor apartment, dying instantly.

Afterwards, Luo Dahua and his wife believed their daughter's death was caused by Cheng Jiansheng's marriage fraud, and filed a lawsuit demanding 630,000 yuan in compensation from Cheng Jiansheng.

However, legally, whether the parties knew each other's sexual orientation before marriage does not affect the legal validity of their voluntary marriage registration.

For a person with full civil capacity, jumping off a building is not the only solution. Therefore, the court ultimately rejected the Luo family's request.

The greatest punishment Cheng Jiansheng will receive from beginning to end is probably only the condemnation from netizens, which explains why Luo Hongling cursed him in her suicide note: "His painted skin has fallen off, he will be alone for life."