Man Pretends to Be Mute for 12 Years, Loses His Ability to Speak For Real

A man from China known only by the name, “Zheng,” may be one of the most dedicated men you’ll ever meet. For 12 years, Zheng pretended he could not speak just to avoid getting arrested for a crime he committed.

After changing hIn 2005, the Chinese man was charged with murder for killing his wife’s uncle.
is identity and living a new life with a family, Zeng lost his speaking ability all because he didn’t talk for more than a decade. But even his plan of staying silent for God-knows-how-long eventually failed when Chinese police had to do household survey, which resulted to Zheng’s discovery then arrest.

In 2005, the Chinese man was charged with murder for killing his wife’s uncle.

The two allegedly fought over 500 Yuan, which was equivalent to $75.

During a heated argument, Zheng happened to stab Mr. Cai and fled to the hills.

Zheng ran from his home in Zhejiang province after committing the crime and avoided arrest. He fled to the hills where he lived a new life. Zheng has since been living under the fake name, Wang Gui, taking on the persona of a mute beggar.

Eventually, Zheng adjusted to his new life as someone who can’t speak in a small village in the Anhui Province, which is located 700 km north of Hangzhou. He then started working in construction, remarried and had a kid all the while maintaining his mute persona. According to the story from The Telegraph, Zheng pretended to be mute because he was afraid he’ll be busted for the murder he committed. That means he also never spoke to his family.

But karma always has its way of catching up to you. After 12 years of pretending to be mute, Zheng was arrested when police came by their house to do a routine household survey.

Zheng was arrested earlier this year.

Police found out that he was undocumented, which made him a suspicious man.

Blood tests were done confirming that Wang Gui is actually murder suspect Zheng.

Getting arrested was not the only problem Zheng had. He also lost his speaking ability from doing all of the pretending for 12 years. Apparently, the muscles on Zheng’s vocal chords wasted away because they weren’t used for a long period of time.

Zheng writes to communicate and when asked why he was pretending all along, he wrote:

“The less I say, the less chance I’ll make a mistake.”