He Died Delivering Takeout. Then Two DNA Tests Said His Son Wasn't His.

Before the Urn, the Child Who Didn't Come

In May 2024, in Yulin, Guangxi. Adong's urn rested in the main room. By custom, 8-year-old Xiaoyi should have held the urn and walked at the front of the funeral procession. Ms. Huang said the child had final exams. Mr. and Mrs. Lu said nothing. The next day, Ms. Huang changed her tune: he could go, but they had to pay. Mr. and Mrs. Lu paid. Xiaoyi came. He did not hold the urn, did not keep vigil, did not bring food. He stood at the doorway of the main room, clutching a pack of spicy strips, eyes on the ground.

After the funeral, Ms. Huang wanted to take the 240,000 yuan insurance compensation. Mr. Lu refused. He said, This money was exchanged for my son's life. Ms. Huang said, I am his wife. Mr. Lu did not answer.

Adong had been a railway driver. His father had rectal cancer and was being treated in Tianjin. By day he kept him company; by night he delivered food. His electric scooter was still downstairs, its seat split and wrapped twice with tape. The day he died, there was still an undelivered bowl of luosifen in his delivery box. Later, Ms. Lu went to the traffic police detachment and retrieved a plastic bag containing Adong's phone, keys, and half a pack of cigarettes. The phone screen was cracked but still lit up. She opened the photo album. The most recent photo was Xiaoyi at a school sports meet, holding a relay baton, smiling.

Ms. Lu began looking for a testing agency. She cut off some of Xiaoyi's hair and put it in an envelope. She also cut his nails and wrapped them in a tissue. When they drew blood, Xiaoyi cried; Ms. Huang was not there. The result came back: Xiaoyi had no biological grandparent-grandchild relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Lu. Ms. Lu showed the report to her parents. Mr. Lu sat on the sofa and looked at it for a long time, then said, Test again.

The second time, the Lu family applied to the traffic police department to use the blood sample retained from Adong's accident. A judicial appraisal center in Tianjin completed the test: Adong and his mother were confirmed as mother and son, and Adong was excluded as Xiaoyi's biological father. The report arrived at the house. Ms. Lu opened it, her hands shaking. Mr. Lu asked, What's the result? She said, Not his. Mr. Lu said nothing and went to the kitchen to pour water. The cup filled, water spilled over, and he stood watching.

Both reports reached the same conclusion. The Lu family sued, requesting confirmation that Adong and Xiaoyi had no parent-child relationship, the return of child-rearing expenses, compensation for emotional damage, and a formal apology.

In June 2026, the second-instance judgment disclosed that the judicial appraisal center that issued the appraisal opinion had been given an admonition by the relevant department. The result was not wrong. The procedure was illegal: it accepted the appraisal knowing that the deceased's sister was not Xiaoyi's guardian; it did not make an identity-verification video or preserve the guardian's identity information; and Adong's DNA sample, which had originally been retained at the appraisal center after being entrusted by the traffic police department, was used in this civil appraisal without authorization from the public security organ.

When news of the admonition reached the Lu family, Ms. Lu read the judgment three times. She asked the lawyer, Is the report still useful? The lawyer said, The court did not admit it. Mr. Lu folded the two reports, put them in a plastic bag, took them out, and folded them again. The plastic bag was not tied; when the wind blew, the corners of the paper lifted.

Both the first and second instances rejected the claim. The court rejected the claim for two reasons. First, grandparents are not proper plaintiffs. Article 1073 of the Civil Code provides that if there is an objection to a parent-child relationship and there are justifiable reasons, the father or mother may file a lawsuit in court; an adult child may request confirmation of the parent-child relationship. Grandparents are not included. The right to deny a parent-child relationship is personal and exclusive. It cannot be transferred or inherited, and no one else can exercise it by subrogation. Adong was already dead; his parents could not exercise on his behalf a right that belonged exclusively to him. Second, the child's mother refused to cooperate with the appraisal. At trial, Ms. Huang produced a marriage certificate, birth medical certificate, and household registration certificate, proving that Xiaoyi was the child born of her marriage to Adong. A parent-child appraisal is personal; it cannot be compelled. Since the mother, as legal guardian, did not consent, the appraisal procedure could not be initiated.

On the courthouse steps, Mr. Lu took stomach medicine. The bottle was in his pocket; the foil blister was bent. He poured out two pills and swallowed them dry. Ms. Lu was nearby on the phone, asking about filing for retrial. Ms. Huang came out of the courthouse holding a document bag, walking fast. Ms. Lu caught up and asked, What exactly are you thinking? Ms. Huang said, If you have the guts, go sue me in court. She did not look back.

Adong's electric scooter was still parked downstairs. The tape on the seat had loosened, revealing the yellow foam inside. Xiaoyi's toy excavator was in the corner, its battery dead, its bucket tilted. Every morning Mr. Lu swept the yard. When he reached the scooter, he paused, then kept sweeping. He placed a pair of sandals Xiaoyi used to wear on the top shelf of the shoe cabinet. The soles were worn smooth, and one strap had broken.

On September 16, 2026, the Guangxi High People's Court held a retrial hearing. After the hearing, no result was announced. The court required the parties to submit written attorney's opinions within 15 days. At the end of the hearing, the grandmother fainted. She was clutching the appraisal report; the paper fell to the ground. Someone nearby picked it up; she did not take it. Mr. Lu helped her to a chair and called an ambulance. The wind blew the report to the bottom of the steps. Ms. Lu ran over to pick it up. The edge had curled and picked up dust.

The elderly couple's retrial lawyer, Zang Fanqing, said that under the current legal framework, it is very difficult for a retrial to change the judgment. He planned to file a separate visitation-rights lawsuit on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Lu for their grandson Xiaoyi. Chinese law does not clearly provide for grandparent visitation rights, but Guiding Case No. 229 of the Supreme People's Court has established a rule: if one parent of a minor has died, and the grandparents file a lawsuit in court requesting visitation with the grandchild, the court should prioritize the minor's best interests and family harmony, and may allow visitation according to law if it does not affect the minor's normal life and well-being.

Mr. Lu put the report into a cloth bag and tied the opening tight. He said, I hope that in my remaining years I can know the ins and outs of this matter; after all, I don't have much time left. After saying this, he went to the kitchen to boil water. The kettle whistled, but he did not hear it. Ms. Lu called him, and he turned around. On the gas stove, the fire was still on, blue flames licking the bottom of the kettle. He turned off the fire and poured the water into a thermos. The thermos stopper was not sealed tightly; steam rose and fogged the window glass.

Xiaoyi's school was two streets away. When school let out, Mr. Lu stood on the balcony and watched a group of children line up and come out. He found the one in a blue-and-white uniform with a red backpack and watched for a while. The child turned into an alley and disappeared. He went back inside and brought the pothos inside from the balcony. Two leaves had turned yellow; he picked them off and threw them in the trash. A torn photocopy of the appraisal report was also in the trash. Pieced together, it showed the word "excluded."