Laravel Eloquent Non-English text search

I am searching

语嫣

But when I log my query I get [driver_name] LIKE %\u8bed\u5ae3%)
Database used sql
When return $request->get('q');
I get 语嫣
my ajax request is

$('#driver_name').select2({
        placeholder: "Driver Name",
        minimumInputLength: 2,
        ajax: {
            url: 'xxxxxxxxxxxxx',
            //method : post,
            dataType: 'json',
            contentType: "application/json;  charset=utf-8",
            data: function (params) {
                return {
                    q: $.trim(params.term)
                };
            },
            processResults: function (data) {
                return {
                    results: data
                };
            },
            cache: false
        }
    });

query used is like

$q=$request->get('q');
$data = Model::select('driver_name','id')->where("country_code", Auth::user()->countrysettings->country_key)->where('driver_name', 'LIKE', "%{$q}%")->distinct('driver_name')->take(20)->get();

via Chebli Mohamed