Read Novel Full Chapter 196: The Same Seal
Chapter 196: The Same Seal
On the morning of May 22, half of the long table in the outer office was cleared. On the left lay the copy of the Complaint Letter; on the right were the three points she had copied out herself, one sentence per line, with space left between the lines.
She placed a fresh page in the middle and wrote the heading: Written Statement of Defense Regarding Complaint Forwarded by the Municipal Bar Association.
He Xiufen sat across from her, a blue pen sharpened and set by her hand, untouched.
"One point at a time."
Point One: After internship registration, the intern repeatedly appeared in court alone to represent clients; the supervising lawyer did not participate as an agent during hearings.
She wrote: During my internship, every court appearance was assigned by my supervising lawyer He Xiufen, who attended each hearing. Before every appearance, the firm issued a firm letter and court appearance certificate; the stubs remain on file. At the April 26 hearing, supervising lawyer He Xiufen was present, seated at the plaintiff's bench, and spoke in her capacity as agent.
She stopped there, pen hovering above the page.
"What's wrong."
"Those three documents show the firm assigned me," she said. "They don't say which chair I was sitting in that day."
"I said that myself that day." He Xiufen picked up her pen and drew a short line under the sentence she'd written. "Then tell them to watch the video."
She added a line: Request the court's audio and video recording of the April 26 hearing to verify attendance.
Point Two: Using the title of lawyer to handle cases externally, citing three entries in the hearing record's agent column.
She wrote: In court, I identified myself as "Shen Zhixia, trainee lawyer at Jiangzhou Zhengping Law Firm, supervising lawyer He Xiufen." The authorized agent column in the record notes the practice institution, not individual practice status. The three entries reading "Shen Zhixia" without the word "trainee" are inconsistent with my in-court statement. When a client addressed me as "Lawyer Shen," I corrected them on the spot. Please also retrieve the hearing audio and video recording.
"Keep that sentence." He Xiufen circled the half-line reading "inconsistent with my in-court statement." "That does more than ten sentences of you saying 'I did nothing wrong.'"
"Should I add that I've never used the title of lawyer when speaking externally?"
"Add it. One sentence is enough. Don't elaborate."
Point Three: Failing to follow firm procedures for case intake and privately collecting fees from clients.
She opened the medical case file bag and laid the contents out one by one: the case intake register page—Supervising Lawyer column filled with He Xiufen's name, intake clerk column with her own; the engagement agreement; the special power of attorney; the firm letter stub; the deposit voucher from the firm's account; the invoice.
"Where did the money come in?"
"Into the firm's account. The invoice was issued the same day the money arrived."
"Dates, amounts, invoice numbers—write them all down." He Xiufen said, "One clear figure is worth more than ten sentences of 'I didn't take any money.'"
She wrote it down, and once she was in the flow, added one more line: Since the start of my internship, I have strictly adhered to practice regulations and have never overstepped my bounds.
He Xiufen reached over and crossed that line out.
"Don't write it."
"Why not."
"That's you vouching for yourself." She set the pen down. "You don't vouch for yourself on paper. Paper only carries facts. Give them one of your guarantees and they'll come back with ten more questions."
She used a ruler to smooth over the crossed-out section and copied the page over cleanly. When she reached the final page, He Xiufen said, "Sign your name by hand. Don't print it."
The passage below had been drafted days earlier. She moved it to the end: The law firm named in the complaint's header, Jiangzhou Tongsheng Law Firm, was verified as deregistered on November 19 three years ago, with merger by absorption as the stated reason; its seal was surrendered as required. The name in the complainant column returns no practice record on the Provincial Justice Department's public disclosure platform. This complaint letter bears no seal from the complainant's practice institution. Please verify the complainant's identity and the source of the materials. One printed page of the query results is attached.
He Xiufen read it through once and made no changes.
"How are you going to present this to Guan Min?"
"Put it at the end as a reminder, not up front as an accusation."
"Just remember that."
* * *
At noon, lunch smells drifted up from downstairs, the scent of scallion oil rising through the floorboards. Her phone lit up. Tang Guo had sent a message: People in the group are still sharing the news about you being reported to the Bar Association. I held it back, didn't post.
She replied: Keep holding.
Tang Guo sent another: Tell me when you want me to post.
She replied: The day I tell you, you have to ask me three questions first.
The reply was just "OK," followed by a rice bowl emoji.
* * *
Three in the afternoon. One last section remained.
She turned the Complaint Letter copy to the three pages of attachments at the back: the first page of the hearing record, the first page of the engagement agreement, one page of the power of attorney. Each of the three pages bore a square seal in the lower right corner, red ink pressed over black characters. The inner ring read: Matches the original. The outer ring was squeezed together, only half a character legible—"Section;" the line of small print beneath the seal was lightly stamped, only the first two characters recognizable: Chengbei.
"Bottom drawer of the file cabinet," He Xiufen said. "Take out that stack under the medical case bag."
The stack was copies retrieved from the Medical Affairs Office over several months, every page stamped in the lower right corner. She pulled the top sheet out.
She turned the desk lamp to its brightest. Two sheets laid flat side by side under the light, two red seals facing each other.
The inner ring: same typeface, same crowding in the frame. The outer ring that was smudged on one—on this page it stood complete: Chengbei Hospital Medical Affairs Office.
"Look at this gap." He Xiufen touched the lower right edge of the seal with her fingernail. "Both are missing a patch of ink paste in the same spot. Same seal."
She lifted the attachment page to the light, turning it front and back, studying it.
"This is the seal Medical Affairs uses on its own copies," He Xiufen said. "Every time they process materials, they stamp page by page. The three pages you submitted went through the court; the copy forwarded to the defendant didn't have this seal. The only set with the seal is the one Medical Affairs kept."
"Last month Director Xu mentioned it in the hallway," she said. "Someone went to Medical Affairs and photocopied the procedures for me representing this case. They weren't asking about the case—they were asking when my certificate would be issued."
"Then it lines up." He Xiufen slid the two pages apart. "Whoever took those three pages got them from Medical Affairs. That set of papers doesn't line up on the outside, but it lines up on the inside."
[Thud. These three pages are far from the court and close to Medical Affairs.]
"Do I write it." she asked.
"Write it." He Xiufen said. "Guan Min told you to write it yourself, so write it where everyone can see."
"If I write it, the hospital will find out."
"They'll find out before the Bar Association does," He Xiufen said. "And finding out won't matter. What you're writing about is the seal, not the person."
She started a new section and wrote it out, stroke by stroke: The three photocopied pages attached to this complaint bear "Matches the original" verification seals in the lower right corner—the verification seal used by Chengbei Hospital's Medical Affairs Office. Neither I nor this firm has ever provided the respondent with seal-stamped photocopies. The Discipline Committee is requested to verify with Chengbei Hospital the time of production and the handler of these three photocopies, and to verify with the complainant how they were obtained.
"Writing this," she said, "means pushing the seal back."
"Whatever you push back, someone has to catch it." He Xiufen said. "The one catching it is the Bar Association, not you."
She copied this section into the final draft. When she finished, she counted from the top: three sections for the three points, one on the complainant's identity, one on the source of the attachments. She slid the filing materials inquiry application form out partway from under the papers—the three characters "Receipt Column" still circled in pencil from the day before, the circle still pressed against the page.
"Who told you to look at the receipt column?"
"The one without a case number."
"Everything he hands you is half a sentence." He Xiufen clicked her blue pen shut. "You complete the other half yourself."
* * *
In the evening, He Xiufen took out her own internship registration form and turned to the "Court Appearance Record" column.
"I'll fill this section in."
One line per box: date, court, courtroom, whether supervising lawyer attended. She filled four lines—February 17, Chengbei District People's Court; March 5, Chengbei District People's Court, Third Courtroom, evidence cross-examination on appraisal materials; March 19, Chengbei District People's Court, Third Courtroom, appraiser's in-court testimony; April 26, second hearing. In the final column, all four lines she wrote "Yes."
"Just these four times." He Xiufen said.
"There will be more later."
"Later goes in later."
In the "Supervising Lawyer's Comments" column, she wrote only three lines: This intern's court appearances during her internship at this firm were all assigned by me and attended by me. The above records have been verified by me personally. Signature, date, May 22.
"Is that too short?"
"Guan Min said if I write too much they'll start asking questions." He Xiufen pushed the form back. "Half of your certificate lives in these three lines."
* * *
On the morning of May 24, someone called from downstairs: "Zhengping Law Firm—registered mail—"
She went down to collect it. The delivery manifest was pushed toward her; she signed in the recipient column. Same kraft paper envelope, sender printed as the Municipal Bar Association.
Two pages inside.
The first was a Hearing Notice: Regarding the complaint accepted by this Association, a hearing is scheduled for June 11 at 9 a.m. in the Hearing Room on the fourth floor of the Municipal Bar Association. The respondent shall attend to present statements and defenses, and shall bring the original identification documents and originals of all submitted evidence for verification.
The second page was the hearing panel roster. Three committee members, none of whose names she recognized. Below the roster was a line about recusal: Anyone with close family ties or other relationships to the complainant or respondent that may affect impartiality shall recuse themselves.
She read it top to bottom, then bottom to top, and wrote three characters beside the list in pencil: Look them up.
"Han Chongli isn't on it."
"He shouldn't be in the first place." He Xiufen took the roster. "His name's on the wall directory, but not on this page."
"Is that good or bad."
"Names on the wall don't ask questions." He Xiufen flipped the roster over. "Not being on the list means one less person you have to answer to. The other three—you don't even know what they'll ask. They've given you the names. Within three days, find out what firm they're with and what cases they've handled. Go dig."
She turned back to the first page and copied the date into her notebook. That page still held last week's line: Day Fifteen, June 2. On a new line she wrote: June 11, 9 a.m., hearing.
After copying it down, she read it through a second time. At the bottom of the second page there was one more line in small print that she'd missed the first time:
This hearing will also review matters related to the intern's assessment.
She pointed to the line. He Xiufen leaned in, studied it for two seconds, and sat back.
"Those three assessment items—send them in on the same day as the defense."
"They're putting them on the same table."
"You're answering two exam papers."
He Xiufen clipped the notice back into the hard-shell folder, final page facing up, and left it open.
"If one paper doesn't answer clean," she said, "the other one won't either."