Justice System: I Litigate for the Whole City

Chapter 245: One Name, Three Positions

"The plaintiff requests to present the sixth set of evidence," Shen Zhixia said. "Ten pages of the defendant Xingyao's business registration records, plus one printed page each of Hengyue Capital and Dingchang public disclosure information."

The presiding judge took the stack, counted the pages of the records, examined the perforation seals, and had the clerk verify service and receipt. "Has the defendant's side received the copies?"

"We have," Lawyer Zhao said.

"Plaintiff may present."

She slid the third page of the records under the bench lamp, pressing both corners flat.

"Page three of Xingyao's records. This change registration application from June. Jiangzhou Xingyao Culture Media Co., Ltd." Her knuckle rested on the form field. "Legal representative column. Three characters: Chen Maolin. The adjacent column is the change date: June 20, 2026."

She turned the page; paper scraped against the desk.

"Public disclosure document. Jiangzhou Hengyue Capital Management Co., Ltd. Legal representative column. Same three characters: Chen Maolin. Change date column. Same date: June 20, 2026." She moved down one row. "This page still shows the pre-change entry. It reads Qin Lang."

She turned it again.

"Dingchang's public disclosure document. Filing information. Jiangzhou Dingchang Culture Media Co., Ltd. The legal representative column does not say Chen. The financial officer column: three characters. Chen Maolin."

[Thud. Three positions, one name.]

On the bench, the presiding judge laid the three pages side by side under the light, comparing them one by one.

"Presiding Judge." Lawyer Zhao stood. "What is the plaintiff trying to prove? Hengyue Capital has no business relationship with the defendant Xingyao in this case. This page has no relevance to the infringement at issue."

"The plaintiff is not asking about Hengyue Capital's business." Shen Zhixia said. "The plaintiff is only reading two columns. The defendant Xingyao, on June 20, changed the name in its legal representative column. The company that paid the witness five times has the same name in its filed financial officer column. The plaintiff is not drawing conclusions from these columns. The plaintiff only asks the court to enter them into the record."

"Enter into the record," the presiding judge said.

"Any further objection from the defendant?"

"None." Lawyer Zhao flipped open his notebook. "Wouldn't stop her from reading it anyway."

"Then the plaintiff asks one question." She lifted her eyes. "Who is Xingyao's current legal representative?"

Lawyer Zhao's pen stopped on the page.

"Company registration particulars are governed by what the registration authority publicly discloses."

"The records are in the case file," the presiding judge said. "Counsel, answer the question."

"...Chen Maolin."

"Is Mr. Chen in court today?"

Lawyer Zhao glanced toward the entrance.

"No."

"From the day this case was filed until today, the defendant has submitted several sets of materials. Which one bears Chen Maolin's own signature?"

"His counsel signed them. Company documents carry the company seal."

"From the statement of defense to the written explanations over the past three days, all signed by counsel."

"Yes."

[Thud. The name sits firmly on paper. The man never came.]

She closed the records and the disclosure documents, then pulled a horizontal A4 sheet from under the binder clip.

"The plaintiff offers one additional page. This page is not evidence. It is a diagram the plaintiff drew based on evidence already in the record. It shows only fields and dates."

The page reached the bench; the presiding judge took it and rotated it.

"Top row, three names. Jiangzhou Taiying. Jiangzhou Sheng'an. Jiangzhou Dingchang." She paused. "Second row: the annual report contact phone number. Three boxes. The same number. Third row: the bank where accounts are held. Three boxes. The same branch office."

"Fourth row: shareholder column. Sheng'an's box reads Jiangzhou Hengyue Capital Management Co., Ltd. Hengyue Capital's box reads Jiangzhou Hengyue Group Co., Ltd. Fifth row: legal representative. Hengyue Capital's box: Chen Maolin. Change date: June 20. The same date as the one on the defendant Xingyao's page."

"Beneath the diagram is a line of small text. Dingchang's corporate account received seven deposits in three months. The payers were Taiying and Sheng'an."

"The plaintiff drew this diagram for a single sentence." She set down her pen. "Money moves along this line. The name sits along this line too. This morning the defendant argued that the footage was purchased from an outside individual. The plaintiff would like to ask: that individual, Wu Jianchuan—is he just a name casually written down, outside Hengyue's ledger?"

"Presiding Judge, that question is speculation," Lawyer Zhao said. "The plaintiff is putting words in the defendant's mouth—words that appear nowhere in any page of paper."

The presiding judge looked at her.

"That question, the plaintiff need not answer."

"The plaintiff withdraws the question," Shen Zhixia said.

[Thud. It crossed a line, so it came back.]

She flipped the diagram over, then turned it back again.

"The plaintiff lays out the four columns here. The header column reads Xingyao. The signature column: blank. The financial officer column: Chen Maolin. The summary column: a number that matches the number on the back of the witness's card. As to how these four columns fit together—the plaintiff will not speculate."

At the defendant's bench, Lawyer Zhao turned his two-page objection face down and pressed it flat.

"Does the defendant have further evidence to present?" the presiding judge asked.

"No."

"The plaintiff?"

"No. The plaintiff moves to closing arguments."

The court investigation record was paged through; the clerk signed the final line and handed it to the presiding judge. He reviewed it and looked up.

"Court investigation is concluded. We now proceed to closing arguments. The plaintiff speaks first."

When she stood, the chair her knee had been pressing against let out a soft creak.

"The plaintiff has one page of argument. Three sentences."

"First. The face in the video at issue is not the plaintiff's. It was composited. The appraisal opinion is in the record: anomaly one, audio track offset; anomaly two, facial fusion marks; anomaly three, repeated frames at the splice point. The defendant raised no objection to the appraisal opinion."

"Second. The footage used as material is real. The person in it is real too. On May 20, the legal service day on Wenchang Road Subdistrict—the original footage. The contracted organizer was the defendant Xingyao. The freelance videographer's surname is Guo. The defendant's July 14 letter states the footage was purchased from an individual, Wu Jianchuan, and has been sealed. The bank's reply letter states that no payment records were found under the account name Wu Jianchuan."

"Third. The plaintiff does not ask the court to evaluate why the defendant did what it did. The plaintiff asks for three things that can be written down and done: delete the video, clarify the truth, and pay the damages."

She sat down.

Lawyer Zhao rose and squared his three pages of defense opinion.

"The defendant's position remains three points. One: the video at issue was neither produced by Xingyao nor published by Xingyao. Two: the footage came from an outside individual, and there is no direct causation between it and the infringement. Three: Xingyao has fulfilled its duty of reasonable review. As for the plaintiff's question regarding this Wu Jianchuan, the defendant will provide a written supplementary explanation within the time limit set by the court. We respectfully request the court to dismiss the plaintiff's claims. If the court finds compensation warranted, we respectfully request it be reduced according to law."

"Does the plaintiff have anything to add?"

"One sentence." She looked up. "This morning, the defendant applied for an extension on the grounds that it 'needs to verify.' Now arguments have concluded, and the grounds are still 'needs to verify.' That page of paper has remained blank from July 14 until today."

"Does the defendant have any final remarks?"

"No."

The presiding judge closed the case file and looked toward the plaintiff's bench.

"Does the plaintiff herself have anything to add?"

Tang Guo stood. Her hand had been pressed against the edge of the table the whole time; the sticky note hanging from her bag strap flipped over in the air-conditioning breeze.

"I moved once on May 23. By early August, I'd moved four times total," she said. "The video is still up. I am not withdrawing the lawsuit."

She sat back down. Someone in the gallery coughed once, and then it was quiet.

"Closing arguments are concluded. Final remarks of both parties have been entered into the record." The presiding judge gave a single knock. "This court is adjourned. The date of judgment will be announced separately. Parties and counsel shall review the record and sign if it is correct."

[Thud. Everything that needed to be said today has been said.]

The gavel's sound bounced once through the room. The defendant's bench packed up quickly. Lawyer Zhao folded the two-page objection into his briefcase; as he passed through the aisle, he glanced at the plaintiff's bench for half a second and said nothing.

Tang Guo peeled the sticky note off her bag strap, pressed it onto the table, fished a pen from her bag, and traced over the three characters "I didn't withdraw" one more time. The ink pressed down over the old ink. The strokes grew chubby.

"Why are you tracing over it?" Shen Zhixia asked, squaring the page numbers on the case file.

"I'm afraid it'll fade."

He Xiufen came down from the back row of the gallery and stood beside the plaintiff's bench. She folded the paper she'd been holding—still blank—once, then again, and tucked it into her coat pocket.

"Not a single thing you said in court today was a guess," she said.

"There was one. I took it back."

"Taking it back was the right move." He Xiufen handed her the water cup from the table. "Questions that cross the line are just ladders you hand to the other side."

In the hallway, Guo Jianping sat on the bench against the wall, his old jacket draped over his legs. He'd probably been sitting for three hours; he was stiff when he stood.

"The two things I said—were they useful?"

"They were useful," Shen Zhixia said.

"They were worth money." He Xiufen added, "Go home. Don't take detours. If anyone asks what you said today, you say, 'I don't remember. It's in the court record.'"

Guo Jianping nodded. He took two steps, then turned back. "That card and those slips—"

"They're with the court," Lu Jibai said. "After the judgment, they'll be returned to you according to procedure."

At 12:09, they left by the court's back door. The lane behind the court was narrow, with a few cars parked along one side; the sun hit the concrete hard, glaring white.

A black sedan sat against the wall on the east side. It was a long car, taking up two spaces. As they approached, the front window lowered halfway.

"Attorney Shen."

She stopped. Her hand was in her pocket, her thumb resting on the phone's side button, pressed down from the first syllable of that voice.

Qin Lang's hand rested on the bottom edge of the window. The string of beads on his wrist was gone. He spoke slowly, as if choosing each word.

"Before the judgment comes down, there's still time."

Lu Jibai stepped forward, his shoulders squarely between her and that window.

The glass rose slowly, slicing the face in half. The car did not honk. It reversed along the wall, turned onto the main road, and was gone.

The back entrance held only the two of them now, and the sun, everywhere.

"Did you get it?" he asked.

She pulled out her phone and checked: one photo, license plate ending in three digits, 731; one recording, forty-one seconds.

"Got it. 12:09, back door, east side."

"Save two copies." Lu Jibai took her bag and hung it over her shoulder for her. "One for the civil case file. One for the police report notebook."

"He said 'there's still time.'"

"There's still time." He switched the binder to his other hand. "He was talking to himself."