Read Novel Full Chapter 283: Two Applications
Chapter 283: Two Applications
November 3, 9:40 a.m. Water dripped from the edge of the awning outside the Litigation Service Center at the Chengdong District People's Court. Shen Zhixia stood at the bottom of the steps and counted the pages: two applications, one original and one duplicate each; a supplementary evidence list, one page; the supermarket shift-change certification, one page; a photocopy of the served admonishment and fine decision letter, one page. Seven pages.
At 9:50, the window on the west end opened.
"The He Lan case." The court clerk recognized her.
"He Lan v. Feng Guoming, divorce. Supplementary filing." She slid the papers through the slot under the glass. "Index is here. Three items: the shift-change certification, the served admonishment and fine decision letter, and the group-chat screenshot from October 31. The screenshot was already accepted on the 31st, so I wrote 'already received' on the index and didn't resubmit it."
The clerk went through the pages one by one, stopped at that line, and looked up at her.
"You marked it yourself."
"To avoid duplicate filing."
"You marked it right." She put a red check in the upper right corner. "Shift-change certification stays. This decision letter—"
"Served on the 29th. Group Seven's index was already closed by then, so I added a separate page for it."
"Fine."
She pulled out the two applications and read the Application for Court to Hear the Minor Child's Views first. At the last line, her pen pressed against the paper.
"Did you write this? 'The applicant and her agent will not participate and will not be present.'"
"Yes."
"In a civil case, if the agent doesn't enter that room, you've put it in writing yourself. There's no changing it later."
"I've thought it through."
"How old is the child?"
"Nine."
"Over eight." She drew a line on the paper. "I'll accept this one and forward it to the presiding judge today. Whether it's arranged, when, and who asks—that's for the division to decide. You'll be notified once it's set."
"Could it be scheduled for the 11th itself?"
"I can't answer that." She squared the pages. "And don't call the judge to ask that question."
The third was the Application for Witness Testimony in Court. The clerk looked up after the first line.
"Does the witness herself know?"
Shen Zhixia paused. "Haven't asked yet."
"You're submitting before asking?"
"I'm filing first, writing the name first." She said, "Whether she's willing to come, I have to ask her in person. The school has to agree too. Neither of those is on paper; if I waited until I'd asked, the deadline would pass."
The clerk set her pen down. "I'll be straight with you. If she doesn't come, this paper is waste, and you'll burn a service trip for nothing."
"I know."
"For the witness, you wrote the school office." She tapped the page with the pen barrel. "When the court calls a witness in, they need to reach her personally by phone. Write an office number, and whoever answers that day is someone else."
Shen Zhixia took her pen back and added nine characters after that line: "transferred via the Liuhe Primary School office."
"I don't have her personal number yet. I'll supplement a page once I get it."
"Write 'supplement' on it. Don't file a whole new one."
Then came the summons.
The clerk pulled a stiff sheet and a service receipt from the drawer and set them on the counter. "Summons."
She read the date first: November 11, 2026, 9:00 a.m. Then the location: this court's Family Trial Chamber. Four lines of instructions. The last one, she read aloud: "If the plaintiff is summoned and fails to appear without just cause, the case may be treated as withdrawn."
She copied that line into her notebook without omitting a single character.
"Sign the receipt here."
She wrote "Shen Zhixia (on behalf)," dated November 3, 9:58 a.m. She folded the summons twice, tucked it into the file bag, and took a photo first.
"The 11th—what if the child comes?" she asked.
"If the child comes, she waits in the room next to the Family Trial Chamber. When she goes in, who's in there—the division handles that." The clerk slid the receipt into a folder. "And don't coach her in the hallway."
"I won't."
"Plenty of people try. This month there was a mother who made her kid recite answers three times in the corridor."
Shen Zhixia pressed the flap of the file bag shut. "The application I filed is for exactly that."
"One more thing." The clerk added, "In a divorce case, if a party applies for a closed hearing, the court may grant it. If you want to apply, don't wait until you're already in the courtroom."
She wrote that down in her notebook too.
[Thud. Two applications in, one item out. The date is set for November 11, 9:00 a.m.]
Outside, she messaged He Lan: The summons is here. November 11, 9:00 a.m. Come to the office tomorrow after your shift. You should keep this yourself.
November 4, 2:00 p.m., second floor of the Zhengping Firm.
She cleared the long table and spread out the three columns again. The three new items sat on top: one summons, one submission receipt, one shift-change certification.
Footsteps on the stairs. The instant coffee she'd made that morning sat against the wall—no sugar—and was no longer hot. Lu Jibai came up, sat down, moved the cup outside the papers, then reached for the summons.
"The 11th."
"9:00."
"What's your first sentence going to be?"
"On August 3, she called the police for the first time. The one who reported was the child." She said, "On October 12, the second time, the reporter was the child again. She was in the cabinet both times."
"Say those two sentences. What will the person up on the bench think?"
"That he hit someone."
Lu Jibai set the summons down. "This case is not about proving he hit someone."
He pulled out the five sheets in the left column and laid them flat one by one, corners aligned.
"The protection order is the one he tore up. The admonishment and fine, he collected in person. The court already recognized these in October. You don't need to prove them again. In this case, only two things need to be made clear by him: where the child was at the time, and who the child has been living with all these years." He paused. "In a custody hearing, use the domestic violence records to talk about the child—not to talk about the divorce."
She didn't answer. She let the sentence turn over in her mind, then started moving things: from the middle stack of four police dispatch records, she pulled out the two originals from August 3 and October 12 and placed them at the bottom of the child column; the two photocopies from the left switched over, clipped back into the injury column. That slip of white paper reading "3 minutes 45 seconds, in the court file, no copy at this office, ask the judge to play it at trial" had been clipped in the middle of the child column. She pulled it out and laid it on top.
"Moving the police records too?"
"There, they show the sequence of injury. Here, they show the sequence of the child."
Lu Jibai slid the draft of the agency opinion toward her and pressed his finger halfway down the page. "Cross this out."
She looked: "enduring long-term domestic violence."
"The word 'long-term'—the judge will ask how long. If you can't answer, it turns around and bites you." He handed her the pen. "Write dates. June 9, August 3, September 17, October 12. Four dates are harder than 'long-term.'"
She wrote the four dates in a small line, wedging them into the first sentence of the second paragraph.
"In court, it's three sections." He rearranged the three columns in the order of the hearing. "First: how the child has lived outside the home these past two weeks. Second: what the child encountered in his presence. Third: whether it can hold from now on."
"'Hold' means the shift change and the school."
"The shift-change certification only says one line: 'Changed to morning shift effective November 1.'" He tapped the page. "Have her photocopy the November 1 column from the schedule and attach it. Paper says one thing; the chart shows which day it actually changed."
"Okay."
"What about the breakfast stall?"
"Haven't gone yet."
"Go before the 7th."
"Have you asked Teacher Yang?"
"No."
Lu Jibai glanced at her. "Go before the 8th. If the school doesn't approve, she won't get through the door even if she's standing right there."
[Thud. Whatever sits first on paper is the first sentence in court.]
2:40 p.m. He Xiufen came upstairs with a stack of freshly printed papers. She set them on the corner of the desk, didn't look at the contents, and said only three things.
"On the 11th, He Lan needs to ask for leave. Have her file the request today. Don't drag it to the 10th."
"I'm not going to the hearing. If I go, the judge sees two people."
"You decide the order, write it on the file cover. Don't be deciding it again in the courtroom."
Then she went downstairs, footsteps all the way to the ground floor.
Lu Jibai picked up the instant coffee, took a sip, set the cup back where it was. Two words: "It's cold."
"I'll make fresh tomorrow."
"No need." He pulled over a page, read the paragraph she'd just revised, circled the word "multiple" under "domestic violence." "Cross this out too."
She crossed it out.
4:40 p.m. He Lan came over after her shift, gray jacket, a blank leave request form in her pocket.
"I've been carrying this for three days, too afraid to fill it in." She spread it on the table. "The moment I ask for leave, the store manager knows I'm going to court."
"He'll find out eventually." Shen Zhixia pushed the summons toward her. "Look at this first."
He Lan held the stiff paper for a long time.
"Nine o'clock is morning."
"Morning."
"It only has my name on it."
"You're the plaintiff. His name is on the duplicate. His copy was served on the 23rd."
"What do I say that day?"
"Answer whatever they ask. If someone else asks, look at me. If the judge asks, speak by the dates." She pushed the leave form back. "Reason: 'My divorce hearing; court summons already served.'"
He Lan wrote stroke by stroke. At the word "served," her pen stopped. She turned the paper around for Shen Zhixia to see.
"Is this okay?"
"Yes. Write November 11 at the bottom. Photocopy the summons and submit it with the form."
"It's 160 a day docked."
"Remember that number."
He Lan folded the leave form in quarters, tucked it into her jacket's inner pocket, then suddenly asked, "She's coming too."
"Yes. She's in the room with the judge. You and I are outside the door."
"The 11th is a school day."
"The school has to issue a paper allowing her absence that day. I'm going on the 8th to speak with them in person."
He Lan nodded, then paused. "Where do I stand?"
"The corridor. The door closes, and you just stand there."
She wiped her hands on her pants. "I can stand."
"That day, wear this one." Shen Zhixia glanced at the gray jacket. "Don't put anything in the pockets. If you don't know what to do with your hands, hold the summons."
"My cousin can bring her that day," He Lan said. "I talked to her already. She'll take half a day."
He Lan reached the stairs, then looked back.
"Which direction does that room face?"
"I don't know. That'll be my first time in that courtroom too."
5:40 p.m. She spread the file cover on the desk.
Kraft paper, front printed with a "Cause of Action" box. She flipped to the back and wrote five characters in black pen:
The child first, the injury after.
Below, a small line: November 11, 9:00 a.m., Family Trial Chamber.
Below that: Answer period expires November 7.
She flipped the cover back to the front, wrapped a rubber band around it twice, and pressed it into the file bag.
Downstairs, Lu Jibai sat at the inner table, his noodles finished, bowl pushed aside. She sat across from him.
"His papers will arrive in the next few days," he said.
"I know."
"Six pages or ten, first look at what he attached."
"If he attached something, he has to state where it came from," she said.
Lu Jibai didn't answer that. He pushed the vinegar bottle back to the center of the table.
"Four days."
She lowered her head and ate. Chili oil had cooled in a ring at the rim of the bowl. She didn't drink the soup.