Read Novel Full Chapter 54 : The Same Hand
Chapter 54 : The Same Hand
Wang Yuhai brought the four kraft-paper archive envelopes again, one beside another along the far side of the long table, all openings facing himself.
The hearing room had been cleared out of the interview room inside the Enforcement Affairs Center, two long tables pushed together. Across sat three people: in the middle was the presiding judge, surnamed Qi; on his left, Liao Hong, with a dog-eared enforcement file spread open in front of him; on his right, a young judge whose pen never stopped.
"April 28, 9:00 a.m." Judge Qi announced the cause of action, the parties, and those present. "In the matter of Hurricane Express Distribution Co., Ltd. and three other judgment debtors, the applicant for enforcement seeks to add Wang Yuhai and Wang Deshan as judgment debtors. The applicant will present materials first."
Shen Zhixia stood up, pushed the materials list across the table, and went through it group by group.
First group: business registration and annual report printouts. Four companies, three street addresses. Sutong and Hengtong are registered at the same address, and Jianhua's address is a street away. Four annual reports. In the employee-count column, two say zero, one says one.
Second group: papers the court pulled from the internal business registration archives.
"Hengtong is a one-person limited liability company." She flipped to the shareholder register page. "Subscribed capital is one million yuan. The paid-in column is blank. On February 3 of this year, on the same day, this company's legal representative changed from Wang Yuhai to Wang Deshan, and the sole shareholder also changed from Wang Yuhai to Wang Deshan. The equity transfer agreement is only one line, and the price is written as one yuan."
She held up the last page of the change registration materials.
"This page requires a signature at the bottom. The name 'Wang Deshan' was typed on, with a fingerprint next to it. He can't write his own name—he's sitting right now in the chair outside the door."
Wang Yuhai's fingers paused on the string tie of an envelope. He didn't look up.
Third group: the payment company's reply letter and the passbook transaction details. Account holder Wang Deshan, Jiangzhou Rural Commercial Bank Linhe Branch, account ending 6342. From the first deposit through April 5 of this year, on the fifth of each month, 11,800 yuan came in. Eighteen deposits, 212,400 yuan. Every amount came in and went out the next day, not a cent left.
[Thud. A man can swap many nameplates, but he only has one pocket.]
Fourth group, she spread three pages side by side.
"The handler column on the merchant information: Wang Yuhai. On Hengtong's business license filed with the payment company, the legal representative column: Wang Yuhai. On the Yunfan Cloud Computing cleanup work order from December 10 of last year, the approver column: Wang Yuhai. And on July 18 of last year, twenty people's delivery fees were transferred out of Wang Yuhai's personal account."
She gathered the papers and squared the edges.
"Four companies, three street addresses, one acquiring merchant ID, one passbook. The nameplates have changed, the addresses have changed, the names have changed." She said, "The hand that signs hasn't."
Judge Qi waited for her to sit, then turned to the opposite side.
"Wang Yuhai, speak."
"The four companies each keep their own books and file their own taxes." Wang Yuhai pushed the four envelopes half an inch forward. "Hengtong's debt is Hengtong's matter. It has nothing to do with me personally."
"I'm not looking at your books today," Judge Qi said. "A company whose annual report says zero employees is collecting service fees from over fifty shops on one street, with around two hundred riders running underneath. Who is doing its work?"
"The stations are contracted out."
"Who holds the contracting contracts?"
"I know they exist. They're not in my hands."
Liao Hong wrote a line in the margin of the enforcement file: "Submit within fifteen days."
Judge Qi asked him again: "Hengtong is a one-person company, and the shareholder was originally you. What proof do you have that the company's money is kept separate from your own money?"
"The articles of association say so."
Liao Hong lifted his eyes. "The articles say one million, and not a cent has actually been paid in. From the day the company opened until now, the registered capital has never entered the account. You say it's separate—starting from which day was it separate?"
"I don't handle financial matters."
"Then bring the person who does handle them." Judge Qi said. "Also within fifteen days."
"Has Wang Deshan arrived?"
The clerk went out. The door opened a crack. An old man came in half-supported, his daughter-in-law's hand under his arm. He stood still, looked first at the table, then at the chair. As he sat down, his hand felt along the edge of the table before finding the right position.
"Wang Deshan." Judge Qi said the name twice, and only after he raised his voice a third time did the old man look up. "I have a few things to ask you."
"Are you a shareholder of Jiangzhou Hengtong Delivery Service Co., Ltd.?"
"What's a shareholder?"
"How much do you get each month?"
"Six thousand a year."
"You have a card under your name, ending 6342. On the fifth of every month, 11,800 yuan goes in. Do you know what that money is?"
"Don't know." The old man said. "Somebody came. Took it out and gave it to them."
"Who came to take it out?"
"A man in a van. Different one every time."
The daughter-in-law added from the side, "He came on the fifth last month, and on the fifth this month too. He said Boss Wang sent him."
"Do you know Hengtong owes money to other people?"
"No."
"All that money moving in and out under your name—did you ever ask about it?"
The old man thought for a moment. "Asked once. He said it's company business. You wouldn't understand."
Wang Yuhai spoke. "He can't even read. It has nothing to do with him."
"Exactly because he can't read." Shen Zhixia looked at the page she had just held up. "The shareholders' resolution had to be signed in his name, and he couldn't sign it. That name was typed by someone else. The fingerprint he couldn't press, someone pulled his hand and pressed. The money he couldn't withdraw, someone came to his door and withdrew for him. Six thousand a year, in exchange for his name. In exchange for his card."
[Thud. A name can't do the counting. The people counting the money for it can.]
Judge Qi leaned to speak briefly with the other two, then announced a ten-minute recess.
When they returned, he read the ruling aloud.
"After review, this tribunal finds: Jiangzhou Hengtong Delivery Service Co., Ltd. is a one-person limited liability company, and its shareholder has not actually paid the capital contribution. The company's operating revenue has long been collected through its shareholder's personal account and transferred out the next day, and the shareholder has failed to provide evidence proving that the company's property is independent of his personal property. Wang Yuhai was the sole shareholder at the time the company was established; his subscribed capital contribution has not been paid to date, and the transfer of equity cannot exempt him from the obligation to contribute capital. In accordance with the relevant provisions on adding or changing parties in civil enforcement, the ruling is as follows—"
"One: Wang Yuhai is added as a judgment debtor in this case and shall bear liability for the debt of this case to the extent of the unpaid capital contribution. Two: Wang Deshan is added as a judgment debtor in this case."
After reading it, he paused and added, "The written ruling will be issued today. Within ten days of service, if you disagree, you may file an enforcement objection lawsuit with this court."
Liao Hong half closed the file. "The card ending 6342—go freeze it this afternoon. The May 5 amount under the acquiring merchant ID hasn't been transferred out yet; it's frozen in the pending payouts and can't get out. Also, on that old Hengtong case for 113,000, the applicant called this morning to ask." He paused. "On the Wang Deshan item, last time I said the basis was thin. Once the internal records were pulled, he is the shareholder."
Wang Deshan didn't understand any of it. As he stood, he asked his daughter-in-law, "Is the passbook still at home?"
"On top of the rice jar," the daughter-in-law said.
On the way out, she caught up with Shen Zhixia. "When this is over, will my dad be arrested?"
"The court wants money, not him," Shen Zhixia said. "If it actually comes to deducting money, it'll be deducted from that incoming money, not from his six thousand."
The daughter-in-law pulled the old man's sleeve up a little and helped him down the stairs.
Wang Yuhai stacked the four envelopes one by one into a pile, crouched down to fasten the string ties, then stood up.
"That 40,000—I once laid it on your desk."
"You said it yourself," she said. "That 40,000 required twenty people to sign first."
He picked up the stack of envelopes and walked to the door, then looked back at her.
"Attorney Shen, what you won today was my personal money. The 36,000 the platform owes you—you still haven't seen one cent of it."
"That 36,000," she said, "moves through the same pocket. You know that better than I do."
Wang Yuhai said nothing more and went downstairs.
Outside the court gate, a row of electric scooters was parked. The old man watching them was making change for someone. Her phone buzzed twice.
"Passbook frozen?" — Lu Jibai.
"Frozen."
A moment later another message came. "The next one to call you won't be Wang Yuhai."
She typed back two words: "Who?"
"Someone better at doing the math."
She put her phone back into her pocket and looked back at the row of windows on the west building.
At six in the evening, upstairs at Zhengping Firm. He Xiufen came up with a rag; she wiped the glass desktop every day. She draped the rag over the back of a chair. "How many names?"
"Both are in."
"And the passbook?"
"Frozen this afternoon."
He Xiufen nodded and pulled the rag back off the chair. "I told you last month. Freezing the account stings. Freezing the passbook is what made him come."
"He came," Shen Zhixia said.
"Who?"
"The papers haven't arrived yet."
"The bill from that stir-fry place on Back Street didn't get used today."
"Not needed today. Needed tomorrow."
Downstairs, Ma Jianjun stood at the entrance of the noodle house and called up, "Did the two names get in?"
"They got in."
"What about the May 5 payment?"
"It can't get out."
He stubbed his cigarette out on the rim of the trash can and didn't ask anything else.
The office phone rang.
He Xiufen answered, listened for a moment, then passed the receiver over. "Hurricane Express, legal department, for you."
"Attorney Shen, my surname is Wen, from Hurricane Express's legal department." The voice on the other end was unhurried, like someone reading out clauses. "We will not appeal the first-instance judgment. We will pay in one lump sum, calculated at eighty percent—29,124.80 yuan. We will also accept the delayed interest and enforcement fees. The money will be transferred to the court's account within three days."
"Your condition."
"The twenty applicants will each sign a confirmation, confirming that they have no employment relationship with the platform and that they will not assert any further rights against the platform over this matter." Wen Jin said. "Once signed, we will submit the settlement agreement to the court, and you apply to close the case."
"Those words were already ruled on in the judgment, and they've taken effect."
"A judgment is a judgment." The other party paused. "What we want is the signatures written by those twenty people themselves. Attorney Shen, it's best if this matter stops at 36,000. As for whose name the receiving account is under—we don't want more people asking further down the line."
She gripped the receiver and looked at the graph paper still lying under the glass desktop, not yet put away.
"Tomorrow morning. Come to our office."
"We'll bring the papers."
"Bring the papers."
After hanging up, He Xiufen folded the rag into a square and pressed it beside her hand. "Sixty percent raised to eighty. That extra twenty percent isn't paying you for interest."
[Thud. Someone willing to raise the price is buying the line that isn't written in the ledger.]
She turned the hardcover notebook to a new page and wrote three lines.
Money—which account it goes to.
Papers—who signs.
On the third line, she paused, then wrote: employment relationship exists.
After writing it, she circled the line but did not cross it out.