Justice System: I Litigate for the Whole City

Chapter 88 : Qingyuan Testing

The presiding judge's gavel struck the wooden bench. Once. The sound she remembered always dragged long in her ears; this one was short, cleanly short.

August 12, nine in the morning. The doors of Courtroom No. 3 closed behind her, and cold air slipped in at her collar. Three seat placards stood on the plaintiff's bench: Jiang Bo, Shi Lei, Tang Guo. The three sat straight. Shi Lei's fingers tapped his knee; on the third tap Jiang Bo pressed them still from below. He Xiufen's placard read "Plaintiff's Agent." Shen Zhixia's chair sat flush against her left hand, a cardboard box at her feet: the index of eleven registers, the bank's self-inspection of 128 transactions, Shi Lei's delivery notes, Kong Xiulan's two explanatory statements.

Across the room sat only one person. Behind the placard for Defendant Four, Jiangzhou Bank Chengdong Branch, sat Lu Jibai. White shirt, cuffs buttoned, a kraft paper envelope and a pen on the table before him. Placards for the other five names were set out, and behind them, nothing: Youzhu, Youjia, Xinhe, and the two companies from the fourth floor of Wanshun Building. The seat for Third Party Yin Jianping was also empty.

"Third Party Yin Jianping, despite notice from this court, has not appeared." The presiding judge looked to the plaintiff's bench. "Does the plaintiff request a postponement of the hearing?"

"No request." He Xiufen stood.

"Defendants One, Two, Three, Five, and Six, having been lawfully served, have not appeared. Is the plaintiff aware of the service status?"

"Yes." He Xiufen said, "The three companies' service addresses are the addresses on their business licenses. Court express delivery made two attempts, no one signed, and it was returned. By regulation, service is deemed complete. We also knocked on the registered addresses of the two companies on the fourth floor. The signature column reads 'no such person at this address.'"

"This court will proceed in absentia. A second notice will be issued to the third party." The judge turned the file back to page one. "The plaintiff will briefly state the claims."

He Xiufen did not read the complaint. She said only three things: six defendants, 1,042 households; the money left a thousand hands, and its first landing place was written into the contract; where the money finally ended up, let the court ask the defendants to say it themselves.

The judge turned to the defendant's bench. "Defendant Four, defense."

Lu Jibai stood. He did not look at his notes. He made three points. First, the payment transfer vouchers submitted by the plaintiff were photocopies, the key field was handwritten, and the bank did not recognize their authenticity. Second, the payee was the transaction counterparty designated by the borrower in the contract itself; the bank paid according to the agreement and had fulfilled its duty of review. The tenants' loss came from the lessor's failure to hand over the keys and had no causal connection to the bank's payment. Third, the bank's self-inspection was an internal spot check; what was submitted to the court was the portion relevant to this case.

"The plaintiff will present evidence on whether the bank fulfilled its duty of review."

He Xiufen glanced sideways at Shen Zhixia, then said to the judge: "The plaintiff's agent requests that the trainee lawyer accompanying her in court make the statement on her behalf."

"Granted."

Shen Zhixia stood.

"Defendant Four says that voucher is a photocopy, not authentic." She said, "That photocopy was pulled from the bank's own file cabinets under a court investigation order. If the bank says it's not authentic, then let the bank produce the original. The original is in the bank's hands."

"The plaintiff uses a photocopy to prove the bank's fault." Lu Jibai said, "By that standard, anyone holding a photocopy could win a lawsuit."

"The original is also in the bank's hands."

She turned the paper in her hand over and read the first line of her notes.

"On this loan's purpose verification—who did the verification, and how far did it go?"

"Pre-disbursement purpose verification is done by the processing post. The bank has already submitted the verification records."

"Eleven pages submitted." She said, "The verification dates on all eleven pages are June 16. By then the Chengxi storefront had already closed, and the two landlords on Minsheng Road had their accounts cut off on March 19. Please have the bank explain: whose purpose, on June 16, was verified as what."

Lu Jibai paused a second. "Whether the dates on the verification forms were filled in properly needs to be checked back at the bank."

"There's another field." She said, "The reviewer field—all eleven pages are blank."

She flipped her notes to the second line.

"One hundred twenty-eight transactions in the self-inspection, twenty-three submitted to the court. The other 105 were also handled by Yin Jianping. Please have the bank explain why they weren't submitted."

"The self-inspection scope was a spot check the bank conducted under internal regulations. What was submitted to the court is the portion relevant to this case."

"What's relevant to this case is 1,042 transactions."

"Out of 1,042 households, every contract and every disbursement—the bank would have to review them one by one." Lu Jibai said, "The plaintiff has the time for that. The bank does too."

"The plaintiff doesn't have the time." He Xiufen cut in from the side, "Out of these thousand households, twenty-seven people are working two jobs, and four landlords are taking back apartments this month. The bank does."

Lu Jibai let that pass, lowered his head, and wrote a line on his paper.

"Defendant Four also says there's no causal connection between the tenants' losses and the bank's payment." Shen Zhixia said, "Then let's ask the third line: when this 24,000 went out the door, why wasn't it paid to the tenant himself?"

"The entrusted payment payee is designated by the borrower in the contract."

"Good." She spread three sheets on the table. "In Tang Guo's loan contract, the merchant name field—what characters are written there?"

"Youyu Apartments."

"On the payment transfer voucher, the payee field."

"Jiangzhou Xinhe Trading Co., Ltd."

"The last line of the court's asset inquiry statement—the payee account name."

Lu Jibai paused half a second. "Jiangzhou Youyu Housing Rental Service Co., Ltd."

"The same name, measured to three different lengths." She said, "Please have the bank point out in court which one 'Youyu Apartments' is in the business registry."

"It's common for registered names and store names to differ."

"Then please have the bank write out the unified social credit code corresponding to 'Youyu Apartments' and submit it to the court for verification."

Lu Jibai opened a page beside him, read two lines, and said it needed to be checked back at the bank.

"One more thing—please have it entered into the record." Shen Zhixia said, "The handler of this transaction, Yin Jianping—the bank says he was transferred out of the relationship manager post this month. One person handled 128 entrusted payments, then changed posts, and the bank won't even write what post he was moved to."

"Entered into the record." The judge said.

The presiding judge closed the file and looked to the defendant's bench.

"Defendant Four, this court asks: can the bank submit the original entrusted payment agreement, the original payment voucher, and the corresponding review and loan approval records?"

Lu Jibai stood: "They involve internal materials and customer information. Part involves trade secrets. They need to be retrieved from the bank."

The judge finished writing before speaking. "The court grants the plaintiff's application. Defendant Four will submit them within the time limit set by this court. The time limit is ten days. Portions involving trade secrets and customer information will not be subject to public cross-examination and may be used only for this case. If not submitted by the deadline, the court will determine the plaintiff's corresponding claims based on the evidence on file."

Ten days.

Someone in the gallery repeated the words in a low voice, was glanced at by a bailiff, and the sound broke off mid-syllable. Shen Zhixia wiped her palm on her trouser seam and pressed the notes flat inside the file—three lines, and not one question more than needed.

He Xiufen laid her pen flat. Tang Guo leaned half an inch toward her, voice very low: "That two thousand of mine on the 20th—is it still being deducted?"

"It is." He Xiufen said.

Shi Lei's pen creaked in his grip; Jiang Bo pressed it down a second time. In the first row, at the aisle seat, Ma Jianjun sat with his helmet on his knees, one hand holding it down, as if afraid it would roll away.

[Thud. Today's order: within ten days, produce the originals.]

* * *

Court adjourned at 11:20.

She carried the cardboard box down to the second floor. Someone stood by the window at the corner. Lu Jibai still held the kraft paper envelope, unopened.

"The bank's documents—you hand them to me now, and your side won't ask questions."

"The judge told me to hand them over." He passed her the envelope. "I'm only handing them to you ten days early."

She pulled out the papers: one page of agreement, with a one-page approval form stapled behind. The payee field on the agreement was typed, ten characters. She turned to the approval page. Three lines of signatures. The bottom line was Yin Jianping, handwritten, the strokes pressed hard into the paper. The line above was a seal plus one handwritten character. The top line was printed with the word "Approved," beside which only a surname was signed—the character after it half swallowed by the seal.

"Whose hand is on this?"

"Matters inside the bank—today I'm standing on this side." He withdrew his hand from the envelope. "I can't say a single word."

"Then what about that line you said before—'Item four, you can apply again'?"

"That was a procedural statement. Anyone standing on that side should have said it."

She closed the paper. "The things you give me are always missing half."

He looked at her for two seconds, then turned and started down the stairs. Three steps down, he stopped.

"You ask the bank, and you hit a wall. The hand above it—it isn't in this building."

"Where is it."

"Stop asking the bank first." He said, "Go ask Qingyuan Testing."

The stairwell emptied in an instant. Qingyuan Testing—she had seen that name. On that old newspaper, the four characters were circled twice in red ink, the second circle punching a small hole through the paper. In June she had even searched it on the public information registry: Shuangqiao Road, Chengxi, active. That newspaper was pinned under the glass desk pad at the firm.

She opened her mouth to ask, but he was already downstairs. Footsteps fell evenly, one after another, without stopping.

[Thud. This name—he will not say it twice.]

* * *

At night, the long table was set at the mouth of the alley, the two pages spread under the lamp. He Xiufen read them once with her glasses on, then pulled the desk lamp closer and studied the three lines of signatures.

"This surname at the top—can you make it out?"

"No. The character is half eaten by the seal."

"Hm." She took off her glasses and laid them on the paper.

Shen Zhixia recounted the two sentences from the stairwell. When she got to Qingyuan Testing, He Xiufen's hand stopped on the lamp switch.

"How did he say it, exactly."

"Stop asking the bank first. Go ask Qingyuan Testing."

He Xiufen stood and walked to the stairwell. She dialed a number and said three sentences:

"Hey, it's me. ...Asking you about someone. ...The old director at Qingyuan Testing, Cen Shouye—is he still there?"

After that she said nothing whole, just "Mm," "Mm," "Okay," and hung up.

Back at the table, she picked up her enamel mug, took a sip, and only then spoke.

"Cen Shouye. Passed away June 14. Heart attack."

"How did you find out?"

"Twenty years ago, someone at Qingyuan Testing got his hand caught in a machine. I fought his workers' comp case for him." She said, "He still works the night shift there."

She paused.

"In the half year before Cen Shouye died, he was at the old office building every day, digging through the old archives. His wife tried to stop him and couldn't. Said he went through every cabinet in the room by himself."

"After he died, the family was clearing out the cabinets." He Xiufen said, "They found a hard drive at the bottom of one. Metal case, locked. His wife found someone to open it—went to two places, and both said they couldn't."

"Couldn't open it, or wouldn't?"

"Wouldn't." He Xiufen said, "It belonged to a dead man. What's inside, no one can say. Open it, and if something comes to light, who takes responsibility?"

Shen Zhixia held the agreement page, the edge biting into her fingers. "The family wants to open it."

"They do. For almost two months now."

[Thud. What a dead man leaves behind—first ask who has the right to open it.]

Tang Guo came out of the noodle shop carrying a basin of wontons, caught the last half sentence, and stood by the table without sitting.

"Can that be checked?"

"It can." He Xiufen said, "Depends on who asks, and with what."

Shen Zhixia lifted a corner of the glass desk pad, tore a slip from the notepad, wrote three characters, and laid it beside the half-strip of cut paper. Under the lamp, a new slip now sat beside the old words beneath the glass.

He Xiufen set her glasses back on her nose.

"Tomorrow morning, come with me to Qingyuan Testing's old building."

"What for?"

"To have a look at that cabinet."