Chapter 458: Two Interview Records

At eight o'clock, she flipped the notebook to the July page, pulled out the sticky note and read it through. When she finished, she didn't slip it back between the two sheets. She changed her mind and tucked it at the top of the page instead, leaving the corner sticking out.

At eight-thirty, downstairs had just cleared the breakfast bowls. He Xiufen dragged the old wooden chair from under the window to the table against the inner wall, straightened it, and sat down to test it. The chair legs scraped a pale white mark across the floorboards.

"Not sitting under the window anymore," she said.

"Sitting under the window, anyone questioning me would have to crane their neck." He Xiufen stood and pushed the chair back into place. "Today I'm the one being questioned. I'll sit here."

Li Huilan punched holes in the pages on the table and filed them into the case folder, standing it upright with the spine facing the wall. "These two matters in my hands have nothing to do with him. I won't mix the papers together." She closed the drawer. "When they ask me, I'll answer with what I heard."

"Keep an eye on the pot downstairs." He Xiufen tilted her chin toward the stairway, then went down to turn the stove flame down half a notch. On her way back up, she pressed the lid of the old mailbox by the stairs back into place. The box was empty; the lid sprang open half an inch.

The inner room's half-door was closed. A sliver of light showed beneath it.

At ten, footsteps came up the stairs—one heavy, one light. The lighter one's sole scuffed against the third step. Guan Min came up first, in a dark gray light jacket, the same black hard-shell folder tucked under her arm, hair pinned behind her ears. The young man following her held a canvas bag against his chest instead of carrying it by the handle.

"Municipal Bar Association, Discipline Department. Guan Min. One recording clerk." Her work ID flipped open and landed on the corner of the outer room's table. She didn't press anyone to look.

He Xiufen folded the rag in her hand twice and set it on the table's edge. "Sit."

Before sitting, Guan Min glanced at the half-door to the inner room. Only then did she lay her folder flat. "Today we're not questioning the respondent," she said. "Today we're questioning the people from the firm."

"He's right in there."

"I know he's in there." Guan Min pulled out a sheet of paper and smoothed it flat. "I'll read the first item aloud first—read it for all of you, and read it into the record. Since July of this year, the respondent made statements to judicial authorities regarding matters he learned during his internship at this firm, without notifying the firm in advance." She stopped. "There's a line after it saying this conduct violated confidentiality obligations. That line is the complainant's wording—it's an opinion, not part of what we're asking about."

"This matter was brought by a firm founded by a Vice Chairman of this Association." She said, "Vice Chairman Han has submitted a written recusal. The Discipline Department received it. He will not participate in this matter. I said this when the notice was delivered last time, and I'm saying it again today."

He Xiufen sat at the table, both hands resting on her knees.

"We've reviewed the six pages he submitted on August twenty-sixth." Guan Min said, "The statements on paper match up with people, but a few points need to be confirmed in person. Today we're making investigation records: three people, two records. One for you, one for Lawyer Li. Lawyer Shen's statement goes at the end of your record."

"Why not give her a separate page?"

"The questions for her are few. One page per person and the papers scatter."

The recording clerk opened his notebook, turned it sideways across his knee, and removed the pen clip.

"Director He, at noon on July eighth, what did he say in the noodle shop." Guan Min asked.

"He told us about something he'd gone out to handle."

"What time."

"The busiest part of the lunch rush. Downstairs, bowls were being cleared in waves. I had noodles in my hands." He Xiufen said, "I can't pin down the exact time. Around twelve."

"Where did he say it."

"At the table in the back. He sat on the outer side, his back to the stairway."

"Who was present."

"Me. Lawyer Li." He Xiufen thought for a moment. "Three or five tables of customers downstairs, but there's a door between—they couldn't hear what was said."

"What did he say. Tell me item by item."

"He said that on the morning of July seventh, he went to the Chengnan District Procuratorate and talked about that matter from back then. The interview record was nine pages, and he signed each page one by one. The written statement came to three pages, submitted to the Intermediate Court the next day." He Xiufen paused. "And one more line: this trip was his own—not the firm's, and not Hengzheng's."

"Did he say that line on his own, or only after you asked?"

"He said it on his own. He placed the photocopy of the three-page statement on the table and slid it toward me. Only after he'd finished speaking did he pull his hand back."

"Did he ask the firm to say anything on his behalf, or to make an appearance?"

"No." He Xiufen said, "He asked me to bring the noodles out, and not to talk about it downstairs. I brought out a bowl and made him wait to pick up his chopsticks until he'd finished."

"Before he left on July seventh, did anyone at the firm arrange anything for him—time off, leave, anything else?"

"No." He Xiufen said, "That morning only Lawyer Li and I were at the firm, and he didn't say he was going out. In the afternoon he came back once, wrote a sticky note at his desk, and went out again. None of us arranged anything for him."

"The six-page defense statement—where was it written?"

"Right there in the inner room, at that desk. Written after six in the evening, lights on until around ten. When he finished, the papers were left pressed on the desk. No one touched them."

Guan Min recorded that line, then said: "If the firm has anything else to add, we'll accept it separately. Not asking today."

"That item for the firm," He Xiufen said, "the three of us will discuss it before writing anything."

"Fine. Written and submitted to the window, same as the defense statement—signed and dated."

Guan Min let the recording clerk finish that passage, then looked up: "Lawyer Li, is this what you heard?"

"That's what I heard." Li Huilan said, "When he came upstairs, the back of his shirt was soaked dark, collar open, buttons not done back up. On the afternoon of July seventh he came back once, wrote a sticky note, and pressed it onto Lawyer Shen's desk. I was sitting at my own desk. I saw it."

"The sticky note—did you read what was written on it?"

"No. When he put it down I caught a glimpse of a surname, but I didn't get up to read the rest."

"And noon on July eighth?"

"What he said matches Director He's account." Li Huilan said, "By the time he picked up his chopsticks, the noodles had already gone gluey. I went downstairs later. Half a bowl was left."

Guan Min's pen point pressed against the paper for a moment. "Did he ever say why he didn't tell the firm first?"

"He didn't say." He Xiufen said, "I didn't ask either."

"He didn't say, and you didn't ask."

"If I'd asked, he'd have had to explain it all over again." He Xiufen said, "He'd already finished talking that day. If I'd asked one more question, I'd be turning his words into mine."

Guan Min drew a line on the paper: "That sentence won't go in the record. What goes in is what he said and what he did."

"Then record a different sentence."

"Which one."

"The next day he said it in front of both of us." He Xiufen said, "If he'd wanted to hide it, he wouldn't have said it in front of two people."

Guan Min studied her for a moment. "That sentence goes in."

The recording clerk aligned the two pages edge to edge and read them through word by word. When he reached the lunch-rush passage, He Xiufen raised her hand.

"The time in that box."

"Twelve o'clock," the recording clerk said.

"Around twelve."

Guan Min turned the paper around and looked at it. "Draw a line through that spot and rewrite it below."

The recording clerk did as told, the stroke thin, the line drawn lightly. Guan Min pushed the paper back: "Put a fingerprint on the correction." He Xiufen picked up the small ink pad box beside the pen holder, pressed her fingertip down, and pressed it beside the strike-through line. The red mark landed on the line. She wiped her finger with the rag.

At ten-forty, the recording clerk turned He Xiufen's two pages over and left a blank line at the bottom, glancing up at Guan Min. Guan Min slid the folder half an inch toward her side.

"Lawyer Shen. On July seventh, when he went to the Procuratorate—did you know beforehand?"

"No," she said. "I only found out when I saw the sticky note on my desk."

"Which day did you see it."

"The afternoon of July seventh. I came back at ten past four. The note was pressed under the pen holder."

"Where did you come back from that day."

"Qinghe. The matter of the forms—meetings all day."

"Is the sticky note still there."

"It is."

"Keep it safe." Guan Min said, "Just that one line. Write it at the end of Director He's record."

The recording clerk finished writing, turned the paper around, and touched his fingertip to the signature line. She took the pen, unscrewed the cap, signed, wrote the date. She put the pen back, nib facing inward.

"One more thing." Guan Min didn't collect the paper. "After he came back—did the two of you ever discuss this trip?"

"Once. On the evening of July seventh, he showed me the statement. I read it and gave it back."

"Anything else?"

"No."

Guan Min waited for her to continue. She didn't. The recording clerk's pen paused. Guan Min gave a slight nod, and only then did the clerk add that line at the end.

At eleven, Guan Min gathered the two pages into her folder, squared the edges page by page, and clasped it shut.

"We'll take the papers back with us." She said, "Once this portion is reviewed, if we need to ask anything further, we'll come again."

"On his end—you're not asking." He Xiufen said.

"We are. After this end is done."

He Xiufen walked her to the stairs. The floorboards sounded under both sets of feet. At the landing, on the loose board at the turn, Guan Min stopped.

"Director He, let me say something plainly." She said, "Item one—we'll handle it by the book. Item two depends on whether what he said back then was false, and that's for the retrial to decide. The Discipline Committee will deliberate only after the retrial judgment takes effect."

He Xiufen held the railing and didn't answer that. Instead she asked, "When will the retrial be decided?"

"We don't know. You'll know before we do."

"The hearing date hasn't been set yet."

"Once it is, the papers will come to the firm." Guan Min said, "When they arrive, follow what the papers say."

The recording clerk came up from behind, shifting the canvas bag back against his chest. At the turn he stepped around the loose board, careful not to let the bag knock into the old mailbox again. The two of them went downstairs. Someone called out something below, and the glass door pushed open with a sound.

He Xiufen stood at the top of the stairs, listening until the footsteps left the alley. Then she turned and pushed the stool back under the table. She picked up the two cups from the table, carried them to the windowsill, and poured them into the flowerpot. The water landed on the soil, darkening a patch of the crust.

"Two pages." She said, "His record he writes himself. Ours we answer ourselves. No one answered for anyone."

He Xiufen tilted her chin: "That pot downstairs. Watch it."

"Low flame. I'm watching it." Shen Zhixia said.

The half-door to the inner room opened.

He came out holding his cup and stood in the doorway, first scanning the table in the outer room—the two stools were still set side by side, not moved back. He placed the cup on the windowsill, walked to the thermos, and poured it full. He screwed the cap on.

"Done?"

"Done." He Xiufen said.

He nodded once, picked up the cup, and walked back. Passing her desk, his steps slowed half a beat, but he didn't stop. The inner room's door closed behind him, and the sliver of light glowed again beneath it.

She opened the notebook. The sticky note tucked at the top of the page showed its corner. She pressed it back down, running two fingers along the back of the paper to smooth it flat.