Chapter 482: Two Sheets of Paper

The phone rang while He Xiufen was tapping a stack of receipts even against the edge of her desk.

November 24, ten o'clock. The light through the window had shifted to the desk's edge. The receipts went upright into their cardboard box, and she reached for the phone.

"Zhengping Firm."

A few words came through the receiver. He Xiufen straightened her back, her free hand feeling for a pen on the desk calendar. The pen was pressed against the edge of the box; two blind grabs found nothing. She clamped the receiver between her ear and shoulder and turned to reach for it.

"Mm. First Courtroom. Nine-thirty."

She sat at her desk, pen tip resting on the paper.

"Defense counsel present, close relatives present." He Xiufen recited along as she flipped the calendar to that page and put pen to paper. "The procuratorate, too... Three copies. One for close relatives, one for defense counsel, one for the procuratorate."

"Written notice will follow by mail." He Xiufen asked, "Send it to the office or to home... To the office. I'll sign for it."

The caller said a few more things. He Xiufen answered with a single "Mm," capped the pen, set the receiver back, and pressed the line of writing on the calendar flat with her palm.

"The thirtieth." She turned the calendar around and slid it toward her. "Nine-thirty. First Courtroom."

The line was written horizontally, squeezed between two date boxes. She looked down at it.

"Opening day was nine o'clock."

"This is nine-thirty." He Xiufen said, "No argument on the day of judgment, none of the trial procedures. They read the operative provisions, ask if you understood, you sign, you leave."

"That's all."

"That's all. A case tried over years, put down on paper, read out in a few sentences."

She set the pen down. "Do I have to speak?"

"No." He Xiufen said, "You sit in the section for close relatives. Sitting there is your statement."

"Which spot?"

"The front row. The clerk will point it out. Give me the household register the morning of. Your page has 'female' printed on it; the clerk will recognize you."

"I'll bring it in the morning."

"What about Zhi'an?"

"There are two seats in the close relatives' row." He Xiufen said, "If he goes, he sits next to you. If not, the seat stays empty."

"He still hasn't said anything."

"He'll say something."

"On the morning of the thirtieth, should I go straight from home?"

"We leave from here together." He Xiufen said, "Be at the gate by eight-fifty, in the courtroom and seated by nine-ten. Too early, they won't let you in. Too late, no one will wait. Everyone's papers go in my bag, I'll hold the documents, you bring nothing."

He Xiufen pushed the desk calendar back into the drawer. She stared at that date box. "Six more days."

"Don't count."

"I'm not counting. The calendar's right there."

"I counted too." He Xiufen closed the drawer. "The next few days go on as usual. If a case comes in, we take it. You sitting there waiting, even if you wait until your hair turns white, won't make the days pass one bit faster."

The half-door to the inner office was open, and it had not moved the whole time.

She raised her eyes and saw only the edge of a desk, the shadow of a cup, one corner of a manuscript page curling up. No sound of pages turning came from inside.

He Xiufen straightened the receipt box and said suddenly, "By the thirtieth, I'll have finished this draft. Take it with the file; keep a copy here at the office."

"Put it away."

"Put it away." He Xiufen said, "I've handled cases for over twenty years. I've never had to read one of these for anyone before."

At eleven-forty, He Xiufen went downstairs to check the pot.

At desk number two, Li Huilan spread out a stack of attendance sheets and folded them back up, saying she'd take them over the day after tomorrow to compare with the other side's records. She looked up and asked, "Little Shen, is this format right?"

She went over to look. Three columns: date, work hours, signature. Some of the signature boxes had circles drawn in them, some had a single surname.

"Circles won't work." She said, "Have them write their own names. If they can't write, they press a fingerprint, with a note beside it saying who wrote it for them, and the one who wrote it signs too."

"I'll tell them."

"Written on paper is what counts."

"I'll make it clear." Li Huilan tucked the papers into a file folder, held it under her arm, and paused as she turned to leave. "This case of his — does he seem to you like he's let it go or not?"

"Which case."

"The one in the inner office." Li Huilan tipped her chin toward the half-door, her voice lowered. "Arrest approved, the car case has been brought to trial, but his appeal is still pending. I see him getting quieter by the day."

"He's always been quiet."

"Always quiet is different from holding it in without saying."

She didn't answer. Li Huilan didn't press further and returned to her own desk.

At eleven o'clock on the twenty-fifth, Li Huilan came upstairs holding an envelope and walked to the inner office door.

"Lawyer Lu. Registered mail."

He looked up.

"Cheng Nan District People's Procuratorate." Li Huilan handed him the envelope. "The recipient line — just your name."

She was sitting at her own desk and glanced up. The November nineteenth document had two names printed on the recipient line, separated by a pause mark. This envelope had only one.

He took it, checked the back first, then used his index finger to tear along the seal line. The tear ran straight, all the way to the end. He pulled out one sheet of paper and stood reading it. When he finished, he read it again from the beginning. The second pass was slower than the first.

Then, holding that single page, he walked out to the main office and set it on the edge of He Xiufen's desk.

"From the Cheng Nan District Procuratorate." He said, "About my matter from that year."

He Xiufen fished her reading glasses out of the drawer, put them on, and picked up the paper. Li Huilan circled around and stood behind her chair. The two of them read it together.

He stood and read it aloud, his voice low, sentence by sentence:

"Upon review of the situation you described, your act of submitting evidence for testing in the original trial nine years ago does not constitute a crime and will not be pursued."

He paused.

"The matter has been communicated by letter to the Municipal Justice Bureau."

He Xiufen turned the paper over to look at the back. Blank, except for a date printed at the bottom and a round seal stamped over it, one edge of the seal slightly smudged.

"Keep it." She took off the reading glasses and set them on the paper.

"Keep it." He said.

Li Huilan pointed at the paper. "This page needs to be kept in two copies. One for the office, one for yourself. When you submit documents going forward, they'll want to see it."

"Two copies." He Xiufen said, "Don't print more."

"Don't spread this around," He Xiufen added. "If anyone in the profession asks, say it's in progress. The conclusion isn't ours to announce."

"I'll say the same to anyone who asks." Li Huilan agreed.

He picked the paper up from the desk, smoothed it flat, and folded it in half.

"That line about the Justice Bureau — does it mean they're looking into his license?" Li Huilan asked.

"A standard notification." He Xiufen said, "The license matter is separate. If it's not on the paper, treat it as though it doesn't exist."

"Then how long do we have to wait?"

"What's coming will come." He Xiufen said, "For him, the papers haven't arrived slowly this year. That 'separate review' back on July seventh — between then and today, an entire retrial fits in the middle."

Li Huilan nodded, stepped back half a pace, then stopped again. "I'd assumed a letter like this would take years."

"Wait or don't wait, the waiting happens regardless. The other side runs on their own schedule."

She had been sitting motionless at her desk the whole time. Now she spoke:

"In July, that procurator said one thing — your personal matter would be separately reviewed according to law."

"This is that separate review." He said.

"I thought the defense statement matter would come first."

"The defense statement — the committee will review it after the judgment takes effect." He held the folded page in his hand. "This page arrived first."

"One to wait for, one to receive." He Xiufen said.

The main office went quiet for a moment. Downstairs, someone pushed through the door and the exhaust fan started up, then stopped.

"Let me ask one thing." Li Huilan said, "This 'will not be pursued' — does it end here?"

"On the criminal side, it ends here." He Xiufen said, "They won't be taking it any further, and they won't need to contact him again."

"Then I'm happy for him."

"Happy is fine." He Xiufen pushed the paper to the edge of her desk. "Zhixia, come take a look."

She stood and walked over.

She saw the round seal, saw "does not constitute a crime and will not be pursued" stamped in the middle of the paragraph, saw that final line, "The matter has been communicated by letter to the Municipal Justice Bureau," set alone on its own line. A notification sent by letter, not a conclusion. She committed that half-sentence to memory.

The pen in her hand never came down. She read the words on the paper once more, front to back.

"This case isn't mine." She said.

"Handle it as you see fit." He Xiufen said.

She handed the paper back to him. He took it.

At two o'clock, Li Huilan went out to deliver a file folder. Only two people remained at the windows. He Xiufen pulled out the desk calendar and flipped to that page again.

"Someone who's fought lawsuits for so many years." She said, "His own matter — one page."

"One page is enough."

"Whether it's enough, only he knows." He Xiufen pushed the calendar back. "I won't ask."

After four o'clock, Li Huilan sorted the receipts by date into bundles and dropped them into the cardboard box. He Xiufen moved the box into the cabinet, slid the door shut, turned back, and sat down.

She looked up from the glass desk pad.

The half-door to the inner office was open. He stood at his desk, right hand reaching into the inner pocket of his coat, pulling out whatever was inside just a little.

It was the edge of two sheets of paper. The outer one was soft from wear, folded over and over. He drew them out, spread them across his palm and looked at them, then picked up the page he'd just folded in half. Three pages now, edges aligned, the new one placed at the back, all folded together into thirds and slipped back into the inner pocket. His palm pressed once against his chest.

She recognized that worn-soft sheet. October twentieth, sent from Cheng Dong District Court. Told him when to appear, where to wait, don't be late — just those few sentences. Pressed against it was the page from the vehicle case on the nineteenth.

She lowered her eyes back to her notebook.

The notebook was open to the November nineteenth page, a blank space at the bottom. She counted back from July through the papers under his name: the Bar Association's acceptance notice, the copy of the complaint, his own written defense, the court's appearance notice, the vehicle case page, today's page. Mid-count she stopped, uncapped her pen, held the tip over that empty space for a moment, then capped it again.

At five-fifty, footsteps came up the stairs. It was He Xiufen's neighbor from downstairs, here to pick up a mediation agreement. He signed and left.

At six, Li Huilan went down first. He Xiufen locked her drawer, walked to the stairwell, and called down asking how many bowls, then added: "On the thirtieth, I'll get the noodles in early."

She put on her bag and gathered the papers on the glass desk pad to one side, weighing them down.

The light in the inner office went out. He came out in his coat, didn't stop at her desk, walked all the way to the stairwell, and stood there.

"Lawyer Shen."

She looked up.

"On the thirtieth, I'll sit in the back."

"All right."

He went downstairs. Footsteps descended step by step, paused at the bottom for a beat, and the door curtain rustled.

Downstairs the exhaust fan started up, and the smell of scallion oil drifted up the stairwell.