Tacitus in love, Plato in trap

Chapter 15 Normal and Abnormal

Twenty-two hours after the defendant was found, a case that had just been admitted was officially opened for trial.This is not only the case that Fang Quan has seen with the shortest time between filing a case and opening a trial, but also the first private loan case in which the defendant is not absent. Not as important as the living defendant.

And this living defendant, Shi Zhu, a timid middle-aged man who is often seen in first-class courts, is now sitting anxiously on Fang Quan's left hand side with the "Defendant's Seat" three letter behind the desk.He rubbed his hands anxiously, carefully looking in the opposite direction from time to time.

Seriously, why are all the men who come here either timid cowards or disgusting scum?As a man, Fang Quan couldn't help feeling ashamed of their existence.Compared with them, even a guy like Yi Zhongming is more like a magnanimous man than them-not to mention the connotation of thoughts, just standing there, Yi Zhongming and these people are either hunched over or fat-headed. The men are not on the same level: that majestic aura, that tall and straight figure, that strong physique...

and many more!

What the hell are you thinking about?

Fang Quan shook his head vigorously like a rattle, which attracted the defendant to look at him with concern.

"...Stupid..."

— is the plaintiff's response.When he said this, this charming middle-aged lady (her surname is really Xu) gave him a hard look.Alas, just now, her status as a clerk must have dropped several levels in her mind-but even if she didn't lose her composure, the woman wouldn't respect him more than before, right?Women of this age, no, Fang Quan has seen women of this age in first-class courts. Women of this age generally have explosive combat prowess, proficient in cursing and tearing up everything, and their performance sometimes even scares the "well-informed" Yi Zhong bright.How could such a heaven-defying existence put a young man like Fang Quan with a slender figure and aura in his eyes!

Disgraceful male compatriots, terrible middle-aged and elderly women, coupled with sharp contradictions, the place where I work is a court that gathers all these abnormal social factors.Because I stayed in such a place for a long time, my judgment of people, especially men, will be biased, so I think Yi Zhongming is actually a pretty good person...do you? !

... After thinking about it for a long time, why did it feel like I went back again? ? ?

boom!

"Hiss! What are you doing?!"

"Did you not wake up early in the morning?" Yi Zhongming picked up the notebook, but the blunt pain on Fang Quan's head still did not disappear, "Today is the collegial panel, and you didn't take down the signed notebook and give it to the two of you. Juror signature?"

"Is today a collegial panel... ah!"

In the sweltering court, a few drops of cold sweat oozed from Fang Quan's forehead.

How could it be forgotten?Even if the defendant is found, even if the amount is not too large, a collegial panel will still have to be formed today—fortunately, I personally typed the beginning of the court transcript at noon yesterday...

"It seems that you still remember..." Putting the sign-in book in front of juror Aunt Tao respectfully, Yi Zhongming walked up to the trial seat with his hands behind his back, "Be careful next time, don't forget..."

Huh?Why didn't he take the opportunity to mock himself? !Has even Yi Zhongming become "abnormal"?

No, no, this is the attitude a "normal" boss should have! ! !

"Plaintiff, you said you have witnesses," Yi Zhongming pulled away the high chair, "Did you bring any witnesses?"

"Here," Xu/Yanhua, the plaintiff, pouted at the only audience in the auditorium, "You're sitting there!"

"Since you are a witness, go out first, and come in when I tell you to come in."

So the public case began in a not-so-uncommon bleakness.After tirelessly going through various preliminary procedures, the trial came to the court investigation link.The facts written in Xu Niang (let’s call her that) are very simple: the defendant borrowed 20 yuan from her three years ago, and she kept asking for it in public and private places, but the defendant just refused to pay back the money. She even went missing a month ago, and Xu Niang really had no choice but to go to the court to sue.

"But I've already paid back the money!"

However, as soon as Shi Zhu opened his mouth, he fundamentally denied this fact.Hearing these words confidently uttered from the mouth of the man who couldn't even straighten his back, the atmosphere in the courtroom seemed even more gloomy.

"Are you kidding?!" Xu Niang screamed and patted the table and stood up, "Isn't your IOU with me?"

"I should have taken that back from you..."

"What did you say??? Do you want me to show the IOU to the judge right now?"

"me……"

As a result, as soon as he heard the other party raise his voice, Shi Zhu immediately softened again—ahhh, a coward is still a coward after all, even though he has seen countless men like this, Fang Quan still couldn't help but sigh helplessly in his heart .

"Plaintiff, sit here...you will be asked to show the IOU later." Of course, Yi Zhongming is familiar with it, "Okay, defendant, you continue to defend, you just said that you have paid back the money but did not take back the IOU ,Then what?"

"Then... there's nothing else..." After the plaintiff's confession just now, the defendant's spirit became even weaker, and Fang Quan could barely hear him, "Anyway, I gave the money to you two years ago. She died, but because she didn't bring back the IOU, she kept declaring that I still owed her money...Your Honor, I have already given her 20 more than the original 40. I ran away without paying, but, alas..."

"Is this the content of your defense?" After waiting for a long time without further words, Yi Zhongming said lazily, "Then let's start producing and cross-examining evidence——Plaintiff, now you can produce those IOUs and so on. "

"Okay!" Although the plaintiff was in court for the first time, he was very skillful in shaking out the IOU from his pocket, "Here, this is the IOU that this man surnamed Shi left me three years ago, written clearly in black and white Chu's 3!"

"... 1 original copy, proving the purpose: the defendant had borrowed 20 yuan from the plaintiff..."

While typing, Fang Quan translated Xu Niang's oral expressions into written words with ease. It's no big deal. Even without professional legal education, any stenographer can do this after getting used to the job.

"Evidence [-], the IOU...do you have any other evidence? For example, the bank statement where the money was borrowed?" Yi Zhongming asked.

"Where did the cash I give come from?" Xu Niang snorted, "Anyway, the neighbors in the neighborhood know that he didn't pay back the money!"

"In other words, you have no physical evidence, and it's time to question witnesses..."

So the man who was kicked out earlier came back.According to his self-introduction, this man is a colleague of the defendant and a neighbor of the plaintiff, and the three of them sometimes sit together and play mahjong together.

"Of course I know about this." When asked if he knew about the fact that the defendant borrowed money from the plaintiff, the witness replied, "Shi Zhu and Xu/Yanhua had a good time before, and the borrowing was almost the result of their breakup. time."

Oh?

Fang Quan raised his face and looked at the witness in front of him, and the fatigue in his heart was swept away—this case, which seemed to have returned to "normal", seemed to be developing in the direction of "abnormal" again.

"Hi!!" The defendant stood up excitedly, his face was as red as a ripe tomato, "This matter! This matter..."

"I have to tell the truth to testify!" The witness spread his hands and explained to Shi Zhu, "It's okay, I don't have any audience anyway, so I'll just talk here, and I won't tell your wife."

"Informant?" Yi Zhongming seemed quite interested, and even asked a question that had nothing to do with the case.

"Oh, his wife said so fiercely..." The witness's face turned blue when he mentioned this, "So Lao Shi has kept this matter under wraps, and the only ones who know about it are those of us who have a good relationship. ..."

"That's it...then how much do you know about the defendant's repayment of the loan?"

"This matter..." The witness rubbed his chin with his hand, "I remember a long time ago—probably two years ago——Lao Shi told me that the money was finally paid off, and you can sit back and relax. I think In other words, since the loan has been paid off, the person who paid back the money must take back or dispose of the IOU, but Xiao Xu has been telling us that Lao Shi did not repay the money, and every time he said it, he still took the IOU. He came out to testify, so from this point of view, Lao Shi should have not repaid the money. But I also understand Lao Shi, as honest as he is, it is not like him to lie to people that the loan has not been repaid... I don't know much about the situation here, that's all I know..."

"...Then it's the defendant's turn to give evidence." After all parties asked the witness a few innocuous questions, he was invited out again, and the court once again returned to the state of only five people, "Shi Zhu, what do you have?" Have you prepared any evidence? Have you printed out the bank statement or something?"

"How could that kind of thing exist...□□But my wife manages it..." It seemed that the defendant hadn't recovered from the shock of the witness's revelation just now, and the defendant was in a trance.

"So you didn't prepare any evidence? Ah..." Yi Zhongming sighed undisguisedly, "Then let's go straight to the next item, the court debate, starting with—"

"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!!"

Suddenly Shi Zhu put his head in his hands, raised his head to the sky and screamed loudly.

"I can't stand it, I can't stand it, I can't stand it!!!!" He pulled his hair, looking extremely manic, "I'll do it, I'll do it all!!! I'll go all out!!! I don't care!!!"

"Hello, Fang Quan."

"kindness."

Putting down the computer, Fang Quan rushed to the dock—even if no one came to listen, it would be very dangerous for someone to go mad in the middle of the trial.

"Your Honor," stretched out a hand to stop Fang Quan who was rushing towards him, Shi Zhu quickly regained his composure, "I don't care what you plan to do with my case, I'm going to confess everything to you here now."

Yi Zhongming frowned slightly.Fang Quan hurried back to the computer.

"As I said just now, □□ belongs to my wife, so it is difficult to get 20 yuan, and I can only give Yanhua in cash... The first 20 yuan is barely enough, the more it goes on, the more... oh ...Even if she doesn't come to me, those loan sharks will come to my door sooner or later..."

... so can't provide bank statement?It's not easy for this person... Fang Quan couldn't help pursing his lips.

"But now that I'm sitting here, and since that guy has broken my relationship with Yanhua, I have nothing to hide anymore..." Shi Zhu took a deep breath, "As the witness said, Say, Yanhua and I once had an extramarital affair - I not only want to tell you, Your Honor, but I also have to go back and confess it to my wife!"

"Confess to your wife? Are you crazy?" The plaintiff, who had never changed his expression, turned pale, "Aren't you afraid that she will give you to—"

"Scared! How could I not be afraid! But if you hadn't kidnapped me with my 'fear' of her, how would I be where I am today?" Regardless of the content, Shi Zhu's roar was quite masculine, "No, I was wrong too, and I was wrong from the very beginning - I shouldn't have betrayed my wife to be with you! If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have broken up with you because of timidity, and you wouldn't have In the name of writing an IOU, I asked for a "breakup fee", and I didn't have any such things as only daring to give cash, failing to get the IOU back, or finding someone to borrow money from outside!!! Xu/Yanhua, I told You, we have broken up, I have no obligation to continue to be your ATM machine! If you want to inform my wife, you can go, because I happen to be planning to do so now! Anyway, it’s always going to hurt, long-term pain is better than short-term pain, it’s better to be with you Under the shadow of the two women, Baozi will be angry for the rest of his life, so it is better to open the skylight as soon as possible and speak up! ——Ah, by the way, Your Honor, if she sued me, I can sue her too, right? The extra 40 I gave her, I Can you come back?"

"Whether it's counterclaiming or unjust enrichment," Yi Zhongming seemed a little restless, and there was a creaking sound of the chair rubbing against the floor behind Fang Quan, "Let's go through the trial procedure first, shall we?" ?”

*******************************************************************************

"Have you made it all clear?"

"Well, the next counterclaim will be left to Sister Ping for the time being." Fang Quan stuffed the case file into the cabinet, and sat down after closing the door behind him - the door has been broken for more than a month, President Yi Zhongming They were going to call someone to fix it, but they let it go because of the imminent renovation.

"How? How does it feel to be in court today?"

Hearing this question, Fang Quan couldn't help squinting his eyes: "Huh? Do you think I just came here three months ago?"

"But this should be your first civil loan court with defendants, right?" Yi Zhongming folded his hands behind his head and leaned back comfortably in his chair, "And when it's on, it becomes a family ethics drama, In the end, the defendant even filed a counterclaim, don’t you think the process is a bit novel and tortuous?”

"Oh, really?" Fang Quan asked indifferently, "I think this case is quite 'normal'."

"'Normal'? Where?"

"All." Fang Quan dug out the verdict/judgment that needed to be proofread from the pile of documents in front of him, and then drew/drawn a pencil from the pen holder. "Normal", a civil case is considered "normal" only if it involves some housework, and any case brought to the court must have entangled and intense conflicts to be called "normal". In this way, our case today is Only cases that should be available in the 'standard' courts, like the kind of plain water cases we usually open, they will think it's 'abnormal'!"

"Haha," Yi Zhongming shook his body, expressing that he was indeed laughing, "Yesterday you said that I cared too much about the will of the person concerned, but today you completely take the public's point of view as the starting point of the question——Fifty Steps Laughing Hundred steps, you!"

"The question is not—"

"But it's really a pity today. It would be great if this case was broadcast live! I'm afraid people will really like this type of story..." Sitting up straight, Yi Zhongming pulled the chair closer to the desk, "But those people are "Normal people", we are professionals. You can still make progress if you can recognize the difference between us and them; but you have been working for three months, and you are still looking at things through their eyes. I think you are far away from you. Your dream of being a judge is still far away!"

"'Normal' corresponds to a non-professional, so does 'abnormal' correspond to a 'professional'..." Fang Quan raised his face, and the wooden pencil was spinning awkwardly, "So if I continue to work in this job, I will become Is it more 'abnormal'?"

"It will become more 'professional'!" Yi Zhongming said in an unquestionable tone, "Speaking of which, the words 'normal' and 'abnormal' you use are really shocking: you understand more than ordinary people. Isn’t it a bad thing to watch more? Abandon the amateur way of thinking and gradually move closer to a professional team. Isn’t this something to be thankful for?”

"……is that so?"

When the concept system/system built in the past 22 years, the life goals established in the past 7 years, and the professional knowledge learned in the past 4 years were violently shaken in the face of just 3 months of work practice, what Fang Quan felt was definitely not "lucky".The way of thinking began to gradually approach Yi Zhongming and the judge, which made him feel inexplicable fear.

But that's also the case, he can somewhat understand Yi Zhongming's thoughts now.

"...This is probably a blessing in disguise..."