The Prosecutor Is Accustomed To Waiting For A Rabbit To Hit A Stump - Chapter 29
Chapter 29
The holiday passed too quickly, with a day of unit activity in the middle, and Lin Fan was called home to worship ancestors in the afternoon.
By the time she slowly returned on the last day, she had to face the bad news of going to work tomorrow!
Lin Fan lay sprawled on the bed, feeling as gloomy as if she were visiting a grave.
The last day of the holiday felt shorter than usual. She settled comfortably in her favorite armchair to quietly scroll through her phone, and the time mysteriously slipped away.
The next day, Lin Fan’s steps were heavy as she went to work.
Even heavier were the cases she finally had to face. Setting aside the wages the migrant workers needed to support their families, Lin Fan had scheduled meetings with many people for today before the holiday. It was predictable how busy today would be.
As soon as her car arrived at the court, she received a WeChat message from Gu Ye. —”Good morning, time to fight.”
The accompanying picture was a casual shot of the entrance to the Anding District Procuratorate.
Lin Fan’s smile became unstoppable. She also looked up and took a picture of the flying Five-Starred Red Flag on the courthouse flagpole. —”Ganbare!” (Do your best!)
The litigants hadn’t arrived yet, and neither had Ying Chaoyang. On the first day back from the Qingming holiday, Ying Chaoyang was at risk of being late.
Lin Fan carried the hot water bottle to the pantry at the end of the floor to get water. She ran into the only other female enforcement officer in the Enforcement Bureau besides herself. (Zhou Ning was a judicial employee and couldn’t be counted as an enforcement officer; besides the girl in the investigation team handling internal affairs, there were only two female officers actually handling enforcement cases, and they met in the pantry.)
Lin Fan noticed a faint dark circle under her eyes and asked with concern, “What’s wrong? Did you have too much fun during Qingming?”
The girl sighed. “Sister Fan, I wasn’t having ‘fun’; I’m panicking. I have to officially handle a case alone today.”
“Administrative non-litigation enforcement is fine; don’t worry. Your applicants are administrative organs, which at least ensures that side is communicative.”
Lin Fan found a positive aspect and elaborated on it, hoping to alleviate the girl’s anxiety. “Enforcement work is always like this. It’s not difficult. For administrative non-litigation enforcement like yours, things generally won’t go wrong as long as you communicate effectively with the applicants through the case-filing, investigation, control, and closing stages. The main thing is that it’s easy to be mistreated, but which enforcement case doesn’t involve being mistreated?”
Enforcement officers encounter a vast number of litigants. With such a large base, the probability of meeting an oddball is high.
If they do encounter them, communicating with them is like interspecies, cross-civilization communication between two different species essentially talking to a brick wall.
At such times, while doing the work, one must also focus on self-preservation, ensuring one is not abused and does not die early from anger.
Lin Fan patted the girl’s shoulder. “You must maintain a cheerful mood and separate work from life. Never sulk over a case. Go for it!”
The girl nodded seriously. “Go for it!”
Who would have thought that upon returning to the office with the hot water bottle, she would receive a call from the defendant in a family planning administrative non-litigation enforcement case? “Judge Wu, can I talk to you in person about my case?”
The girl’s surname was Wu. She felt the hairs on her arms stand up. Wuwuwu, her master was on a business trip, and she had to face the defendant alone. She was panicking!
The encouragement Lin Fan had just given her immediately leaked away.
She stammered and stuttered, “Sure… then you come to the Anding District… Court…”
Lin Fan returned to her office and first poured herself a cup of hot water. Since the litigants she had scheduled weren’t here yet, she prepared to check the assets of the defendant in this new case. She opened the system for point-to-point and overall-to-overall inquiries. This new case, like the migrant workers’ case, showed that the defendant had absolutely nothing to their name… completely clean.
The origin of this new case was a private lending dispute. The defendants were a couple, the husband named Jiang Biao and the wife Lin Yue. They failed to fulfill their legal obligations within the specified period, leading to the case entering the enforcement stage and being assigned to Lin Fan.
The inquiry showed that they were indeed completely clean.
No real estate.
Shares, financial management, insurance, housing provident fund… all blank.
Looking at their bank deposit accounts, Good heavens, three digits.
Ying Chaoyang burst through the door, out of breath, and sat down at his desk.
Lin Fan took a sip of water, shifting her gaze from the three-digit deposit to the big goofy guy opposite her. “Traffic jam?”
Ying Chaoyang nodded. “Was it a traffic jam? No, it was completely motionless.”
Lin Fan pulled a few small bread rolls from her drawer. “Eat these with the hot water to fill your stomach. I have people scheduled this morning, so you don’t need to go with me. I’ll give you a task.”
“What task?”
“The migrant workers’ case is stuck in my heart, neither up nor down—it’s uncomfortable. Go to the factory again and see if there are any other breakthrough points. I think…” Lin Fan grit her teeth. “This defendant has money.”
“Okay, I’ll go check again.” Lin Fan and Ying Chaoyang had already been to the defendant’s individually owned factory once, but they gained nothing; the gates were locked tight.
Lin Fan thought for a moment. “Also, check his WeChat and Alipay transaction records. His bank account is too clean, so clean that I suspect he is evading enforcement!”
“Will do!”
The information desk called, saying two litigants had arrived, named Jiang Biao and Lin Yue.
“Okay, I’ll be right down.”
When Lin Fan saw Jiang Biao and Lin Yue, Jiang Biao was leaning against the reception room window, smoking, while Lin Yue, heavily pregnant, sat covering her mouth and nose but stayed quiet.
As soon as Lin Fan entered, she smelled a pungent smoke odor. She frowned and pointed to the “No Smoking” sign on the wall. “Jiang Biao, you can’t smoke here. Either put it out or go outside.”
Jiang Biao was large and rough-looking, and his eyes glared, making him look menacing.
Lin Fan was expressionless and stared back without courtesy. “What’s it going to be? Put it out or go outside?”
Both of their stances were very firm. Lin Yue, caught in the middle, weakly pleaded, “A-Biao, put it out. The baby and I can’t stand it.”
This gave Jiang Biao a way out, but he suddenly swore at Lin Yue. “You’re so dramatic! Other pregnant women aren’t so fussy!”
While cursing, he tossed the cigarette butt out the window.
Lin Fan ground her back teeth and managed to suppress an eye roll.
The two parties sat down. Lin Fan poured Lin Yue a glass of water, speaking gently and casually. “How many months along are you?”
When the baby was mentioned, a gentle smile appeared on Lin Yue’s face. “Six months.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
“Let’s get down to business. I asked both of you to come today regarding the money you owe Fang Ding. Fang Ding is out of the province and couldn’t make it this time.” Lin Fan looked at Jiang Biao. “What are your thoughts on this money?”
Jiang Biao was expressionless. “I don’t have money. I truly don’t have money. Judge, you see, my child is due in the second half of the year, and I don’t even have money for his formula now.”
Lin Yue held the water cup, sipping it like a deer drinking water. “We want to pay the money back, but we genuinely don’t have it.”
“Well…” Lin Fan just started to say “Well,” and before she could form a complete sentence,
Lin Yue suddenly wailed, “What we eat and wear now is all from kind people donating out of love. We don’t even have a place to live. My health is poor, and I finally got pregnant, so I can’t go out to work. I…”
“What about you?” Lin Fan interrupted Lin Yue’s tearful complaint, sounding quite cruel and unsympathetic. She stared at Jiang Biao, who was in the prime of his life and perfectly able-bodied. “What is your current job?”
Jiang Biao snorted. “My health is poor; I can’t work.”
Lin Yue quickly chimed in. “It’s true; his health is poor.”
Lin Fan raised an eyebrow and didn’t press the matter further. “So, the ten thousand yuan that Fang Ding lent you—where did you spend it?”
Lin Yue stopped talking and cautiously glanced at Jiang Biao.
Jiang Biao looked sullen. “Anyway, we don’t have money. The worst you can do is lock me up. I don’t care.”
Lin Yue cried. “Judge, if you lock him up, my baby and I won’t survive either.”
Lin Fan finally couldn’t hold back the eye roll she had been suppressing. “Fang Ding is your distant relative. The reason he took out that ten thousand yuan was because you tricked him, saying the baby was having complications and the hospital wouldn’t perform the surgery without the money. That’s why he quickly transferred the money to you. He didn’t even mention this in his statement of claim to save your face. Just because you say you don’t have money, does that mean his ten thousand yuan was just blown in by the wind?”
Lin Yue kept a long face and remained silent, at least having some shame and knowing they had no good defense on this matter.
But Jiang Biao was thick-skinned and shouted directly, “Well, he should have given us a red envelope anyway! He should give one when my child is born! Besides, everyone says he’s making a lot of money doing business outside! Ten thousand yuan is nothing to him! Otherwise, how could he transfer the money so quickly!”
Lin Fan had never met Fang Ding but had spoken to him on the phone. She knew he ran a noodle shop outside, and this ten thousand yuan was earned bowl by bowl. It even included the money he had set aside for his son’s wedding banquet wine.
As for a red envelope, they were distant relatives!
Even close relatives wouldn’t give a red envelope that big for a child!
Indeed, shamelessness is invincible.
After seeing the couple off, Lin Fan didn’t even have time to sigh; the litigant for another case was already waiting for her outside.
Fortunately, not everyone was an oddball. Communication with this defendant was relatively harmonious. He also had no money, but he was willing to pay a little upfront.
Lin Fan’s attitude was much gentler toward defendants willing to repay. “It’s alright. I’ll help you communicate with the applicant to see if we can sign a settlement agreement so you won’t have to be on the credit blacklist.”
“Thank you so much!”
“I’ll make a call first. Wait for me.” Lin Fan planned to call the applicant over. This case might be resolved today.
As she stepped out to make the call, the applicant didn’t pick up. Instead, she heard a sharp wail erupt from the reception room next door. “They’ve opened up the second child policy now! Why do I still have to pay so much money! I don’t have money! Just take away all those children I over-birthed! Sell them or kill them, I don’t want them! Anyway, I can’t afford this ‘social compensation fee’!”
Lin Fan leaned over to look and saw that it was indeed the worried Xiao Wu from the morning, frozen in place, while the elderly female defendant in the family planning administrative non-litigation case was rolling around on the floor.