Justice System: I Litigate for the Whole City

Chapter 188 : Iʼm Asking Who the Person Is

At 7:58, the iron gate of the printing plant family compound stood half open. Peng Weidong stepped through that half-open gate, a jacket over his blue shirt, collar turned up, a kraft paper envelope in his left hand. The flap was sealed shut with two strips of tape, wound around so tightly it looked like heʼd hated to tear it.

”Two minutes to eight.” He flipped his phone around to show her.

”Did you sleep last night?”

”Woke up at 4:30. Stared at the window till dawn.” He switched the envelope to his right hand. ”Is this outfit okay?”

”Itʼs fine,” she said. ”Once youʼre inside, both hands on the table. Donʼt shove them in your pockets.”

”Hands on the table. Sounds like sitting down to eat.”

”Sounds like waiting for something thatʼs supposed to come.”

He cracked half a smile that never landed.

Sunlight lay across the courthouse steps. He Xiufen was already there, a thermal lunch pail at her feet. She cracked a tea egg and pressed it into Peng Weidongʼs hand.

”Eat.”

”Canʼt get it down.”

”You eat, then youʼll have the strength to say nothing,” He Xiufen said.

He ate it. The yolk was dry. He pursed his lips twice before it went down.

On the third step sat a woman in a white coat. The coat was washed gray, except for a small square patch on the left chest, distinctly whiter than the rest—the ghost of a name badge removed and never replaced. Lin Qiʼs hands rested on her knees. Spread across them was a leave slip with the head nurseʼs signature in the bottom right corner: Half-day leave approved.

”Donʼt go in until your name is called,” Shen Zhixia said. ”Phone off in the hallway.”

”Do I sit, or stand, when itʼs time?”

”Stand. In the middle. Thereʼs a microphone in front of you.”

”I wore the coat.” She tugged at the front of the white coat. The pale patch swayed into view, then back again.

He Xiufen screwed the lid back on the thermal pail and lowered her voice. ”The drug bureau interview record—which section are you going to read?”

”Last page, last column. Two lines, in his own handwriting.”

”And his name?”

”Iʼm not reading the name. I promised him.”

”He didnʼt come. The paper did,” He Xiufen said. ”Read it.”

Shen Zhixia helped Lin Qi to her feet. The three of them climbed the steps together.

At 9:29, the court clerk finished roll call. At 9:30, the gavel came down once.

[Thud. Hearing in session. When you read the paper, go slowly.]

Courtroom No. 7 wasnʼt large. Five people sat in the gallery. Two were from the printing plant; they nodded at Peng Weidong on their way in.

”Plaintiff Peng Weidong, and the legal guardian of plaintiff Peng Nianman.”

”Present.” Peng Weidong stood, then sat, pressing both hands flat on the tabletop. He left them there.

Two people at the defendantsʼ bench: the authorized representative of Chengbei Hospital, Song Qiming, and a hospital staff member, Xu. Director Xu wore a suit today, both cuffs buttoned tight. A case file sat on his knees; heʼd still been flipping through it before the hearing started.

The presiding judge read the complaintʼs claims, item by item: medical expenses, hospitalization meal allowance, nursing fees, funeral costs, death compensation, dependent support, mental distress compensation... When she finished: nine items, amounting to over 1.3 million yuan.

”Plaintiff, do you wish to amend your claims?”

”No amendment.”

”Defendant, your response.”

Song Qiming opened a binder and read in a flat voice, passage after passage, like he was reading something someone else had written: ”The defendant does not dispute that Chen Xiaoman was hospitalized at our facility for childbirth. Regarding the medical records, the defendant does not deny irregularities and has already rectified them per management requirements. The drug in question was lawfully sourced and passed inspection; no causal relationship exists between it and the death. The compensation items should be determined by the court based on the evidence on file.”

”Plaintiff, present your evidence.”

Shen Zhixia stood. She nudged the first stack of paper on her left forward half an inch. He Xiufen sat to her left; her case file had only turned two pages since the hearing began.

”Iʼll read in order,” she said. ”The first stack is paper. The second is the drug. The third is one page of handwriting.”

”Item one: the corrected Judicial Appraisal Opinion, dated April 17. It identifies three faults: failure to fulfill the autopsy notification obligation; irregularities in medical record writing and management; and incomplete procurement, inspection, and receipt procedures for carbetocin, with no written basis for its use. All three faults have a causal relationship with Chen Xiaomanʼs death from postpartum hemorrhage, with equal contributory cause.”

”Item two: page eight of the sealed nursing records. The New Yearʼs Day sealing inventory says ʼwiping marks.ʼ The March opinion states: ʼThe pageʼs records are continuous, with no signs of alteration or addition.ʼ The April corrected opinion states: ʼWiping marks visible at the page number.ʼ One page. Three documents. Three versions.”

”Item three: the original shift handover record and the transcribed copy. The transcribed copy contains two lines that do not appear in the original, stating: ʼThe family was informed about the autopsy.ʼ In the original, the 6:20 line is darker ink, pressed harder, with two shallow grooves at the end of the line.”

”Item four: the Self-Review Statement forwarded by the defendant through the Chengbei District Health Commission on April 15. One and a half lines: ʼUpon review, no written record in any of our hospitalʼs processes contains the words ”decided to use.”ʼ The author field is blank. The handling officer field contains a single character: ʼXu.ʼ”

”Item five: the Statement of Circumstances the defendant submitted to the Health Commission on March 30. Date filled in. Company seal affixed. Signature line blank. Still blank today.”

Song Qiming stood.

”The materials in this stack concerning administrative handling are irrelevant to the medical damage liability in this case.” He enunciated every character. ”Page numbers, handwriting, paper—these fall within the scope of whether medical record management was compliant. The defendant does not deny management irregularities, but management irregularities have no causal relationship with the motherʼs death.”

”Please have the court record the defendantʼs statement—ʼthe defendant does not deny management irregularitiesʼ—in the transcript,” Shen Zhixia said.

”Recorded,” the presiding judge said. ”Causation is addressed in the appraisal opinion, which is on file. The defendant has raised objections to the appraisal opinion, and its written opinion is also on file. The court will not repeat its response. Plaintiff, continue.”

”The second stack.” She spread it out and read from top to bottom, no breaks between items.

”Daily charge sheet, line for 00:40 on the 27th: carbetocin injection, 100 micrograms, intravenous, 186 yuan. Place of origin column: Hengyue Pharmaceutical.”

”Drug warehouse receiving register, line for December 26. A surname at the end of the line. The receiving inspector column is blank.”

”Two copies of the accompanying shipment document—the copy kept in the warehouse and the copy the defendant later supplied to the court. Both receiving inspector columns blank.”

”Two supply slips from the same day: Hengyue Pharmaceutical sold five ampoules to Hengkang at 61.2 yuan each. Hengkang sold five ampoules to Chengbei Hospital at 186 yuan each. Both companies share the same street number, the same floor, the same phone number.”

”March 22 return-to-warehouse slip: two ampoules returned, batch number 230915. Return reason column blank. Review column blank.”

”Procurement and acceptance ledger, outgoing column: the batch number has been scraped over, with the medication receiverʼs signature written on top of the scrape marks. The ampoule remaining in the pharmacy is batch 240517.”

”The final page: the on-site inspection record the court obtained from the Market Supervision Bureau. The last page has a field for ʼOther circumstances requiring explanation.ʼ Two lines, in the handwriting of a drug warehouse worker: early on the morning of the 27th, someone asked him to collect the empty ampoules from the Obstetrics Department and not leave them in the disposal room. The same person asked which batch the drug was from. I will not read the name.”

Those two lines were written in his own hand. Five empty bottles, not a single one entered into the materials. What entered the materials were the two lines he wrote himself. That line—she hadnʼt crossed it.

[Thud. He asked about the batch number.]

Song Qiming flipped to the page. He looked at it for two seconds.

”Pharmaceutical purchase and sale price differentials fall within an enterpriseʼs autonomous pricing range. The defendantʼs procurement channel was lawful, and the drug in question passed inspection.” He said, ”The plaintiff has no evidence showing the drug had any quality defect, and no evidence showing a causal relationship between the drug and the death. As for that inspection record—who is the person interviewed? Please clarify, plaintiff. And what relevance does that personʼs account have to the medical damage liability in this case?”

”The record is on file. The defendant can read it himself,” Shen Zhixia said. ”I merely ask the court to keep this page in the record.”

At the defendantsʼ bench, Director Xu clicked his pen twice. The cap never came off.

”The third stack.” Shen Zhixia said. ”One page of handwriting, written on April 12, signed Lin Qi. I request permission to call the witness to appear.”

”The witness has not appeared in court. This page cannot serve as a basis for determining facts,” Song Qiming said.

”The witness is outside the door.”

The presiding judge directed the clerk to call her in. The doors opened. Lin Qi walked in, the hem of her white coat brushing past chair legs. She stopped before the microphone in the center, arms at her sides.

”Name, occupation, and relationship to the parties in this case.”

”Lin Qi. Obstetrics Department, Chengbei Hospital. Currently suspended from work. No familial connection to either party.”

Shen Zhixia asked slowly.

”At 00:40 on December 27 last year, the carbetocin order—did you issue it?”

”I issued the order. I wrote the dosage and administration.”

”The drug was delivered from the pharmacy. Did you sign for it?”

”I did not sign for the drug.”

”The words ʼdecided to useʼ—did you ever write them or say them?”

”No.” Lin Qiʼs voice sounded hollow through the microphone. ”No one ever said those four words to me.”

”The Statement of Circumstances dated March 30—is that your name on the signature line?”

”I didnʼt sign it.”

”The page dated April 12—did you write it?”

”I wrote it.”

Shen Zhixia turned to the bench. ”I request that these seven words be read aloud in court.”

The presiding judge glanced at the paper. ”The witness will read them herself.”

Lin Qi took the paper, holding it with both hands. She read slowly, one word at a time: ”The drug was not my call.”

”Thatʼs what I wrote,” she said. ”I signed it that day.”

Song Qiming straightened. ”Witness, you were suspended because two alterations in the medical records were determined to be connected to you. You are still under administrative investigation. Correct?”

”Correct.”

”So what youʼre saying today—is it an attempt to shift your own responsibility onto someone else?”

Lin Qi lifted her head. Her shoulders tensed, then eased. ”On February 17, in this same courtroom, I said the 6:20 entry wasnʼt written by me. That day, the records hadnʼt been fully reviewed yet.”

”Anything else to add today?”

”Three things I did with my own hands: I issued the order. I didnʼt sign for the drug. I didnʼt write the name.”

Song Qiming tapped his pen twice on the paper. He didnʼt follow up.

”The witness may withdraw,” the presiding judge said.

Lin Qi handed the paper back to the clerk and turned to leave. That afternoon sheʼd be back on the defendantʼs hospital ward. The leave slip said: Half-day leave approved.

He Xiufen pushed her glasses up. She said nothing.

[Thud. The witness has left. One question remains in this courtroom.]

”Defendantʼs counsel,” the presiding judge said.

Song Qiming stood. ”Yes.”

”In the Self-Review Statement submitted by the plaintiff—the four words ʼdecided to useʼ—who wrote them?”

Song Qiming opened the stack of materials at hand, flipped two pages, then back. ”The defendant has already submitted a written explanation on this matter to the Chengbei District Health Commission—”

”Iʼve read that explanation,” the presiding judge said. ”Iʼm asking who the person is.”

Song Qimingʼs hand stopped on the papers.

Silence filled the courtroom for several seconds. The clerkʼs keyboard clicked once, then stopped.

At the plaintiffsʼ bench, Peng Weidongʼs two hands still lay flat on the table.