“How does watermelon sell?”
“No money, help yourself.”
At noon in the summer of 2016, I rode an electric tricycle to the outskirts of the county town and finally found a melon seller. But he offered me watermelon for nothing.
“Elder brother, you zha don’t know? I’m little rich.”
I looked at the small, bearded, stubbly, shrill, vaguely familiar face of a melon seller. I finally remembered that he was the victim of a murder.
The murder happened between the two brothers, and the trigger for the quarrel was 1,500 yuan for their parents’ support.
1
More than ten years ago, I resigned from the political and legal organs, in the county street in their own shop inside the non-food business, incidentally listed engaged in secretarial and legal services. I have lost count of the number of times I have received the little rich couple.
In 2005, the two brothers got into a stand-off over the cost of supporting their parents. After the mediation of township judicatory, two brothers make a paper agreement in front of relatives: eldest brother one-time pay small rich 1500 yuan money.
Although the agreement set, the eldest brother has been deadbeat not to honor. Small rich for many times, but the eldest brother suddenly put down a word, “I have no money, you whatever.”
“That not in”, natural disposition truer small rich insist since have agreement, the own brother should clear account. In early April 2007, the little rich invited the relatives who had made the agreement for them to ask for money from his elder brother in front of his parents.
The eldest brother swore to throw 1500 yuan money to his parents and threatened to destroy the second. The father listens, return blunt eldest son grumble: “that how do, you can kill him?” The family parted on bad terms.
Eldest brother immediately rushed home, took out a butcher knife, in the yard of the stone knife huo Huo huo. Neighbors heard, hurried to the door to persuade: “pull, a mother’s brothers, how much of the enemy ah, put so big effort?”
The eldest brother at that time return blunt neighbor roar: “the thing of an you don’t tube, side rest go to.” The well-meaning neighbor asked for a bum deal and turned around and left.
Nothing happened after all. Back then, the older brother, including the couple and his parents, thought he was just acting out of anger in order to earn some face.
Who also did not think of, the bloody case of a pile of plan, approach to small rich couple stealthily however.
2
On the eve of Tomb-sweeping Day, according to the custom of rural areas in eastern Henan, on the afternoon of the first day, soil is added to the graves of ancestors. In the evening, the villagers shoulder shovel, one after another from the fields to return, the street people come and go, who also did not pay attention to the small rich brother with a butcher knife wandering in the brother’s house.
Eldest brother will be defenseless small rich husband and wife two blocked at the door, abusive suddenly out of the knife, blunt body toward carrying six armour’s sister-in-law stabbed 14 times, knife knife die.
Seeing his wife crying and falling in a pool of blood, small rich want to protect his wife, instinctively rush forward, but eldest brother holding the sharp knife of dripping blood and crazy toward him stabbed over.
small rich had to fight for the way to escape, can kill red eyes of the eldest brother but tightly chasing not to put, with a knife even chasing 5 streets, straight will he into a blind alley. small wealth with the village people at the door of a shovel, turned head and brother confrontation, but do not have the heart to attack their own brother. At the moment when the little rich hesitates, the irrational elder brother wields the knife to blunt the own brother to chop off. Small rich body small thin, unable to resist the eldest brother, the body in 5 knife, blood such as note.
Fortunately, the neighbors rushed over, just from the big brother knife to save the small rich.
After the murder, the local police station quickly dispatched the police, arrested the eldest brother. Small rich couple was 120 pulled into the county hospital first aid.
Xiao Fu’s wife had seven serious wounds to her chest and back: a ruptured inferior vena cava, a retroperitoneal hematoma, a ruptured spleen, hemorrhagic shock and a transfusion of 6,400 milliliters in the hospital. The hospital also invited three experts from Kaifeng emergency, for the small rich wife internal organs repair surgery, this only narrowly saved his life. The tendon in Xiao Fu’s left thumb was also cut off by a knife.
Every day the medical expenses will be thousands of yuan, xiao Fu reluctantly got up from his hospital bed, bandaged his arm, and went home to collect money.
He sold the family cattle and grain, and went to friends and relatives, raise more than ten thousand yuan, but it is a drop in the bucket. The hospital also paid 20,000 yuan for the couple’s treatment.
In follow-up treatment, the hospital is helpless to help, the wife of small rich stopped medicine, the injury appeared to be repeated immediately, facing the threat of death at any time.
Helpless, small rich can only bring injury back to the village again, go looking for elder sister-in-law to want money, save the life of his wife. When father’s face, by a few direct relatives testify, two sets an agreement, by small rich sister-in-law one-time take out 20 thousand yuan as compensation, henceforth small rich and wife never investigate the any responsibility of eldest brother home.
But the money was still not enough for the treatment. But if the little rich doesn’t sign, he won’t even get the money he needs to save his life.
Afterwards small rich say to me: “elder brother, at the beginning the an is to shed tears to be forced to sign on agreement.”
3
However, a paper to take advantage of the people signed the agreement of humiliation, has become the court attached to the basis of civil liability judgment.
After the eldest brother of small rich is brought to justice, county procuratorate is in order to injure a crime, initiate public prosecution to people court of the same level. The court sentenced xiao Fu’s eldest brother to three years in prison in the first instance without notifying the victim to appear in court. The court affirms at the same time, the agreement that signs by small rich is true and effective, with civil compensation before fulfilling complete for, do not support.
At the moment of receiving the verdict, Xiaofu was stunned. Originally, he didn’t care how many years his eldest brother was sentenced to. What he wanted was civil compensation to make up for the hole his family had fallen in. “Calculate an light injury to be in hospital, light an daughter-in-law lived in the hospital 36 days, medical treatment cost spends 49,600 yuan, be identified finally 6 class disable, give an this money money enough get what?”
At the very beginning, small rich find village committee, request village cadre to intervene mediate. Read and is to break the bones connected with the tendons of the brothers, small rich patted the chest to show the attitude, let the eldest brother home take out 20,000 yuan, no longer investigate the responsibility.
But now the eldest brother has been sentenced to prison, and the money has also been given, small rich also signed. Dozen also dozen, punish also punish, return ability zha?
It was his old father who was the first to accuse the little rich. His father scolded him for being unfaithful and unrighteous, and at the risk of breaking off the relationship between father and son, forcing Xiao Rich to stop visiting. The elder sister that small rich and younger sister also stood at old father side, blame small rich couple get reason not to forgive a person.
Xiao Fu decided to write a letter of appeal, which led him to me.
The fuse is no more than 1500 yuan to support their parents. The fuse is no more than 1500 yuan to support their parents.
I remember the first time they visited me, the woman, in spite of her shame, hugged her coat in public and showed her wounds to everyone present. I saw a scar cut from the underbreast ring to the back, a full 30 cm long, scar around the scar, even I experienced war disabled soldiers gasped at the sight.
There are generally no winners in such family disputes. Because the law is a double-edged sword, even if you win the case with all your pains, you will end up with not only treason but also incalculable energy involved in going through the judicial process repeatedly. There have been people who did not listen to my advice, adhere to a path to the black, for the lawsuit lost their money, boil their hair.
Brothers like Xiao Fu, even when they argue at home, fight against each other. I advised Xiaofu: “Brother, since the unfortunate thing happened, it has been irreparable, just take a step back, don’t toss again.”
Small rich see me to say this words, a nasty, hold up hoarse voice to say: “my elder brother, he heft knife shine on dead stab an daughter-in-law, drive out an a few street again, he all don’t want to call an live, still have brotherly affection?”
“Besides, it was intentional homicide. Why did the court sentence him so lenient? His family would rather spend money on treats, gifts and lawsuits than give me a cent. No one says so this time. I’ll Sue him for a few more years in prison.” In the face of a one-track-minded rich, I still can’t persuade him.
I stopped talking and sat down to write the petition materials for Xiao Fu. According to the provisions of the law, this case of intentional injury, on the grounds of inaccuracy in the original trial, wrong application of the law, and leniency in sentencing, requests the procuratorial organ to protest, and retries the case with the crime of intentional homicide (attempted), which is convicted and meted out punishment according to law, and gives the offender a heavier sentence of more than 10 years in prison.
Since then, the couple has abandoned the crops in their fields and left their only child, who was not yet an adult, in the care of relatives and friends. They have been on a long road of petitions, travelling between Kaifeng and Zhengzhou. They look for the people’s congress that supervises a body and political law appoint submit material, intercept the inspection group that sends in the province even, the case does not see action tardy however.
I saw the couple is really poor, free agent to write materials. The little rich couple felt sorry for themselves. Sometimes they brought me some green apples from home, sometimes they brought me handfuls of peanuts.
I tried to persuade him to take good care of his disabled wife and son, but I swallowed my words. In this way, xiao Fu and his wife have been running on and off for nearly two years. When they were hungry, they ate the steamed buns they had brought with them, thirsty for cold water, and sometimes they slept on the street. They never gave up begging for a fair and reasonable judgment.
4
On March 31, 2009, the couple finally waited for the court to open the retrial summons, the prosecutor’s office filed a protest against the intentional injury case.
But only a few days before the trial, the bailiff, who had served the summons, had just left his forefoot, and at his heel came the second summons bearer. At the beginning, little Rich was moved and naively believed that the court attached importance to the case and was full of confidence to win the case.
But when he signed the second summons, he looked more closely and saw that it had been issued by the civil court. Small rich heart from doubt, retrial of the court of punishment zha became civil court?
The bailiff serving the summons said, “Don’t you see? Your father is accusing you of not supporting him. Get ready to go to court.” Xiao Fu was completely overwhelmed. The old father did not Sue early or late, but chose to Sue him on the same day that the court held its session. Isn’t this deliberately stirring up trouble?
Small rich a pull to come over his wife, hug her jacket, show bosom back dense scar, blunt bailiff rang rang: “you open eyes to see, the ans harm into what kind of, a penny also don’t take, return bite an a mouthful don’t support, conscience call dog eat!”
Subsequently, small rich again took a wife to go to county court, just figure out the whole story. Originally, in the face of the eldest son was arrested, the family left orphans and widowed mother, the old father was afraid that the family separated, the balance of feelings naturally inclined to the eldest son, trying to minimize the incident, the incident.
However, old people in rural areas have no fixed property and lack the subordinate position of prestige in the family. They cannot persuade their big daughter-in-law to take money to eliminate the disaster, so they can only be led by the nose step by step by emotional abduction.
Small rich think father tells him true intention, it is to want to enrage him with this, let him make irrational action, just give case personnel with excuse, take the opportunity to detain him, let him serve as accuser cannot attend a trial.
After being informed, the Court finally decided to defer the session of the Tribunal.
The county court held its second trial as scheduled, and Xiao Fu’s eldest brother was sentenced to 8 years in prison for the crime of injury, but still did not support civil compensation.
After the sentence was handed down, xiaofu’s sister-in-law begged others to plead for mercy and said that she was willing to meet Xiaofu’s demands and put out 20,000 yuan in a lump sum to ask her husband to deduct two years’ imprisonment. At this time, the little rich old father also to a 180 degree u-turn, automatic to the court to withdraw the suit, said no longer Sue the younger son.
When it came to this, the young couple should have stopped as soon as possible. Thinking of the grievances he had suffered during the two years of petitioners, ruined and in debt, little Rich decided to be tough on his sister-in-law: “What did you do so early? No, it’s not over!”
This is a blood case caused by the alimony of 1500 yuan. Two years of almost marathon petitioning has driven farmers into law. The bag on his back was bulging with petitions and legal texts. He said the court still found the sentence unfair and did not reach more than 10 years in prison.
Xiaofu decided to continue petitioners and applied for a retrial at a higher court, demanding that his eldest brother be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison according to law, and that he pay 100,000 yuan in compensation for civil liability attached to criminal proceedings.
In the face of xiao Fu’s persistent petitions, the judges of the municipal and county courts could not sit still, and came to their homes to mediate between the couple. The judges felt that one family had already suffered and did not want to inflict further damage on another.
However, little rich did not agree to the mediation, “At the beginning, I wanted to repay 20,000 yuan. If I gave it to you, I would have suffered a great grievance in my heart and would have endured it in front of the family. There’s nothing to be said at this point.”
Seeing little rich do not retreat, the old father found a village cadre, made a paper agreement, with close son broke off the relationship between father and son. Then one of rich’s sisters and two of his sisters cut him off.
Afterword.
Little rich’s case, although the end did not get the result he wanted.
Went to summer again, I dig out the case file data of small rich from old paper pile, dialed his mobile phone number, self-reported identity: “brother, the an want to eat watermelon, return to the county town to sell melon this year?”
“Brother, thank you for thinking of me. This year my son in the army to the sergeants, the home arrears also paid off, not the kind of hand watermelon.” “Xiao Fu told me excitedly.
“How is the old father’s health? Has your relationship eased?” I asked.
“The old man died this Spring Festival.”
“Have you been to mourning?” “I continued.
Xiao Fu said, “No. I’ve been out of touch, and nobody’s told me.” Small rich live together with parents in a street, meet almost every day, but after that bloody case, become a stranger.
I advised him to say: “Zha is also your father, since ancient times do not bear grudges, the knot in one’s heart should untie.”
“Can you blame me for this? Alas……” Small rich a long sigh, silent.
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