Freezing Point Special Issue No. 1243
After the younger brother's accident
one
My brother is a family of four, but chose to visit Beijing at the end of June 2019. They don't know anything about it. This is the worst time in my life.
I can only agree, and make good terms: play with them for a day, the rest of the time, accompanied by my credit card.
It's a bit unreasonable, but there is no other way. After all, everyone has their own difficulties.
On the day they left, it was expected that they would still receive an "impersonal" evaluation.
All I know is that my younger brother’s job is related to "argon arc welding". After graduating from junior high school, he worked hard and finally learned a technique to settle down.
We don't usually contact him much. He usually calls me because there is no common topic. Over time, I regard answering his calls as a burden.
He is very similar to my father, full of affection, irritable, and exaggerated in his speech-a bit like an Italian in a way, except for the absence of exaggerated gestures.
He also inherited my mother's cautious neuroticism. That's why, I can't believe it until now that he went to jail for fraud.
Many things in the world are connected, one link is one link, and the complexity is beyond people's imagination.
The reason why my brother insists on coming to Beijing at the end of June is that the time is just right: the children’s final exams are over, there are a few days of "waiting for results", and he will go to Guangxi in early July. According to the introduction, There is a new job of making stainless steel staircase handrails waiting for him. The boss is from Anhui.
Later we learned that, except for my brother and another worker who are from Henan, everyone else is from Anhui.
Not only that, this mobile decoration team of more than 10 people has only two workers, and the others are only responsible for running the business.
In the dark, the prison disaster was waiting for the younger brother in front.
In fact, he could have avoided it.
In late August, because the county's new house loan approval procedures had to be handled by him personally, his brother went back to Henan once. According to the original plan, he had planned to return to Guangxi again in mid-September.
At this juncture, something happened to his colleague and another argon arc welder’s house: this man has the same name as my brother, and his wife rides a bicycle at noon, and takes his two-year-old daughter across the seemingly empty road. A truck "falling from the sky" knocked down and the child died on the spot. She was lying in the hospital by herself and needed immediate surgery.
What I am dissatisfied with my mother is that sometimes, she only has her own children in her eyes and she can't see others.
My brother "goed in" for a full year, she inadvertently asked me a question: "Why is the other worker okay?" I was very angry at the time and said to her on the phone: "In law, this is called a criminal suspension. From an emotional point of view Say, this man is a friend of my brother, and you don’t know how much he paid himself. Besides, his family has suffered such a hardship, and his wife is lying in the hospital, still caring about your son’s whereabouts. Replaced with Can we do it?"
After the welder returned home, on the advice of the boss, his brother decided to return to Guangxi early, otherwise the decoration team would face the dilemma of no workers.
A week later, 10 people, including the younger brother, were arrested by the local police on suspicion of fraud.
The arrest was carried out at two o'clock in the middle of the night, and it is conceivable that he must have been quite frightened.
This day is September 10, 2019.
Starting that night, he and his family were in a state of disconnection.
Fortunately, I was also in my hometown in Henan that day.
Since I started working in Beijing in 2006, I have never returned to my hometown in the summer.
It’s a mess. On September 1, 2019, I decided to go home. If I have to find a reason for this trip to Henan, it may be because things are not going well in Beijing and I need to change the environment to let myself go.
Of course I did not expect that there was a bigger nightmare waiting for me at home: two women, mother and younger siblings, were crying day and night.
I am an impatient person, whether it is for children or for the elderly.
In my opinion, it is not worthy of sympathy to scare people up in the middle of the night, not to mention that I grew up listening to women crying and growing up, and I felt a kind of physical aversion to this.
It is hard to imagine that at this time, a son is not going to comfort his mother, but to count her from head to toe.
I did that.
Although I have been working in film magazines for a long time, I am still a journalist after all.
The next day my brother lost contact, from the limited information provided by his unfortunate welder colleague, I first determined where the decoration team often haunted, and called the local police station-the phone was searched online.
The police told me on the phone that my brother was indeed in custody.
To a certain extent, this news can temporarily comfort the family, at least the possibility of a car accident has been ruled out-the younger brother is also a driver in the decoration team, often driving at night in the mountains, and a car accident is also possible.
Later I often persuade myself this way, sometimes persuading others, "Although it is difficult to ask the police for someone, it is better than asking the god of death for someone."
The arrest of the younger brother has a great impact on the whole family.
All of us have to temporarily step out of our own small world to reconsider a behemoth called reality.
Like many people who have never seen the world, we have been deceiving ourselves from the beginning.
"He is just a worker, and he will be released right away. Don't worry." It has the same effect as the motivational slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On" invented by the British government during World War II. For a while, this Words often drift in my house.
two
On September 15, the fifth day that all members of the decoration team were arrested, my younger siblings and I embarked on a journey to a certain county in Guangxi (for the convenience of description, we will call it Banana County for the time being).
Since that day, I have forged an indissoluble bond with Banana County, five times, either from Henan or Beijing, to this small county one hour drive from Nanning, the capital of Guangxi: the first two times I and my younger siblings Going together, I took the lawyer from my hometown for the third time, and I set off from Beijing alone for the last two times.
After more than a year, I opened my eyes every day, and my mind was filled with it. Thousands of miles away, my brother was in jail.
The 10 people in the detention center are behind 9 families-the owner of the decoration team and the wife of the proprietor are in custody at the same time. This family has two children.
They are in the same mood as me.
"I called the criminal court, and the court hearing time has not been determined due to the epidemic." Someone in the family WeChat group shared similar information from time to time.
Here, people who have never lived to persuade each other, and occasionally quarrel.
As for the reason for the quarrel, it is usually because of money, especially when it comes to refunding the deceived person——
"Anyway, the one I counted does not include your brother. Since he knows this is a crime, he keeps doing it. No one here is innocent." The daughter of a salesman told me straightforwardly that her father was in his 50s. "Go in" for the second time.
Before the verdict of the first instance comes out in July 2020, we have no idea how long the brother's sentence will be.
The worst result, as the lawyer from Banana County we hired at the time, said, was more than 3 years.
It is conceivable that every time I go to Guangxi, I feel like traveling with a serious illness.
My hometown is a small county in northern Henan. From here, I need to take a train to Zhengzhou Station, then take a bus to the airport, and then take a taxi to Nanning by plane, then take a taxi or take an airport bus to Nanning Railway Station, and take a bus from this railway station. Come to Banana County, and then take a taxi to the local detention center.
The first time we went to Banana County, our flight arrived at Nanning Airport at 1:50 late at night, which is 32 kilometers away from Nanning Railway Station. In order to save taxi and accommodation costs, we settled on the dining chairs of the airport McDonald’s restaurant.
It was more than 6 o'clock in the morning, when the airport bus started operating, and it only costs 20 yuan to send people to the train station.
When the younger siblings sleep, they will use her purse as a pillow. There is money in it, so they have to keep walking.
As the saying goes, poor families and rich roads, not to mention, there are various expenses such as legal fees, refunds and fines waiting for her.
If the money is lost at this time, it would be tantamount to killing her.
In short, this is the end of the matter, and money is more important than ever.
"This is where I work, take a good look." When I arrived in Guangxi, a voice seemed to say to me.
That's my brother talking.
Whenever this voice is about to be overwhelmed by troubles, he will remind you, "Take a good look."
For example, once, I took out his mobile phone from the Public Security Bureau and put it in my bag after it was turned off.
At 5 o'clock in the morning, a bell suddenly rang in the room.
It turned out to be a mobile phone alarm clock.
I also learned at that time that he was working in Guangxi and got up at 5 o'clock.
From the age of 16, his younger brother has become a living machine, and there are only a handful of days at home.
Like the younger brother, the younger siblings also started to work after graduating from junior high school.
The difference is that she rarely goes out alone after marriage, and inevitably, once she leaves her hometown, she is almost like a blind person.
There is no doubt that this conservative woman is under the greatest pressure: there are two children in the family, both of whom are in elementary school, just bought a house in the county seat, and have begun to repay the mortgage.
From the day of the wedding, she and her husband were firmly tied together, regardless of each other.
Once in Banana County, she and I came out of the Public Security Bureau and decided to walk back to the hotel. We were in a relatively good mood that day.
"Why do you love him so much?" I asked her as she walked on the road.
"Your brother never beats me. He is the only one of his friends who does not beat his wife." She replied, with a rare relaxed expression on her face.
It's hard to believe that this came from a woman in her early 30s.
Most of the time in Guangxi, the younger siblings had expressions of horror on their faces, and she was biting the bullet and dealing with the world.
First of all, she doesn't speak Mandarin very well.
Secondly, she has no idea how this society works.
This cannot be blamed on her. If it were not for her husband's blessing, I would never have had the opportunity to enter and exit the door of the Public Security Bureau and the court.
We all live in our own small ponds. The difference is that my small pond in Beijing is automatically heated in winter, and they are colder in their hometown.
She is very patient. Every time she goes to the Banana County Public Security Bureau to inquire about her younger brother's situation, she has a stance of inquiring about the roots.
"Should we go back and ask for that person's phone number?" She had already left, she said suddenly.
"It's broken, I just forgot to ask if he can receive the living expenses today." She was almost at the hotel, and she decided to go to the detention center again.
"Did you say he lied to us?" She would ask me when there was no one.
The summer in the south is extremely humid and hot.
We are unfamiliar with places. Many times, when we come out of hotels, we can only rely on our instincts about what we should and should not do today.
Sometimes, in order to comfort ourselves, we would make several trips to the detention center even though we knew we would not see him.
During the investigation phase of the case, the detention center does not accept applications from family members to meet. At this time, only a lawyer can be invited to the meeting.
On the second day of arriving in Banana County, that is, September 16, we hired a lawyer named Zhong in the local area. The fee was 2,000 yuan, just to let my brother know that someone was coming from the family.
Attorney Zhong doesn't talk much. For outsiders like us, he knows very well that this is a one-shot deal.
So I got 2,000 yuan, a quick deal, and I met my brother that morning.
"Your brother is okay. He is just a worker and should not be formally arrested. Relax!" After the interview, Attorney Zhong said to us.
Because of his heavy accent, we have to prick up our ears to get a general idea.
The so-called one-hammer sale means that when a lawyer brings in what we want to say, and brings out what my brother says, the cooperative relationship between the two parties will be automatically terminated.
The funny thing is that it wasn't until the evening that we suddenly remembered that there was an important thing that we didn't ask.
"Did my brother ask you to tell your family something?" I asked lawyer Zhong.
"Don't worry." After a long time, I received this text message.
three
When I went to Guangxi for the second time, the two of us went there with hope, to be precise, to lead people.
"Among all the suspects, this is your brother." The policeman of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Banana County Public Security Bureau gave us a little thumb to comfort us.
Until a month after my brother was arrested, I still had no idea why he was arrested or what the decoration team did.
During the investigation stage, the details of the case will not be known to the family, and the lawyers will not be able to access the files.
Compared with the first trip, the second trip to Guangxi is the real test.
I stayed in Guangxi for 10 days. I had nightmares almost every night. In my deepest dream, the skating rink leaked electricity and many children were electrocuted and killed.
On October 16, 2019, at around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the government agency was about to get off work. We followed the advice of an acquaintance lawyer in our hometown and went to the Banana County Procuratorate.
In the service hall on the first floor, a chubby male clerk received us. He whispered in standard Mandarin: "Judging from the order of your brother on the list, it is very likely that he is the principal culprit." It’s like a bolt from the blue, just like when you go to the doctor because of a nosebleed, but you are told by the doctor that it may be cancer.
For a few minutes, I felt desperate, and my younger siblings were already crying with fright.
When bad luck comes, people's instinctive reaction is fear, and as time goes by, fear slowly transforms into pain.
Fear is first and pain is last. God will give us enough time to lament.
After repeated confirmation, I feel powerless.
But reason told me that I had to do something, so I could only force my composure, wrote a letter of complaint to the "respected prosecutor" on the spot, and pressed his fingerprints.
The so-called appeal letter is nothing more than a guarantee that "he is a good person."
At that time, there was no time to think about how useful it was.
I asked my younger siblings: "Do you think it's okay to write like this?"
"I'm not in the mood to watch, so be it." Her lower lip was torn, and the freckles on her face looked more than usual. It was the result of hard work and fear.
There is a lawn in front of the procuratorate.
Next, for more than ten minutes, she sat on the curb stone surrounding the lawn and began to cry.
"Brother, what should I do?" She said with a trembling voice in Henan dialect, "The sky is falling." I immediately decided to go to the Public Security Bureau again, although we had just been there in the morning.
As a reporter, it is indispensable to check information from multiple parties. Similar vocational training can be used in life to help you obtain more quality information.
Since the day my brother had an accident, I have been calling every day, and at least 100 people have answered my call.
Among them, most of them are lawyers. Some of them say it doesn't matter, some say it's dangerous, some say it's hard to judge, and some call you "don't understand anything" or "too long-winded."
Sure enough, when we arrived at the Public Security Bureau, a policeman who handled the case told us: "The list is reported in the order of arrest, and it has nothing to do with whether it is the principal offender or not." It was a reassurance for the time being.
After knowing that it was a false alarm, the younger sibling's limp body finally recovered halfway, but the lingering fear was not resolved, and the upper body still had to lean on the balcony to barely stand firm.
The police had no choice but to continue to lenient: "Don't worry, girl! It's no big deal." "Then why did the procuratorate tell us just now that my husband is the principal offender?" She tickled.
Probably from this day onwards, she seems to have obsessive-compulsive disorder. No matter what the problem is, she has to repeatedly confirm it. At the end, she will say, "Who knows if people are comforting us. Anyway, no matter who says or anything, I can't believe it anymore. "
The effect of the Dingxin Pill is very short, at most it can last until 5 pm the next day.
After that, most of the 10 people reported for arrest will accept the fact that they will be formally arrested by the procuratorate, followed by a long wait, waiting for the end of the investigation phase, waiting for the identification results, waiting for the trial, waiting for the judgment of the first instance, and waiting for the sentence. Full.
As a family member of the criminal suspect, my own feeling is that the whole process is endless, making you feel bad, and making you never see your head.
As the American novelist Doctoro said, "I have very limited experiences in my own life. In fact, I avoid experiences whenever possible. Most experiences are not good." But after all, we are away from that. There are more than 20 hours left.
So when I came out of the Public Security Bureau, I subconsciously felt it was necessary to celebrate.
What to celebrate?
It was probably a "false alarm."
That night, at a roadside store, my younger siblings and I ordered a bottle of beer and two bowls of Nanning old friend powder.
Under the influence of alcohol, coupled with the hallucinations of the rest of her life, she suddenly became talkative-that was the time when we went to Guangxi twice and she talked the most.
Four
The road of litigation, when you set foot on it from the first day, it should be clear that this is a process in which hopes continue to rise and fail.
For the family of a criminal suspect, once the arrest is officially approved, a few months later, the person will enter a semi-evasive numb state, which is the body's self-protection procedure.
Before the lawyer can see the file, everything is unknown, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is "Schrödinger’s cat": the severity of the case is determined by the total amount of the gang involved in the case, which indirectly determines the prison term of everyone, specific to the individual. It also depends on the amount involved in the case, the confessions of other suspects, and whether the public security organ determines whether he is the principal or accessory, and so on.
All in all, his sentence can be very long, long to the extent that you cannot accept it.
Take my brother as an example. If the sentence is more than 3 years, it will be a devastating blow to his small family: when he is released from prison, all the children will be in junior high school.
The worst result is a longer sentence and the child goes to college.
As for the best result, of course it is not to approve arrests.
It’s just that I had a hunch that such a good thing might not fall on my brother.
On October 17, 2019, we all had a restless day.
From the day of the accident, the younger brothers and sisters have been praying silently every day.
Just opened his eyes, and there was still a wall on the opposite side. The destiny thing was still unpredictable like the tacky wallpaper pattern on the hotel wall.
In the end, we received a call from the lawyer. He heard from the procuratorate: 9 out of 10 people were arrested, and only one salesman was released. Your brother was also arrested.
The younger sibling almost fainted at the time.
That night, I received a call from the salesman's son: "I should call your brother...Can I trouble you to pick up my dad?" It made people laugh and cry.
It was only later that I slowly understood why some drastic changes, such as those fake shootings in human history, would cause the prisoners to become insane.
On October 18, the police sent a message to us: "Your brother learned that he was arrested in the detention center. He couldn't accept it for a while, and he cried and made trouble. You'd better find a way to comfort him." It is said that his brother was very emotional. He was just like us. Initially thought that he would not be arrested.
As the family members could not meet, the most urgent task was to hire a lawyer.
On the morning of the 18th, when we came out of the Public Security Bureau, we rushed to the home of a lawyer named Hu. He was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and was about 50 years old.
The reason for calling him is simple. The law firm he founded is only a few steps away from the hotel where we live.
Just yesterday afternoon, we just met his assistant and asked about the price. We met once with 2,000 yuan.
Like the lawyer Zhong we hired last time, Director Hu (as his assistant calls him) is not very good in Mandarin, or even worse.
Due to the urgent situation, there are not many options at all.
Director Hu suggested that we sign a "criminal case agency contract". It is best to entrust all the affairs of the three stages (the investigation stage, the review and prosecution stage and the trial stage) to him, and the cost is not a small amount.
So I brought it up and I met my brother before I talked about other things.
"We will pay you 2,000 yuan first. If we plan to continue hiring you, we will pay the rest. What do you think?" I asked him.
"Who told you that a meeting is 2000? I didn't say that, did anyone tell you?" Director Hu looked around for a week, and his two assistants stood by each side.
"I didn't say it." One of the assistants quickly dismissed it.
The other assistant was awkward and silent.
My younger siblings and I didn't say anything, and paid 3,000 yuan on the spot.
That morning, Director Hu saw his brother in the detention center.
He brought out a sentence, "Your brother said that if it is one year, he can accept it. If it is more than one year, he will commit suicide." I have always buried this sentence in my heart and hated my brother for a long time.
"A sentence of 3 to 10 years is also possible." Director Hu emphasized repeatedly.
This sentence played a big role. Before leaving Guangxi, we thought about it and decided to pay another 7,000 yuan and sign a commission contract with him for the investigation stage.
"When we leave, at least there will be someone here. He can say as much as we want. We will give him the money, and then buy him a good cigarette... People's hearts are all grown in flesh." The younger sister said that she was already there. Exhausted.
Most of the time in Guangxi, as long as we are awake, we are all running: from the public security bureau to the procuratorate, from the detention center to the local legal relief station, from the law firm to the post office.
She kept writing letters to her husband, one after another, and she also put the little tiger drawn by her son in the envelope, and attached a sentence, "Your son drew it, I hope you come out early"-the truth is, the little tiger is Her son painted it to me, but I accidentally turned it out of the bag.
Back at the hotel, she either cried secretly, or sat on the bed with a frown in a daze.
I have lost patience twice.
Once the arrest notice was left at Lawyer Hu's house by her. At that time, we had not considered whether to sign a contract with him, and it would be embarrassing to go there again.
On another occasion, I brought her food from outside, and I didn’t move it for a long time.
"Don't you want to live anymore? Don't eat if you don't want to live." I said to her.
Think about it later, it really shouldn't be like that, she's already helpless enough.
"If it weren't for your brother's accident, I always felt that the days could go on and I would be able to live okay." She said.
five
The younger brother got married very early.
In rural Henan, many people have become parents before they are 20 years old if they have not attended college.
Before getting married, he worked as a handyman in a restaurant in Beijing for a short time, almost negligible.
I helped him find this job, which is near the company where I work.
It was before 2008. People didn't even have smartphones. If they wanted to order food, they could only make a phone call. When the meal time came, the younger brother would also help deliver food.
"I delivered (actor) Chen Daoming takeaway." He once said.
"I never accept orders from Qianhejiayuan, because I'm afraid of embarrassing you when delivering food." He told me.
At that time I was working in a community called Qianhejiayuan in the North Fourth Ring Road.
In my impression, I also helped him resolve a dispute between restaurant employees: not long after he went there, a chef lost his mobile phone in the dormitory, and he became a key suspect.
At least he thinks so.
As mentioned earlier, my younger brother has inherited his mother's cautious and cautious character. He likes to pursue perfection in everything, and sometimes he will care about it for a long time even if someone else looks in his eyes.
For many young people who have neither background nor diplomas, Beijing is just their life station. My brother is no exception. He soon returned to Henan.
We talked for a long time on the night that he was sent off, and we talked about our own sexual experiences from the city of Beijing.
He is a very interesting person, he values love, his mouth is sweet, and he has a wide range of friendships.
Although he has been working outside for many years and he can't meet with friends several times a year, from the day he was arrested, going to jail is equivalent to throwing a small bomb among his friends.
For a period of time, my younger siblings received all kinds of condolences calls every day. Some were from his elementary school classmates, and some were from his junior high school classmates. Some people prepared the money, and some just called the money without saying a word.
In many small places, people evaluate whether a person is successful, in addition to money and status, there is also an important criterion, that is, whether you understand the world.
My younger brother may have the highest EQ in our family. From this point of view, my father is more like a child.
Just like going to a restaurant to be a handyman, argon arc welding is also a last resort option for him. It is just a means of making a living.
Finally, once, under the pressure of his family, he decided to change his career.
Argon arc welding is very harmful to the eyes. He has been seeing ophthalmology since he was 20 years old.
About five or six years ago, he planned to learn a new craft and make pancakes, so he came to Beijing for this purpose.
That summer, because I lived in a small place, he could only play on the floor and sleep on a summer mat. He had a habit of talking in sleep since he was a child, and sometimes he would sit up suddenly while he was asleep. This habit he has since retained.
After living in Beijing for 3 days, I heard him talk about sleep for 3 nights.
During the day, we quarreled violently, and at night, he would become another person.
I will never forget. One day later, in the middle of the night, the children's voice of the church choir sounded in the room: "Whenever the trial comes, and the pain is difficult to deal with, I will complain, and my heart is full of disappointment..." It turned out to be my own brother.
It was so dreamy that I repeatedly asked him to verify, "Did you sing it?" "No!" He said, "I never talk in sleep."
He still has nothing to do with pancake fruit.
Soon, he went back and got on the train with a heavy baby carriage, which was a gift from me to his daughter.
Before leaving, we quarreled fiercely again.
There is a lot of anger in his chest, mine may be more.
"Get old before getting rich" is my evaluation of him, and "it will always be like that, no change" is his evaluation of me.
That was the last time he counted on me. Since then, we have only met once a year during the Spring Festival, and we usually have poor contact.
"I'm going to buy a house, can you lend me some money next year?" In 2019, he tried me on the phone once.
"I want to help you, but I really have no money." I said.
"I know you don't have money and don't expect you to help. But to be honest, if you need money someday, I will definitely help you." The more he said this, the more guilty I became.
But in the bottom of my heart, he actually opened up to me. To a certain extent, I was both a big brother and an alien in his eyes.
Sometimes, he even felt proud that there was an alien in his family.
During the Spring Festival last year, when I went to the station, he drove me a ride.
"The two children adore you very much." He told me in the car.
Of course, if the alien has some money, that's even better.
It's just that there is no perfect person in the world.
six
By the end of October 2019, details about how the decoration team implemented the fraud began to surface.
This time my brother was on the local news. In a news photo, I saw him wearing a purple T-shirt on the top, jeans on the bottom, and a pair of Converse canvas shoes on his feet-he was in handcuffs, but if he is not careful If you look at it, I thought he was a policeman.
Unlike several other suspects who showed their handcuffs generously, the moment the camera shutter was pressed, he cleverly covered the cuff ring with his left hand. This action fits his personality very well.
To put it simply, in Banana County, the decoration team used “long-term renting a self-built house as a model house and renovating the entire building for free” as the bait, and put a list of stainless steel stairs next, because it did not fulfill its promise, and The price is too high and the materials used are inferior, leading to being reported.
This scam is roughly divided into three steps: targeting an unrenovated building and presenting the lease intention to the homeowner in the name of the decoration company, provided that the other party must pay for the installation of stair railings; arrange for a partner to install it at the door; and run away after the homeowner pays for the materials.
My brother is the "comrade", he either naively or with a fluke in thinking that he is just doing a physical job.
On December 20, 2019, the procuratorate in Guangxi notified me: Your brother’s case has been inspected. Bring a lawyer to sign a confession and punishment.
A new lawyer must be found immediately, and I hurried back to my hometown from Beijing immediately.
This is the third time to hire a lawyer. For the sake of safety, we decided to find one in our hometown.
His surname is Xue, and speaking of it, he is still a student of my aunt.
In this way, I went to Guangxi for the third time, and I took Lawyer Xue to go.
It happened to be the winter solstice that day, and the taxi driver said to me: "Are you from the north? I just ate dumplings today."
Fortunately, Lawyer Xue was very efficient. We spent a day and we finished these things: we went to the prosecutor’s office to find a prosecutor, temporarily went to the street to buy a CD-ROM, used it for copying the file, then printed the file, and then took the clerk from the prosecutor’s office. I went to the detention center to see my brother, and signed a confession and punishment under the witness of the lawyer.
I temporarily acted as Lawyer Xue's assistant. In addition, I am also responsible for his accommodation and travel.
In my life, I have never looked after someone so meticulously.
On December 22, the lawyer came out of the detention center and handed me a letter: "Your brother wrote it to you." I didn't open it in front of him, fearing that I would lose my heart in tears-since the day of his accident, I Did not shed a single tear.
It's like organizing a funeral. At this time, every family needs someone who doesn't cry.
I happen to be hard-hearted, so leave it to me.
"You must find a way, no matter how quickly you rescue me", this is the main content of the letter, the desire to survive.
The guard at the detention center told me that my brother can watch TV in the detention center and he does not usually wear handcuffs and fetters.
"That's not good for reformation," he said. "When he first came, he cried at the sight of discipline. Now he is much better and he is used to it."
"Did all the guards commit suicide?" I asked.
"Before, they swallowed soap. Now there is 24-hour monitoring, which is impossible. Besides, they can't touch soap now."
seven
The trial was held on June 16, 2020. I participated in the observation. Every time the prosecutor reads the name of my brother, he would add a sentence, "Pretend to be an installer to install."
In other words, although he did not directly participate in the fraud, he is an indispensable part of the fraud.
Due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the trial was conducted by video connection that day. It’s just a pity that due to a network failure, I could see him, but he couldn’t see me—he was the youngest person on trial. .
Unlike what I imagined, none of them shaved their heads.
In any case, this trial gave another glimmer of hope: the procuratorate's recommended sentence for my brother is 10 to 18 months, and he is sure to be an accomplice.
After the trial, considering that some family members were on the scene and they hadn't talked to their relatives on the phone for a long time, the prosecutor decided to let us say a few words to the video.
"You can sit down and say, don't worry." The female prosecutor motioned to me.
"Take care of yourself, home is very good." I said to my brother.
"When you go back, pay attention to safety on the road. In addition, refund the refund as soon as possible." He took the microphone and asked me again and again.
"Don't worry!" I told him.
At this moment, Attorney Xue made a beautiful mistake-thinking about it later, it was an unintentional mistake, and it can even be said that it was entirely out of good intentions-he grabbed the microphone and said to his brother: "You will bear it again. Shinobi, you will be out on the 9th of next month, which is July 9."
"Okay, I see." The younger brother resisted his excitement.
What he didn't expect was that after July 9th, he would continue to wait in prison.
That kind of hopelessness, I'm afraid only the person involved knows it.
对于弟弟和我来说，这场疫情无疑是雪上加霜。即便没有疫情，很多时候，案情的进展也会让人处于崩溃边缘。我永远忘不了，在电话里，胡主任用他那极不标准的普通话对我开门见山道：“你弟弟的案子可不是他说的那么简单哦！”几乎每句话后面，他都会加个“哦”。有好几次，他提供的信息都是前后矛盾的。“既然这么严重，我还是去趟广西吧。”我说。等再过半个小时，他又打来电话，“可以考虑你弟是从犯，没你想的那么严重。”
胡主任让我惶惶不可终日，母亲更胜一筹。在她眼里，根本没有疫情这回事，“为什么还不开庭？他们说话难道是放屁的吗？”每次打来电话，她都是这句话，让人不胜其烦。她认准弟弟只是个工人，哪怕你把案件的来龙去脉讲给她，她还是一口咬定，“那些钱他又没得，为什么安在他头上！”
“涉案金额和非法所得是两码事，你好歹也有点文化，为什么就听不进去？”我耐着性子说道。
父亲也会打来电话，他稍好一些，其实也好不到哪里去，“我听说，带个公务员到广西，就能把人保出来。”
“如果带个公务员就能把人保出来，监狱里早空了。”我告诉他。
刚接完父亲的电话，胡主任又打来了，“下一阶段的律师费该交了，我现在帮你做的，并不属于我的分内事。”
接完律师的电话，其他嫌疑人的家属也打过来了，“我刚才对你的律师进行了一番调查，这个人口碑非常不好。”
八
对我们来说，“7月9日”是另一个关卡。既然薛律师在法庭上亲口告诉弟弟，那个日子是“7月9日”，某种程度上相当于按了停止键。所以你绝不会想到，还有下一段长跑正等着你。
“你弟弟该出来了吧？”7月初，所有人都在问这个问题。
“是的。律师说的，应该没错。”我过于乐观了。
到了7月9日那天，确实有人出来了，但不是我弟弟。
“他们为什么说话不算话？”母亲仍是那句话。
“是律师说的，法院没说。”我跟她解释。弟弟的律师费都是她出的，那是她的血汗钱。到了这一步，她既心疼牢里的儿子，又心疼钱。
最后一次去广西，我得到的消息是，这个装修队还有20100元的退赔缺口，必须马上解决，否则有可能影响他们的一审判决结果。这正是弟弟交代我的，“赶快把该退的钱退了。”谈何容易。一回到北京，我就开始张罗这件事，想方设法联系上另外5个没有完成退赔的家属，一个个沟通。虽然20100元分摊到每个人头上并不多，毕竟也是钱，何况之后还有数额不菲的罚金要交，所以他们对我发起的“退赃款”倡议相当谨慎。尽管如此，我还是用了3天时间，就把这笔钱打到了法院指定的账户上：每张工商银行的汇款单，都会在摘要里注明，“某某某退赃款”，然后发给所有家属过目。
然而事情并没有完。从7月9日那天起，薛定谔的猫再次被关进了容器，虽然检察院的量刑建议写的是10到18个月，可是只要法院不宣判，即使最终判3年也未可知。也就是说，我们又回到了原点。
“怎么没完没了了？”姑妈家的表哥发信息说。
“没办法，只能继续等。”我回了一句。
就像英国哲学家约翰·洛克说的，在生活磨难面前，精神上的坚强和无动于衷是我们抵抗罪恶和人生意外的最好武器。我就是这么做的，尽量让自己“无动于衷”。且不说，在这个世界上，受苦的人远不止弟弟和我。所以，即便在我忙得晕头转向时，还是抽空去看望了自己的高中数学老师。孙老师40岁出头就患上了帕金森病，这么多年，我一直说去看他，却从来没有行动过。在那个空空如也的新家，他把胸前的扣子解开让我看，有个方方正正像路由器的东西跃入眼帘，我瞬间想到一个英语单词，cyborg(半机械人)。
“是在北京协和医院装的。”他吃力地吐出那几个字。帕金森病不仅让他颤抖，还让他交流困难。
“隔几年就要去换一次电池，现在离不了这东西。上次换电池，在医院里，他抖得比这会儿严重两倍。”他的妻子在旁边告诉我。
“该结婚了！永远不要忘了，我们的根在哪里。”终于该告别了，老师把我送到电梯里，顺便不忘提醒我。突然想起很久以前，那时他还年轻，一头长发梳成偏分，和现在判若两人。作为当年一个即使在文科班成绩也属中下游的孩子，我至今记得，他搬把椅子坐到我旁边，关切地问了一句：“告诉老师，你是数学真学不会呢？还是没兴趣？”我去看他，很有可能，就是因为这句话。它让我觉得，不管到什么时候，他都是我的老师。那句话是我们师生情谊的高潮。
2020年7月下旬的一天，千呼万唤，一审判决结果终于出来了，老板的家属给我发了判决书的照片。这是个平时非常细心的女人，偏偏那天，把页码发错了。当我看到弟弟的名字时，随手翻到下一页，上面写着“羁押一日折抵刑期一日，即自2019年9月9日起至2022年9月8日止。”我当即给她拨了电话，“我弟弟是3年？”她听了有点莫名其妙，“你弟弟是一年零两个月。”我又看了一遍，才发现自己看错了。整整一上午，手脚是麻的。每当案情出现反复，我的下意识反应都是，怎样稳住家里的老人。那天也是这样，当我看成了3年，脑子里出现的第一个念头是，“千万不能慌……”
一年零两个月，罚金6000元，对弟弟来说，这可能是最不坏的结果。再延长几个月，对父母可能又是一次打击：他已经错过了一次春节，起码在下一个春节来临之前，他可以回家过年。
一审判决下来第二天，妈妈打来电话，哭哭啼啼。“在外面做这个的太多了，他只是倒霉。”她这样说。
“如果你真的这样想，这个牢算是白坐了，我也白跑了。”我说道。
九
从2019年到2020年9月，我给看守所送过四本书：《平凡的世界》《人生》《活着》和《麦田里的守望者》。我想让弟弟趁这段时间，好好思考一下人生。
后来，也许是因为知道了出狱的确切日期，他的状态也开始调回正常生活模式，所以他给家里捎信说，“买一本《思考与致富》给我吧。”我本想给他买一本寄过去的，可是想想看守所不让送书，每次都要费尽口舌，就把这事搁下了。
“太累了。不能什么都答应你。”我对自己说。
On November 9, 2021, my brother was released from prison for a whole year.
He said to me more than once, "Brother, don't worry, I will never touch this illegal thing again."
It is a blessing in disguise. Now he has bid farewell to the working life of running around and opened a "staircase, door and window" shop in his hometown, and still works as a staircase guardrail. The partner is the argon arc welder of the same name.
During the National Day, I went back to my hometown in Henan. Although I haven't seen him for more than two years, I didn't think there was much to talk about.
We said what we should say on the phone.
The days are back to the past, everyone is busy with their livelihoods-this is the paradox of life, and sometimes I feel that maybe we are more like brothers when he is inside.
One day, he drove a small truck to discuss business, and I was also in the car.
"(Inside) it was miserable for the first three months. I had a fight with someone, while I was drying my clothes. After three months, I was completely used to it." He told me.
"Have you made any friends?" I asked.
"I handed over one. It's a local. He treats me very well. That person is really kind."
"Is there any contact now?"
"No contact. That kind of person is over. I don't know how many times I go in and out... There is nothing to contact."
"I heard that you ate hundreds of bags of instant noodles in it."
"Yes, I bought instant noodles for my living expenses."
"Have you ever seen a polypedum in Guangxi? It has about 20 feet, the size of a child's palm."
"No."
"One crawled on my stomach. I was really sleepy at the time, so I wrapped it with a mask and trampled it to death."
"Oh."
Life is a black comedy, if one day my brother asked me: What is the most interesting thing you encountered in Banana County?
I will tell him the following paragraph-
Once I took a taxi in Banana County and met a male driver in his 40s.
"Where are you from?" he asked me.
"Beijing."
"Which province does Beijing belong to?"
"Ah, it's Beijing."
"I know, I mean, which province does Beijing belong to?"
"Which province does Beijing belong to?" This joke can make people laugh for at least 3 days.
Song Dynasty Source: China Youth Daily