Chapter 8: The Lawyer's Letter
Lawyer Li Zheng's office was in the oldest office building in the county town.
The elevator was broken, so we climbed six floors.
Old Zhou walked ahead of me. I followed behind.
Every step I took with my right leg sent a jolt of pain through me, but I didn't stop.
Li Zheng was in his early forties. He wore glasses, and the cuffs of his shirt had been worn white.
He took the materials I handed him and laid everything out on the desk one by one.
The USB drive.
Printed copies of the transfer records.
A photocopy of the adoption certificate.
He looked at the transfer records first, then the written transcripts of the recordings, and finally picked up the adoption certificate.
He turned it over and examined it three times.
“When did you find out you were adopted?”
“The day before yesterday.”
“Did your adoptive parents ever give you any hint before that?”
“No.”
He put down the adoption certificate and pushed up his glasses.
“Chen Mo, I'll be straight with you. Your case is worth pursuing, but there are difficulties.”
“The house is registered under your eldest brother's name. Legally, he is the registered rights holder.”
“If you want to get it back, you have to prove that you were the actual person who paid for it and that the money wasn't a gift.”
“I have the transfer remark. ‘House Payment.’”
“The remark can only prove that you transferred the money. It doesn't prove that he agreed to give you the property rights.”
“There is no written agreement between you two. No contract stating that you bought the house under his name.”
“I have recordings.”
I pushed my phone toward him.
“There's a recording from before the purchase where my eldest brother said the second bedroom would be kept for me.”
“And another from after the purchase where my mother said putting my eldest brother's name on it would make the loan easier.”
Li Zheng listened to the recordings once and nodded.
“These are useful.”
“But they're still not enough.”
“You need to prove that your eldest brother and your mother knew from the beginning that this was your personal money, rather than money contributed by the whole family.”
“I have that too.”
I pulled another sheet of paper from my pocket.
“This is the record of the living expenses I transferred to my mother one month before we bought the house.”
“And this is the medical money I transferred to my father three months before the purchase.”
“These are the records of the money I sent home every month during the six months leading up to the purchase.”
“Before and after the purchase, all my large expenses were for the family.”
“But that 370,000 yuan for the house was transferred separately from my personal bank account.”
“The remark was ‘House Payment,’ and the recipient was my eldest brother.”
“The nature of this transaction is clear.”
“This was my personal contribution toward buying the house, not a joint family contribution.”
Li Zheng looked at the sheet.
His expression changed.
“When did you organize all these records?”
“Right after we bought the house.”
“Why?”
I thought for a moment.
“Because I'd spent ten years on construction sites.”
“The construction site taught me one thing: before you do the work, keep the evidence.”
“Foremen refusing to pay wages, contractors disappearing, suppliers passing off inferior materials as good ones…”
“Everything needed proof.”
“I never thought I'd need it with my own family.”
“But I kept it anyway.”
Li Zheng was silent for a moment.
Then he went through the materials again.
“Good.”
“For the house, we can argue that you were the actual person who paid for it and that the house was purchased under your eldest brother's name on your behalf.”
“There are difficulties, but your chain of evidence is complete.”
“Bank statements, transfer remarks, recordings, chat histories.”
“Four layers of evidence, all corroborating each other.”
“And the fact that your adoptive parents made you quit school and work after they adopted you, while you continued making substantial payments to the family after you became an adult…”
“The judge may also consider the principle of fairness.”
“What about the 200,000 yuan I lent my second brother?”
“A loan.”
“You have the recording, the transfer records, and Old Zhou's testimony.”
“He may argue that it was a gift or family spending.”
“But in the recording, he explicitly said, ‘Count it as a loan. I'll pay you back double.’”
“That establishes the creditor-debtor relationship.”
“The tax issues involving his company, and Mr. Zhao…”
“That's a separate matter.”
“We can send a lawyer's letter first to put pressure on him.”
“Any evidence provided by Mr. Zhao can be submitted later in court.”
After saying that, Li Zheng took a blank lawyer's letter template from his drawer and opened his computer.
“I'll write it now.”
“Confirm the defendants for me.”
“Chen Qiang, Chen Hui, and Chen Dayong and Liu Guilan.”
“You're suing your adoptive parents too?”
“They're co-defendants.”
“The house is registered under my eldest brother's name, but the decision to buy it was made jointly by all of them.”
“My mother was also involved in the loan.”
“I want them to understand that this isn't just a problem between me and my two brothers.”
“This is a problem involving all of them.”
Li Zheng looked at me but didn't ask anything else.
He began typing.
The lawyer's letter appeared line by line on the screen and then on paper.
I watched him type the words:
“Acting on behalf of Mr. Chen Mo, this lawyer hereby issues the following letter regarding your occupation of his house purchase funds and loan…”
I recognized every word.
But when they were put together, they felt like a knife.
After finishing, Li Zheng printed three copies of the lawyer's letter and handed them to me.
I picked them up and read them from beginning to end.
They listed every payment I had made.
Every transfer I had sent home.
The adoption relationship.
The relevant legal basis.
The final paragraph read:
“You are hereby requested to negotiate with Mr. Chen Mo regarding the return of 370,000 yuan in house purchase funds and 200,000 yuan in loan principal within seven days of receiving this letter. Should you fail to make repayment within the specified period, this lawyer will initiate legal proceedings in accordance with the law. At that time, in addition to returning the above amounts, you shall also bear the corresponding interest and litigation costs.”
I put the lawyer's letter down.
“Send it.”
Li Zheng placed the three letters into envelopes and called a courier service.
Old Zhou had remained silent the entire time.
Only after the courier left did he speak.
“Mo, what about your mother…”
“Send one to her too.”
“Your mother called me yesterday. She cried and begged you to come home.”
“She wasn't crying for me.”
I looked at Old Zhou.
“She was crying for my eldest brother's house, my second brother's company, and her own retirement.”
“That's what she was crying for.”
“She was afraid that if I really sued them, she'd lose all of it.”
Old Zhou didn't try to persuade me anymore.
He took a cigarette from his pocket and handed me one.
I didn't smoke, but I accepted it.
He lit it for me.
I took one puff and immediately started coughing.
“If you don't know how to smoke, don't.”
He took the cigarette back.
“Come on. I'll buy you some food.”
We went downstairs and found a small restaurant by the roadside.
I ordered a bowl of noodles.
Old Zhou ordered two dishes and a bottle of beer.
The noodles arrived.
I had eaten two bites when my phone rang.
It was my mother.
I answered.
Her voice came crashing down on me the moment the call connected.
“Chen Mo! You sent a lawyer's letter?”
“Your eldest brother just received it!”
“Are you crazy?”
“Your second brother got one too!”
“Your father's blood pressure has gone through the roof!”
“Hurry up and withdraw that thing!”
“Do you hear me?”
I moved the phone farther away from my ear and waited for her to finish shouting.
“Mom.”
“Are you withdrawing it or not?”
“I'm not.”
There was silence on the other end for a second.
Then I heard my father shouting in the background:
“Let him sue!”
“That ungrateful bastard!”
“That useless wretch will never be satisfied!”
Never be satisfied.
I'd heard that twice now.
The first time was from Chen Hui.
The second was from my father.
“Mom, it's all written clearly in the lawyer's letter.”
“Seven days.”
“Return the money within seven days.”
“Otherwise, see you in court.”
“You dare!”
“I do.”
“You… How could you possibly face us after this?”
“Mom, I went out to work at fourteen and sent home 900,000 yuan.”
“I paid for the house under Big Brother's name.”
“I lent Second Brother money to start his business.”
“Tell me, in what way did I ever wrong you?”
Crying came from the other end of the phone.
My mother was crying.
She cried desperately.
But this time, I could tell her crying was different from before.
In the past, she cried for me to hear, so that I would soften.
This time, she was crying for herself.
Because she knew I would no longer soften.
“Chen Mo, your second brother said that if you dare to sue, he'll send people after you.”
“Let him come.”
“Your eldest brother says the house belongs to him and you won't get a single cent.”
“Then say it in court.”
“Your father says he's cutting ties with you.”
“He should have done it long ago.”
My mother went silent.
There was only the sound of her breathing, along with my father's curses in the distance.
After a long time, she spoke.
Her voice was so hoarse that it barely sounded like her.
“Mo… You really don't want this family anymore?”
I looked at the bowl of noodles in front of me.
Steam drifted upward, blurring my vision.
“Mom, you were the ones who stopped wanting me first.”
I hung up.
Old Zhou poured me a glass of water without saying anything.
I finished the noodles.
Not a single bite remained.
Then I stood up and walked to the entrance of the little restaurant.
I looked at the people passing by on the street.
The phone rang again.
This time it was Chen Hui.
I answered.
The first thing he said was:
“Chen Mo, you fucking dare to sue me?”
The second thing:
“You've got some nerve.”
The third:
“Just wait. I'll make sure you can't survive in this county town.”
I listened.
Then I laughed once.
“Second Brother, you said you'd pay me back double.”
“You don't need to double it anymore.”
“Just give me back the principal.”
“You still dare to talk to me about money?”
“You received the lawyer's letter.”
“It says everything clearly.”
“Seven days.”
“After seven days, see you in court.”
“You—”
I hung up.
I blocked Chen Hui's number.
Then my eldest brother's.
Then my mother's.
Then my father's.
After blocking the last number, I slipped my phone back into my pocket and looked up at the sky.
It was already dark.
The streetlights had come on.
People moved back and forth along the street.
Some were laughing.
Some were arguing.
Some were hurrying somewhere.
I stood outside the little restaurant.
My right leg hurt badly.
But inside, I felt a kind of peace I had never known before.
Old Zhou came out and patted me on the shoulder.
“Let's go.”
“Mm.”
“Back to the workers' shed?”
“Back to the workers' shed.”
We got into that battered old van.
Old Zhou started the engine.
The windshield wipers moved twice, clearing the dust from the glass.
The radio was playing an old song.
A hoarse male voice was singing something about the jianghu and brothers.
Old Zhou reached over and turned off the radio.
“Brother Zhou.”
“Mm?”
“Do you think they'll pay?”
Old Zhou turned the steering wheel and merged onto the main road.
The streetlights moved backward one after another, just like that night when he drove me back from the hospital.
“No,” he said.
“But if they don't pay, the court will make them.”
I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes.
The shattered phone in my pocket dug into my thigh.
Inside it were thirty-five recordings, 167 files, one adoption certificate—
And ten years.
Seven days.
I'd waited ten years.
Seven more days meant nothing.
ns216.73.216.62da2
and then Add to home screen.