Mrs. Song knows the law
On the day when the Ganqi Ziying painting was mounted, Shen Roujiao examined it carefully for a long time. Mr. Fu was right. Her calligraphy and Zhou Huaiyue's painting were in perfect harmony. Even the master who mounted the painting could not tell that the calligraphy and painting were not done by the same person.
In the evening, Shen Roujiao knocked on the door of her homeroom teacher, Mr. Wei, holding the framed painting.
Mr. Wei is an excellent Chinese teacher in the county high school. He is a middle-aged man in his forties with thick hair and a loud voice. He is good at playing basketball and is a main player of the school basketball team. He often represents the county in competitions.
He was an upright and kind person, and he was especially caring towards the poor students from the mountainous areas. Therefore, when she was in the first year of high school, Mr. Wei helped Shen Roujiao a lot.
"Student Shen, please come in and sit down." Teacher Wei greeted her warmly.
"Thank you, Teacher Wei." Shen Roujiao did not sit down, but stood at the door and looked into the inner room.
"What? Aren't you here to see me?" Teacher Wei looked in the direction her gaze was pointing. The light was on in the study, and Teacher Wei's lover was sitting at the desk, writing furiously.
Shen Roujiao smiled foolishly, "I'm here to see Master Song."
"Okay. Shufen, my student is looking for you." Teacher Wei called his wife's name softly towards the study, with a smile in the corner of his eyes, full of warm love.
They are a model couple, holding their heads together. That's probably what they look like.
In the past, time passed slowly and one could only love one person in a lifetime.
Shen Roujiao saw in them the simple and genuine feelings of the older generation, which lasted for a long time and sparkled all the time.
Song Shufen, who had neat short hair, came out of the study, with a warm breeze on her face, and said to her, "Xiao Shen, come and sit down."
Although she was Teacher Wei's lover, she never treated her students as children and greeted everyone as adults.
After they sat down, Shen Roujiao explained her purpose, "Mrs. Song, you are a police officer. I want to consult you about my mother's matter. Apart from you, I don't know who else I can ask."
"Okay, tell me about it." Song Shufen is a glorious police officer. Because she lives in the family compound of the county middle school, she can often be seen returning home from get off work in her uniform after school.
Shen Roujiao started with the black wolfberry and recounted in detail what had happened to her mother and the Shen family. Finally, she revealed her plan to sue Wang Jianxin.
"Xiao Shen, I deeply sympathize with your mother's experience, but I'm afraid it won't work if you want to sue him. At present, civil disputes like yours, where no substantial harm has occurred, are mainly handled through negotiation and mediation, and there are no relevant laws and regulations to support it. At the same time, as far as I know, there is no relevant clause regarding the declaration of death after four years of disappearance."
Song Shufen's very professional answer extinguished Shen Roujiao's light of justice.
In fact, what Shen Roujiao said is the provision of the Civil Code and the basic basis for judges to adjudicate civil and commercial cases.
The third attempt to draft the Civil Code in 1979 ended in failure. It was not until 1986 that the General Principles of Civil Law were formulated. It was still imperfect and incomplete, and was a product of a stopgap measure for civil policy. However, even so, this law had epoch-making and milestone significance. It was not until 2020 that the Civil Code, my country's first code, was actually promulgated and implemented.
Behind every law and regulation, there are countless heavy stories, vivid life examples, and even bloody tragedies.
"Then Madam Song, what else can I do? Give up?" Shen Roujiao was unwilling, but felt helpless.
Song Shufen saw how sad she was, and sat down next to Shen Roujiao, patting her tightly clasped hands, and said in a slow voice: "Xiao Shen, I understand how you feel. You are very angry and sad, and you feel aggrieved, right?"
Hearing what the master's wife said, Shen Roujiao's eyes were filled with tears of grievance. She bit her lip to suppress her emotions and nodded.
"If your mother were still alive, you would feel much better." Song Shufen stroked her hand, and her words seemed to comfort and soothe her.
"You mean, I can't sue him, but I can find my mother?" The light of hope ignited in Shen Roujiao's eyes again.
"Well! Everything depends on human effort. Maybe we can give it a try." Song Shufen returned to the study, took out a pen and paper, and wrote as she spoke, "Collect as much information about your mother as possible, including her personal appearance and physical characteristics. It would be best if you have a photo. Then take this information to the county police station to file a missing person report. Our police station has a special missing persons file, and maybe we can really find her."
Madam Master folded the paper filled with information and put it into Shen Roujiao's palm, not forgetting to add, "But, we agreed to give it a try. After all, your mother has been missing for too long, so it is still very difficult."
"I understand. Even if there's only a one in ten thousand chance, I'm still going to try. Thank you, Master's wife, and thank you, Teacher." Shen Roujiao tightly grasped the piece of paper, stood up, and bowed deeply to them respectfully. When she bent down, tears dripped onto the surface of her shoes, like a small plum blossom that still blooms after wind and snow.
"Oh, why are you crying again?" Teacher Wei took out a new pink handkerchief from somewhere and handed it to the teacher's wife. The teacher's wife helped Shen Roujiao wipe her tears and finally stuffed the handkerchief into her hand.
After calming down, Shen Roujiao took out the painting and handed it to Song Shufen with both hands, "Master's wife, teacher, thank you for taking care of me all the time. I don't know how to express my gratitude. I know you all like calligraphy and painting, so I brought a painting today. I hope you like it."
"What are you thanking me for? This is what you, Teacher Wei, should do. Thank you for accepting it. As for the painting, forget about it. You can take it back. Oh." Mrs. Song did not take it.
Shen Roujiao unfolded the painting and spread it on the tea table. "This was painted by me and my teacher. It is a token of my appreciation as a student. The gift may be small, but the friendship is profound. Please accept it, teacher and mistress."
Giving gifts is really a science. If you give too little, the meaning will not be fully expressed. If you give too much, others will not dare to accept it. It is difficult to please others and it requires both timing and discretion.
In her previous life, Shen Roujiao had a lot of headaches over gift-giving and always racked her brains for important occasions.
As expected, when she said she drew it herself, Teacher Wei came up to her and asked curiously, "I know you write well, but I didn't know you can draw well too."
"Teacher Wei, I can't draw. The paintings were drawn by my master, and only the words were written by me." Shen Roujiao smiled embarrassedly.
"Your master's name is Huai Yue? He draws really well." Master Song also came closer to take a look.
"Yeah." You can see that the teacher and his wife like it very much.
"That's right! When the principal inspected yesterday, he said that our Chinese teaching office lacks any humanistic atmosphere. I will hang up this painting tomorrow. I hope Student Shen has no objection." Teacher Wei moved his gaze from the painting to Shen's gentle face.
"Okay, thank you, teacher. My master will definitely be very happy if he knows." Shen Roujiao said this, but what she was thinking in her mind was: Master Zhou won't know, and he will definitely not be happy even if he knows.
Not only did the apprentice scribble, she also borrowed flowers to offer to others. Zhou Huaiyue was such a playful person that he would not let her off easily.
Before leaving, Teacher Wei asked Shen Roujiao with concern whether she had any plans to take the college entrance examination, and said he could help her find study materials and practice test papers.
He also said that Duan Baisheng had come to his house yesterday to discuss the college entrance examination.
Shen Roujiao had no plans to take the college entrance examination, mainly because she didn't know how to do it. Russian alone was enough to make her feel uncomfortable, not to mention mathematics, physics, and chemistry, as the things they learned were completely different.
However, knowing that Duan Baisheng worked so hard, Shen Roujiao was happy for him from the bottom of her heart. Good people should be rewarded, and he will definitely be able to enter university and start a different life.
…
A day later, a group of leaders from Xiaonanchuan City walked into the county high school amid warm cheers.
Shen Roujiao stood in the welcoming line, holding up a big red flower, and followed everyone's voices, happily repeating: "Welcome, welcome, warm welcome."
The re-enactment of scenes from old TV dramas made her feel both curious and excited.
The principal accompanied the mayor and walked over waving his hands all the way. Shen Roujiao was very lucky and even shook hands with the mayor.
The mayor is a little younger than the school principal, about fifty years old, with a determined look in his eyes, and he walks with his head held high. You can tell at first glance that he has served in the military.
He has gray hair on his temples. He looks fierce when he is not smiling, and does not look very happy when he smiles. He is a very serious person.
The principal and his group walked around the clean and tidy campus, and then went to the classroom. They were in a math class at the time, and they were inexplicably nervous when being watched through the window. Their backs were very straight, and everyone looked very stiff.
"Hello, Mayor!" The Chinese Language and Literature Teaching and Research Office was so lucky that they could welcome such an important person. The teachers all felt honored and were very excited.
"Comrades, thank you for your hard work." Mayor Lu Qinglan stood in the middle of the office and listened to the teachers talk about how to arrange students' review plans before the college entrance examination.
As they chatted, Lu Qinglan's eyes fell on the wall opposite...
In the school auditorium, Shen Roujiao and her classmates brought benches from the classroom and sat neatly below the stage. On the stage were a group of people who came to visit the school.
Lu Qinglan sat in the center, and the principal sat next to him. At the beginning, there were lengthy speeches and work reports. Shen Roujiao was confused by what she heard, and she didn't remember anything. However, at the end, there was a college entrance examination mobilization ceremony, which caused quite a stir.
"Look, Duan Baisheng from our class is also on the stage." The girl with a pigtail next to her nudged her with her elbow.
Shen Roujiao looked over and saw Duan Baisheng standing at the end of the team with a red face, his back straight and his eyes firm.
Sister Yu?!
She not only saw Duan Baisheng but also Shen Ruyu in the team.
Surprise, unexpected.
Shen Rushan had never told Sister Yu that she was going to take the college entrance exam. After all, Aunt Zhao had always wanted Shen Rushan, who had just graduated from high school, to teach in the brigade primary school like Caifeng, the daughter of the village chief. She felt that that would be a great success. Shen Rushan had never expressed her thoughts.
Now, seeing Shen Ruyu standing on the stage in high spirits, she felt it was a great joy.
It is said that choice is more important than hard work. In fact, choice and hard work are both indispensable. At the important forks in life, no one knows what the future will be like. No matter right or wrong, once you have made a choice, stick to it.
There is no such thing as the right choice, it’s about trying to make the choice right.