Chapter 1367: Chapter 178: New Year’s Eve (Part 2)_2

"Yeah, what’s wrong with the judge? A judge should be reasonable!"

"I can’t just listen to one side of the story; I’ve said I need to understand the situation first."

Han Yu and Xiao Yu, led by Old Chen, crossed six boats in a row and finally reached the ship where the judge and court police were surrounded.

It was an over two-hundred-ton inland cargo ship, appearing quite aged, with a hull full of rust, and the tattered awning at the stern. The festive couplets pasted on the ship looked very out of place.

The bespectacled judge, seeing two police officers arrive, looked as if he saw saviors, urgently said, "Comrades, we are from the Yungang City Intermediate People’s Court, here are our credentials..."

"Police comrades, they’re being unreasonable; you can’t just listen to them!" A woman in her thirties squeezed in to argue.

Xiao Yu immediately stopped her and warned seriously and sternly, "Did we ask you? I’ve said to let us understand the case step by step; can you let us ask one by one?"

The middle-aged shipowner, who knew Han Yu and Xiao Yu, quickly pulled the woman back: "Don’t be anxious, listen to Captain Han and Captain Liang."

"But..."

"We have so many people; what are you afraid of?"

"Alright then."

Han Yu turned back to glance at the woman in her thirties, then at the man in his thirties tightly gripping a court police officer’s handbag strap and said sternly, "Let go of your hand first; it’s New Year, why pull and tug like this?"

The man hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly let go under the indications of relatives and fellow villagers.

The bespectacled judge breathed a slight sigh of relief, and took out a stack of legal documents from his bag, explaining, "Comrades, this ship is not theirs, it belongs to the executed party Wang Chengsong. The ship ownership registration certificate, ship inspection certificate and ship operating certificate are all under Wang Chengsong’s name."

The woman got anxious, just about to speak when she saw Xiao Yu with a stern face, and only then lowered her head resentfully.

Han Yu quickly looked over the court’s judgment documents and basically understood the situation.

This ship did indeed belong to Yungang native shipman Wang Chengsong. On March 21, 97, Wang Chengsong took a loan of 1.2 million yuan from a bank in Yungang City under the pretext of purchasing a thousand-ton inland cargo ship but failed to repay according to the loan contract and was sued by the bank.

Han Yu put down the judgment and the mandatory execution documents, puzzled, asked: "Judge Liu, even if it’s mandatory execution, you should prioritize executing the new ship that Wang Chengsong loaned to purchase. Why don’t you execute the new ship but come to Binjiang to execute this old ship that’s worth little?"

"The new ship had an accident and sank."

"The new ship sank?"

"The ship sank and the person ran away. Not only are we looking for him, but the ship owner he collided with and the salvage unit are also looking for him."

The ship owner surnamed Wang is quite unfortunate.

Just bought a new ship, and it sank before running a few days; this is true ruin.

Han Yu has seen plenty of incidents where a ship sank and the person ran away. To this day, there are still accident ships salvaged by the Waterway Department linger on the beaches of the North Branch Waters with no ship owner in sight.

Han Yu sighed silently, then turned and asked, "Your turn, first tell me your names."

The woman quickly said, "Police comrade, my name is Li Yufang, this is my husband, Gu Liugen."

"What’s the situation with this ship? Did Wang Chengsong rent it to you?"

"It’s not rented from Wang Chengsong; we bought this ship from him; we have a written agreement."

"Bought it? Why didn’t you go through the transfer procedures?"

"We also wanted to transfer it, but we were on the Yangtze River when we bought it, not in Yungang, so we agreed with Boss Wang to go to the Yungang Port Supervision Bureau for the transfer procedures when both had time. Later, either he didn’t have time or we didn’t have time, and eventually, we couldn’t reach him by phone."

"Do you have the written agreement from when you bought the ship?"

"Yes, I’ll get it."

...

Gu Liugen and Li Yufang indeed had a sales contract handwritten by them with Wang Chengsong. This ship was bought by the couple from Wang Chengsong for 110,000 yuan, according to the contract, the payment was made in one lump sum, and it agreed to complete the transfer within three months after signing the contract.

Han Yu looked at the hand-impressed seals of both parties on the date and time of the sale, then checked the loan time and date for the new ship on the judgment, realizing this matter is indeed very tricky.

"Judge Liu, it’s indisputable that this ship is under Wang Chengsong’s name, and according to the law, you are justified in sealing it. We should cooperate with you in executing."

Han Yu took a deep breath and shifted the conversation: "But the law is not detached from human sentiments. Whether it’s legislative departments setting laws and regulations, your court’s legal judgments, or legal executions, they should align with common sense. For instance, today, the Gu Liugen couple bought the ship with real money before Wang Chengsong took the bank loan to purchase a new one!

Just because Gu Liugen didn’t complete the transfer, the court forces execution on a ship that, in essence, belongs to them. This doesn’t align with common sense. If you take the ship, where would people seek their losses? How are they supposed to live?"

Judge Liu didn’t expect Han Yu to side, caught off guard, didn’t know how to explain.

Li Yufang, wife of Gu Liugen, was momentarily stunned, then excitedly said, "Police comrade, you spoke sensibly. When buying the ship, we didn’t have that much money; the 110,000 yuan given to Boss Wang was borrowed from various sources. My brother can testify for us, and many others can too! We have elderly and young children, our whole family depends on this ship. The court must be reasonable; if it seizes our ship, how would our family live?"

The young judge couldn’t believe that even with the judgment and mandatory execution documents, the newly arrived police would side-break, he couldn’t help saying, "Police comrade, I am executing mandatory enforcement by law!"

"As I’ve said, whether it’s a judgment or mandatory execution, it should adhere to common sense."

Entire family was waiting for him to return for New Year’s Eve dinner.

The Director Yu had made it clear over the phone, he didn’t intend to interfere with court execution, only wanted to ensure the safety of the judge and court police.

Han Yu did not want to waste time, bluntly said, "You two probably won’t be able to seize this ship today, let alone drive it away. I suggest you return the ship certificates, then we’ll send you ashore, hurry back; you can still be with your families for the New Year tomorrow morning."

"Comrade, we are here to execute a task; you may choose not to assist, but you can’t engage in regional protectionism!"

"They are all Nanhe people; the ship isn’t from Binjiang. How am I engaging in regional protectionism?" Han Yu retorted, and turned to ask, "Gu Liugen, were you aware before that Wang Chengsong was sued and the ship he sold to you would face court-enforced execution?"

"No, police comrade, we truly didn’t know. If we knew, we wouldn’t have shown them the ship certificates!"

"Did you hear that? Even for mandatory execution, you should notify people first, give them mental preparation, a chance to explain! You just knew there was an old ship under Wang Chengsong’s name, and without asking questions, rushed to enforce it, is this how you do things?"

"Police comrade, listen to my explanation..."

"Nothing to explain, you’ve seen the situation; they’re all reliant on this ship for survival. If you seize their ship, it’s like cutting off their livelihood, and if you do that, they’ll fight back desperately."

Han Yu took out his phone to check the time, thought for a moment, then said meaningfully, "On one side is the wealthy bank, on the other, an individual shipman with no risk resistance capability. Whose interest should be prioritized? There should be a scale in your mind. We should enforce the law impartially, but not mechanically applying legal provisions, nor ignoring conscience!"

"How are we ignoring conscience? Are we wrong to uphold justice by law?" The young judge got anxious.

Han Yu didn’t want to argue further, checked his phone again, and said very seriously, "Honestly, I was commissioned by your city leaders to rescue you. If you don’t want to celebrate the New Year, I do. Are you leaving or not, give me a word?"

Is helping the bank bully shipmen meaningful?

Xiao Yu also felt that these two judges were not handling the matter right, and reminded, "If you want to go ashore, return their certificates; if you don’t, we’re leaving."