On the day of the formal court hearing, it was raining heavily.
Xiang Zi was completely soaked by the time he arrived at the court.
Shaking his umbrella, he met his defense lawyer at the entrance of the courthouse.
What Lin Wanxing had said to him did have an impact on him to some extent. He even had a moment when he wanted to throw caution to the wind.
But after walking away, he quickly calmed down.
Xiang Zi knew he was an adult, not a hot-headed high school student. Lin Wanxing’s moral conscience argument was just an enemy’s provocation tactic and couldn’t shake him at all.
After the negotiation with Lin Wanxing, Xiang Zi fully recognized the impossibility of pre-trial mediation.
Lin Wanxing almost nakedly wanted to break his spine; he absolutely couldn’t let her have her way.
So he made up his mind, gritted his teeth to hire a lawyer, and left the professional matters to professionals.
The lawyer before him was surnamed Chen, who had reportedly handled many similar cases.
Xiang Zi believed that only a lawyer who quoted a price willing to help him was truly the industry’s conscience.
Heping District People’s Court, Civil Trial Court No. 2.
The civil courtroom was pitifully small, with a few audience seats near the door, and the air was damp.
Xiang Zi pushed open the heavy wooden door and immediately saw a young man sitting in the audience seats.
He had seen that person before, one of the first to come to the school to learn about Lin Wanxing’s past, a football coach, probably Lin Wanxing’s new boyfriend.
What surprised Xiang Zi was that there was only Lin Wanxing herself on the plaintiff’s bench.
Lin Wanxing wore a black dress today. The defendant’s bench and the plaintiff’s bench were so close that when Xiang Zi took his seat, he could almost see every subtle expression on Lin Wanxing’s ice-cold face.
Just then, the door of the courtroom was pushed open again.
Xiang Zi looked toward the sound and saw a middle-aged woman standing at the door, thinking his eyes had problems.
“Xiang Zi, you are in a lawsuit!?” An incredulous voice came from the door.
“Mom, why are you here?” Xiang Zi heard his panicked voice.
“I called the number on that paper, and they said it was the court. I was worried, so I came to see.” His mother was carrying an old backpack, travel-worn, dirty, obviously having just come from their hometown.
The rain outside the court was too heavy. His mother was completely soaked, and the sound of raindrops and the panic in his mother’s eyes made Xiang Zi feel a hint of fear and coldness.
“It’s nothing, Mom. Civil disputes are common. I didn’t tell you just because I didn’t want you to worry.”
“What exactly is going on? Tell me the truth!”
“It’s just this woman making trouble for no reason. You go out and rest first, and I’ll explain in detail when it’s over.”
The civil courtroom was too small. As soon as he finished speaking, the court staff asked: “The hearing is about to begin. Does the defendant’s family want to leave or sit down to observe?”
“You should go out first.” Xiang Zi was almost pushing his mother.
But his mother didn’t move an inch: “I want to hear what’s going on!”
—
The court session soon began, and Xiang Zi sat back in the defendant’s seat.
The clerk began to verify his and Lin Wanxing’s relevant information, announced the court discipline, and then invited the presiding judge and the judges to enter the court.
For some reason, when he saw the robed judge walking onto the bench, Xiang Zi felt his heart inexplicably start to beat rapidly.
He was very nervous. Even though the lawyer had gone over the court process with him in advance, he was still very, very nervous.
Lawyer Chen had already gone over the court procedure for the case with him.
But when Lin Wanxing began to present her numerous email evidence, Xiang Zi still had a sense of unreality.
Had he sent so many emails? Even he didn’t remember.
What astonished him even more was that every piece of email evidence Lin Wanxing presented came from screenshots of the inboxes of well-known alumni.
A total of 135 email addresses. Behind those dense email accounts were psychiatrists, psychology experts, neuroscience research leaders—those who were once email recipients, as well as famous alumni who had graduated from Yongchuan University’s Psychology Department over decades.
After sending the emails, Xiang Zi never received any response from these people.
And today, those high-minded alumni collectively provided email evidence for Lin Wanxing.
At the plaintiff’s bench, Lin Wanxing alone presented the emails and narrated what had happened.
The courtroom was quiet and solemn, and it was still raining.
Xiang Zi felt that this courtroom was too small, and the national emblem behind the judge was so close to him, bright red and glaring.
Finally, Xiang Zi waited until Lin Wanxing’s statement concluded.
He was able to catch his breath and immediately looked to his defense lawyer for help.
The lawyer looked at him reassuringly and began to speak eloquently: “We believe that the plaintiff’s binding of our client with the anonymous email sender is non-objective behavior. The email account in question is an electronic mail service provided by the Yongchuan University Information Service Center for all faculty and students. Although our client registered the email account with his real name, there is a possibility that the sender is not the account registrant, and our client’s email account may have been stolen by others.”
This was the defense they had agreed upon before the court session. The lawyer argued that his email account had been stolen.
Now Lin Wanxing’s face was right in front of him. She hadn’t said a word, but Xiang Zi seemed to hear her voice thundering in his ears.
In the next moment, the judge’s calm inquiry sounded: “Defendant, the email account that the plaintiff claims sent the infringing emails is not being used by you?”
His fist tightly clenched under the table, Xiang Zi involuntarily looked toward the audience seats.
There, his mother, soaking wet, was looking at him with an anxious gaze.
—Do you dare to admit it?
“It wasn’t me,” the answer slipped out. “I tried to log into this email account before but couldn’t get in. I thought I had forgotten the password, so I registered a new one. I didn’t realize it had been stolen.”
In the audience seats, his mother sighed with relief.
So lying was easy, Xiang Zi looked at Lin Wanxing, it wasn’t difficult at all.
But then, Lin Wanxing’s gaze showed neither mockery nor contempt. She seemed to have anticipated his answer and just said very calmly: “I have a recording of the defendant indirectly admitting that he was the anonymous email sender.”
At first, Xiang Zi thought it was a recording of him and Lin Wanxing in the coffee shop, thinking that women were indeed scheming.
But when he saw the recording file, he immediately realized it was a recording of their conversation in the coffee shop when Lin Chen brought Lin Wanxing’s boyfriend to Yongchuan University.
In an instant, fear and a sense of incredulity surged in his mind.
He was almost completely certain that this was a premeditated setup: “You were recording back then?”
“Senior Lin was meticulous,” Lin Wanxing replied.
The defense lawyer immediately spoke to him in a low voice, then argued: “According to Article 68 of the ‘Civil Litigation Evidence Regulations’ implemented on April 1, 2002, regarding ‘evidence obtained by methods that infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of others or violate legal prohibitions cannot be used as a basis for determining the facts of the case.’ Our client was unaware that the conversation was being recorded. This recording infringes on our client’s privacy rights and cannot be used as a basis for determining the facts of the case.”
But Lin Wanxing said: “The ‘unauthorized recording of a conversation without the consent of the other party is an illegal act’ referred to in [1995] No. 2 Reply should be understood as: secretly recording in a place involving the privacy of a party and infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of the other party or others is considered illegal. The recording provided by our side was made in the public coffee shop of Yongchuan University. The recording was made in a public place, and besides the defendant Xiang Zi, Professor He Youting, Wang Fa, and others were present. It did not infringe upon the defendant’s legitimate rights, so this recording evidence should be accepted and used as a basis for determining the relevant facts of this case.”
She was so composed, not looking at any prompt.
But the lawyer he hired for 5,000 yuan couldn’t even say a word of rebuttal.
A passage Lin Wanxing had once said appeared again in Xiang Zi’s ears.
—”I don’t have the responsibility or obligation to reform you. I just want to demand that you bow down and say ‘sorry’ to me.”
The recording began to play slowly in the courtroom.
Xiang Zi heard his voice changing from confident to panicked in the recording.
His mother sat in the audience, her face changing from ashen to completely pale.
“I’m not lying, Teacher’s wife, you’ve been brainwashed!”
The words he had spoken himself ultimately became the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
Xiang Zi slowly closed his eyes, feeling that today’s rain was so much heavier than ever before.
The world was cold and dark without light. He knew he was finished.
—
On X month X day, 20XX,
Yongchuan City Heping District People’s Court, made a first-instance judgment on the case of Master’s student Lin Wanxing suing her classmate Xiang Zi for infringing her reputation rights.
The full text of the judgment is as follows:
Yongchuan City Heping District Intermediate People’s Court
Civil Judgment
(20XX) Yonghe Intermediate Civil First (Civil) Initial No. 1357
Plaintiff: Lin Wanxing.
Defendant: Xiang Zi
Entrusted Litigation Representative: Chen Haihua, a lawyer from Yongchuan Zhengping Law Firm.
The court has found through trial that Lin Wanxing was originally a Master’s student in the Psychology Department of Yongchuan University, and Xiang Zi was originally a Master’s student in the Psychology Department of Yongchuan University.
Between XX/X/20XX and XX/X/20XX, Xiang Zi, in the form of anonymous emails, sent a mass email titled “The Truth About Psychology Teacher Shu Yong’s Suicide” to 135 former alumni of the Psychology Department of Yongchuan University.
In the emails, Xiang Zi repeatedly used many insulting terms such as “seducing the advisor,” “illicit relationship,” “lacking basic sense of shame,” “mentally controlling men,” “causing the advisor to commit suicide,” and through subjective imagination, fabricated an illicit sexual relationship between Lin Wanxing and her advisor Shu Yong.
For this, Lin Wanxing entrusted the Yongchuan City Heping District Notary Office to collect and preserve the above email evidence on X/X/20XX. The Yongchuan City Heping District Notary Office issued a notarization certificate on XX/X/20XX, and Lin Wanxing paid a notarization fee of RMB (hereinafter all currencies are RMB) 5,000.
At the same time, Lin Wanxing provided relevant recording evidence proving that the defendant Xiang Zi was the owner of the anonymous email account and the sender of the defamatory emails. There was neither evidence proving that the content of the recording was false or fabricated, nor evidence proving that the recording evidence was obtained through seriously illegal means. At the same time, this recording evidence has been cross-examined in the court trial, so this court considers this recording evidence legal.
Lin Wanxing claims that Xiang Zi’s act of mass sending insulting emails and publicly disseminating them has seriously affected her reputation and normal work and life. It has severely lowered Lin Wanxing’s social evaluation, and she has undergone long-term psychological treatment. Therefore, she has appealed to the court, requesting that Xiang Zi be ordered to stop the infringement.
Lin Wanxing requests that Xiang Zi send a public written apology letter to the email addresses of 135 famous alumni of the Psychology Department of Yongchuan University, clarifying the facts, eliminating the impact, and restoring Lin Wanxing’s reputation.
She requests that Xiang Zi publish the original text of the apology on Yongchuan University’s intranet, with content to be reviewed by the court;
And compensate the plaintiff Lin Wanxing with spiritual damage compensation of 50,000 yuan and a notarization fee of 5,000 yuan.
After trial, the court believes that citizens and legal persons enjoy the right to reputation, and the personal dignity of citizens and legal persons is protected by law. It is prohibited to damage the reputation of citizens and legal persons by means of insult, defamation, etc.
Xiang Zi, in the form of anonymous emails, sent a mass email titled “The Truth About Psychology Teacher Shu Yong’s Suicide” to the email addresses of 135 famous alumni of the Psychology Department of Yongchuan University. This article fabricated Lin Wanxing’s romantic experience with Shu Yong, personally attacked and insulted Lin Wanxing, caused a major reaction in the Yongchuan University alumni group, and seriously affected Lin Wanxing’s reputation, constituting an infringement on Lin Wanxing’s right to reputation.
Xiang Zi should bear the corresponding civil liability for this.
Regarding the plaintiff Lin Wanxing’s claim for mental comfort money, Xiang Zi’s mass sending of email content directly damaged the plaintiff Lin Wanxing’s image and caused serious mental damage to the plaintiff, resulting in the plaintiff receiving long-term psychological treatment. Therefore, the plaintiff Lin Wanxing’s request for Xiang Zi to compensate for mental damage is legally based, just, and reasonable, and this court legally supports it.
The notarization fee of 5,000 yuan is a reasonable expense paid by Lin Wanxing to protect her legitimate rights and interests and should be borne by Xiang Zi.
This court believes that insulting or defaming others in written or oral form, damaging the reputation of others, should be identified as infringing on the reputation rights of others. Although the defendant claimed that his emails were of a small-scale anonymous nature, the content he published had a bad influence and seriously insulted women, and seriously debased the personality of women.
Accordingly, by the provisions of the “Civil Code of the Republic” and the “Civil Procedure Law of the Republic,” it is judged as follows:
1. Within ten days after the judgment takes effect, Xiang Zi shall send emails clarifying the facts and apologizing to Lin Wanxing to 135 famous alumni email addresses of the Psychology Department of Yongchuan University;
2. Within ten days after the judgment takes effect, Xiang Zi shall publish the original text of the apology on Yongchuan University’s campus network. The content of the apology statement should include the main content of this civil judgment, and the duration of the apology should not be less than thirty days. The content will be determined by the court; otherwise, the court will publish the main content of this case judgment in other media, and the cost will be borne by Xiang Zi;
3. Within ten days from the effective date of this judgment, the defendant Xiang Zi shall compensate the plaintiff Lin Wanxing with spiritual damage compensation of 50,000 yuan;
4. Within ten days after the judgment takes effect, Xiang Zi shall pay Lin Wanxing a notarization fee of 5,000 yuan.
If the defendant fails to fulfill the obligation to pay money within the period specified in this judgment, he should pay double the debt interest during the period of delayed performance of the obligation by the provisions of the “Civil Procedure Law of the Republic.”
If you do not accept this judgment, you may submit an appeal to this court within fifteen days from the date of service of the judgment, to appeal to the Yongchuan City Intermediate People’s Court.
Presiding Judge Liu Ling
Acting Judge Fu Chengzi
Acting Judge Jiang Mingyuan
XX/X/20XX
Clerk Chang Si
Author’s note:
The Yongchuan series stories are semi-fictional, and the related court trial content has been artistically processed.
The final judgment refers to the penalties of relevant domestic civil judgments.