She had built up a family fortune of hundreds of thousands of yuan with her husband starting from nothing. However, in middle age, she left behind her two beloved daughters and set herself on fire.
Aside from the blow of a failed marriage, a judge's corrupt verdict was the trigger.
On May 22, 2009, Yumen City Court sentenced Cui Ji Yuan, deputy director of the administrative court of Jinta County Court, to one year in prison for civil malfeasance in office. ■ By reporter Dong Kai Wei
The Farmer's Death by Fire
On the morning of May 27, 2008, a village nestled between Jinta County town and vast fields was sparsely populated, peaceful and quiet. This tranquility was soon shattered by a great fire.
At around 11:00 AM, thick smoke rose from a courtyard at the edge of the village. Hai Xin (a pseudonym), a villager walking into the city, was the first to notice the fire. "It's on fire!" He turned back and ran while shouting for help. He discovered that the burning courtyard belonged to his brother, Hai Min (a pseudonym).
Men and women of all ages who remained in the village rushed over upon hearing the news, frantically attempting to extinguish the flames. "There's still someone inside," one villager suddenly noticed, shocking everyone speechless. Unfortunately, due to the intense fire, they were powerless to act.
Sirens wailed as the fire trucks arrived. Everyone scrambled to help, lifting out a charred corpse from the most fiercely burning room. The neighbors identified the deceased as the female owner, Ying Lian (a pseudonym).
"Her and I left home together this morning, we had agreed to go to the outpatient clinic to see a doctor, how could it end like this?" Upon receiving a call from a neighbor, Ying Mei (a pseudonym), the deceased's sister, ran over from the city, initially dazed, then tore her hair and cried out in anguish.
The male owner, Hai Min, who had gone to a neighboring village to wholesale goods, returned hastily after receiving a call from his younger brother. His wife was dead, the bedroom was destroyed, and the adjacent storage room was also completely ruined. Everything before his eyes almost made him collapse on the spot.
Subsequently arriving police officers examined the scene and found bundles of straw in other rooms that hadn't caught fire, along with a pesticide bottle labeled "dwarfing agent" thrown in one room.
That day, at the request of relatives such as Ying Mei, the Jinta County Public Security Bureau conducted an autopsy and tested the pesticide bottle. According to the forensic medical examination, there were no marks on Ying Lian's head or other areas, but there were residual traces of "dwarfing agent" pesticide in her stomach. The final conclusion of the Public Security Bureau was: drank poison and set herself on fire.
Ying Lian, just entering middle age, ended her young life in this manner, leaving behind two adorable daughters, and leaving regrets and numerous questions for Ying Mei and other relatives.
The police's conclusion did not bring an end to Ying Lian's self-immolation incident. The divorce case between Hai Min and Ying Lian prior to the event, the intentional injury case where Hai Min injured Ying Lian, and the accusation of judicial corruption revealed by the deceased's relatives, all uncovered the hidden details behind Ying Lian's self-immolation.
Marital Discord
A hasty union without adequate understanding between the couple planted the seeds of tragedy.
Ying Lian and Hai Min were both born in Jinta's rural areas. Through others' matchmaking, they met in September 1994 and married in January 1995.
Less than three months after their wedding, they borrowed 100 kilograms of soybeans from relatives and started a roasted nut business in the city.
"The first month we netted more than 600 yuan, the second and third months each brought in over 1200 yuan. After deducting daily expenses, we had accumulated more than 3000 yuan in three months. A farmer’s household annual income was only a few thousand yuan." To this day, Hai Min still can't forget the joy of earning their first pot of gold.
In November of that year, their eldest daughter was born. With double joy, the couple adjusted their "business philosophy" and transitioned into wholesaling instant noodles. They gradually expanded their food business to dozens of varieties. Their suburban home served as a warehouse, nearby villages' general stores became their market, and soon they ventured into the county town, expanding their customer base even to Jiuquan.
The couple worked tirelessly, enduring hardships and accumulating gains. Starting with carrying goods on their shoulders, their delivery vehicles gradually upgraded from bicycles to tricycles, agricultural tricycles, and finally agricultural cars, witnessing their improving living conditions.
By 2006, Hai Min's family had established a significant food wholesale business. A neighbor revealed that their assets were worth at least several hundred thousand yuan.
According to Ying Mei, the crisis in her sister's relationship with Hai Min began after the birth of their second daughter, due to Hai Min's preference for sons over daughters.
However, Hai Min doesn’t agree. In his view, the lack of emotional foundation and differing life perspectives are the main causes of their conflicts. "She often nags about trivial matters, making me lose face." He recounted that once when they were in Jiuquan, because he insisted on taking the bus rather than walking, his wife wouldn’t stop nagging on the bus. "That time I told her, I would never go out with her again, it was embarrassing."
The reasons for the marital crisis weren’t so simple.
Due to the need for procurement, Hai Min frequently traveled outside. Over time, rumors about his lifestyle reached Ying Lian's ears, leading to constant arguments. When questioned about this, Hai Min didn't give a direct answer but instead criticized Ying Lian's private life.
Then there was the economic dispute. Hai Min told reporters that during years of doing business, they didn’t have clear division of labor; whoever encountered the task handled it, whether it was goods receipt or financial transactions. Later, continuous shortfalls appeared, leading to mutual suspicion. "Roughly calculated, we could earn tens of thousands of yuan annually, but in the end, we had no money." He suspected his wife of hiding money and transferring assets, so he bought a safe, set his own password, and carried the key with him.
This lock secured the cash but sealed the cracks in their emotions.
Domestic Violence
The marriage crisis erupted due to the "money missing from the safe scandal", escalating from arguments to domestic violence, catalyzing the tragedy.
On April 26, 2007, Hai Min placed 56,000 yuan in cash in the safe while reviewing his car in Jiuquan. However, three days later, he discovered 10,000 yuan missing. He blamed his wife, as she had the most access to the safe, but she claimed ignorance. Enraged, Hai Min not only physically assaulted Ying Lian but also reported it to the police. Clear-cutting family disputes is difficult, and the investigation by the police station went nowhere, leaving the whereabouts of the 10,000 yuan unknown. Afterwards, Ying Lian angrily left home, and Hai Min drove to Jiuquan under the guise of delivering goods to search for her, but accidentally hit someone. After mediation by the court, he compensated the victim 80,000 yuan. The conflict between the couple escalated rapidly, and the word "divorce" began to be frequently mentioned by Hai Min.
Verbal battles were gradually replaced by violence.
One afternoon in December 2007, after Hai Min returned home from purchasing goods, he quarreled loudly with Ying Lian at the gate over trivial matters. Ying Lian scratched Hai Min's face, and Hai Min beat her up. Hai Min told reporters: "So many neighbors were present, I lost face. Such incidents happened more than once, and I felt it was impossible to continue our lives together."
That day, Hai Min issued an ultimatum to Ying Lian: Divorce. But Ying Lian refused.
Ying Mei told reporters, "During this period, my sister was often brutally beaten, and being covered in bruises was a common occurrence."
On January 2, 2008, Hai Min filed a lawsuit with the Jinta County Court, requesting a divorce, equal distribution of property, custody of the elder daughter, and custody of the younger daughter by Ying Lian.
During the divorce proceedings, Ying Lian stayed at her sister Ying Mei's house. While anxiously waiting for the court's decision, Hai Min and Ying Lian still occasionally had "conflicts", with the most intense one occurring on May 19th of the same year.
Ying Mei painfully recalled: "On May 19, 2008, my sister went to discuss buying clothes for her daughter's upcoming 'Children's Day' celebration with Hai Min and was severely beaten. Even the neighbors couldn't stop him. My sister was in so much pain she couldn't move, and he didn't care. The next day, I received a call from a neighbor and went to visit her, taking her to the county hospital for a check-up. It turned out that three ribs were broken. But my sister didn't want to be hospitalized, going to a private clinic every day for intravenous treatment until the incident occurred."
After Ying Lian's death by self-immolation, the matter of Hai Min beating Ying Lian on May 19th was exposed. According to the forensic examination, Ying Lian suffered minor injuries. On May 28th, Hai Min was criminally detained on suspicion of intentional injury. In November 2008, the Jinta County Court sentenced Hai Min to three years in prison with a five-year reprieve for intentional injury in the first instance trial.
Absurd Verdict
The marriage crisis and domestic violence had already driven Ying Lian nearly to despair, and an absurd verdict that misjudged facts acted as a trigger.
On January 10, 2008, Vice President of the Administrative Court of Jinta County Court and presiding judge Cui Ji Yuan used simplified procedures to mediate the case. Ying Lian was unwilling to divorce and claimed that if she must, Hai Min should pay her an economic compensation of 300,000 yuan, giving her the house, land, motorcycle, and children. On April 11 of the same year, the court changed the case from a simplified procedure to a regular procedure for trial, followed by two trials where the court presided over unsuccessful mediations.
On May 21, 2008, the court made a first-instance judgment, ordering Hai Min to raise the elder daughter and Ying Lian to raise the younger daughter, with Hai Min paying 300 yuan per month in child support starting from 2013 until the age of 18; equally dividing the property; and Hai Min paying Ying Lian 20,000 yuan in economic assistance.
Although the verdict stated "equal division of property", in reality, it only equally divided the house, farmland, and household appliances, assigning the more valuable agricultural vehicle solely to Hai Min; although it ordered Hai Min and his wife to equally divide the inventory goods and debts offset by 79,445 yuan in joint assets, Ying Lian's share included more than 24,900 yuan in promissory notes written by others to Hai Min, which Ying Lian was responsible for collecting.
On May 23rd, Cui Ji Yuan notified Hai Min to come to the court to collect the verdict.
On the afternoon of May 26th at 3 PM, upon receiving Cui Ji Yuan's phone notification, Ying Mei supported Ying Lian into the court, where Cui Ji Yuan read out the verdict.
Upon hearing the verdict, Ying Lian felt deeply unjust and disappointed. Ying Mei said that her sister believed the verdict was "one-sided", leaving her with merely theoretical amounts. Moreover, she had repeatedly requested the court to investigate Hai Min's transfer and concealment of assets before the divorce, but the concealed assets were not counted as joint property.
Regarding this verdict, Hai Min also considered it unfair during an interview with the reporter: "What was given to me was too much, and what was given to my wife was too little."
What the family found unreasonable didn't stop there. According to the reporter's understanding, according to legal regulations, after cases tried using simplified procedures are converted to regular procedures, they should be heard by a collegiate panel consisting of one presiding judge and two judges. However, according to Hai Min and Ying Lian's relatives, this case was independently handled by Cui Ji Yuan from start to finish, without using the collegiate panel process, and the judges only signed their names. Ying Mei said that the clause "ordering Hai Min to pay Ying Lian 20,000 yuan in economic assistance" in the verdict was added when Cui Ji Yuan took the verdict to the deputy chief justice for signature. This statement was confirmed by the authorities handling Cui Ji Yuan's malfeasance in office case.
Thus, tens of thousands of yuan in substantial family assets were awarded to the other party through a single verdict, prompting Ying Lian to have suicidal tendencies immediately after hearing the verdict.
Recalling the scene of Ying Lian's self-immolation, Ying Mei couldn't help but sob. "That day in Judge Cui Ji Yuan's office on the fourth floor of the court, my sister refused to sign and accept the verdict, questioning why Cui Ji Yuan made such an unfair ruling, crying and demanding an explanation, screaming and rushing towards the window to jump off the building. But Cui Ji Yuan pushed us out the door. Just before closing time, we found the deputy chief justice, who told us to come back the next day."
The deputy chief justice's response seemed to give Ying Lian and her sister a glimmer of hope, but that night, when Ying Lian called repeatedly with those promissory notes and learned that they were worthless to her, she became utterly desperate.
Early on May 27th, Ying Lian intended to go to the court, but Ying Mei dissuaded her: "The promissory notes are empty, now you have nothing, why go to the court?" Ying Mei persuaded her sister to go to the outpatient department first for a check-up. Ying Lian reluctantly agreed, and the two set out together, unaware it was their last meeting.
Ying Mei first went to the court to convey her sister's opinion on the verdict to the deputy chief justice, who requested a written material and asked them to wait for the court's deliberation. At 11:40 AM, Ying Mei was cooking at home, planning to deliver the meal to her sister at the outpatient department. But she never expected that at that moment, Ying Lian was already on her way to another world.
While riding a motorcycle with her husband to the outpatient department, a neighbor called to tell Ying Mei that Hai Min's house was on fire. Hai Min had gone to a neighboring village to deliver goods, but there seemed to be someone inside the house. "At that moment, I felt as if the sky was falling, I quickly turned around and arrived at the scene. The fire was out, but my sister was already gone."
An Unavoidable Conclusion
A divorce litigation case triggered a tragedy, and the condemnation of judges and courts by the people of Jinta did not cease. The accusations and revelations by the deceased's family members after their grief subsided exposed Judge Cui Ji Yuan's reprehensible behavior of accepting bribes from both parties involved.
The reporter learned that during the trial, Hai Min and Ying Lian were under pressure from various aspects and hoped the court would reach a decision as soon as possible. Therefore, under Cui Ji Yuan's hints, both separately gave him benefits. According to Hai Min, he gave Cui Ji Yuan 3000 yuan in cash twice before and after the Spring Festival of 2008, and spent more than 1000 yuan treating him to meals five times. Ying Mei recalled: "Before and after the Spring Festival of 2008, Cui Ji Yuan consumed five times at my barbecue shop and also asked us for 1000 yuan under the pretext of investigating evidence in Jiuquan."
During his time in the detention center, Hai Min reflected and came to some realization. After being released on bail on June 8th, he and Ying Lian's relatives simultaneously submitted complaints to the Jinta County Court, the County People's Congress, the Procuratorate, the Government Petition Office, and other departments, accusing Cui Ji Yuan of accepting bribes and engaging in misconduct. They believed that judicial corruption was the main reason for Ying Lian's suicide, and Cui Ji Yuan should be punished accordingly.
On June 30, 2008, the Jinta County Court sent a "Reply Letter" to Ying Lian's family. The court believed that the fact of Cui Ji Yuan accepting bribes and eating invitations from Ying Lian was "basically true" and indicated that serious disciplinary actions would be taken. However, the court believed that the handling of the divorce case was correct and the court bore no responsibility for Ying Lian's death. The author of the "Reply Letter" was slapped in the face by the fact that Cui Ji Yuan was sentenced for malfeasance.
On September 11, 2008, Cui Ji Yuan was arrested by the Jinta County Procuratorate on suspicion of committing civil malfeasance in office, and the case was subsequently transferred to the Yumen City Procuratorate for handling. On May 22, 2009, the Yumen City Court sentenced Cui Ji Yuan to one year in prison for civil malfeasance in office.
When the news spread, the citizens of Jinta celebrated. However, the soul of the deceased was not fully appeased, and Ying Lian's relatives still couldn't understand: Cui Ji Yuan violated the trial procedures and ultimately made an absurd verdict stamped with the court seal. Could the relevant responsible persons of the court simply escape responsibility with just some condemnation? And who should compensate and bear the trauma and loss suffered by the two families and two children?
Hai Min and Ying Lian's relatives were exhausted after enduring hardships. They were unwilling, but feeling small and insignificant, they could only accept it helplessly.