Dongfang Siyi sat quietly in the library on the fifth floor of the courthouse for a whole morning, flipping through dozens of magazines, taking notes, and using the computer in the library to consult relevant cases. It wasn't until he felt a little hungry that he put down the information he was looking for, glanced at the two buckets of instant noodles on the side, crossed his fingers in front of his forehead, closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

After decades of trial work, facing increasing work pressure, Dongfang Siyi really realized that he might be one of the men who entered the wrong industry. He has always thought that he is a person who is more emotional than rational, if it were not for the requirements of his profession, he would be a person who loves and hates clearly, likes and lusts, and angers and rushes to the crown. The profession requires him to suppress his emotions and think and judge everything from the perspective of law and facts.

The profession does not allow him to act with emotional colors, and does not allow him to substitute subjective judgments for objective determinations. He knows that only such strict professional norms can ensure that cases are handled fairly and justly to the greatest extent, and he also knows that as a judge, he must be cautious in his words and deeds. The professional characteristics of the judge made the enthusiasm of his youth slowly stop surging in the continuous litigation file materials, and he was no longer excited, and his heart became a calm and waveless deep pool.

Dressed in a robe embroidered with scales in golden silk thread, and sitting on the court bench with the national emblem hanging above his head, Dongfang Siyi knew that he was no longer himself, but a judge who was faithful to the law.

Sometimes, Dongfang Siyi looked helplessly at the loyal and honest parties in the court, and he was sure that there must be grievances in his heart. But kindness often also makes them lose the necessary self-protection and the necessary evidence to argue with reason, in this case, the judge either finds another way and tries his best to do a lot of mediation and coordination work, so as to strive for the two sides to balance the interests of each other in a compromise. In order to reduce the losses of the weaker party, and reasonably protect the legitimate rights and interests of the weaker who have lost the ability to protect themselves. Either they can only watch without any evidence to support them, and the party who is at a disadvantage in court is in a desperate situation where they cannot save themselves or others.

This is a tragedy caused by the parties' lack of self-protection awareness and necessary legal awareness, and it is a scene that judges do not want to see. In the face of this tragedy, he must try his best to reach an agreement that can balance the interests of the parties through mediation or persuasion, and try his best to safeguard the original meaning of the law of fairness and justice.

Judges need to be "cautious" because this is an elite group with special social responsibilities. Francis Bacon, the pioneer of modern experimental science, pointed out in his "On the Law": "As a judge, one should have a high degree of cultivation. They should be knowledgeable rather than shrewd, solemn rather than passionate, cautious rather than self-serving......."

In the eyes of the public, judges may only play the role of adjudicators, who will make their own judgments on all kinds of cases and disputes in accordance with the laws of the country of a certain period. People may not fully understand that judges must not only abide by the law, but also abide by the moral norms of society, consider the public order and good customs of society, and examine the inner conscience. People may not fully understand that judges are not only judges, but also judges and leaders of social customs, and they may use a typical case to quietly change the choices and pursuits of an era.

This is a profession that you can be proud of, and it is also a profession that allows you to deeply integrate physically, mentally and socially, but it also requires you to remain independent and sober in it, and often make your own independent judgments. You can't slack off, and you can't make the slightest mistake, because your slack may cause irreparable costs to society, because your mistakes may make an innocent person unsettled for the rest of his life.

In the face of more and more new types of cases, Dongfang Siyi feels more and more that he is walking on thin ice and is on the edge of an abyss. He had to study and understand these cases from different angles, and he could not just rely on the provisions of a few laws to decide on them. He must not only be familiar with the letter of the law, but also understand the spirit of the law; He not only tried these various cases from a legal point of view, but also examined them from all angles of society. Only in this way will he not misjudge and misjudge, will he not become a puppet who mechanically enforces the law, and will not become a slave to be dictated by the law. Dongfang Siyi thought that only in this way could he really be called a judge.

Recently, because he has accepted several marriage and family cases involving paternity testing, he can't help but think of Yu Mei, who specializes in paternity testing. Dongfang Siyi flipped through a few photos saved in his mobile phone, which was a group photo of the fifth class reunion of the second class of the first middle school five years ago, which was the largest number of participants twenty-five years after graduation.

Returning to the campus of my youth, I walked through the "time channel" where the commemorative photos of the previous graduates were left, and everyone seemed to have returned to the time of youth.

Yu Mei in the group photo is still the most conspicuous presence among her classmates, wearing a long white dress, which makes the still young youthful atmosphere invisibly diffuse, and it seems that the marks left by the ruthless years have been quietly erased and disappeared without a trace. She is still the little sister she cares about in her heart, smiling and facing everything, but on her face there is more maturity and dignity given by the years.

When taking a group photo that day, the class leader Yu Ming regained the feeling of being young and domineering 25 years ago, and shouted to all the students who were whispering on the side: "All of you, all pay attention, now listen to my orders, please stand in line according to the position of the graduation group photo 25 years ago, no cutting in line, no dislocation, no messing around, and no objections!"

It was the tall and mighty sports commissioner Wang Aiwu who was the first to stand up and question: "I said Boss Yu, aren't you embarrassing everyone?" Who can remember the events of decades ago, did you drink too much old wine and not be conscious? You tell me where I should stand? If you don't tell me, I'll stand with Yu Mei. ”

After graduating from Wang Aiwu Normal University with a major in physical education, he returned to No. 1 Middle School as a physical education teacher for decades, and he still looks like a fearless teenager. Everyone burst into laughter, and then someone shouted with Wang Aiwu as they did decades ago: "I also want to stand with beautiful women, we all want to stand with beautiful women!" "They seem to be back to that memorable graduation season.

Faced with a somewhat out-of-control scene, no one thought that Yu Ming unhurriedly took out a photo from the briefcase he was carrying, which was a graduation photo of the fifth class of the second year of high school twenty-five years ago. Yu Ming raised his right hand and shook the photo in his hand vigorously, before he shouted proudly: "You don't remember, but it really remembers." This is a group photo that Yu Ming deliberately remade with old photos from that year and doubled in size.

From that graduation photo, everyone saw their youthful selves and saw themselves 25 years ago. The photographer who took the graduation photo truly recorded the group portrait of this group of teenagers in their prime 25 years ago, and without the need for artistic processing, they accurately reproduced the real scene of that moment 25 years ago.

Yu Mei, who was standing behind the homeroom teacher, inadvertently stroked her long hair, and it was frozen in an instant, Dongfang Siyi's small action of picking her nostrils was also exposed in an instant, Wang Aiwu's habitual shooting action was also filmed, and Yu Ming, who was used to giving orders, had his mouth half open, and everyone couldn't remember what he was shouting at that moment.

Dongfang Siyi looked at Yu Ming, and felt that the big brother who was inseparable from him was back again, worthy of being an "old cadre" who had been a squad leader for ten years, Yu Ming held up the photo in his hand and said proudly: "Do you understand, this is also called historical positioning." The special identity of classmates is a special history that we share, a history of youth that cannot be separated and cannot be denied. We don't want to restore a location, but a piece of history and feelings. Why do we want to restore this history? Because it is the youth that we will never again, and the youth that we will always miss. As for now, whether you are already in the first world of success, still struggling in the second world, or wandering in the third world, the fact that we can stand together again today shows how close and good we once were. Therefore, we should still restore the original face of history, or restore our former youth and dreams. Otherwise, we lose the meaning of this meeting. ”

After listening to Yu Ming's impromptu explanation of emotion, everyone couldn't help but applaud, and the warm atmosphere instantly brought everyone back to the former youth. Everyone's face was filled with joy, this is a kind of joy that can hardly find estrangement, this is a simple and beautiful joy, this is the joy that can only be found in the unrestrained youth.

The county is so big, more than half of the students in the fifth class of the second year of high school are from the same elementary school, the same junior high school, and then go to the same high school together, Yu Ming is the class leader of Dongfang Siyi and their partners from junior high school to high school, so Dongfang Siyi and his friends naturally regarded him as a big brother back then, and when they met again after graduation, they naturally jokingly called Yu Ming an "old cadre".

When everyone was about to line up again according to Yu Ming's request, Dongfang Siyi deliberately stood aside and slowly raised his objections: "I said, old cadre, you have ruled us for so many years in the past, and now you still want to let us go back to those unbearable years?" Still unwilling to let us find ourselves, still unwilling to let us be ourselves, still unwilling to let us turn over and be liberated? You don't want to ask us if we'd like to? ”

Dongfang Siyi, the captain of the football team, still has a certain influence, no matter when and where he ascends to the heights, there are always many students who will respond. Now listening to Dongfang Siyi's words, everyone agreed again, thinking that Dongfang Siyi's words are reasonable, and they can no longer be at the mercy of the "old cadres", so a voice of protest sounded one after another: "We don't want to be oppressed anymore, we have to turn over and be the master, old cadres, you don't give orders anymore, we want to regain the freedom we lost." ”

The good situation that had just been brought under control was messed up again in Dongfang Siyi's deliberate few words of protest, and Yu Ming's face was full of embarrassment and puzzlement: "Dongfang Siyi, what do you mean by this?" Are you, the judge, going to take the lead in the rebellion? ”

Dongfang Siyi immediately showed a look of justice on his face again, and deliberately said loudly: "Don't you know? Where there is oppression, there is resistance. Seeing Yu Ming's puzzled and funny appearance, Dongfang Siyi laughed a little proudly, and then proudly approached Yu Ming's side, leaned into his ear and whispered: "As long as you let me stand by Yu Mei's side, you can continue to be your old cadre in peace." ”

Yu Ming suddenly understood, revealing an expression full of disgust and disgust: "You still can't forget your little sister?" Be careful, I'll beat you up like I did twenty years ago. Dongfang Siyi smiled and said: "It doesn't make sense for you to do this, I want to tell you that there is a kind of longing that is constantly cut, it belongs to my personal emotional freedom, it is the obsession of my youth, the dream of my youth, and the concern of the rest of my life." ”

Yu Ming no longer cares about Dongfang Siyi, knowing that he is deliberately taking the opportunity to find trouble, and knows that he is more to liven up the dull atmosphere of the party. Yu Ming also knew that Dongfang Siyi's feelings for Yu Mei were the same as his own, and he was like a brother's care and concern. Yu Ming stood back in front of the team, undoubtedly criticized several activists who were heckling, and directly issued the biggest threat: "If you don't take me, an 'old cadre', seriously, and deliberately make trouble and disrupt order, I will announce the cancellation of the catering and entertainment activities of this party." ”

Everyone burst into laughter, and Yu Ming smiled again and changed his tone: "I know your selfishness, we don't allow selfishness to exist, we want to create a social environment of fair and just competition." However, in collective activities, it is necessary to establish a collective consciousness and not allow the occurrence of unorganized and undisciplined behavior. After the group photo, you can move freely, you can take a photo with whomever you like, and go to whoever you love to develop a relationship with. Now all actions must be under my command, otherwise I will unceremoniously ask the troublemakers to come out and cancel the qualification for group photos! ”

Under the intimidation and temptation of the "old cadre" Yu Ming, everyone finally laughed and relined the line. Yu Ming waited for everyone to rearrange the line as required, and then invited the original homeroom teacher and several teachers who were still in office.

Everyone looked at the teacher who had gray temples, and then they really felt the passage of time. The homeroom teacher who used to be youthful in their eyes is now a retired old man. Yu Mei respectfully presented the bouquets of flowers prepared in advance to the head teacher and several other teachers, and everyone applauded.

After the head teacher and several teachers sat down, Yu Ming shouted the password again like when he took the graduation photo: "Stand upright, take a break, all of you, all pay attention, everyone shouts together: one, two, three, eggplant!" ”

Everyone shouted in unison: "Eggplant!" "Maybe send out "eggplant!" Only then can you shoot a standard and natural smile lip shape, "Eggplant!" It has become the standard password when taking group photos.

Finally completed the task of taking a group photo through time and space again, the "old cadre" Yu Ming breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand easily, and everyone greeted their friends who had not seen each other for many years, and moved freely in twos and threes.

Dongfang Siyi looked at the young man who took the picture of them, and could only think of the photographer who took them decades ago from the contours of his déjà vu face. It turns out that the photographer who is always smiling is no longer there, and the young photographer in front of him is his apprentice and his son, who inherited his father's craftsmanship and left everyone a group photo that has traveled through time and space for twenty-five years.

(Next Preview: Chapter 41: The Shadow of Youth)