Chapter 101: Chapter 101 Zhang Wei: Honey, we’ve got the down payment for the house
This time, coming to Jin City, everyone felt very uneasy. Before arriving, they had all looked up relevant information. They knew that if the court summoned them, they could not fail to appear. Failure to appear would be considered waiving their right to a defense, and the court would proceed with a trial in absentia. The consequences of losing were severe: at the very least, detention, and at most, a three-year fixed-term imprisonment. Nobody wanted to travel a long distance to appear in court only to end up serving a sentence locally after losing.
"Rest assured, I’ve taken your cases!" Zhang Wei looked at the fifty-six people before him and accepted almost without hesitation. His tone carried a hint of excitement.
Defending dozens of people... in his entire legal career... He had never encountered such a thing. This kind of opportunity was a rare find. If he handled it well and succeeded in reducing their sentences, his reputation would skyrocket! Moreover, each of these people had their own summons. These were individual cases that would require individual defenses. Which meant... by taking this on, he was essentially handling fifty-six cases at once! He would earn attorney’s fees for fifty-six cases. After the cases concluded, he would net several hundred thousand!
When Han Suiyue and the others saw Zhang Wei’s willingness to represent them, their faces lit up with joy. They were unfamiliar with the local area, but Lawyer Zhang Wei was somewhat well-known in Jin City. They hoped he could reduce their sentences as much as possible, ideally lowering the penalties to mere detention or monetary compensation.
"Hold on a minute, I need to call my wife."
Then, Zhang Wei led everyone into the law firm and made a call.
"Hello? Honey, don’t wait up for me for dinner tonight. I’m going to be working late."
"No, the preparations for the poisoning case are almost done. I’ve just taken on a huge case, so we can finally make the down payment on the house! My career is really taking off right now, please try to understand..."
After updating his wife, he turned his gaze back to the ’defendants’ inside the law firm, who were all looking at each other. Because seats were limited, most of them were standing. They formed a dense, dark mass, giving him an indescribable feeling.
He cleared his throat and began, "Alright, let’s go one by one. I need to understand the content of your comments and the number of likes each one received." As he spoke, he turned on his computer and opened a document.
The crowd looked around at each other.
Finally, Han Suiyue stepped forward. "My comment was quite simple," he began. "I just wrote: ’Delivery guys work themselves to death every day delivering to people like you. I hope those who leave bad reviews never get to eat their four dishes in this lifetime.’"
After listening, Zhang Wei recorded it in the document. He couldn’t help but look up at Han Suiyue.
The curse of not being able to have four dishes... It was actually quite vicious. The ’four dishes’ weren’t just about food. They symbolized four significant events in a person’s life: the first dish was the wedding banquet; the second, the child’s first-month celebration; the third, the funeral feast; and the fourth, the offerings to the deceased. To be unable to have these four dishes implied one would never marry or find a partner. Even if they had children, the child wouldn’t live past its first month, symbolically meaning the end of their lineage. No funeral feast meant that when they died, no one would care or attend their funeral. No offerings... meant that after death, there would be no one to honor their memory.
Online, this phrase was often used in a supposedly ’cultured’ manner to curse others. It constituted a severe attack on personal dignity and a personal assault.
"How many likes did that get?" Zhang Wei took a deep breath and asked as objectively as possible.
Han Suiyue didn’t dare to hide anything. "At the time, I think it had about 18,000 likes," he recalled, "but I deleted the comment a long time ago."
Zhang Wei’s mouth twitched.
Since the case has already been filed, evidence collection and other related tasks were obviously completed long ago. Whether he deleted it or not wouldn’t change anything. But 18,000 likes... That could clearly lead to the maximum sentence for defamation: three years of fixed-term imprisonment. According to the relevant provisions of judicial interpretation, if the same defamatory information is clicked or viewed over 5,000 times, it constitutes ’serious circumstances.’ Five hundred views are enough to file a case. Han Suiyue was clearly a standout in this group. Lucky enough to ’earn’ the top ’honor.’
"Next."
He then turned and looked at the others behind Han Suiyue. More people came forward one by one, repeating the comments they had posted.
"Lawyer Zhang, mine was short: ’The delivery guy isn’t your dad; he can’t always be looking out for you.’ I think it got over 6,000 likes."
"I said, ’Customers who leave negative reviews like this are too heartless; they don’t deserve to have a mom.’ I got over 5,000 likes."
"Well, I didn’t get many likes, only over 800. I just said, ’I really didn’t expect such cold-blooded animals to exist in this world.’"
"..."
It took over an hour. All fifty-six people repeated their comments, including the number of likes. Zhang Wei recorded all fifty-six ’defendants’’ comments in the document. Looking at these comments, filled with malice, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Individually, perhaps one didn’t seem like much. But at the time, the comment section had thousands of similar remarks! Thousands of abusive phrases, a torrent of verbal violence—enough to break anyone! If so many people attacked him online... he probably wouldn’t be able to withstand it either. These weren’t comments; they were knives that killed without drawing blood.
After a few minutes of silence, he took a deep breath and managed to compose himself. He looked at the group.
"Let’s stop here for today. Come to my law office together tomorrow, and we’ll discuss the defense details then."
The defense for reducing a defamation sentence... is much simpler than for other criminal cases. It mainly involves examining the defendants’ defamatory actions to find circumstances warranting mitigation or a lighter punishment. For example, were there any minors among them? If so, they could be exempt from fixed-term imprisonment or detention. If the criminal activity was terminated, or if there was a timely confession, that could also lead to a lighter punishment. However, after his thorough inquiry, he found that all fifty-six of these individuals had deleted their comments after the fact and had not ceased their defamatory actions in a timely manner. Deleting it afterwards... That could even be construed as hiding evidence, an attempt to evade guilt. If the opposing counsel latched onto this during the trial, it could even lead to a harsher sentence!
"Then we’ll be counting on you, Lawyer Zhang."
Hearing this, Han Suiyue and the others looked overjoyed, as if they had found their savior. They bid farewell one after another, promising to arrive at the law firm early the next day.
...
Time slowly passed. The trial date drew nearer. Both sides were actively preparing.
「In the nursing home.」
During these past few days, Qin Mu had adopted a hands-off approach to the case. He had delegated all defense preparations to Wang Dachui, the nursing home’s resident loafer. Meanwhile, in between caring for the elderly, Qin Mu was poring over judicial interpretations of various statutes, using his ’Eidetic Memory’ skill to expand his legal knowledge. Judicial interpretations are expanded explanations of various statutes, used to guide legal practice.