November 23rd, sunny, good for court hearings, divorce, sentencing, avoid appealing.
It's starting to feel a bit like late autumn. Tang Fangjing got up to wash up; today was the big day of the court trial for General Manager Hou, he had to go and "send off"... take a look.
The online uproar over the sky-high sum of over twenty million for repayment was a mess, with many people paying attention to that case, but few were concerned with General Manager Hou's criminal trial, which was certainly not right and didn't fit his status.
So, Old Tang casually mentioned it in the owners' group, and then a bunch of homeowners expressed their desire to attend the hearing...
In fact, the homeowners were dumbfounded when they found out that over twenty million of the public earnings needed to be returned.
This shock was much bigger than the things Tang Fangjing had said at the entrance of the residential complex before. People might not be very smart, might not care about what public earnings are, but they could understand over twenty million!
So, the neighbors who previously didn't think much of Tang Fangjing and felt sorry for General Manager Hou's wife and children immediately started cursing people out!
And why not? Those twenty million should have been ours!
The ordinary folks' understanding of all those highfalutin terms is just so plain and simple. Before, they only knew that money should belong to us, but they had no idea how much it really was, probably guessing it wasn't much. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Now seeing so much money, anyone would start ranting.
Old Tang didn't bother with the online debates anymore. His video had already started production, but it had to wait till the verdict was out. Although its contents had been leaked, he would definitely not leave any loose ends himself.
Otherwise, with his tasks becoming increasingly in-depth in the future, if someone were to catch even a small issue and blow it up, he would be done for.
Outside the Guangming District Court, Feng Jiping had already arrived, still with her child in tow, and was again taught by the attorney next to her, Mr. Li, to sell her misery well during her final statement.
Attorney Li next to her, dressed in formal attire, looked the part of a formidable lawyer. If Bluebird Company's General Manager Hu were here, he'd definitely recognize him as that same professional lawyer hired for the second appeal who ended up being as effective as a fart!
Now he appeared again, this time as a criminal defense lawyer.
If only General Manager Hu had been more informed, he would have found out that Mr. Li could also claim to be an intellectual property specialist. Although not a dual-licensed lawyer, he could boast his expertise.
It must be said, such theatrical lawyers are indeed popular to some extent. If you win the case, that goes without saying, but if you lose, the lawyer did put up a fight, even got into a table-pounding argument with the other side. Could you say he didn't try his best?
"But Mr. Li, the court has already seized our house and car, and our bank accounts are frozen. What should I do?" Feng Jiping asked with a mournful face.
A stay-at-home mother, her life had been about having children and raising them, without much savvy. She was, though, very good at spending money, having spent a fair amount hiring Mr. Li.
She initially planned to approach the highly professional lawyer Zhang Wei who had talked to her husband, but he was dumbfounded the moment he heard that General Manager Hou had been arrested.
Moreover, many in his law firm were laughing at him, saying lawyer Zhang had only taken on twenty cases since he started practicing and fifteen of his clients had ended up behind bars...
Then lawyer Zhang Wei refused to take the case, and after a long search, they found Mr. Li.
After hearing her concerns, Mr. Li said, "Don't worry, as long as you insist that all of it was your family's legal income, the court can't just confiscate all of it. You'll be fine."
Just as Mr. Li finished speaking, a voice interrupted: "So this is how you teach people, is it? Their family has that much legal income? Isn't that all OUR money?"
Who is this? Mr. Li turned around to see a throng of unfamiliar faces, although Feng Jiping felt some of them looked vaguely familiar.
"Mr. Li, they are people from the Yuefu Residential Complex. I saw them there a few days ago..."
What about the people from Yuefu Residential Complex? Mr. Li was rather displeased as he retorted, "Your money? Who are you, and do I know you?"
A furious Elder Wang retorted, "You might not know me, but she definitely knows me. Just a few days ago, she was crying at the entrance of our complex, saying she had no money to raise her child, and we even felt sorry for her. But what did her husband do? Over twenty million! How dared he!"
"And now you're insisting on legal income? Do you lawyers still have a conscience?"
Plenty of people were hanging around the court entrance, including a fair number of lawyers waiting to enter the courtrooms. Elder Wang's outburst almost sounded like a shout, drawing many curious looks.
Mr. Li's expression darkened. "I didn't want to bother with you because of your age, but you just can't stop, can you? Over twenty million, over twenty million, the court hasn't even ruled and you dare protest?"
"You say I have no conscience, but how easy do you think it is for a woman to raise a child alone? Who has driven her to this point? Who has no conscience?"
Once Mr. Li finished, Feng Jiping's gaze towards him shifted.
Although Feng Jiping was over forty, she had been a wealthy lady before and had been well-maintained...
Elder Wang wanted to contest the point but didn't know what to say. Behind him, Tang Fangjing stepped forward, looking at Mr. Li in front of him; he seemed familiar as if he had argued with him before.
"Obviously, it's you who lack conscience. Does that even need to be said?"
"You are a lawyer, and you surely know that if Ms. Feng voluntarily returned the stolen goods, her husband's sentence might be lightened. But instead, you had her go to our complex and cry with her child. Tell me, who lacks a conscience?"
"Enough, I can't be bothered with a lawyer like you!"