Chapter 133: We

Inside the Law Firm, Wang Daoren looked at Wu Tao's parents before him and felt a bit of a headache.

"Mr. Wu, my advice is that you shouldn't think about haggling with the other party; just raise the compensation amount a bit higher."

"If we can get a Letter of Forgiveness from the other party, then Wu Tao's prison sentence won't be too long."

Saying that is one thing, but Wang Daoren didn't actually have much of a headache.

In all his years as a Lawyer, there wasn't any kind of client he hadn't seen.

Especially in criminal defense cases involving legal aid, he had seen all sorts of family members.

Some would start arguing with the victim right away, others would clamor about not paying a single cent, and some even ended up getting locked up themselves after getting into a fight with the victim...

It could truly be said that there was no end to the variety.

Of course, it was indeed the first time he had encountered someone like Qiu Xiaoshuai, who backstabbed him before the trial had even begun.

He also understood the mindset of Wu Tao's parents, who were planning to haggle.

They felt they shouldn't offer a high amount all at once; they had to go lower, let the other party counter-offer, and then they would provide a price.

But Wang Daoren's advice was to be straightforward: offer double compensation and use the utmost sincerity to reach a settlement.

Upon hearing this, Wu Jianjun hesitated for a moment and said: "Lawyer Wang, but... what if the other party still doesn't agree and demands an even higher price? What do we do then?"

"We can't just pay whatever they say, right?"

Wang Daoren shook his head and gave a bitter smile: "Mr. Wu, your son has already been arrested; it can be said that the initiative is in the hands of others."

He couldn't put it too bluntly, but in a Criminal Case, isn't it just a matter of the other party having the final say?

Unless you are thinking that since your son is going to prison anyway, five years is the same as ten years.

"But... Lawyer Wang, about this matter, my son earned money using his videos, so isn't it enough to just pay him back that amount? Why do we have to pay more? On what grounds!"

That's right, on what grounds? That person called Zhou Yi didn't suffer any losses; on the contrary, all the money my son earned over these years is being paid to him, what else does he want!

"Mr. Wu, this isn't about whether there was a loss or not, and you will have to pay this money in the end anyway. The other party will certainly file for Incidental Civil Compensation..."

This is common in Tort-related Criminal Cases: Criminal-Incidental Civil Compensation.

The criminal aspect is the state and the law's punishment for you, while the civil aspect is the compensation for the victim.

Wang Daoren tried to persuade them for a long time to no avail; they just insisted on paying back exactly what was earned.

There was no help for it; when encountering such clients, the case still had to be handled.

…………

At home in Yuefu Residential Quarter, Zhou Yi was recording voiceovers for a Stick Figure Animation made by his Company.

Just then, his phone rang, and he had to put down his work to answer it.

It was an unfamiliar number, and the caller ID showed it was from Luzhou.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Is this Mr. Zhou? I am Wu Tao's father, Wu Jianguo."

Wu Tao—Zhou Yi knew him; when Lao Zhou notified him about the arrest earlier, he had mentioned that this was the person behind the account called "Ayi".

Wu Tao's parents were looking for him; it seemed the other party's Lawyer had reached out to him before.

When Zhou Yi received that call back then, he was stunned; he hadn't expected it to be that Lawyer Wang Daoren.

Come to think of it, that man was quite miserable, having his career ended by a backstab from Qiu Xiaoshuai.

He didn't expect him to be representing this Criminal Case now.

And it felt like Jingzhou was really small; everywhere you went in the legal circle, you ran into people you knew...

It was just that Wang Daoren said the other party was willing to compensate Zhou Yi for his losses, but Zhou Yi hadn't agreed, mainly because Wu Tao had been too excessive before.

Even now, when Zhou Yi recalled the situation, he still felt angry; the feeling of being mocked and then blocked is something only someone who has experienced it personally can understand.

It really made one want to pick up a knife and fight the other person to the death!

However, since the other party was so polite, Zhou Yi said: "Oh, Mr. Wu, hello, hello. You are looking for me because..."

"Well... Mr. Zhou, you see, our Wu Tao has already been arrested, and there is a possibility he will have to go to jail. He is a good child, he just didn't walk the right path. Could you please have pity on us and provide a Letter of Forgiveness?"

"Really, Mr. Zhou, he knows he was wrong."

"Mr. Zhou, you don't need to worry about the money. Whatever Wu Tao earned, we will pay it all back; we absolutely won't short you a single cent."

"Look, Mr. Zhou, we are paying the money. Anyway, you didn't suffer any losses in this matter, and my Wu Tao has essentially worked for you for free. So, about this Letter of Forgiveness..."

Zhou Yi didn't quite understand; he had thought Wu Tao's parents were looking for him to have a proper talk about compensation, but the other party was actually saying they would pay back exactly what was earned.

This sounded like it shouldn't be a problem, right? Look, my child has been arrested, and the money he earned is all being paid back to you.

You haven't suffered any losses, and you even earned a sum of money for nothing.

It felt as if they were saying he was profiting from this incident!

Therefore, Zhou Yi quickly replied: "Mr. Wu, what you are saying is wrong. The money earned through the videos is what I was entitled to!"

"Now you are just returning the money; this was my loss to begin with!"

"And I had actually spoken to Wu Tao back then. I said he could earn money from it, he just needed to credit the source."

"But after he cursed at me, he blocked me. You tell me, what was I supposed to do?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Jianjun felt a bit uncomfortable, but after thinking about it, he still said: "Yes, yes, Mr. Zhou, my Wu Tao was indeed wrong, and he knows he was wrong."

"But you really didn't suffer any losses, did you? You didn't post the videos on that platform, so without my Wu Tao, you really wouldn't have earned that money!"

This was Wu Jianjun's line of thinking: no matter what, you, Zhou Yi, wouldn't have earned that money. Now that we are giving you the money, letting you get a pile of cash out of thin air, why can't you just issue the Letter of Forgiveness!

Zhou Yi was almost amused to the point of anger hearing this. If Liu Xu's parents were simply unreasonable, this one was just wishful thinking.

It seemed that none of the people he had encountered so far who wanted him to issue a Letter of Forgiveness understood the meaning of those three words.

They were just thinking with their own logic, thinking that since they had done this or that, why couldn't he issue the Letter of Forgiveness.

And saying things like, look, you didn't suffer any losses in this matter, why can't you forgive him, and so on...

Is that how a Letter of Forgiveness is understood?

Then if one day I get stabbed by someone, as long as I don't die, and as long as you can pay for the recovery, does that mean there was no loss?

If I give you the Medical Expenses, must you then issue a Letter of Forgiveness?

You have to understand, the moment you think like that, it's already wrong; you are the one who needs the other party to forgive you.

Thereupon, Zhou Yi said directly: "Mr. Wu, since that is the case, then there is no need for us to discuss this matter; everything will proceed according to the law."

After speaking, Zhou Yi intended to hang up the phone immediately.

At this moment, Wu Jianjun became anxious.

"No, Zhou Yi, what exactly do you want? We've already offered to pay, what more do you want? That is money our Xiao Tao earned through hard work, money intended for his wedding!"

"Now that it's all going to you, why can't you just let him go!"

"Now, the wedding can't go ahead, and he still has to go to jail, do you know that? Must you force us to die for it to be enough?"

Wu Jianjun felt very aggrieved; why could the other party be so heartless when he had clearly laid everything out on the table?

The wedding can't happen, he has to go to jail, and we have to pay, yet you still aren't willing to issue a Letter of Forgiveness; you are just forcing our whole family to die.

Zhou Yi hung up the phone directly; he had no desire to listen the moment the other party started shouting.

In the end, it felt as if he were the one in the wrong; he was going to jail, but was that because I called the police?

Money truly cannot buy regret, and money cannot represent sincerity, but in this situation, it seems there is nothing else that can represent sincerity besides money.

But as for the other party's attitude, it seems they think that if they take this money, they've made a profit, and therefore must issue a Letter of Forgiveness.

Then forget it; it's as if you think that if you don't give it, I wouldn't be able to get that money back anyway.

However, truth be told, this phone call really did affect his mood, making it impossible for Zhou Yi to continue his voice-over work.

Forget it, let's go for a walk downstairs in the Small Residential District.

On the other side, inside the hotel, Wu Jianjun was furious listening to the busy signal on the phone and picked up his mobile to smash it.

But thinking that if he smashed the phone he wouldn't be able to make calls, he could only forcibly suppress his anger.

"Lao Wu, what's going on?" Wu Tao's mother asked from the side.

"The other party just won't agree, no matter what I say; I even said that all the money Xiao Tao earned from his videos would be paid back, and it still didn't work, then he just hung up."

"I'll call again and ask, I don't believe it, isn't he just doing this for money!"

It was fortunate Zhou Yi wasn't there, otherwise he would surely have sighed that this was exactly the same thing Wu Tao had said in reply to him back then.

Aren't you just doing this for money?

When working, you want overtime pay, but you get rebuffed by the boss; you feel indignant and think about going to reason with him, to talk to him about the Labor Law.

But what you get in return is the boss's disdain: "Talking so much, aren't you just doing this for money!"

The way this is said, it's as if I've lost the moral high ground just because I want money; it's just absurd!

However, when Wu Jianjun dialed the number again, it kept showing that the other party was on another call.

"What's going on, does he have that many calls!"

He could only wait to call later.

This wait lasted until the evening; he continued to call, but the result was still that the line was busy.

Now both of them were anxious and hurried to ask their son's girlfriend what was going on.

Hu Yan looked at her phone and gave a bitter smile: "Uncle, you have been blocked by the other party; you've been added to a blacklist."

"What? He added me to a blacklist? But, but doesn't he want the money anymore?"

Hu Yan hesitated for a moment before saying: "Uncle, my suggestion is, according to what Lawyer Wang said, we should offer double compensation to beg for the other party's forgiveness."

"And you really shouldn't contact the other party directly; if things turn ugly, it will only make them even... even less likely to forgive."

She was actually hesitant; they weren't married yet, and although they had started discussing marriage and she had come to Jingzhou this time, she was ultimately an outsider.

There were some things she couldn't just say.

But she felt that her boyfriend's father was overthinking things too much; shouldn't this matter just be handled by showing as much sincerity as possible?

However, hearing Hu Yan's words, Wu Jianjun said: "You young people don't understand at all; it's not that I'm stingy with money, it's mainly that we can't let the other party lead us by the nose, you know!"

"And that Lawyer Wang, let me tell you, don't trust these lawyers too much; these lawyers only know how to make money!"

"When I was in Luzhou, I talked to my friends, and these lawyers might even take kickbacks in the middle, so we must talk to the other party ourselves."

Hu Yan opened her mouth, but still didn't speak.

Because of her few words, this future father-in-law already had an opinion of her.

She actually wanted to say that once you spend the money, you have to trust the other party, otherwise why spend the money at all?

As for the father-in-law's friends in Luzhou, Hu Yan didn't know what kind of friends they were, and now she could only choose to believe.

After finishing speaking, Wu Jianjun took his wife's phone, thought carefully, and then dialed Zhou Yi's number again.

Since saying that before didn't work, then this time he would raise the offer: 1.5 times, adding half more, that should be enough, right?

He had always felt that Zhou Yi was just planning to get more money, so he couldn't indulge him; he had to take it one step at a time.

Otherwise, if the other party makes an exorbitant demand, must he give whatever is asked?

The call went through, and just as Wu Jianjun said one sentence, it was immediately hung up.

When he called again, it kept showing that the line was busy.

Was he blocked again?

Wu Jianjun panicked a little, but still feigned composure and asked for Hu Yan's phone.

Just as he was about to call, he was stopped by Hu Yan.

"Uncle, the other party probably hangs up as soon as they hear your voice; why don't I try speaking this time?"

Although he felt it was a bit of a blow to his pride, Wu Jianjun still handed the phone back.

Hu Yan dialed the number.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou, I am Wu Tao's girlfriend, you see, I am now... Beep, beep, beep!"

Without any hesitation, the other side hung up the phone directly.

"How did it go? Were you hung up on again?"

After seeing Hu Yan nod, Wu Jianjun became completely anxious.

"What the hell does he want, what does he want!"

"Lao Wu, stop shouting. Hurry up and call Lawyer Wang now, tell him we agree to double the compensation!"

"Oh right, right, right, hurry and contact Lawyer Wang, the other party definitely won't hang up on him," Wu Jianjun said hurriedly.

He didn't know why things had developed to this point; he just felt the other party was like a madman, completely impossible to communicate with.

He had only thought about holding out on the price for a bit, but now he couldn't even speak!

He hurriedly picked up his phone and dialed Wang Daoren's number.

On this side, Wang Daoren was studying the case, looking at which aspects to use for the defense and what kind of evidence was needed.

The phone rang, and after picking it up and listening for a few sentences, Wang Daoren felt a bit strange.

What is up with this family? How did they suddenly agree to double the compensation when they clearly disagreed in every way before?

But it didn't matter; as long as they agreed, it was easy to talk. With the Letter of Forgiveness, he could handle things better.

Soon, Wang Daoren dialed Zhou Yi's number.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou, I am Wu Tao's representative. Regarding the double compensation we discussed earlier... ah, you don't want it anymore?"

"No, what is going on? How can you just say you don't want it?"

The second update and third update are still a bit short on word count; I need to finish them after I get home. Thanks to book friends 2020, Feiyi Youqu, Tian City Tusi, Aolong Shihun, book friend 2022, Lengmin, book friend 2019, Linjian Xiyuezi, Di Shaoyu, Yufazhe, Wo Taiyang Zhi, Yuerugou Jimuo Qianqiu, Changye Meng, Huo De Chuancheng, and Di 11 Gen Xian. Thank you to these brothers for the tips, thank you.

(End of this chapter)