Chapter 539: Who on Earth Did It!

Although he had some thoughts in his mind, Zhou Yi still intended to call Lawyer Fang to confirm.

His parents were not used to living in the large flat and had moved back to the Yuefu Residential Quarter; they liked the liveliness, and it was indeed much livelier over there.

This time he only intended to ask about the line of reasoning, so Zhou Yi dialed the number directly.

On the other end of the line, Lawyer Fang was rubbing his head; he had originally intended to get Zhou Yi to drink more and then have him make a confession or something, as he really felt the two were a perfect match.

It was mainly because, with the personalities of the two of them, whether it was Zhou Yi or Zhou Xinran, going out to find other people would basically just be harming those people...

Studying too much law makes one lose their humanity; he, Fang Xujing, was a living example himself, and under his influence, the two of them now also had a bit of that feeling.

The issue of one's worldview isn't about whether you know it or not, but rather a type of thinking you possess; when you encounter a problem, you habitually solve it in that way.

This could be seen from the fact that Zhou Xinran sent her blind date to prison; Lawyer Fang believed she had learned very well from him, but this type of thinking was not suitable for use at home.

Because home is not a place to reason...

However, it was a pity that he and Zhou Yi were a pair of blockheads when it came to drinking, especially Lawyer Fang himself, who would always talk about those "highly criminal" things after drinking too much.

For example, "How to make a small target in three days" or "Nine ways to find one hundred wives without breaking the law," and a series of other inconceivable topics.

Waking up, he discovered that yesterday's alcohol had been consumed in vain again...

Just then, his phone rang; he picked it up to look and discovered it was Zhou Yi, then answered with a smile: "What's up? Is there something else now? Is there a problem with the previous case again?"

Zhou Yi's voice sounded: "The case is fine, although an appeal has been filed, we will definitely win the second instance, but the other party's attitude makes me feel very uncomfortable!"

Although he really only wanted to make the boss of that testing center pay money, when the other party put on that look of "I am rich, I can spend as much money as I want to buy your life," it was unbearable to listen to.

After explaining the general situation, Zhou Yi asked at the end: "Lawyer Fang, didn't you say before that their industry association might have a monopoly? Can that matter be stirred up..."

Monopoly? Lawyer Fang thought for a long time before finally remembering, and he laughed: "You're talking about this; that matter was just my speculation, to prove whether a monopoly exists, one must have evidence."

"However... if you put it that way, I think there is a high possibility that they have a monopoly; currently, there are over sixty testing centers in all of Jingzhou City, you can go take a look at them one by one."

"According to regulations, price changes at these testing centers must be publicly announced..."

Lawyer Fang spoke very simply, still the same point: to report or file a complaint, one must have evidence. Zhou Yi did not need to produce complete evidence; he only needed to prove that this motor vehicle testing industry association had the possibility of a monopoly.

As for the rest, he believed the Market Supervision Department would definitely be very keen to do the follow-up work well.

After all, it was such a big case, engaging in price monopoly in a provincial capital city; one could imagine the consequences...

Having received a definitive answer, Zhou Yi returned to the Company and soon summoned Liu Shiwen.

"General Manager Zhou, do you mean you want us to find out the price changes of all these testing centers in Jingzhou? But we don't have enough manpower," Liu Shiwen thought for a moment and replied.

"Don't worry about the manpower; we have so many employees in the Company. Later, I will have a word with General Manager Quan and let the employees help you."

Helping certainly wouldn't be for nothing; now, who in the Company didn't know that if there was a private task from General Manager Zhou, the subsequent rewards would definitely be very generous.

"Then that's no problem, General Manager Zhou, we will be very fast on our end."

The benefit of being a leader is just this: you don't need to do anything yourself; you only need to give an order, and it can naturally be done well.

It was just a pity that the grandson system was like it was dead this time; even though it had reached this point, there was still no movement.

At the testing center, General Manager Li went about his own business; he didn't feel there was anything wrong with those words, and anyway, he had already paid the compensation.

Moreover, he didn't think that internet celebrity named Zhou Yi could do anything to him.

Yes, he already knew Zhou Yi's identity; after all, the car was under Tengda Company, and the name Zhou Yi was so unique.

It was just that Manager Peng was still a bit worried and said: "General Manager Li, will there really be no trouble? I've checked online, this Zhou Yi is very famous, and it's said he has sent many people to prison."

Upon hearing this, General Manager Li said with an impatient face: "Lao Peng, I haven't settled the score with you for what you did before, and as for that internet celebrity, I'm afraid of him?"

"When I was out making a living, he was still peeing and playing in the mud. Sending me to prison? Who does he think he is? I am a legitimate businessman; on what grounds would he send me to prison? Does he think the Court is run by his family!"

Manager Peng immediately dared not speak; his courage before had indeed been a bit too big, thinking of settling the 80,000 yuan matter for 30,000.

It was just a pity that he didn't get the money and also brought trouble upon himself...

At the testing center, neither General Manager Li nor his wife took this matter to heart; after all, he was still the person in charge of the testing association and ran many testing centers.

His status in Jingzhou was high, and in his view, an internet celebrity like Zhou Yi didn't even count for a fart.

However, under these circumstances, the employees of Tengda began driving cars and running all over the testing centers in Handong.

Either chatting with those scalpers or asking about prices; of course, a household sedan was actually only three hundred yuan, and what was truly expensive were those large trucks.

The testing fee of over a thousand yuan didn't sound cheap at all.

The matter was not troublesome, and after just a few short days, Zhou Yi had the summarized evidence.

And through this evidence, it could be clearly seen that the price increases for testing at the major testing centers in Jingzhou City were all unified.

"They say this testing price is set by the state," a legal girl from the Legal Department who had joined later said, looking at Zhou Yi in front of her.

Zhou Yi smiled very happily upon hearing this; he had learned from Lawyer Fang that Handong Province had already issued corresponding regulations two years ago, and testing prices were all adjusted independently by the market.

In other words, if you feel your testing service is done well, even if you set it a bit higher, others cannot say anything.

Because this is just a relatively special business, no different from you going to the street to eat.

It was just obvious that for these local laws and regulations, very few people would specifically look at them, and many people even still felt that the testing centers were still run by the state.

So these testing centers put on a vague appearance; they didn't say it explicitly, but the implication was that this was all stipulated by the state...

It sounded very outrageous; how could such a method deceive people? After all, one only needs to check the regulations to know that the state could not possibly stipulate this, but this was reality.

"Alright, I know. Have Lawyer Huo go through all the collected evidence, and then give it to me."

Lawyer Fang couldn't spare the time to do this; he was now starting to research other things.

So the one available right now was Huo Pengfei; fortunately, Lawyer Huo was also very reliable now.

After about a day of organizing, there were results; after all, this evidence was collected by the Company's employees and was scattered.

Having prepared all the evidence and put it into his large handbag, Zhou Yi patted it and nodded with satisfaction.

This huge bag gave him a sense of fulfillment.

Next was to go and file a complaint.

The reason? No reason needed; state regulations state that every citizen can report facts of illegal or criminal acts.

It was just that he, Zhou Mouren, preferred real-life reporting.

It was just like before, going to the familiar Market Supervision Department of Jingzhou City; it really was familiar, as he had been there many times for that gym matter last time.

It was still the same office, and still the same office worker, Xiao Wang.

After entering the office, Xiao Wang, who was busy, saw Zhou Yi's large bag and his eyes nearly popped out.

"You... another pile like this?" Xiao Wang looked at Zhou Yi and said, already feeling his liver aching faintly.

This guy was no longer just famous in the Political and Legal System; he had also become famous in other systems, such as departments with similar law enforcement powers like the Market Supervision Department.

As for the others... Zhou Mouren never went to departments that lacked law enforcement power.

Therefore, when he came to report, under normal circumstances, the evidence was definitely sufficient.

However, sufficient evidence did not mean it didn't need to be reviewed; the main thing was that this guy's evidence was always deathly voluminous, and it all had to be reviewed one by one.

Just thinking about the previous economic case made Xiao Wang feel like he might go bald too.

Who said public servants don't work overtime... when encountering major and important cases, one must work until they die.

Zhou Yi smiled, revealing his teeth: "Not much, not much, just some evidence regarding the sixty-plus Motor Vehicle Inspection Centers in our Jingzhou City, as well as the Inspection Association."

Hearing this, Xiao Wang was even more puzzled: "Inspection centers and the Inspection Association? Is there something wrong with these?"

Zhou Yi placed the bag in his hand onto the office desk, making a huge sound.

"They might be engaging in price fixing!"

In a normal market, everyone should be competing with each other, or perhaps one could say, engaging in internal involution.

But, if you all unite together to control prices, that is definitely not allowed.

Once the two words "price fixing" were spoken, Xiao Wang's expression became serious.

It can only be said that as long as a case involves price fixing, there are never any small cases.

Of course, the major cases we speak of in administrative terms mainly refer to high fines...

The penalties stipulated by law, needless to say, include stopping the monopolistic behavior, but the main parts are the confiscation of illegal gains and a fine of not less than one percent but not more than ten percent of the previous year's sales!

Look closely, illegal gains must be confiscated, and the amount of the fine is based on sales!

After taking the evidence provided by Zhou Yi and starting to look through it for about ten minutes, Xiao Wang immediately said: "Zhou Yi, I have to go find my superiors. This case is too big; we will definitely have to initiate a Case Filing for investigation."

"You go back first; we will notify you after the Case Filing."

Zhou Yi naturally agreed; he was only there to report, and as for how it would be handled, that was the business of the relevant departments and had nothing to do with him, Zhou Mouren.

He was just an ordinary young man who liked to report, liked to file complaints, and liked to call the police.

People who like to report are theoretically liked by no one, but Zhou Yi's reports seem to be very popular with everyone after being posted online.

Of course, Zhou Yi did not know that after he left, the leaders of the Municipal Bureau arrived, understood the situation, and directly decided to initiate a Case Filing for investigation.

And they reported it to the Provincial Bureau; just as Xiao Wang said before, this case was too big.

It even made people suspect whether there were other things going on inside.

Of course, the inspection centers could also say that they all had a tacit understanding to raise prices together; they could indeed explain it that way, but it would depend on whether others would listen.

Just like if you were caught in a vice raid on a dark and windy night, and you said that you and the unclothed girl were having a three-minute romance and you gave her five hundred yuan as a red envelope.

You can also try to see if the police officers will listen to your explanation...

Zhou Yi acted as if nothing had happened and began his leisurely life again, but the Market Supervision Department had already begun its investigation.

They were only responsible for the investigation regarding price fixing, while the Public Security Bureau and other departments were waiting behind; if they discovered other matters, they would just jump in.

The Jingzhou City Motor Vehicle Inspection Association was located on the eighteenth floor of the Spring Building in Guangming District; this was actually a place where President Li spent a lot of time.

Today was the same as before; he was drinking tea there with several bosses of inspection centers.

"President Zhang, after the last price hike, are the profits okay?" President Li laughed there.

Upon hearing this, President Zhang also laughed: "Of course they are, though those truck drivers did make a fuss, but I wonder if we raised them a bit too high."

"High? Not high at all. Anyway, as long as they are in Jingzhou, they definitely have to come to our inspection centers. Besides here, they have nowhere else to go. Anyway, we have clear prices marked."

After President Li finished speaking, he took a sip of tea and was just about to say something else when he heard the office door being knocked on.

"Who is it? Come in!"

The door was pushed open, and a group of people walked in. The one in the lead said: "We are from the Jingzhou City Market Supervision Department."

"We received a report that the members under the Jingzhou City Motor Vehicle Inspection Association have engaged in unified price-hiking behavior, so we need to investigate."

President Li and several bosses looked at each other, and immediately felt that things were not looking good.

What was going on? This was an industry association; why were people from the Market Supervision Department here investigating for no reason?

"Comrades, well... we are just an industry association; we didn't know at all that they were raising prices."

The staff member in the lead smiled: "Whether you knew or not is one thing, but we will definitely investigate it clearly."

"By the way, let me tell you something: the police will arrive shortly. You had best not engage in any other behaviors."

This was a reminder to be given first; originally it was just a fine, but if they were thinking of other things and destroyed key evidence, and it was discovered, then it would no longer be a matter of just a fine.

That would mean going inside to study sewing techniques properly.

Hearing this, President Li's face changed drastically. He now had only one thought: what was going on, and who exactly reported him!

First update. I worked overtime yesterday and today, so I didn't get a chance to ask for leave, but the red envelopes were sent out this morning, and there will be more today. Thanks to another newcomer brother, brother Yanyu087, for the tip, thank you!

(End of chapter)