Chapter 557: Difficult to handle? Even if it's difficult, it must be handled!

Of course, Zhou Yi does not think everyone is a good person; otherwise, there would be no need for him to be so fastidious.

It is just that he did not expect that, sometimes, people could actually stoop to such a level.

Because the old lady's emotions were still a bit unstable, before Wan Hai began his account again, she was taken to the side to rest by Miss Weiwei.

Seeing his grandmother leave, Wan Hai began to recount the story once more.

If calculated in terms of money, the matter is truly not a big deal—at least for the Wan Hai of before, it really counted for nothing; it was just over a hundred jin of tofu made by his own grandmother.

A single jin of tofu sells for two yuan, so over a hundred jin of tofu is only about three hundred yuan.

Wan Hai's monthly salary could buy an unknown number of jin of tofu.

However, sometimes the small matters we assume are trivial have a truly significant impact on some people.

The matter is not too complicated; Wan Hai's grandmother makes tofu, and she is actually over seventy this year—Zhou Yi had simply misjudged her age.

In the past, the old couple made tofu together, but later, Wan Hai's grandfather passed away, leaving only the old lady to make the tofu alone.

She didn't make as much as before.

"Making tofu is very hard work. Actually, President Zhou, my parents and I have persuaded her many times to stop; we aren't short of that bit of money, but she won't listen, saying she can't stay idle."

Wan Hai said there.

"So our family just lets her be, letting her make a little bit without being so busy, but the old lady just feels she must make more every day, and that selling a bit more money is fine..."

"It was about a week ago, my grandmother went to sell tofu as usual, but perhaps the location wasn't right; the urban management officers came over and wouldn't let her sell there, telling her to move to another spot."

"Then, I don't know what was said, but a lot of the tofu fell to the ground, and she was still holding the scale; my grandmother went to chase after them to talk, but unexpectedly, when she came back, the tofu that had been left there was all gone."

"I heard... I heard that after my grandmother chased after them, someone said that since the tofu was unwanted anyway, he would take a piece to eat."

"Then, when others saw him take it without consequence, they went up to take some too; you take a piece, I take a piece, and it was all taken away. When my grandmother came back, nothing was left, and she cried there for a long time..."

Zhou Yi did not say anything; it was clear that this tofu was cut and packaged into small pieces to make selling it faster.

So even if it fell on the ground, there were still plastic bags on the outside.

Zhou Yi didn't need to think to know the situation; many people who take advantage of others don't care about anything else.

Look at some trucks that overturn on the highway; local people gather and take things directly.

Or on the street, if some small vendors have a conflict with others, like fighting over a spot, and the stall flips over, there will be people who go up and take the goods.

Everyone likes to take advantage, even holding the mindset that if I don't take this advantage, I am at a loss.

This mindset is very prevalent among some slightly older people...

"Later, she went home and told us about this, asking us to find those people, saying they robbed her of her tofu and asking us to get it back. But President Zhou, you have seen it yourself—how much is this tofu worth? If we go to report it, the authorities won't care."

"However, day after day, my grandmother's mental state has been very poor; she mumbles every day that her tofu was robbed. My parents are both busy and can't look after her, so I came to consult with the Company to see if there is any way."

He is not considered an old Employee of the Company, but he has been here for a while, just never having had the opportunity to come to the Legal Department.

This time, he just happened to come over to ask and see if there was any solution.

He had checked online before, but there were no reliable methods; many answers told him directly to consider himself unlucky, as no one would care about this kind of thing.

This kind of thing happens too often; basically, one could say that people take it and leave, and you don't even know who took it.

Not to mention finding the people, you can only consider yourself unlucky.

But now the old lady's state is very poor, and she is even a bit dazed, so there is no other way.

Zhou Yi also sighed; you could say this matter is big, but it isn't, and because it isn't big, the difficulty of solving it is much greater.

Zhou Yi then looked at Wang Daoren beside him: "Old Wang, do you see any good solution for this?"

Wang Daoren hesitated for a moment before saying: "President Zhou, there is a solution, but it is not easy to handle. We could initiate a Lawsuit against those who took the items."

"But to be honest, President Zhou, firstly, no one knows who those people are; to initiate a Lawsuit, the difficulty is too great—this is no longer a matter of cost."

"Secondly, even if we initiate a Lawsuit for this kind of case, even if we win, we only win back a bit of money..."

Wang Daoren explained it very clearly; Civil Litigation is one method, but it is very difficult to achieve, and even if you barely win the case, you only get money back.

It is so much trouble that it would be better to discuss it at home, give the old lady some money, and coax her through it.

After all, old people are like children; they both need to be coaxed.

However, settling matters to keep the peace has never been Zhou Yi's idea.

After thinking carefully, Zhou Yi said: "Old Wang, Civil Litigation for Legal Aid is definitely like this—collecting evidence and gathering the other party's personal information is laborious and costly. My meaning is, can we find a way to link it to Criminal Law!"

With the possibility of a Criminal Case, even if it is only a possibility, the Public Security Bureau must proceed with Case Filing; and as long as there is a Case Filing, one can investigate slowly. At the very least, for the Public Security Bureau to investigate personal information for a Public Prosecution Case, it is certainly faster and more efficient than an individual doing it.

"I remember when chatting with someone before, I learned of a crime called Gathering and Looting. Do you think this might be possible?"

Theft is out of the question; the value of the case is too low. Imagine yourself losing over a hundred yuan worth of items and going to the police—see if they will care about you...

Unless it is like that time before, knowing it was one person taking things, specifically setting up a Camera to collect evidence, and sending the other party in after three thefts.

Hearing this, Wan Hai's eyes began to brighten: "President Zhou, Lawyer Wang, is there such a crime?"

Wang Daoren nodded and said: "There is such a crime. I thought of it before, but this crime basically cannot be applied because to establish the crime of Gathering and Looting, it must reach the level of a 'relatively large amount'."

"And in the Judicial Interpretation, this 'relatively large amount' is four thousand yuan, therefore..."

This is where the problem lies; it hasn't reached the standard for Case Filing, so reporting it to the police will definitely not have any results.

If one thinks about having the other party face Administrative Detention, that is also not easy to operate.

Because it is very likely they will just advise you not to pursue it. For items worth one or two hundred yuan, paying a huge price to investigate—and even if found, it might only result in a fine, not even reaching the level of Detention—one doesn't need to use their brain to know that this is definitely impossible to investigate.

"So that's it then?" Zhou Yi said, very annoyed.

A seventy-year-old lady; in Wan Hai's words, her health was originally very good. Making tofu is very hard work, and many young people cannot endure it, but his grandmother was fine.

As a result, after this incident, the blow was particularly great.

After thinking carefully, Wang Daoren asked: "Was there any Monitoring there at the time? Were there many people who saw that scene?"

Wan Hai recalled carefully and said: "There was Monitoring, and many people setting up stalls nearby saw it at the time."

Wang Daoren then looked at Zhou Yi: "President Zhou, in that case, I suggest we can do this: first, we initiate a Lawsuit and apply for a Pre-litigation Investigation Order to check the Monitoring and determine exactly what kind of people committed this act of Gathering and Looting."

"After all, even in terms of a Criminal Case, it only constitutes this crime for the ringleaders and active participants, and they had no violent behavior, so it is not easy to define as Robbery. Therefore, my opinion is to find the people first."

"I believe these people are likely residents near the place where the tofu is sold, because normally it is impossible to run very far to buy tofu, and those people are advanced in age, making it even more impossible for them to travel far."

"Therefore, those small vendors and shop owners should know who they are; we can take the Monitoring Photo and go find them to ask. Of course, we must also go to the Public Security Bureau to see if we can find information on those people through these means."

"Also..."

Wang Daoren said a great deal, and Zhou Yi finally understood the other party's line of reasoning.

For a small case value like this, if there is a clear target to resolve it with, then reporting it to the police is easy to handle.

"If we find the other party and they can apologize in front of the elderly lady and return the money, then there is actually no need to go to further trouble," Wang Daoren said.

Zhou Yi nodded: "Wan Hai, right? What do you think?"

"Of course that's no problem, President Zhou. If we can find those people and make them apologize and pay, my grandmother will definitely be able to accept it."

Although this matter is not about the money, the money that should be paid still must be paid; it has nothing to do with anything else.

"Then do it. You draft the report, I will sign off on it, and start quickly. I am also very curious as to what kind of person would be so heartless."

Wang Daoren agreed. If it were in the past, it would have been impossible for him to suggest such a thing.

Even for cases like this, if someone came to consult him, he would tell them directly that he would not take the case.

Because the gap between input and output is too large, and it is not just him; it is certain that the current legal staff at Tengda, one and all, would not have taken such a case when they first started practicing.

This is not just for one's own good, but also for the client's good; spending so much money without a guaranteed result is purely cheating people.

But with President Zhou here, there is no need to worry about these things; costs do not need to be considered, just do what needs to be done!

So much so that he only now discovered that this small case has a unique flavor.

The elderly lady's mental state is truly not very good. In Wan Hai's words, she has sold tofu for a lifetime and has always been honest and dutiful; she never thought she would encounter such a situation.

Wang Daoren is starting to prepare for the Lawsuit. For this kind of case, it is estimated that even going to the Court to file the Case Filing would make the staff feel surprised.

However, if one wants the Court to issue a Pre-litigation Investigation Order, the necessary evidence must still be present.

This case must have witness testimony; this is for the early stage, and once there is Monitoring video later, it will be fine.

Wang Daoren quickly set off directly with the elderly lady and Wan Hai.

As for those small vendors and the like being afraid of offending people and refusing to testify... eight words: appeal to their emotions and reason with them. Those hundred-yuan bills are the reason!

The place where the elderly lady sells tofu is at the entrance of a Small Residential District named Hewan Xiaoqu; opposite it is another Small Residential District, and next to it is yet another. With three Small Residential Districts converging, the foot traffic is very high.

Going downstairs and driving, Wang Daoren hurried all the way to the entrance of this Hewan Xiaoqu.

"Please take it slow, let's go over and ask them one by one..."

At the entrance of the Small Residential District, Li Dama, who sells fruit, was chatting very animatedly with Wang Daye, who sells melon seeds and peanuts next to her. While chatting, her eyes kept scanning the pedestrians, and from time to time she would call out: "Come take a look at the big apples, big red apples!"

Just as they were chatting, she saw a group of three arrive at her side.

Li Dama immediately smiled and said: "Are you three buying fruit?"

Wang Daoren smiled: "We do want to buy fruit, and by the way, ask you a question. You know her, right?"

Li Dama glanced at Wan Hai's grandmother and said: "Of course I know her, it's Liu Popo who often sells tofu around here. What fruit do you want?"

Wang Daoren very familiarly took a plastic bag and started packing apples. This operation made Wan Hai, who was standing next to him, feel a bit confused. Lawyer Wang, aren't you here to ask for information?

While picking the fruit, Wang Daoren asked as if making casual conversation: "Then do you know that a week ago here, Liu Popo encountered the urban management officers, and when she went to reason with them, her tofu was taken away by someone?"

Upon hearing this, Li Dama smiled and said: "I know about that. It was that person, Cheng Dama from this Small Residential District. She loves taking advantage of others the most. That day she was playing here with her grandson, and when she saw it, she said that since the tofu was unwanted anyway, she would take it back to eat herself."

What the hell?

This is probably what you call a damn surprise; this is much smoother than imagined!

Originally, he thought he would have to pull the Monitoring and then go through a series of complex procedures to find out who the other party was. He didn't expect this to be a treasure of a lady who actually knows them.

Seeing that Wang Daoren seemed very surprised, Li Dama immediately smiled: "I've been here for years. Besides, everyone near Cheng Dama knows her. Before, she came to buy strawberries from me and picked through my perfectly good strawberries, causing many of them to get bruised..."

Wang Daoren smiled. Someone like the lady in front of him might not remember when she takes advantage of others, but if someone else takes advantage of her, she can definitely remember it for a long time...

And just like that, there is a lead.

Many things are only considered troublesome and unlikely to have results because people don't personally get serious about them before doing them.

"Hey, how much are your strawberries? Weigh twenty jin for me!"

"Twenty jin? Okay, I'll weigh them right away..."

Wang Daoren looked natural. In this situation, you can't just come up and only chat; you have to give people a little sweetness so you can talk properly, otherwise why would they tell you anything?

As for twenty jin of strawberries, it's a small matter. When he goes back, he'll just treat everyone to them. Although President Zhou would definitely reimburse him if he reported it, forget it; he, Old Wang, has money now!

Li Dama was so excited that Wang Daye at the neighboring stall was green with envy.

"Hey Daye, how much are your melon seeds? Give me ten jin of those too. By the way, about that day's matter, do you know anyone else?"

First update of the day! Hehehe

(End of chapter)