Chapter 86: The Place of Jingzhou is Too Small

People often joke that if you look up an illness on Baidu, you start with cancer; this is, of course, just a joke.

But then again, no matter how well something is advertised, anyone with a bit of brains should know that you won't find the big-name experts in the legal profession on Baidu.

And it's not just lawyers; go search for hospitals and see what kind of hospitals show up with advertisements. Do places like Peking Union or Tiantan need to run ads?

Take someone like Fang Dazhuang; he has too many cases. He can't even handle the cases referred to him by friends, let alone go on Baidu to run ads, have a pop-up window appear, and introduce himself as some kind of lawyer...

That just looks too low-class.

But regardless, at the very least, they are considered professionals.

Ling Jie was currently in this law firm, and after looking at the environment, she felt it was quite nice.

Yes, the office environment was decorated very well; it was quite high-end.

"The two of you are here. Come, sit, sit, sit. I'll go pour some water, please sit!" Zhou Xinran was wearing a women's suit and looked quite dashing.

Coupled with her decent appearance and enthusiasm, Ling Jie felt a sense of goodwill at first glance.

However, this is a Lawyer, not a mage; lawyers don't look at appearances when fighting lawsuits, though sometimes you do have to look at their hairstyle.

After pouring two cups of water and setting them down, Zhou Xinran wore a professional smile and said, "I am a practicing Lawyer at this firm, Zhou Xinran. You can tell me the details now, but before we chat, I must make it clear: there is a fee for consultation."

"Additionally, if you decide to entrust me with the Litigation, the consultation fee will be waived."

It's not easy, really not easy.

This was Zhou Xinran's first battle as an independent practitioner, and she ended up encountering Fang Xujing; this luck was truly one of a kind.

At the time, when she told her colleagues and mentor at the firm, they were all shocked and suggested that with luck like that, she should go buy a lottery ticket.

Then Zhou Xinran honestly continued to hone herself under her mentor. In the last few days, she felt she was ready; she could indeed practice independently!

After all, as a lawyer, there is always a day when one practices independently.

It's just that as a novice, she had no source of cases, so she had to beg her mentor for help and get herself listed on the firm's advertising page.

Of course, it must be mentioned here: no one actually thinks that the person they are chatting with on the ad page is the person whose name is listed, right? Surely not?

People from their firm can be found on there, but when they are busy, who has time to reply to messages?

So, in many cases, there are dedicated people chatting on their behalf, and the goal is only one: to get them to come to the law firm.

Once they arrive, whether it's a Litigation or a non-litigation matter, as long as they are there, it's fine.

Plus, Wang Weiwei only chatted for a few sentences before coming over and didn't touch upon the case itself, so Zhou Xinran didn't know what kind of case this was.

Ling Jie's face still looked a bit anxious. Upon hearing this, she immediately said, "The fee is no problem. It's like this, Lawyer Zhou, what exactly does that Criminal Private Prosecution mean?"

Oh, Criminal Private Prosecution... Criminal Private Prosecution?

Zhou Xinran looked full of surprise and said, "Wait, Criminal Private Prosecution? Are you sure? This kind of lawsuit is not common!"

She had originally thought it was a Civil Dispute, but she didn't expect it to be a Criminal Self-Prosecution Case. She had almost never seen this kind of lawsuit; it was too rare.

Because many people really don't realize that in criminal matters, there are situations where the case is not handled unless a complaint is filed...

Logically speaking, as a practicing lawyer, one can take both criminal and civil cases, but lawyers are human after all, and they have their specific areas of expertise.

Zhou Xinran was relatively more skilled in civil matters, such as contract disputes.

But then again, the big-name experts can be picky, but for someone like her, it's good enough just to have a case, and she now had the confidence.

No matter how bad it gets, it couldn't be as bad as her first time practicing independently.

After that time, for a while, she wanted to hide whenever she saw an older woman; she had already developed a psychological shadow.

She almost wanted to quit the industry, but fortunately, through constant effort, she finally persisted.

So, Zhou Xinran now felt that she would not fear any challenge!

Steadying herself, Zhou Xinran said, "Actually, for a Criminal Private Prosecution, you can tell from the name: it's a Criminal Case that is only accepted if a complaint is filed. It only involves a few specific situations."

"Specifically, it means the Public Security Bureau does not actively investigate, and the Court will only accept the case if the victim files a Lawsuit themselves."

"By the way, what did the other party sue you for?"

"Defamation, he said we defamed him and caused a malicious impact," Ling Jie said hurriedly.

"Defamation? Please tell me the situation in detail; it must be specific," Zhou Xinran said.

At the same time, she turned on her Recording Pen, preparing to record this information.

After all, she wasn't an old hand; if she didn't hear some things clearly, she would have to go back and work on them slowly.

When she was an intern lawyer, one of the things she specifically did was transcribe her mentor's voice recordings into text.

The old lawyer she followed would just take the Recording Pen and speak whenever there was something to be typed out; once he finished, the remaining work was hers.

But it was still better than burning CDs...

"The matter is roughly like this: I am an online Anchor, my surname is Li, and about a week or so ago, someone came to me saying their car had been blocked in a parking space and asked me to help..."

Ling Jie began to recount the cause of the matter, and Zhou Xinran listened carefully, but after listening for a while, she interrupted.

"Wait a moment, Ms. Li. Before you continue, I must remind you: I am your consulting Lawyer. If you want to get accurate advice, you must tell me the truth."

"Don't worry about me leaking it; lawyers have a duty of confidentiality, and I can guarantee that I will not leak your privacy."

"But if you cannot tell me the truth, the advice you receive will not be accurate."

A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit; this was the experience Zhou Xinran learned from that Xu Yufeng case.

This is a problem often encountered during legal practice; in fact, if you really talk about it, it should belong to human instinct.

Just like how many people always downplay the serious and focus on the trivial when talking about their experiences, saying only the good and not the bad; in daily interactions, at most, they are just deceiving others.

But if you still talk like that to a lawyer, that won't do.

If you want to fight a lawsuit well, you must explain everything you know and don't know, giving the lawyer room to consider, rather than just talking about your good side.

If you are so good, why would others have nothing better to do than to file a Lawsuit against you?

And a Criminal Private Prosecution at that?

Anyway, after experiencing that Xu Yufeng matter, Zhou Xinran understood that there is no such thing as hatred without a cause in this world.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Xinran said, "Ms. Li, if the matter is only what you have said, that doesn't count as Defamation at all, and it doesn't even count as Defamation of Reputation."

"But, but I didn't do anything..."

Zhou Xinran said again: "Ms. Li, whether you did anything or not, I don't know, but I do know that since the other party has a Case Filing Decision, it means the case has been filed and will now enter the trial procedure."

"Moreover, for a Criminal Private Prosecution Case, if the Court deems it necessary, they can impose Criminal Compulsory Measures on you at any time. In a couple of days, a Copy of the Complaint, a Notification Letter, and a Court Summons might be served."

"Therefore, if you want to resolve this matter, you must tell me the truth."

"A Private Prosecution can be settled through Mediation; if it can be settled, it is best to settle."

Zhou Xinran's words caused Ling Jie's expression to change; all this time, whether online or in real life, she had always put on the appearance of a victim.

And no matter what she encountered, she would always say, "I don't know what I did wrong."

After such a long time, it seemed she had brainwashed herself into believing she really had done nothing wrong.

But now, Zhou Xinran's words were like a knife, intending to slice open everything she had disguised herself with to reveal the truth inside.

And the key was that this required her to speak it out herself.

"Ms. Li, my advice is that you don't need to be emotional. You just need to objectively tell me what happened before, and then answer my questions objectively. That will suffice."

Ling Jie hesitated and struggled, but in the end, she had no choice, because the other party was right; if she wanted to consult or resolve this matter, she had to tell the truth.

She began to speak, and Zhou Xinran breathed a sigh of relief. It was too hard for her, a Lawyer, to also be working part-time as a psychological counselor.

But as she listened, Zhou Xinran's brows furrowed again. Finally, after Ling Jie finished speaking, Zhou Xinran asked: "Your video 'I was subjected to Internet Violence,' and the one after that about not disturbing others, how many views do they have?"

"The first one has about four million plus views, the later one is a bit less..."

Zhou Xinran shook her head and said: "Don't say any more, the number is enough. Five thousand views would have been enough; you've already exceeded the limit."

"The key lies in these two videos. Although you didn't name names, as long as one looks at the first video, it's clear you've almost explicitly stated that the one called A Yi is subjecting you to Internet Violence!"

"But... but I really was scolded, they even said I was blackmailing others. This should count as Internet Violence, right..." Ling Jie retorted.

"Whether you blackmailed others, the fact that you were scolded, and even the fact that you were subjected to Internet Violence itself, versus the fact that you were subjected to Internet Violence by the other party—do you know that these are two completely different concepts?"

"If you hadn't so directly said that you were being subjected to Internet Violence because the other party was stirring up trouble, it would be fine. But since you said it, yet have no evidence to prove the other party really was stirring up trouble, then this is hard to handle..."

"Then Lawyer Zhou, what should I do?"

Zhou Xinran began to think. The case wasn't actually complicated, but the main issue was that she had posted it online, and both videos had gone viral; even if you deleted them, it was useless...

"First, let's look for evidence to see if the other party played a role in the incident where you were scolded. If there is, then it's easy to talk, but if not..."

"Then we can only try our best to settle through compensation and an apology..."

"Okay, okay, thank you Lawyer Zhou, then... then I will entrust this to you."

The other party was truly very professional!

The online war of words was still continuing, but Zhou Yi didn't pay it any mind; he had been sued by his former Company, and that had to be resolved.

It was just that regarding the losses he caused the Company, he really didn't know what the situation was. He had always worked diligently, even getting client praise for things like "colorful black" and "colorless red."

He didn't know where the problem would arise, so it was hard to collect evidence. In the words of Fang Dazhuang, he would just meet each move with a countermove.

Moreover, it was highly likely the other party was using this method to achieve a pre-trial Mediation.

One could only say that with so many companies in Jingzhou, he just happened to choose such a bizarre one.

Days passed, and they had already received the Notification Letter for Pre-trial Mediation. Ling Jie was now searching everywhere, wanting to find evidence that the other party had subjected her to Internet Violence.

The result was obvious; in those two days, Zhou Yi had only posted one video, which was a comparison stringing together Ling Jie's own previous and subsequent videos...

Other than that, there was no other news.

However, today, Ling Jie was very excited because she had discovered something unusual!

"I have checked the evidence, and right now it is very unfavorable to our side. You said you have already found something?" Zhou Xinran looked at Ling Jie opposite her and said.

"Yes, I found out through a few friends that for this video of mine, someone once bought traffic, and that Internet Water Army leader said he would contact me today!" Ling Jie said very excitedly.

"That's good. It would be best if you could get the other party to produce the chat logs and transfer records, that would be perfect!"

The phone rang, and Ling Jie hurriedly answered it, turning on the speakerphone.

"Hello, yes it's me, Ling Jie. You said someone bought three Traffic Packages from you for me? Was it that Up Master A Yi?"

The Internet Water Army leader on the other end of the phone, who was also Zhou Yi's "friend," said: "I don't know who the other party is; we only met in a group."

"But they did indeed buy three Traffic Packages for you!"

"Good! That's great!"

"I understand the rules. Just tell me how much money. Send me the transfer records and chat logs. Does it involve attacks against me in there?"

This time it was the Internet Water Army leader's turn to be confused: "This Ms. Ling, how could that be? Isn't this marketing for your Company?"

Huh? Ling Jie's excited expression came to an abrupt halt: "Our Company's marketing? What are you talking about? I don't know anything about that."

"The three Traffic Packages bought for you were for boosting views and boosting positive comments; they were all... all praising you..."

Ling Jie was completely stunned. Why was it like this? She felt as if she had fallen into a web.

"Lawyer Zhou, look at this..."

"Contact the other party and prepare for Mediation. But you can still talk to them when the time comes. Don't worry, I'm here."

A day later, at the Lao Difang cafe, Zhou Yi was already sitting there with Fang Dazhuang.

The main topic the two were discussing was Zhou Yi's former Company.

"I've roughly figured it out. It's that leader of yours, that Director surnamed Wang, who wants to compete with you. The Company Chairman is his brother-in-law. He probably thinks you're a troublemaker, and if he doesn't suppress you, he won't be able to be a good leader in the future."

"Otherwise, he wouldn't have filed a Counterclaim against you. Waiting for the Second Instance to finish and paying money would be one thing, but before that, he wanted to block you while you were looking for a job, sending a Lawyer's Letter to scare you. As a result, last time he found out you seemed to have money and couldn't scare you, so he just sued directly to force you into Mediation."

"So, if I can get my colleagues in the Design Department to resign collectively, would Director Wang..."

"Zhou Yi, don't even think about it. If you could really do that, Director Wang would be finished. His sister's pillow talk can't be a demonic wind, hehehe..."

Seeing Fang Dazhuang start "hehehe-ing" while they were discussing serious business, Zhou Yi just wanted to cover his face.

Just then, Zhou Xinran walked in with Ling Jie.

Today was not a Court pre-trial Mediation, but rather Zhou Xinran accepting the commission, preparing to see if they could settle out of court and have the other party withdraw the Lawsuit.

As a result, upon seeing the two people sitting opposite, Zhou Xinran froze for three seconds, then took out her phone with some confusion.

That's right, today is July 28th, not that special day, but why is this situation so similar; the Plaintiff and the client, how could it actually be them again?

The second update, also a four-thousand-word long chapter, the guaranteed eight thousand words are complete, the rest is just making up for missed updates; I originally planned to write three chapters and post them together, but many of you are anxious, and some said they would delete the book if I didn't update, so Lao Jiu thought about it and decided to post it, eight thousand words in two chapters is not a small amount. Asking for votes and subscriptions.

(End of this chapter)