Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 218 - 217: Luo Xiaobu Calls for Help, Demands 500,000 in Compensation

Chapter 218: Chapter 217: Luo Xiaobu Calls for Help, Demands 500,000 in Compensation

Monday, a workday.

The pleasant weekend was over, and Zhang Wei still felt it hadn’t lasted long enough.

After all, shopping and dining with a beautiful woman always seemed to make time fly by.

"Thanks, Radish, for honoring the appointment!"

As a result, his dissatisfaction with a certain ’pigeon’ vanished into thin air.

In fact, he was somewhat looking forward to the next time Luo Xiaobu made plans with him, wondering if he might get stood up again?

With such a mood, Zhang Wei arrived at Jincheng Law Firm.

There was no helping it, work had to continue, especially since he was competing for the title of Employee of the Year.

Upon reaching the criminal division’s office, Zhang Wei discovered that Li Yueqin had also arrived early that morning.

However, unlike the previous week, Xiao Li’s smile was visibly brighter.

"Zhang Wei, good morning!"

Seeing Zhang Wei, she greeted him with a smile that could not hide her overwhelming joy.

Clearly, with a 300 million performance, taking home 150 million each was enough to sweep her worries away.

"You’re here so early!"

"Yeah, after all, it’s the last week, April is almost over, and I was thinking of making one final push!"

"You already have a 150 million performance, and you’re still thinking of pushing at the end of the month?"

"My dad always tells me not to be proud or complacent. Although we got 150 million in performance, I can’t waste the last week!"

Hearing Li Yueqin say this, Zhang Wei felt reassured.

Though it was the usual motivational talk, seeing the youthful vigor in Xiao Li was quite nice.

Zhang Wei knew that with Li Yueqin’s current state, she would certainly be competent as a criminal defense lawyer, and small cases would definitely be within easy reach.

After all, winning a 300 million case boosts one’s confidence!

"Zhang Wei, Li Yueqin, you guys are early again!"

Before long, Old Tie arrived.

"Master~"

The junior apprentice Lin Yumeng also arrived, sweetly calling out to Zhang Wei.

The office of the criminal division became lively once more.

It was a new week, and not just any week but the last week of April; everyone wanted to make a final effort.

Zhang Wei also sat at his desk contemplating what kind of case to take on for this final week to wrap up a pleasant April.

As he pondered, the day slipped away.

Though he didn’t want to admit it, Zhang Wei felt that he might, perhaps, could have, probably slacked off all day...

Just as work was almost over, Zhang Wei’s phone rang again.

The caller ID showed that it was Luo Xiaobu who was calling.

"Well, I haven’t come looking for you yet, but here you are calling me!"

Zhang Wei muttered to himself and answered the call.

"Radish, what’s the situation, what happened yesterday?"

"Zhang Wei, help me! I need help!"

On the phone, Luo Xiaobu’s voice sounded panicked, tinged with fear and unrest.

The feeling was akin to him being kidnapped by two gays, with the attackers preparing to assault him.

"Radish, what on earth happened, you haven’t been kidnapped by gays, have you?"

"No, but it’s more dangerous than that, I need your help, I can’t handle it myself!"

"What can I help you with?"

Images of Zhang Wei being eyed by two gays flashed through his mind.

He suddenly felt the hair on his neck stand on end, and a wave of goosebumps washed over him.

"Zhang Wei, I’m at the Civil Chamber of the City Court, just come and save me, I can only rely on you now!"

In the end, Luo Xiaobu hung up the phone in a hurry.

Zhang Wei, however, let out a sigh of relief. If Luo Xiaobu was in the City Court, then there was nothing to worry about.

In the City Court, there shouldn’t be any gays, right?

At the same time, Zhang Wei was wondering what kind of trouble Luo Xiaobu had gotten into that required him to go to the City Court, and particularly, the Civil Chamber?

Did he offend someone over the weekend by hitting on their girlfriend?

But on second thought, considering Luo Xiaobu’s circumstances, Zhang Wei dismissed these "unrealistic" thoughts and hurriedly took the subway to the City Court.

The City Court.

"Old Lu, I need to ask you about something."

"Oh, Zhang Wei, what’s up, tell me?"

"I have a friend, his name is Luo Xiaobu. It seems like he’s in civil court today. Do you know which court he’s in..."

Zhang Wei had just arrived at the city court and was inquiring about Luo Xiaobu’s whereabouts from Court Guard Old Lu, whom he knew.

Soon, he learned Luo Xiaobu’s location – he was sitting at the defendant’s bench.

There was no defense attorney by Luo Xiaobu’s side. It looked like he was representing himself!

When Zhang Wei rushed to the civil court, the judge on the bench had already started hammering.

"Since the jury has been decided, let’s reconvene tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock. Court is dismissed for now!"

The courtroom began to clear out, and the few people in the public gallery left the courtroom one after another.

Zhang Wei spotted Luo Xiaobu at the defendant’s bench. His complexion was very ugly.

At the plaintiff’s bench, a middle-aged attorney dressed in a suit approached Luo Xiaobu and said something that made his face look even worse.

Zhang Wei recognized this middle-aged attorney.

"Isn’t that Lawyer Tian from Yongjie? How come it looks like he and Radish are on opposing sides?"

Lawyer Tian from Yongjie Law Firm, one of the Top Ten Firms, also a school senior to both Zhang Wei and Luo Xiaobu.

However, regrettably, this time Lawyer Tian stood opposite Luo Xiaobu.

After exchanging a few words with Luo Xiaobu, Lawyer Tian left with his entourage.

Several men in suits followed behind him, one of whom gave Luo Xiaobu a very unfriendly look – they must be Lawyer Tian’s clients.

Luo Xiaobu looked dejected, then out of the corner of his eye, caught sight of someone.

"Zhang Wei!" His face lit up with joy, and he hurried over.

"Radish, what’s going on? What’s all this about going to court and yelling for help!"

"Ah, don’t even mention it, it’s all from yesterday..."

Upon hearing Zhang Wei’s question, Luo Xiaobu heaved a sigh, his face filled with helplessness.

"Let’s find a place. I want you to explain why you stood me up yesterday!"

Zhang Wei patted him on the shoulder, and then the two of them left the city court together.

In a nearby beverage shop, Zhang Wei and Luo Xiaobu ordered some desserts, drinking and chatting.

Luo Xiaobu spilled all the unfortunate events of yesterday in one go.

It turned out that yesterday, he hadn’t intended to stand Zhang Wei up; he had even arrived near Love Kitchen early.

But Luo Xiaobu was inexperienced, showing up several hours ahead of time, worried he might be late.

As a result, with time to spare, he found a snack shop to wait and, feeling nervous, ate quite a bit.

Unexpectedly, he got diarrhea!

"I wasn’t paying attention and failed to control myself; I rushed into a nearby shopping mall..."

"Just as I could barely suppress that primal urge, I saw the restroom sign and dashed in, and when I shut the door, I heard someone knocking outside. But who had the mind to listen at that moment."

Luo Xiaobu said, his face expressing helplessness. "It wasn’t until after I was done that I realized it didn’t quite seem like a restroom, more like..."

"It was the exhibition stand in the shopping mall, wasn’t it? You took a big number two on a display suite they were going to show!"

Hearing Zhang Wei say this, Luo Xiaobu’s fair face instantly turned beet red.

It was too embarrassing, too humiliating, too damn shameful!

He actually took a squat and pooped in public!

And it was witnessed by so many people on the first floor of the mall!

It was the ultimate social suicide!

"So, about today’s civil court, what’s that about?"

"It’s because the company is suing me, and they’ve commissioned Lawyer Tian to expedite the process, stating they want me to compensate them quickly for the damages!"

"How much is the compensation?"

"500,000."

"Oh, so why don’t you just pay them?"

Upon hearing the amount, Zhang Wei breathed a sigh of relief.

Just 500,000?

It’s not a lot. For you, Luo Xiaobu, that sum shouldn’t require yelling for help, right?

"Zhang Wei, but that’s 500,000! Even if my family can afford it, that’s still not a small sum, and..."

Luo Xiaobu’s expression instantly fell as he spoke, "And Zhang Wei, I’m afraid if this gets out, I won’t be able to face anyone anymore!"

"So what do you want to do?" Zhang Wei appeared quite calm.

"I was hoping... you could help me, help me negotiate with the company to reduce the amount. Asking for 30,000 – 50,000 would be okay, but I truly can’t come up with 500,000."

"If they go down to 30,000 – 50,000, they’ll want to add court costs on top, clearly they won’t break even, and..."

"But this is so unfair! I didn’t do it on purpose, and now that my workplace knows about it, I can’t even show my face there!"

"But I’m not your defense attorney. Even if you submit a motion to change attorneys now, the court is tomorrow. The judge might not even approve your request in order to save time!"

"Then, what should I do?"

Hearing what Zhang Wei said, Luo Xiaobu’s face almost contorted into a chrysanthemum.

"Alright, I’ll think of something for you. Come to our firm early tomorrow, and I’ll help you prepare some thoughts for your courtroom defense, is that okay?"

"But my opponent is from the Top Ten Firms, Lawyer Tian from Yongjie Law Firm. I’m afraid I won’t be able to..."

"What can we do about that? Since you’ve chosen to defend yourself, how can I help you? At most, I can give you some advice, right?"

Zhang Wei spread his hands to show there was only so much he could do.

"Alright then..."

Luo Xiaobu nodded, accepting his fate.

"By the way, I wasn’t here yesterday. Did you see Guoguo?"

"Who’s Guoguo?"

"This is her!"

Luo Xiaobu showed a screenshot on his phone to Zhang Wei.

"Oh, that woman. I saw her!"

"How was it, was she looking for me?"

"Uh..."

Seeing Luo Xiaobu’s hopeful expression, Zhang Wei thought it better not to crush his spirits.

"Well, yesterday she seemed to be looking for someone, but unfortunately, she didn’t find them..."

Zhang Wei said outwardly, while internally he added, "In the end, though she didn’t find the person, once she saw my uncle, she completely forgot about you."

These words, however, he did not voice.

Clearly, Luo Xiaobu was already unlucky enough, so there was no need to upset him further.

Once they finished their drinks and conversation in the cafe, the two of them left.

"Zhang Wei, I’m really counting on you this time!"

"No, this time you have to rely on yourself. I can only help you so much!"

The two parted ways, each heading in their own direction.

...

In the evening, at Lin Mansion.

Zhang Wei opened a web page and began searching for certain keywords.

For instance, "public pants-pulling," "shopping mall showroom **," "fat guy **," and the like.

Sure enough, he found many videos of the incident from that day.

Some had even edited the videos into memes, with humorous titles such as:

"The Limits of Human Speed!"

"A Nimble Fatso Surprises the Mall, Sprinting Full-Speed for... That?!"

"Shocking! With his fierce expression and saucy moves, he’s actually...?"

These edited videos had quite a lot of hits.

Some of the more considerate ones pixelated Luo Xiaobu’s face, but many others didn’t even think to do that.

Beneath the videos, many people commented on Luo Xiaobu’s behavior, and some even posted his personal information.

"I know this guy. He’s from Dongfang Capital Notary Office. I think he said he’s an intern notary at the Central District Office!"

"Right, right, right. I remember now; he’s from the notary office. My next-door neighbor’s grandparent passed away, and they came to handle the inheritance issues!"

"Well dang, this is the quality of someone from the notary office?"

"Occupying a stall without permission and then taking a dump, how are they supposed to make money? How can the showroom keep operating after this?"

After some searching, Zhang Wei realized that nearly ninety-nine percent of the online comments about Luo Xiaobu’s action were mockery and ridicule.

Not a single person spoke in his defense.

But that was hardly surprising, as the internet had become an outlet for netizens. People who are meek in reality hit hard online.

Whenever they see something they don’t like, they transform into keyboard warriors. Some also pose as objective commentators, but while they seem to be reasonable, they too have their own biases and aren’t truly objective.

On the contrary, those who try to reason on the internet are ridiculed for being holier-than-thou, so the genuinely objective folks almost disappeared, leaving a high level of hostility online.

After browsing through dozens of messages, Zhang Wei had a good grasp on the overall online sentiment toward the whole incident.

As for the ins and outs of the matter, it was just as Luo Xiaobu had described. The mall surveillance footage had been dug up by netizens, making it hard not to know about it.

There was no point in beating around the bush; Luo Xiaobu simply couldn’t hold it in and, by mistake, saw a sign for a restroom and rushed into a cleaning supply company’s bathroom showroom without a second thought.

He knew the rest.

Luo Xiaobu defecating in public was indeed wrong, but in essence, he hadn’t committed a grave error.

Yet, the cleaning supply company was demanding 500,000 yuan in compensation from him – that was where the real issue lay.

"No matter how you look at it, it was an unintentional mistake by Radish. 500,000 yuan really seems excessive!"

While the company was also a victim, the way they were aggressively milking Radish for money was equally unreasonable.

Zhang Wei felt that he truly needed to lend Luo Xiaobu a hand.

But how to help? Or rather, what move would Lawyer Tian from the other side make?

Zhang Wei started pondering, and opened up the webpage again, intent on checking the online trends regarding the incident to see how things had evolved.

If possible, incorporating the influence of online public opinion into this case would also be a deliberate help for Luo Xiaobu.

"Eh, this one..."

Among the numerous spoof videos, one caught his attention.

"Is this the quality of a notary? Publicly pulling * and verbally abusing others?"

The title of the video wasn’t particularly eye-catching, but the publisher made Zhang Wei’s eyes light up.

"Got it, this is my insurance!"

After watching the complete video, a sinister curve formed at the corners of Zhang Wei’s mouth.

He felt that no matter the outcome of the case, Luo Xiaobu wouldn’t need to pay that 500,000.

...

The next day, morning.

When Zhang Wei arrived at Jincheng Law Firm, he was informed by the receptionist that someone was waiting for him.

Without guessing, he knew it was Luo Xiaobu.

In the reception room, Zhang Wei met with the latter.

However, after a night had passed, Luo Xiaobu’s spirit had not recovered and he looked extremely listless.

"Geez, it’s only Tuesday, didn’t you take leave from work?"

"With such a big incident, does it matter whether I go to work?"

"That’s true. Do people at your workplace know about it?"

"Yeah, the leaders even told me to sort this mess out, saying if I don’t handle it well, I shouldn’t bother coming to work!"

Thinking about the repercussions of the incident, Luo Xiaobu felt like crying but had no tears.

If things went wrong, not only would his personal reputation be ruined, but he could also lose his job.

"Alright then, let me be clear with you, if we are going to fight this case, the difficulty isn’t small, but it’s not impossible either. When you go to court later, use these to defend yourself!"

As he spoke, Zhang Wei handed over the prepared materials to Luo Xiaobu.

"Thanks, Zhang Wei, you’re the only one who can help me!"

Seeing Zhang Wei helping him so much, Luo Xiaobu was deeply moved and broke down in tears right then and there.

"By the way, Zhang Wei, we have to appear in court against ’Good Cleaning Company’ this afternoon. Do you have any cases this afternoon?"

Although Luo Xiaobu was asking, he looked at Zhang Wei with hopeful eyes, his purpose quite evident.

"Don’t worry, Radish, who are we, if not friends? Your problem is my problem, I’ll definitely be there to observe!"

"Thank you so much, Zhang Wei. With your help, I feel like I can definitely win today!"

"Confidence is good, but... one must also be aware of their limitations. Are you not aware of your own level?"

Zhang Wei hesitated for a moment, but decided against speaking the latter half of his thoughts out loud, merely muttering them to himself.

Afterward, the two of them started to simulate the trial in the preparation room and revise the court defense speeches.

An entire morning passed by with both of them busily engaged.

Afternoon.

"Old Tie, I need to go to court this afternoon to back up a friend. You guys keep up the good work!"

"Sure, just do what you need to do, anyway, you’re the boss!"

"Come on, you’re the leader!"

"Have you ever treated me like a leader?"

"This..."

After joking with Tie Ruyun for a few sentences, Zhang Wei and Luo Xiaobu set off for court.

Soon, they arrived at the city court and entered the civil chamber.

Coincidentally, just as they arrived, the plaintiff, Good Cleaning Company, also happened to arrive.

As the representing attorney, Lawyer Tian from Yongjie was also in the ranks of Good Cleaning Company.

He scanned the defendant’s bench and spotted a person that surprised him.

He didn’t care about Luo Xiaobu, as the young man was of little concern.

But the person next to Luo Xiaobu was a different story.

"He actually came!"

Seeing the individual, Lawyer Tian’s expression turned very ugly.

The figure had a huge reputation and even more formidable capabilities.

Even though he was a junior compared to himself, confrontations in court paid no heed to seniority.

Fortunately, when it was nearing the start of the hearing, that person moved to the observer’s bench and didn’t stay in the defendant’s row, which allowed Lawyer Tian to breathe a sigh of relief.

He felt his back grow damp, and a cold sweat break out all over his body.

For such a minor case, if he had to contend with that individual, it would be terrifying.

Thankfully, it was a false alarm!