Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 315 - 313: Covering question, is the moonlight in front of the bed?

Chapter 315: Chapter 313: Covering question, is the moonlight in front of the bed?

The jury system, since its inception, has always been met with skepticism.

Yet, the existence of the jury system embodies democracy and enhances people’s sense of participation in the law.

Of course, it’s impossible for a jury to be absolutely fair and impartial.

All the court can do is ensure that the 12 jurors involved are as objectively impartial as possible.

For instance, selecting candidates from different regions and professions to join the larger pool.

During the voir dire, the added mechanism of questioning by both the prosecution and the defense should theoretically suffice to ensure the fairness of the jurors.

But sometimes, coincidences happen.

Within the larger pool, suddenly there are many, or most are female jurors.

This is not impossible; in fact, since the establishment of the jury system, there have been numerous times when either men or women dominated the jury, sometimes even to a one-sided extent.

So although it is frustrating, Zhang Wei knew he couldn’t dismiss the potential jurors on the basis that there were more women than men on the jury bench.

Moreover, his every word and deed could easily be misinterpreted by others.

Mention just once that the jury is all women,

and the internet might spread that some famous lawyer looks down on women, among other extremist topics.

Although such misrepresentations and distortions of facts are what professional internet trolls and cyber armies often do, Zhang Wei now had no time to deal with these people.

Thus, it was better to mind his own business.

If you don’t speak, you can’t make mistakes!

That being said, Zhang Wei knew he had to do something; otherwise, Xu Suyun would eliminate all the men from the jury bench, which would be extremely unfavorable for Old Tie.

"Ahem, Your Honor, I have an objection to the prosecution’s line of questioning!"

Zhang Wei immediately stood up, interrupting Xu Suyun.

"Although this case involves prostitution, it’s highly unethical for the prosecution to blatantly inquire whether any jurors or their acquaintances have been involved in such activities, as it invades personal privacy. I request that the judge issues a warning, thank you!"

Judge Liu couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Such questioning by Xu Suyun was indeed a bit inappropriate.

Who comes right out and asks if you’ve ever solicited a prostitute?

Using friends as an excuse—like nobody knows what’s really going on.

Saying it’s about a friend—could it be yourself?

Thus, Judge Liu nodded, then looked over the courtroom: "Ahem, Nun Xu..."

Xu Suyun’s expression turned cold, returning Judge Liu a chilling glance.

Judge Liu was so startled that his hands began to quiver, cursing himself for making such a rookie mistake.

"Well, the prosecution, please refrain from asking such private questions. The jury has the right to refuse to answer these kinds of questions!"

"Meddlesome brat!"

Xu Suyun, upon hearing this, had a shadow of viciousness flicker in her eyes.

But Judge Liu’s words also caused the male jury candidates to breathe a sigh of relief in unison.

That question was indeed tricky to answer.

If you admitted to having been involved, your wife might be calling to interrogate you right away.

If you admitted a friend’s involvement, then would those friends’ wives catch you and demand to know who it was?

If you really spoke up, wouldn’t your friends want to cut ties with you, and could you still be friends afterward?

So, Zhang Wei speaking up was resolving their awkwardness.

"Fine, I’ll leave it to you,"

Xu Suyun snorted coldly, yielding her position for questioning.

Zhang Wei took a deep breath and calmly walked up to the court.

His goal was simple: keep the four men on the jury bench.

As for the rest, who were definitely women, he needed to screen them as well.

At a minimum, he had to eliminate those with somewhat extreme thoughts and the greatest hostility towards Old Tie.

With that in mind, Zhang Wei asked the first question.

"May I ask, among those present, is there anyone who is dissatisfied with their salary?"

Upon hearing this, the entire room was stunned.

What kind of question is that, asking about salary?

Are you sure you’re screening for jurors?

"Objection!"

And sure enough, there were immediate objections.

Xu Suyun quickly stood up, challenging: "Your Honor, what’s going on here? This is a courtroom, not a job interview. What is the meaning behind the defense attorney asking about salaries?"

Not just her, but no one in the room understood Zhang Wei’s intention.

Zhang Wei saw this and laughed inwardly, "Foolish, to find people with relatively extreme thoughts, asking some irrelevant questions won’t filter them out."

"Either don’t ask at all, or ask about things they care about, and what could they possibly care about more than a worker’s wages?"

Facing Xu Suyun’s criticism, Zhang Wei remained calm, "Judge Liu, as a defense lawyer, I believe I have the right to ask any question, correct?"

"And I didn’t ask about the specific amounts of the jurors’ wages, it involves no privacy issues, so I trust there’s no reason for my question to be opposed, right?"

"Lawyer Zhang is correct!"

Judge Liu could only nod and then warned the prosecution, "Prosecutor, your objection is invalid. The defense is free to ask whatever questions they want. If he asks some inappropriate questions, I will warn him!"

Xu Suyun sat down helplessly, her gaze filled with resentment.

Zhang Wei merely smirked and his gaze returned to the jury box.

"Madam, are you satisfied with your salary?"

"Of course not!"

The woman questioned, impatiently retorted, "I work overtime every day and my salary is just barely enough to get by, those bosses are too heartless!"

"Oh, it seems you are quite unsatisfied with your pay?"

"Of course, I’ve even filed a complaint!"

The woman said, placing her hands on her hips, "In our company, the leaders are basically all men, they take home tens of thousands in salary each month, dump all the work on their subordinates, and boss us around all day, I just can’t stand them!"

Zhang Wei couldn’t help but nod and then turned his attention to the other jurors.

He noticed that many others seemed to agree with the woman’s statement.

Now, he had a good idea.

Zhang Wei then spoke, "Judge Liu, the defense thanks the lady for her response and requests the removal of her and jurors number 5, 7, 8, and 11!"

Zhang Wei dismissed 5 people in one go, all of them female, of course.

Judge Liu was obviously aware of Zhang Wei’s intentions, but since his questioning and objective were not aligned, there were no flaws to be found.

"Jurors called, please leave your seats!"

Under his direction, these five women stood up one after another.

After Judge Liu finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Wei with a querying gaze.

Zhang Wei naturally nodded with a smile, his gesture meaning: I’m going to continue.

"Next, I would like to conduct a live survey, please cooperate!"

Zhang Wei said this, gesturing towards the defense’s bench.

Tie Ruyun looked around and realizing he was the only one in that direction, quickly pointed to his own face.

Zhang Wei immediately pointed to the notebook on the defense’s bench and then at the projector behind the witness stand.

Tie Ruyun sighed and understood as well.

Zhang Wei didn’t have an assistant by his side, and although Tie was the defendant, for the sake of the case, he had to take on the role of assistant.

Soon, under Old Tie’s operation, the notebook was linked to the projector.

"Old Tie, please open Qian Du and type ’ordinary people’ in the search bar."

Although Tie Ruyun was baffled, he proceeded to search.

With the entry of "ordinary people" a series of images appeared.

The pictures were mostly selfies of men and women, some family portraits, but all brimming with smiles, positive and sunny.

Zhang Wei then instructed, "Old Tie, type ’young people’ next and search again!"

Tie Ruyun had no choice but to comply, typing "young people" and searching.

Suddenly, many photos appeared, and many were somewhat eye-catching.

For instance, photos with dyed hair, exaggerated gestures and actions, and even pictures depicting reckless behavior appeared.

"Old Tie, now type ’locals’ and search!"

Tie Ruyun, resigned, followed the instructions.

The webpage showed many photos of smiling elderly men and women.

"Then ’outsiders’."

Following Zhang Wei’s instructions, Tie Ruyun typed.

The webpage changed once again, displaying images of people with luggage, wearing worn clothes, wandering lost in streets and alleys.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that you’ve seen the pictures, what are your thoughts?"

"Objection!"

Just after Zhang Wei posed the question, Xu Suyun was the first to stand up in opposition.

"Your Honor, what is this, discrimination?"

She stood up, spreading her hands in protest, "This is a court, meant to judge the defendant’s guilt, not a seminar on anti-discrimination. We’re not here to discuss Dongfang Capital’s social prejudice issues!"

"I’m pleased that the prosecutor mentioned the word ’discrimination’!"

At that moment, Zhang Wei laughed, "In fact, I never mentioned that this is discrimination, what do a few browsing pictures on a webpage prove? It’s some people’s own association!"

"You..."

Xu Suyun’s brows furrowed slightly at the words.

"Wow, Zhang Wei really dug a pit for himself."

She couldn’t be bothered to speak further and simply sat down, remaining silent.

With Xu Suyun no longer interfering, Zhang Wei then turned his attention to the jury.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I ask what you felt after seeing this set of pictures?"

"Sir, you first!"

Zhang Wei began to call on jurors by name.

"I think, uh, those images from the web search were a bit inappropriate!" The man said candidly, scratching his head.

"And what about this lady?"

"I have no objections. They’re just a few pictures, what could it be about?"

The woman sounded quite impatient, but Zhang Wei took note of her reaction.

"And how about you, sir?"

"I think that..."

Zhang Wei questioned five people in total, three men and two women.

"Your Honor, we accept jurors number 1, 2, 4, and 9, and request that juror number 3 be dismissed from the panel!"

Ultimately, he excluded the impatient woman but kept another who had responded more mildly.

"My questions are finished for now, Nun Xu, would you like to continue?"

As Zhang Wei spoke, he looked again at Xu Suyun.

The latter huffed but stood up nonetheless.

And with that, Zhang Wei was able to return to the defense bench.

Tie Ruyun quickly approached and asked, "Zhang Wei, what was the purpose of having me search for those things just now?"

"No particular reason, I just had you search them randomly."

"Huh?"

Tie Ruyun was flabbergasted. Such a tactic worked?

I thought the four search terms you made me look up had some correlation, and that you were going to illustrate some issue.

But now you’re telling me it was all random, this...

Seeing Old Tie confused, Zhang Wei explained with a laugh, "Think about it, my goal was to keep the men and eliminate the women. Of course, I couldn’t state my purpose openly. I had to use a different method."

"That search term just now was merely a pretext; my aim was to keep the men. What happened earlier was simply a cover for my objective, so don’t overthink it."

Having said that, Zhang Wei’s attention returned to the courtroom.

On the other side, Xu Suyun wasn’t asking questions but was leisurely pacing back and forth in front of the jury box.

Combined with her Master Exterminator-like presence, she still managed to exert a great deal of pressure on the jurors.

Many jurors subconsciously swallowed their saliva, trying to relieve their inner tension.

Suddenly, Xu Suyun pointed at a man, her face turned cold, "You, you’re dismissed!"

"Me?" The man was slightly stunned and somewhat taken aback.

You didn’t even ask a question, and you’re dismissing me?

"I object!"

At that moment, Zhang Wei stood up.

He had to object because Xu Suyun had dismissed a male juror without any reason, which was not what he wanted.

Zhang Wei looked at Judge Liu and spread his hands, "What is the prosecutor doing, giving orders without making any distinction?"

"Hmph, I think this man lacks resolve. I merely walked a few steps, and he got this nervous. If during the trial a sudden situation arises, or a deadlock occurs, whether he can remain fair and impartial is doubtful!"

Xu Suyun provided a seemingly reasonable explanation.

"That’s sophistry, baseless!" Zhang Wei objected.

He continued, pointing at the jury box, "If we follow your logic, among those who swallowed just now were jurors number 13, 15, and 16. Just because they are female, are you going to turn a blind eye to their nervousness?"

Xu Suyun, upon hearing Zhang Wei say this, suddenly laughed.

"Fine, they can leave too!"

"This..."

Zhang Wei cursed silently at the woman’s audacity; to eliminate his potential jurors, she was willing to sacrifice three other women.

"Your Honor, my request is quite reasonable, don’t you think? If they lack the necessary composure, they might not fulfill their duties as jurors and could affect the fairness and justice of the court!"

"Well, then alright. Will the jurors whose names have been called please exit the jury box," Judge Liu hesitated for a long while before finally nodding.

"Lawyer Zhang, it’s your turn again!"

Having accomplished her goal, Xu Suyun returned to the prosecution bench.

Next, it was Zhang Wei’s turn again.

He rose swiftly and walked to the jury box.

"I would like to ask you all, when you hear the phrase ’the bright moonlight before my bed,’ what is the first thing that comes to mind?"

This question caught all the jurors by surprise.

Isn’t that a line from a poem? What could that possibly conjure up?

But Zhang Wei’s questioning hadn’t ended there.

"Those who first think of the moon, raise your left hand; those who think of the bed, raise your right hand!"

Immediately, the jury split into two camps, some raising their left hands, others their right hands.

After scanning the group, Zhang Wei immediately said, "Judge Liu, the defense requests to dismiss jurors numbered 17, 18, 21, and 22!"

Judge Liu, including Xu Suyun, raised no objections.

They didn’t quite understand the purpose behind Zhang Wei’s final question.

Those who had been called out, all women, left their seats, and Judge Liu finally banged the gavel to announce.

"Very well, now we have a jury. The court will now recess for lunch and reconvene afterwards!"

The courtroom began to clear.

Zhang Wei returned to the defense table, and Tie Ruyun immediately stood up and approached him.

"That last question of yours..."

"No way, Old Tie, you don’t understand?"

Understand my ass!

Tie Ruyun was almost speechless. How could I understand your question?

Is that something that people can grasp?

Zhang Wei immediately leaned closer to Tie Ruyun, chuckled slyly, and asked, "The bright moonlight before my bed—what did you think of?"

"Isn’t it just an ancient poem? What else could it be?"

"Old Tie, there’s no one else around, who are we kidding? Didn’t you imagine a girl named Bright Moon, stripping bare on the bed?"

"Ah, that..."

Tie Ruyun’s face changed color as he silently cursed what a slick move that was.

A perfectly good ancient poem, and you’ve twisted it all up.

Would the poet who penned those lines know how dirty your thoughts are?

"So your question before..."

"Exactly, when I asked the jury what they first associated with, the moon or the bed, that was my intent!"

Zhang Wei chuckled and explained, "Those who thought of the moon show that their thoughts didn’t stray, and it also suggests they are of high moral character and possibly can’t tolerate any wrongdoing."

"But if they thought of the bed, they might have thought of what I just mentioned. Such people have a flexible moral baseline, exactly the kind of jurors I need."

Having explained, Zhang Wei patted Tie Ruyun on the shoulder.

"Old Tie, you should be glad that I asked that last question. It eliminated a few troublesome jurors and left some who might be favourable to you."

"I hope so..."

Tie Ruyun pursed his lips, wanting to say that he disdained such tricks, but was too embarrassed to say so.

After all, Zhang Wei was considering his interests.

"Let’s go eat. We have a tough battle to fight after lunch!"

Zhang Wei waved his hand and made eye contact with the newcomers in the spectator’s area before walking out of the courtroom.

Tie Ruyun hurried to follow, but as he passed by the spectator’s seats, he exchanged glances with Shen Zhengyi and the others.

Shen Zhengyi had a smirk on his face, while Li Qingshou and Wang Jianren beside him had cold gleams in their eyes.

Tie Ruyun shook his head inwardly, but still nodded to Shen Zhengyi as a gesture.

After all, everyone was a department head and a colleague, and at one point Shen had even been his superior—it was proper to show complete courtesy.

But if Zhang Wei saw this scene, he would surely have stopped Tie Ruyun.

Some people, even if you respect them, won’t reciprocate.

Such an act is a thankless task.

An act without meaning, a waste of time when done.

The seats in the spectator’s area gradually emptied.

"Nun Xu, we are all counting on you this time!"

When it comes to who is most concerned about this case, apart from the parties involved, perhaps only Old Guo is.

He gazed at the empty spots in the courtroom with a complex look in his eyes.

I, Guo Wufeng, must have my revenge; I must personally witness Zhang Wei’s downfall!

Not for anything else, but for that breath of air.

And for that humiliating word... Dad