Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 401 - 397: Preliminary Hearing Begins, Qin Yang’s Opening Speech

Chapter 401: Chapter 397: Preliminary Hearing Begins, Qin Yang’s Opening Speech

Wednesday afternoon, city courthouse.

As it was a public prosecution case, the public needed to be informed about the progress of the case, so the city courthouse had specially arranged a large courtroom for people to observe the trial.

This room could seat many people, and in theory, it should be able to hold any large case.

Of course, how many people would actually come to the court was beyond the city courthouse’s prediction.

Just like now, the large courtroom had already attracted quite a crowd, with almost half the seats in the public gallery taken.

Especially the first row of the public gallery, at a glance, was almost entirely familiar faces—regulars of the courtroom.

They were all from the Procuratorate Headquarters, a solid line of prosecutors from the Procuratorate Headquarters.

Leading the group were Zhao Chunming and Guo Wufeng, with Xiao Baihe, Tan Yingying, and others conspicuously present, and of course, there were also newcomers who were always there to observe and gain experience.

They also assumed a uniform posture, with arms crossed over their chests, displaying faces of seriousness and no-nonsense expressions.

However, the people from the Procuratorate Headquarters had complex feelings about this case.

On one hand, the opponent was Zhang Wei.

As the thorn in the side of the Procuratorate Headquarters, they couldn’t wait for Zhang Wei to be defeated.

But on the other hand, the representative on their side wasn’t one of their own.

Coming from Longdu as the senior prosecutor, Qin Yang was also from the Longdu District Procuratorate Office, not a native of Dongfang Capital.

Although Zhao Chunming in his heart wished for Zhang Wei to be defeated, he preferred that person to be himself, and not an "outsider" from Longdu.

If Zhang Wei were indeed defeated, but by the prosecution from Longdu, wouldn’t that suggest that they of the Dongfang Capital Procuratorate Headquarters were incompetent?

What if Longdu mocked them with comments such as, "You can’t even handle a mere defense lawyer, constantly getting walked all over by the opposition, are you guys in Dongfang Capital Procuratorate just freeloading?"

Such rumors and whisperings would be unavoidable.

If Zhao Chunming wanted to argue back, the other side already had a reason prepared.

Why could a random prosecutor from Longdu easily take care of that kid, when you’ve been fighting for so long and never won once?

See, how could you argue against that?

So, as you can see, Zhao Chunming’s feelings towards this case were complicated.

Torn!

He was truly too torn.

"Old Zhao, are we supposed to cheer for Senior Procuratorate Qin this time?"

Guo Wufeng, who was sitting next to him, apparently hadn’t thought that much, and leaned over to ask.

"Let’s wait and see, we’ll decide based on the situation later, tell them not to take a stance yet..."

Zhao Chunming thought it over and replied like this.

Guo Wufeng found it strange, why had Old Zhao suddenly changed his nature?

In past confrontations with Zhang Wei, weren’t you always the first to arrive and apply pressure, staring down Zhang Wei menacingly from the public gallery to create psychological stress from the beginning of the trial?

Why today, are your actions suddenly out of character?

However, Guo Wufeng still conveyed Zhao Chunming’s intentions to their subordinates from the Procuratorate Headquarters.

You can cheer, but not too obviously, it’s enough that everyone understands in their hearts.

"See, I told you Director Zhao wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about that Senior Procuratorate Qin!"

In the second row of the public gallery, Xiao Baihe pulled Tan Yingying closer and whispered.

Tan Yingying didn’t understand, "But, shouldn’t our director and the others support the prosecution?"

Xiao Baihe, however, smirked and said coldly, "That depends on where the prosecutor is from. If they’re from Longdu, then it’s a completely different story!"

With arms crossed and a stern face, Xiao Baihe confessed, "Honestly, I even feel like rooting for Zhang Wei, hoping that jerk wins!"

"Huh?" Tan Yingying couldn’t quite follow.

Sister Baihe, could you please stop joking around?

You’re cheering for Zhang Wei, don’t you want to make the rumors about you and him even worse?

It’s no longer just within our Procuratorate Headquarters, even the local Procuratorate’s Office is spreading word that you’re involved with him, you know?

Are you sure you want to cheer for Zhang Wei?

Just then, the courtroom’s main door opened, and a group of people poured in.

Among them were journalists and many fellow lawyers.

But Xiao Baihe glanced over and did not spot the people from Jincheng Criminal Department.

Tie Ruyun and the others were unexpectedly not seen in the public gallery.

"Strange, haven’t the disciples of Zhang Wei arrived?"

Xiao Baihe was actually familiar with Lin Yumeng and the others.

After all, they had met more than once, how could she not recognize them?

But what she didn’t know was that Jincheng didn’t support Zhang Wei’s work, so the Criminal Department couldn’t come to the scene to support him either.

If they really came, it would be offending the big boss, too high a price to pay!

If the Criminal Department didn’t come to the scene, then there weren’t many people supporting Zhang Wei.

Especially since, apart from lawyers and journalists, many people came just to watch the excitement.

And onlookers generally took the side of the prosecution!

As time passed, the courtroom nearly filled up with people, and the advocates for both sides finally made their entrance to the anticipation of the crowd.

First to enter were the defendants.

Zhang Wei, leading Zhao Xiaoxiao and the other two, entered the courtroom.

"So my little disciples really didn’t come!"

After scanning the room, Zhang Wei only saw familiar faces from the Procuratorate Headquarters who came to support him, but not anyone from Jincheng Law Firm.

"Old Zhao, you’re here again, huh."

"Old Guo ah, you’re looking in good spirits, that crooked mouth of yours, you should smile more, you know, smiling, it helps you stay young, right?"

"Old Xiao, you and Ying Ying came again, thank you for coming to support my work, thanks!"

Zhang Wei greeted everyone from the Procuratorate Headquarters, but this time he didn’t receive the usual pushback from the group.

Even the hot-tempered Guo Wufeng, just as he was about to stand and retort, ended up being restrained by Zhao Chunming.

"Zhang Wei, it’s your performance to watch this time!"

Zhao Chunming only dropped this cold remark, without adding anything like "I want to see you defeated" or similar phrases.

"Have these people had a change of heart, or are they worried I’ll really lose to Qin Yang and disgrace Dongfang Capital?"

Zhang Wei just thought for a moment and understood the gist.

"Fine, I won’t let Dongfang Capital down!"

He promised, leading Zhao Xiaoxiao and the other two toward the defendant’s bench.

"Fuck, this kid actually says he’s representing Dongfang Capital?"

"Who gave him the nerve to be so arrogant?"

Zhao Chunming and Guo Wufeng, upon hearing Zhang Wei’s words, were rather speechless.

We may not want you to lose, but that doesn’t mean you can get so full of yourself.

You’re really showing off!

It seems we should consider cheering on Qin Yang, right?

This kid is too irritating, let’s give Qin Yang some support, take this kid down a notch, teach him a lesson!

Not to mention the silent exasperation of the people from the Procuratorate Headquarters.

Zhang Wei and his group had already taken their seats on the defendant’s bench.

"You two go sit at the back!" Zhao Xiaoxiao glanced at the crowded defendant’s bench, then pointed to the empty witness stand in the back, signaling Liu Dashun and Zhu Erdan to quickly move.

The two initially wanted to refuse, but upon seeing Zhao Xiaoxiao’s stern gaze, they could only helplessly take their places in the witness stand.

Only then was Zhao Xiaoxiao satisfied, and she sat down with Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei, seeing her like this, was also pleased in his heart.

This second girl, she really is clingy.

After the defendants took their seats, the prosecution finally arrived.

The courtroom doors opened once more, and in came a mighty procession.

To be precise, there were two groups.

One group was led by Qin Yang and Zhang Lang, members of the CSB Department.

The other group, Zhang Wei saw Wu Yong, Lin Ruonan, and even Xia Qianyue.

The people from the investigation team’s major case squad, they were also participants in the action, and might become witnesses.

The two groups took their seats, with Wu Yong and the others joining the prosecutor’s witness bench, but some team members and subordinates of Zhang Lang found their way into the already crowded public gallery.

Now, the large courtroom was almost too crowded.

Zhang Wei nodded in acknowledgment to Wu Yong, Lin Ruonan, and Xia Qianyue in the public gallery, a simple greeting having been exchanged.

Meanwhile, at the prosecutor’s table next door, Qin Yang was squinting over here.

Sitting beside him, Zhang Lang watched the defense table intently with a menacing expression throughout.

However, Zhang Wei noticed that the tainted witness, Liu Xiaotao, hadn’t shown up, apparently Zhang Lang planned to keep him hidden until the hearing.

Today was just a pretrial session, so it was normal for witnesses not to appear.

With both the prosecution and the defense present, what was left to wait for was the presiding judge of the case.

"All rise!"

Announced by the court guard, Old Li made his entrance.

Cloaked in a black robe, his face bore traces of fatigue.

After all, he had not returned home in the past few days to avoid any conflict of interest.

But if Zhang Wei knew this, he would definitely tell Old Li that it was completely unnecessary.

We haven’t spoken for ages now, there’s no need for you to avoid any conflict of interest, just eat, drink, and if you need to sleep at home, then sleep at home.

Unfortunately, Old Li didn’t know this.

After he took his seat at the bench, he looked around, his gaze first sweeping across the observer’s row.

The expected Li Yueqin had not shown up.

He breathed a sigh of relief internally, "Zhang Wei has thought this through, not having my daughter attend the trial, that’s just perfect for avoiding any conflict of interest!"

Zhang Wei saw Old Li’s expression and immediately pursed his lips.

Old Li, you’re overthinking it, it’s not that I don’t let the young apprentices come, but that fat guy from the Lin Family wouldn’t allow it!

"Since both parties are present, the court now declares that the pretrial session starts today!"

"Would the parties please state their respective arguments for the trial?"

Following Old Li’s gavel signal, Qin Yang from the prosecutor’s table stood up first.

"Greetings to everyone in the court, I am Qin Yang, from the Longdu District Procuratorate Office. This is my first time dealing with a case in Dongfang Capital, and that too, assisting a department like the CSB, which I am not familiar with. This is a challenge for me."

"But rest assured, as a prosecutor working in criminal investigation, I have nearly 30 years of experience. No criminal will slip through my fingers, and of course, no innocent person will be wronged."

After introducing himself, Qin Yang then looked towards the defense bench.

"Now, as you can see, sitting at the defense bench are three young people. In your eyes, they may seem like two young lads and a girl still in the bloom of youth."

"But what I want to tell you is..."

Qin Yang’s tone became serious, "They are not merely what they seem to be. On the surface, they look ordinary and harmless; some of you may even have children at home around their age."

"Yet they have undertaken actions that endanger national security, even aiding foreign spy organizations, stealing national secret information for illegal profit, reaping related benefits. Such actions would be called treason in ancient times, and in modern days, they are known as spy charges."

"Next, we the prosecution will prove in court that these three are spies. Their actions are an assault on our Dragon Country, a repeated threat to the public safety of our Dragon Country!"

With that, Qin Yang scanned the observer’s seats and found that many did not express outrage.

He understood his statement hadn’t struck a chord with what mattered to these people.

So, he decided it was time to take the offensive...

"Ahem, I believe everyone must be concerned about their own information security online, right?"

"For example, your chat app information, chat contents, even your favorite websites, browser search history, etc..."

As he mentioned these things, many people began to look up and pay attention.

Qin Yang was pleased with this reaction.

"I am glad that you all care about these things, but what I want to say is, because of the existence of people like the defendants, your information is not safe; it could potentially be on the headlines at any moment."

"Let me give you an example. Your wife buys a new set of lingerie, very sexy lingerie, and she takes a photo to send to you, thinking that only the two of you could see it, right?"

Qin Yang said, raising his hand and pointing solemnly at the defense bench, "But in fact, if they wanted to, by stealing your information, they could surveil your devices and even see photos like that!"

After saying this, the gaze around him changed.

Before, they felt the accusation was too vague and abstract to grasp.

But with Qin Yang’s example, the severity suddenly became clear to them.

If their own wives took such photos and the whole world could see them, that would be serious, wouldn’t it?

This feeling was even worse than being cuckolded by the neighbor Old Wang, because it was like being cuckolded by the entire world.

Oh, you don’t have a wife?

Well, never mind then...

This time, Qin Yang was quite satisfied with the effect.

But he decided to twist the knife further!

"It is precisely because of their existence that our Dragon Country has to spend tens of billions, even hundreds of billions of funds each year, to strengthen the supervision of cyber information security, to prevent illegal cyber activities by foreign forces."

"It is also because of them that the actions of foreign forces on our country’s network have always been rampant, because Dragon Country can fend off attacks from foreign IPs, but has been negligent in guarding against domestic IP attacks."

"If our country didn’t have cyber hackers like them, or people engaged in espionage activities, how much could we save each year? What all could we do with that money?"

"We could build a park for the elderly in every city, we could add so much welfare to society, to people’s livelihood, to the medical system, couldn’t we?"

"Tens of billions, even hundreds of billions spent each year, where does this money come from? It comes from everyone’s pockets, from the taxes of Dragon Country. If it could be saved, wouldn’t it also save you money?"

As soon as these words were spoken, there seemed to be a ripple of assent among the audience.

Everyone couldn’t help nodding their heads.

Indeed!

This money ultimately comes from their taxes. If it could be saved, wouldn’t they be able to pay less tax every year?

Of course, such matters are not for ordinary people to consider, but when Qin Yang spoke about them in this way, it felt as though they were directly related to everyone present.

Now, whether it was the spectator seats or the potential jurors’ seats, the looks directed at the defense were unfriendly.

Is it because of you that we have to pay so much more money every year?

Is it because of you that we have to fear our browser history being exposed every day?

Is it because of you...

In the defense seats.

Zhao Xiaoxiao leaned over to Zhang Wei and whispered, "Why do I feel like these people are looking at me a bit strangely?"

"Of course, it’s because Qin Yang used this strategy!"

Zhang Wei was quite calm, and then explained, "Taking some macro concepts and expressing them in a grounded way, especially examples that are closely related to us ordinary people, this tactic has its intricacies. To put it bluntly, it’s about inciting hatred against you!"

"So, are you feeling the pressure?"

"Pressure brings motivation!"

Zhang Wei patted Zhao Xiaoxiao’s shoulder to comfort her, "Don’t worry, I will do my utmost to help you, ’second misses’."

"You better, otherwise if I get locked up, I’ll spill everything about you and Jessica!"

"Ah, this..."

Zhang Wei was at a loss for words upon hearing Zhao Xiaoxiao’s threat.

Good grief, ’second misses’, I’m going to help you, and you’re still putting pressure on me?

If you want to lose, just say it straight. Why beat around the bush?

"In the following hearing, I will prove the defendant’s litany of crimes, and I will also prove how much effort and resources the Cyber Security Bureau, the CSB Department, has expended to capture them."

"I also hope that everyone in the courtroom understands that although they are young, they are adults and must take responsibility for their mistakes. Please consider your own information security and make a fair and just judgment!"

Qin Yang’s court statement ended, especially the last part, which was passionate and powerful.

Now, the pressure was on Zhang Wei’s side.

"Ahem, I am Zhang Wei, the defense attorney for this case. I believe many of you here know me."

Zhang Wei slowly rose and came to the center of the courtroom.

"First, I must say that my client has made a mistake; that is undeniable. I also know that the prosecution will present a lot of evidence in the following hearings to prove their wrongdoings, and my client and I are ready to face the consequences for our actions."

Zhang Wei said this, raising a finger, "But only if the facts are true!"

"If the evidence submitted by the prosecution contains uncertainties or cannot be directly traced to my client’s criminal activities, then to protect my client’s legitimate rights, we will have no choice but to confront the prosecution directly in court. After all, although I represent the guilty, they should not endure punishment beyond the crime committed."

At this point, Zhang Wei glanced at Old Li on the judge’s bench, then said, "Regarding the prosecution’s charge of espionage, we choose a not guilty plea, because my client never once thought of betraying Dragon Country!"

"But if the prosecution later adds other kinds of charges, like infringing on network security, selling citizens’ personal information, and so on, then we will adjust our defense strategy to a suitable guilty plea based on the factual circumstances!"

"That’s all I have to say, thank you, everyone!"

With that, Zhang Wei nodded towards the spectator seats and the judge’s bench, then returned to his own seat.

Upon hearing Zhang Wei’s words, Old Li also glanced towards the prosecution.

"Senior Procuratorate Qin, I have to ask you, are you sure you don’t want to add any other sub-charges like the ones Lawyer Zhang mentioned?"

Qin Yang glanced at Zhang Lang beside him, who shook his head.

"Judge Li, our charges are for espionage, and we do not consider adding any other types of charges at this time!"

"I understand!"

Old Li felt that maybe the prosecution was being a bit too aggressive, but it wasn’t his place to advise.

After all, he had said what he had to say.

Next, it was time to select the jury.