Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 427 - 423: On the Scene, Pretrial, The Rules of Drinking Tea?

Chapter 427: Chapter 423: On the Scene, Pretrial, The Rules of Drinking Tea?

Wednesday, afternoon.

Old Tan’s Pickled Fish, shop location (ruins).

Zhang Wei and Zhao Xiaoxiao arrived at the scene, only to find that the entire shop had been burned down, even affecting the neighboring stores.

The area was now cordoned off with safety tape, and there was field personnel standing guard nearby.

The guard on duty, Zhang Wei could only silently exclaim at the coincidence.

"Father-in-law, what are you doing here?"

Zhang Wei pretended to have bumped into him by chance, greeting him with a beaming smile.

"You kid, what are you up to? Don’t try to get cozy with me, I’m on duty here,"

Xia Donghai looked at Zhang Wei, thinking to himself that this chap showing up must mean no good.

But what’s strange is, who’s the girl beside this guy? She looks somewhat familiar.

Oh, I remember now, it’s Old Zhao’s kid from next door.

As for Zhao Qingyan, Xia Donghai still had an impression, because after all, where his home was located used to belong to them.

"What are you doing here, kid? This is the scene of an arson case."

"Father-in-law, what a coincidence, I’m actually the defense lawyer for the accused, just stopping by to take a look at the scene."

"Just stopping by?"

Xia Donghai muttered to himself, finding this ’coincidence’ a bit hard to believe.

"Forget it, forget it. You can go in and take a look if you want. The Investigation Department and the fire department have already inspected everything, it’s actually harder to find something that isn’t damaged!"

Thinking that it was his son-in-law, Xia Donghai decided to let them pass.

Only then were Zhang Wei and Zhao Xiaoxiao allowed to enter the scene.

The entire shop had been completely destroyed by the fire, and even the structure of the walls had cracked from the explosion, with scorch marks everywhere and bits of wall plaster occasionally falling off.

"The explosion happened in the kitchen, let’s go take a look."

There was no door left to the kitchen; they walked through the burned-out corridor to get there.

In the air, there was still a lingering pungent smell, and everywhere they looked was a mess.

Zhang Wei walked to a pile of burnt kitchen waste and examined it carefully.

"It seems that some staff members were lazy when placing cleaning supplies, leaving things scattered about without effective management."

He stroked his chin, looking at the burned debris on the ground and analyzing the situation.

Zhao Xiaoxiao also came over, imitating Zhang Wei by stroking her chin.

"Do you think any of this is useful?" she asked, feeling it was a waste of time.

"Second daughter, you don’t understand. This is evidence that could be used against us,"

Zhang Wei pointed to the chaotic burned items on the ground. "If the staff were negligent in placing tools, it amounts to a lack of safety management, which can create safety hazards."

"Once the prosecution or the insurance company determines the accident’s responsibility lies with the shop owner and the staff, the shop owner might be sued and jailed, and the insurance company won’t make a payout."

"Insurance company?"

Zhao Xiaoxiao was confused, how did this involve an insurance company?

"Second daughter, you haven’t had much exposure to society, so you’re not aware. Actually, when opening a shop or a company, one buys insurance."

Zhang Wei pointed to the shops around them, explaining, "Typically, this sort of insurance is called ’commercial property insurance,’ and almost every shop will have it. If the accident’s responsibility is not determined to be Old Tan’s, he might even receive a sizeable compensation."

Zhao Xiaoxiao’s eyes darted about, her curiosity piqued, "How much money are we talking about?"

Zhang Wei glanced at the shop’s main hall and analyzed, "Considering the size of this shop, and estimating the insured amount and compensation ratio, it could be a few million I suppose?"

"Tsk, a few million, what’s so great about that!"

Hearing it was only that amount, Zhao Xiaoxiao looked disdainful.

Zhang Wei saw his second daughter’s nouveau riche expression and was not pleased.

Your dad’s got money, you’ve never lacked money from a young age, how could you understand the struggles of the poor.

Back in the day, I also struggled with poverty, fretting over tens of thousands in student loans.

"Money is always one of the motives in criminal cases, and it’s a very frequently occurring motive at that!"

"So what you’re saying is, someone set the fire on purpose, to commit insurance fraud?"

Zhao Xiaoxiao’s eyes moved as she recalled Old Tan’s every move.

"I feel like there’s something off with that boss, he was in dire need of money, could it have been him who started the fire?"

"But he didn’t have the time to commit the crime," Zhang Wei objected.

Even though it was the weekend and the shop was busy, Old Tan actually left quite early to pick up Xiao Zhi and Chen Xiaoyu.

The family was together the whole time, providing a solid alibi.

Old Tan didn’t have the opportunity to commit the crime.

"But you’re right, the prosecution might ask that question since the testimony of family members as alibi witnesses indeed carries very little weight in credibility!"

Zhang Wei said as he took Zhao Xiaoxiao on a round through the kitchen, but unfortunately, they didn’t find any problems.

If there really were a problem, the investigative department and the fire department would probably have found it by now.

"It’s just that the smell is so pungent here, anyone who didn’t know better would think gasoline had been burned!"

Zhang Wei turned to glance at the kitchen one more time, couldn’t help shaking his head, and walked out with Zhao Xiaoxiao.

"You’re leaving already, kid?"

"Yeah, I still have to prepare for the case, it might go to trial very soon."

"Impossible, wasn’t this case just last week? The investigation hasn’t even been going on for that long, has it?"

"Because the case was taken over by a youngster, I guess he wants to catch me off guard!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Xia Donghai, Zhang Wei quickly left.

Two hours later, they arrived at a sports-themed park in the city center.

The place was full of people exercising at night, with night runners, cyclists, street dancers, and even some live-streamers.

Zhang Wei and Zhao Xiaoxiao had been waiting here for quite a while when they finally saw their person.

"Chef Wang!"

The person Zhang Wei and Zhao Xiaoxiao were here to meet was the head chef of Old Tan’s Pickled Fish.

The man’s last name was Wang, who looked in his thirties, with a trendy style that didn’t match a chef at all.

After meeting, Zhang Wei got straight to the point and asked Chef Wang to testify in court.

The latter readily agreed, indicating that Chef Wang must have had a good relationship with Old Tan.

With that done, Zhang Wei’s mission for the day was also completed.

In the evening, at Lin Mansion.

Zhang Wei received a notification from the court.

"Oh, okay, I got it. The preliminary hearing is tomorrow morning, and the trial could be in the afternoon, right?"

"The presiding judge is Judge Liu?"

"Of course I know him, Xiao Liu, quite a fine young man."

On the other end of the phone, the clerk notifying Zhang Wei was somewhat speechless.

What’s with that tone of yours?

To those unaware, one might think you’re either an old lawyer or a senior relative of Judge Liu.

Zhang Wei quickly ended the call but showed an expression of having anticipated this.

"Hou Liangliang, aren’t you a little too hasty?"

Zhang Wei muttered to himself, looking forward to tomorrow’s trial.

...

The next day, Thursday.

Since today could likely consist of the preliminary hearing plus the trial, Zhang Wei came to the municipal court early in the morning with Zhao Xiaoxiao.

Similarly, the prosecution arrived quite early, a whole group of them.

Zhang Wei was puzzled, wondering why every time the opponent was from the Procuratorate Headquarters, there would be a crowd of onlookers, wasn’t that adding pressure on them?

Haven’t they seen how Judge Liu gets a bit nervous when he presides over a case and there are so many of them in the audience?

Of course, Judge Liu hadn’t arrived yet, and Zhang Wei was worrying needlessly on behalf of the judge.

As for why there were so many people from the Procuratorate Headquarters, it was of course due to Hou Liangliang’s identity.

After all, he was the son of the chief prosecutor, and naturally, they had to come and support him.

Not only that, but when Hou Liangliang needed an assistant, Zhao Chunming directly assigned his ace, Xiao Baihe, to be his co-counsel.

This made Hou Liangliang very happy.

However, Xiao Baihe then brought along Tan Yingying as an assistant and had her sit next to Hou Liangliang, much to his displeasure.

In fact, Xiao Baihe wasn’t pleased either; he had no particular fondness for second-generation figures like Hou Liangliang and rejected him from the bottom of his heart.

Both were in the legal field, but look at Zhang Wei, then look at yourself, and compare to see the gap between the two.

Zhang Wei, an orphan, managed to graduate from East University Law School, work in Jincheng, and even become an ace attorney, all on his own.

Somewhat surprisingly, once compared, Xiao Baihe felt a lot more favorable towards Zhang Wei.

At this moment, both sides were in place for the trial.

On the prosecution’s side.

"Prosecutor Xiao, what’s your take on this case?"

"Looking at these files, the case should be in the bag."

"Later, can you give me some advice and help me ask a few questions?"

"No need, senior brother can handle it himself."

Hou Liangliang was looking for an opportunity to strike up a conversation with Xiao Baihe, but Xiao Baihe was very perfunctory.

Similarly, Tan Yingying, who sat between the two, also felt somewhat speechless.

Am I a bit too redundant here?

On the defense’s bench.

There sat Zhang Wei and Zhao Xiaoxiao, along with the defendant Old Tan.

As for Mrs. Chen Xiaoyu, she was sitting in the back on the witness bench with Tan Xiaozhi.

"How are you going to pick your jurors for this case?"

Although Zhao Xiaoxiao was not a defense attorney, she had taken on the role of an assistant.

"Actually, it’s very simple, the prosecution’s main line of attack will definitely be Old Tan’s work negligence."

Zhang Wei said, patting Old Tan’s shoulder, "The prosecution will try by all means to prove in court that even the slightest neglect or the smallest bit of dereliction could lead to the occurrence of a fire or explosion, and you, Old Tan, would be the negligent party."

Understanding the gravity of the situation, Old Tan anxiously asked, "Then what should we do?"

"My strategy for now is to go for a guilty defense, aiming for discretionary sentencing after acknowledging your negligence."

Zhang Wei thought carefully and analyzed, "Let’s see if we can get the family’s forgiveness, spend some money to settle this matter, if you have insurance, use the insurance compensation to make up for the loss, this is the best solution right now."

"As for the upcoming trial, that’s my concern, not yours."

While speaking, Zhang Wei began to think internally, "I should select jurors who don’t care about formalities, minor details, or even rules!"

"Because only such people will understand you, Old Tan, rationally."

"But getting such people to understand you is also quite difficult..."

All in all, it’s going to be tough!

"All rise!"

With the announcement of the Court Guard, the young Judge Liu entered the scene.

He glanced at the prosecution bench and breathed a sigh of relief.

He was glad that the prosecutors weren’t anyone he knew, which meant there shouldn’t be any difficulty.

But then his gaze moved to the defense bench, and his face immediately fell.

Zhang Wei!

With Zhang Wei’s case, Xiao Liu felt he needed to prepare nitroglycerin pills, otherwise, it would be too much to bear.

Look at the prosecutors from the Procuratorate Headquarters seated in the hearing bench, they’re obviously here to put pressure on me.

Especially their gaze at me, fixed after I came in, it was as if they wanted to eat me alive, so scary...

However, Judge Liu still mustered the courage and walked step by step to his seat on the bench.

"Ahem, since both the prosecution and the defense are present, let’s begin the preliminary hearing of the Inner Ring Wan Jiahui Market fire case."

Xiao Liu said, looking at both sides, "Prosecution and defense, please use brief statements to declare your respective positions for the upcoming trial."

On the prosecution’s bench, Hou Liangliang was the first to stand.

"Judge Liu, and everyone else in the courtroom, I believe this to be a case of severe negligence causing death. The defendant Tan Zhiqi’s work negligence led to the death of a night-shift cleaner."

"And because of his negligence, the shop sustained damage from the explosion and fire, affecting several nearby stores with irreversible economic damage. The prosecution holds that all this is the responsibility of the defendant Tan Zhiqi."

"His behavior is tantamount to condoning the occurrence of the fire. His years of laziness and perfunctory behavior have led to this blaze; his actions amount to arson!"

Judge Liu was shocked when he heard Hou Liangliang’s words.

"Prosecutor, are you suggesting that you want to charge the defendant with malicious arson?"

"No, Judge Liu, you misunderstood, I am charging the defendant with severe negligence causing death, ’arson’ is just an internal term we use for communication within our system."

Judge Liu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he might have misheard.

If they were charging for arson, that would really escalate things.

But he had also heard of this case, many people within the internal system referred to it as the arson case.

He really hoped it wasn’t actually true!

After Hou Liangliang stated the prosecution’s stance, the defense bench became unsettled.

"Lawyer Zhang, how long could one be sentenced for severe negligence causing death?"

"Normally, negligence causing death is punished with 3-7 years imprisonment, but for severe cases, it can be over 10 years, even 10-15 years is possible!"

Old Tan asked, and Zhang Wei replied coldly.

Hearing this, Old Tan immediately tensed up.

"Don’t panic, I know what to do!"

Zhang Wei waved his hand to cut him off, and then he stood up.

"Judge Liu, my client has chosen to plead not guilty!"

It was a simple, clear, and decisive stance.

"A not-guilty plea?"

Yet Judge Liu was surprised once again.

Why do you have to throw me a curveball even in declaring your position for the trial?

"Lawyer Zhang, I didn’t hear you wrong, did I? You intend to defend your client with a plea of not guilty?"

"Yes!" Zhang Wei nodded affirmatively.

"A not-guilty plea means you have to prove that this fire had no direct connection with your client. Are you sure you want to do this instead of seeking a sentence reduction under a guilty plea?"

"Judge Liu, we would also like to apply for a reduced sentence, but this was merely an accidental incident and not a case of gross negligence leading to death. I believe the prosecution is making a mountain out of a molehill, which is why we have chosen a not-guilty plea."

Judge Liu looked at Zhang Wei and Old Tan, "Are you certain you don’t want to consider it for a moment and discuss it with your client?"

Old Tan said nothing, apparently consenting.

Zhang Wei replied calmly, "We have already discussed it, and both my client and I have chosen to plead not guilty!"

"Alright, since this is the result after your consultation with your client, I have no objections."

Judge Liu banged his gavel to announce, essentially setting in stone both parties’ positions for the trial.

"Court Guard, bring in the jury panel candidates."

Following the Court Guard’s instructions, the jury candidates gradually filed in and took their seats.

On the prosecution’s side, Hou Liangliang remained motionless.

Zhang Wei waited for a while, and upon seeing that the other party still made no move, he stood up.

If the prosecution wasn’t going to ask any questions, then he would.

"Ahem, I would like to ask the jury, do you all enjoy drinking tea?"

The jury looked at each other, and many nodded.

"It’s fine if you don’t like tea. Surely you have friends or family members who do, right?"

Many nodded again; this was true indeed.

"Then, I wonder if you have heard about the rules of tea-drinking etiquette, such as how, as guests, you should politely respond when the host pours tea?"

"To me, saying ’thank you’ every time tea is poured seems rather tedious and also makes the relationship between host and guest seem distant. Therefore, tea drinkers have invented a ’finger tap gesture’ as a form of polite etiquette for guests."

At this point, Zhang Wei paused, then explained, "What is this finger tap gesture? It also has to do with seniority and age; different age groups use different finger taps!"

"For instance, if a younger person pours tea for themselves, they tap the table once with their index finger to express gratitude. If peers pour tea for each other, they tap the table lightly with their index and middle fingers together. However, if an elder pours the tea, you should put all five fingers together, forming a fist, and tap the tabletop three times, signifying utmost respect and gratitude—like prostrating oneself in thanks. This is the highest form of the finger tap gesture. Does everyone understand?"

Amidst the jury, there was a shared look of bewilderment.

This finger tap gesture was something they were hearing about for the first time.

"So, how many of you use this finger tap gesture when you drink tea? Please raise your hand."

In the jury, only a few individuals raised their hands.

"Among you, how many have heard about this finger tap gesture?"

A few more hands went up this time, but still less than half of the total number.

"When you drink tea, how many of you say ’thank you’ to the person who pours it?"

This time, many more raised their hands, while only a few did not.

"Thank you for your responses," Zhang Wei said in thanks, then directly faced the judge’s bench.

"Judge Liu, the defense accepts jurors number 1, 4, 5, and 7, and we request the exclusion of jurors number 3, 6, 11, and 17."

Judge Liu took out a pen and started to make notes, while also wondering, What does this tea-drinking etiquette have to do with this case?

Similarly, Hou Liangliang on the prosecution’s bench furrowed his brow.

"What does this question from the defense mean?"

"I... I don’t know..."

Tan Yingying immediately shook her head beside him.

But Hou Liangliang wasn’t interested in her answer. He just wanted Xiao Baihe to say something.

Xiao Baihe didn’t respond, and she didn’t even glance at him.

Seeing that his co-counsel, whom he personally selected, was ignoring him, Hou Liangliang’s gaze turned a shade darker.

In the same way, his look towards the defense’s bench became more hostile.

"Asking a bunch of pointless questions isn’t going to win you the case!"

"In this trial, I have the support of the investigative department. So, the advantage is mine!"

Hou Liangliang was convinced that he would not lose to Zhang Wei; this time, he was determined to vindicate the Procuratorate Headquarters!