Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 471 - 467: The Real Crown Vanisher? So Many Tricks

Chapter 471: Chapter 467: The Real Crown Vanisher? So Many Tricks

"Hello, Mrs. Wang Ru."

"Hehe, hello..."

Wang Ru glanced at Zhang Wei, responding with an uninterested expression.

But her words made Mr. Li on the plaintiff’s bench instantly lift his head.

"It’s her!"

He whispered to Xia Qianyue, lowering his voice.

He could never forget that voice.

It was this woman who had duped him, persuaded him to increase his position.

However, Xia Qianyue had known about this for a while and looked very composed.

She and Zhang Wei not only knew that this woman was his broker but also knew she had used the same method to dupe over a hundred other clients.

Were all these people silly?

No, they weren’t silly; it’s just that this woman was more cunning than they were.

"Mrs. Wang Ru, to my understanding, you served Dongxing Securities from the beginning of the year until around mid-July, correct?"

"Sort of, but we just held a title, I actually have no affiliation with Dongxing Securities!"

Wang Ru said, glancing at Qian Moli in the defendant’s seat.

Qian Moli was pleased with this response.

"Just held a title, what title?"

"Just a title, you know, I said I was xx of Dongxing Securities while providing the service."

Recalling, Wang Ru said, "It was a project manager from Dongxing Securities who told us to not use our own names when we joined, to use his name instead."

Zhang Wei remembered that the stock meltdown happened after July.

Zhan Qingze only recently took a nominal role in the new project team, two months ago, he had no relationship with the team.

"May I ask the witness, was it this man?"

Zhang Wei quickly produced a photo of Zhan Qingze and placed it in front of Wang Ru.

"Not him!" Wang Ru immediately shook her head.

"Who is this guy? I’ve never seen him!"

"You’ve never seen him?"

Zhang Wei feigned surprise, though he had expected this, "Don’t you know, he is the person in charge of your project team?"

"Hehe, the person in charge of Dongxing Securities was an old man about to retire, I heard he retired around the middle of the year, then they found a simple-minded person to take the title; it wouldn’t be the man in your photo, would it?"

Upon this remark, there was a buzz in the courtroom.

On the defendant’s bench, Qian Moli’s face changed.

What is this witness playing at, isn’t she blatantly telling everyone that there was something fishy with that project team?

"Why would Dongxing Securities assign an almost retired veteran of the company to be the project manager, and then have him retire in the middle of the year, only to replace him with a newbie to run the project team?"

"Could it be, they had a guilty conscience, knew the project was a fraud, and so feared the scandal breaking out, they made the newbie who just took over the project take all the blame?"

At these words, Qian Moli’s complexion changed again on the defendant’s bench.

She could feel the surrounding gaze cast upon her, filled with suspicion and animosity.

"Objection, the lawyer is testifying!"

Sun Kongwen immediately rose and interrupted Zhang Wei’s speech.

"Objection sustained!" Ni Qiuping also agreed, then glared fiercely.

But Zhang Wei, of course, ignored Ni Qiuping’s warning glance.

That tactic couldn’t intimidate someone like him, Zhang Someone.

"Sorry, I retract the last statement."

After apologizing, Zhang Wei approached Wang Ru again, "Mrs. Wang Ru, then I want to ask, how did you all go about prospecting for clients?"

"Cold calls, endlessly repeating cold calls every day."

Wang Ru spoke, her face showing distress, "At first, we made calls by number segments, mostly to Dongfang Capital and a few nearby cities, like Jinying City, Jingui City, Jinnan City, and so on..."

"Every day I would get yelled at; I encountered all sorts of oddballs and lunatics, unreasonable people. During that time, the number of clients we could recruit each day was limited; sometimes, I wouldn’t even close a single deal in a day."

"That must have been tough!" Zhang Wei couldn’t help but nod.

Tough, my foot. Making nuisance calls all day, don’t you have any conscience?

That was what everyone in the courtroom, including the jury, was thinking right now.

"What about later on? I heard you did very well later on."

"Later on, Dongxing Securities somehow got hold of some high-quality mailing lists. The responses when calling those were fantastic, and I inquired a bit; all those people were quite wealthy, either owning yachts or enjoying golf, horse racing, antiques, and at the very least, based on their social circles, they owned cars worth several million."

"How many deals did you close then?"

"Are you asking about one month?"

"No, I mean during this half-year period?"

"I completed over 150 orders, I guess."

Wang Ru recalled the experiences of the past half-year, filled with pain but also joy.

She was mainly happy because she made money.

"Oh, by the way, I had summoned a sales champion from Dongxing Securities’ business department before, but I forgot to ask him at the time; his annual performance was how much, his commission was how much. However, I have some data here, everyone can listen."

Zhang Wei said as he took out a report and announced loudly, "It’s hard to calculate the sales champion’s annual performance, but his commission exceeded six million, and that doesn’t even include the bonus and subsidies, oh~"

Six million.

Making phone calls in a securities company, guiding investors to buy and sell, you could earn six million. That was indeed a significant amount of money.

"Mrs. Wang Ru, how about you? How much commission did you make at Dongxing Securities during this half-year period?"

Zhang Wei said as he flipped to the second page of the documents in his hand.

The content on the second page was the transfer statement from Dongxing Securities to Wang Ru, which she was aware of.

In other words, Zhang Wei was telling her, you don’t need to say it’s okay, I have the information to speak for you.

Wang Ru lowered her head, glanced at the defendant’s bench, and confessed honestly, "About 7.3 million, around that..."

Hiss!

The moment that figure was mentioned, many in the audience gasped in shock.

Good grief!

It was certainly impressive!

Some sales champion worked their fingers to the bone, staying up all night putting in overtime, laboriously slogging through the whole year for six million.

And there you were, amazing as it was, earning 7.3 million in half a year.

Even if you didn’t complete many orders in the second half, you still made more money than the sales champion.

"It seems, Mrs. Wang Ru, you are the real sales champion!"

Zhang Wei couldn’t help but give a thumbs up.

But then, he grew puzzled.

"On the other hand, why do so many people choose to trust you?"

He gestured with his hands, confused, "Do you have some kind of special powerful sales tactics?"

Wang Ru looked around, her gaze particularly focused on Qian Moli.

"Mrs. Wang, does Mrs. Qian perhaps have flowers on her? Why do you keep looking at her?"

Zhang Wei "timely" gave a reminder and flashed a sly smile.

Seeing Zhang Wei’s smile, Wang Ru had no choice but to sigh and say, "Actually, there is a set of sales tactics for this sort of thing."

"In our industry, to deal with ordinary people, you first need to lower their guard, educate them about the platform’s legitimacy, inform them about the development history of stocks, and most importantly, the safety of their funds—bank trilateral custody, complete regulatory compliance of funds, and so on. In short, you have to ramble on and explain a lot, but it might just result in the other person saying they’re not interested."

"Oh, I see, it’s part of the business routine, right." Zhang Wei nodded sympathetically, but he quickly asked, "What do you call those who listen to the explanation for a long time and then directly hang up on you?"

"Lousy people, stupid donkeys, pathetic losers!" Wang Ru said with contempt.

As soon as she spoke these words, the entire room was stunned.

Were those derogatory terms meant for oneself?

"Then may I ask further, at the beginning, when you were given the list of numbers to call, did you have similar terms for that?"

"Of course, the leek list!"

The jury and the audience in the hearing room finally became unsettled.

Sensing the shift in the jury’s and audience’s attitudes, Zhang Wei decided to stoke the fire.

"Oh, Mrs. Wang Ru, you’ve described the routine used on ordinary people. I believe you also have a strategy for dealing with the smart ones, right?"

"Yes, smart people are actually easier to handle than the lousy ones because they have an understanding of investment and finance, and it doesn’t take much effort to explain."

"The key thing is, just let them see that stock at the limit-up price, and they can’t help themselves. Then, when they see the positive news, they won’t even need us to call them back multiple times; they’ll take the initiative to contact us."

"Oh, so smart people fall for it on their own, huh?" Zhang Wei laughed, then asked, "What if you encounter some smart people who are a bit more cautious?"

"Then you talk to them about the future."

Wang Ru was now letting it all out, revealing directly, "There are many similar sales pitches, like befriending them, acting as though you have their best interests at heart."

"Are there similar sales tactics?"

Almost reflexively, Wang Ru came up with one on the spot, "Dear customer, I’ve always believed that what’s suitable for you is the best, after all, nobody’s money comes from the wind, and business isn’t a one-off deal..."

"I’ve focused on this industry for ten years, not to prove how great I am, but so that when you need it, I have the 100% capability to solve your problem..."

"I never believe in 100% guarantees in this world; to promise that would be deceiving you. My personality is such that I prefer to give an 80% expectation and strive for a 100% result!"

"Give me a chance, and I’ll return you a...blah blah blah..."

Wang Ru motioned with her hand as she spoke.

The usual tricks were mostly these.

But Zhang Wei, embodying the spirit of a contrarian at that moment, said, "What you said makes a lot of sense; it’s empathetic and can make people feel your sincerity."

"But I still have to ask, all this talk is just empty words in the end, isn’t it? I can’t believe that people with tens of millions or even billions in assets would be fooled by a few empty words, right?"

"Then we give them examples."

Mrs. Wang seemed well-prepared, and responded with calm confidence, "If empathy doesn’t work with them, then we draw their attention using their interests."

"Examples?"

"Yes, we show them the earnings statements of other clients, make up a story about someone of a similar status to them, saying how insightful that client was, stirring up their competitiveness and curiosity. After all, in this business, it’s all about the tricks."

"Oh, it’s all about the tricks, eh!" Zhang Wei nodded meaningfully.

When he looked back at the witness stand and the jury, he saw many heads bowed down in thought.

Clearly, they were pondering whether they could maintain their composure and not be swayed if they were bombarded with so many tricks.

It seemed, a bit difficult, didn’t it?

Tricks are legion; in the end, there’s only one goal—to get money out of your pocket.

Even, some clever tricks could make you willingly empty your own pockets.

"Thank you, Mrs. Wang, for your response. We temporarily have no further questions for this witness," Zhang Wei said, sensing the jury’s shift in sentiment, and decided to quit while he was ahead.

In the defendant’s seat.

Qian Moli gave Master Tang and Sun Kongwen a look, and the latter two immediately understood.

"Judge Ni, regarding the prosecution’s new witness, the defense requests time to prepare for courtroom strategizing!"

"The court approves, but how much time do you need?"

Sun Kongwen huddled with Master Tang and Qian Moli for a quiet discussion.

"We believe 30 minutes will be sufficient."

"All right, this court could use a drink, too!"

Old Ni agreed to a temporary recess, but she was even more curious about what could be done in 30 minutes.

"30 minutes, looks like they’re planning to pull some trickery!"

Zhang Wei also realized what was at stake and gave Xia Qianyue a look, who immediately understood.

The courtroom began to empty, people leaving one after another.

Xia Qianyue, to prevent Master Tang and others from tampering, chose to stay by Mrs. Wang’s side, protecting this "key witness."

On the defendant’s side, Qian Moli and Master Tang left side by side, followed by a large group of apprentices.

"Master Tang, what do we do next? This witness is a bit tricky."

"Yes, but I’ve thought of a once-and-for-all solution!"

Master Tang revealed a profound and inscrutable smile.

"Once-and-for-all?"

"Exactly, General Manager Qian, a once-and-for-all solution!"

As he spoke, Master Tang glanced in the direction where Zhang Wei and others had left, his gaze resting on Mr. Li’s family from the plaintiff’s side.

minutes later.

In the prosecutor’s preparation room.

"Strange, what are the defense planning to do? They called for a break but are completely silent?"

Zhang Wei stood at the door, pondering Master Tang’s next move.

"Lawyer Zhang!"

Just as he finished speaking, Master Tang waved at him from a distance.

"Coming."

Zhang Wei glanced back at his client’s family but decided to walk over.

However, just a few steps in, a shadow took advantage of his blind spot and slipped into the preparation room.

Master Tang stood not far from Zhang Wei, clearly noticing this scene too.

But he wouldn’t warn Zhang Wei, because the intruder was his man.

"Master Tang, what do you want with me?"

"Nothing much, just that my apprentice and I thought it over, and we believe it would be best for everyone to settle, what do you think?"

"Settle?"

Zhang Wei looked at Master Tang, and Sun Kongwen next to him.

The two exchanged a glance and Sun Kongwen spoke, "We are willing to compensate your client with 3 million, but only if he signs a confidentiality agreement, making a commitment to our company that he will not discuss anything related to Dongxing Securities’ case in the future!"

"And if I don’t agree?"

"Lawyer Zhang, you are the retained attorney, but shouldn’t you discuss this condition with your client first?"

"No need, I have a power of attorney agreement, I don’t need to consult with my client, I can make the decision myself."

Hearing this, Master Tang had anticipated the response.

He too preferred a power of attorney as it saved a lot of hassle.

But he had already prepared a fallback plan, so it was no matter.

"Lawyer Zhang, go ahead and state your conditions, what will it take for you to agree to a settlement?"

Seeing Master Tang’s attitude didn’t seem feigned, Zhang Wei raised three fingers.

"First, Dongxing Securities must admit responsibility for investors’ losses!"

"Second, Dongxing Securities must issue a public statement clearing Zhan Qingze of any responsibility in the fraud case!"

"Third, President Qian must make a public apology to the investors in a public setting."

No sooner had he made these three demands than Qian Moli in the preparation room couldn’t help herself.

"Are you out of your mind, actually expecting me, Qian Moli, to apologize to you!"

"Master Tang, it seems President Qian doesn’t agree?"

"Lawyer Zhang, ask yourself this, would you accept such terms?"

"So it seems we have nothing to discuss?"

Master Tang glanced over Zhang Wei’s shoulder and chuckled, "Indeed, nothing!"

"Well then, I shall take my leave!"

Zhang Wei was aware that, given Qian Moli’s personality, she probably wouldn’t agree to his demands, so he didn’t press the issue.

He returned to the plaintiff’s preparation room, only to find the family of three looking somewhat distressed.

"Mr. Li, are you okay?"

"Ah... I, I’m fine..."

The latter responded haltingly, with a flicker in his eyes.

Zhang Wei glanced at his client but said nothing more.

minutes later.

The recess was over, and the hearing continued.

Both the prosecution and defense took their places.

But this time, the expressions on Master Tang and his apprentice’s faces were completely unworried.

Qian Moli’s look towards Zhang Wei was filled with undisguised scorn.

This made Zhang Wei curious, wondering what they had done in those 30 minutes.

Zhang Wei leaned towards Xia Qianyue next to him.

"Silly, I trust in your ability, you surely didn’t let anyone get close to Wang Ru, did you?"

"Don’t worry, with me here, no one dares to touch her!"

Xia Qianyue pointed at Wang Ru in the witness bench and gave an "OK" gesture.

Yet Zhang Wei’s brow remained furrowed, because it was clear that Master Tang had not moved against Wang Ru, so why were they still so confident?

Their expressions seemed to suggest that they had already won the case.

But if Wang Ru hadn’t changed her story, who could it be?

Zhang Wei’s gaze involuntarily drifted towards the other side of his own bench.

"Mr. Li, why do you seem to be trembling?"

"Ah, no, I’m just too nervous, Lawyer Zhang, there’s nothing wrong with me."

Seeing the client’s explanation, Zhang Wei seemed to understand something.

"All rise!"

Just then, Judge Ni entered the courtroom.

But as soon as she sat down, before she had a chance to speak, Mr. Li and his wife on the plaintiff’s side suddenly stood up.

"Your Honor, we want to withdraw the case!"

The couple almost shouted in unison.

What’s going on?

This scene had not only stunned Judge Ni.

Even members of the jury and the audience were wide-eyed.

This scene caught everyone in the courtroom by surprise.

Why would the plaintiff suddenly want to withdraw the case?

"Oh, so this is their play!"

Only Zhang Wei seemed to have anticipated this scene, yet he could not help but admire the defendant’s tactics.

He looked at Qian Moli and her party in the defendant’s seat, speechless.

You’ve just used a few million to turn my clients, haven’t you?

All I can say is, Master Tang, as the adviser of Fierce Tiger Hall, you surely have a wide array of tricks for deception and manipulation!

I, Zhang Wei, have indeed learned a lesson!