Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 473 - 469: The New Plaintiff, Why Not Take Warning?

Chapter 473: Chapter 469: The New Plaintiff, Why Not Take Warning?

Early September, the back-to-school season.

For students far and wide, the first day of September was a big deal.

Because on this day, they would be returning to school!

The pleasant summer vacation had ended, and it was time to switch from the relaxed and joyful atmosphere of the holidays to the rigorous and disciplined environment of academic study.

However, whether school was resuming or not had little to do with Zhang Wei.

On the contrary, with the absence of children’s interruptions, his conversations with new clients were a bit more convenient.

Inside the hall of Zhang’s Martial Arts School.

Zhang Wei was receiving another pair of clients.

"Mr. Wang, Mrs. Wang, thank you for supporting my work. By the way, where is your son?"

"He has started school. We’ve taken him there."

Mr. Wang was a middle-aged man with a balding scalp. Although he spoke of happy matters, he couldn’t muster any joy.

The reason, naturally, was because the stocks he had invested in recently got trapped in a downturn.

When the stocks were hitting the daily limit every day, he felt trading wasn’t that difficult and got carried away. He couldn’t resist mortgaging the house he had bought.

Not only that, but he’d also kept it a secret from his wife, taking out the money they had saved from years of work. With loans plus savings, he gathered a whole 10 million to increase his position.

What followed, everyone knew.

The 10 million was thoroughly trapped. Not only was he barely able to pay the mortgage, but the company from which he took out the mortgage was calling daily to press him for repayment.

Fortunately, his employer was Blacksmith Technology, and he was a programmer in a tech position. His monthly salary allowed him just to cover the mortgage and a part of the mortgage loan.

But this was no solution. The hole created by the money lost not only exhausted him mentally but also led to discord in the family.

"Don’t worry, Uncle Zhao has explained everything to me clearly."

Zhang Wei made an "OK" gesture, looking at Mr. Wang in front of him.

"Lawyer Zhang, I heard that some people have withdrawn their lawsuits?"

"Yes, and not just one family. But I can tell you about the consequences of withdrawing a suit."

Zhang Wei said this and unlocked his phone, scrolling to find a certain post.

"I am the original plaintiff, and I am here to shed blood and tears against Dongxing Securities for their deceit, for going back on the promises they made to us!"

"This is a post that Mr. Li, whom I represented yesterday, and his family made. Sadly, the post was blocked from receiving clicks. Aside from me, I suppose nobody else could find this post now."

As he spoke, Zhang Wei opened the post and handed his phone to Mr. and Mrs. Wang.

Upon seeing the content of the post, they were momentarily speechless.

"They did what..."

"In life, we face many choices, and they just happened to make a wrong one."

Zhang Wei said this and took back his phone, then turned his gaze back to the couple in front of him.

"Mr. Wang, you should understand what I’m saying, right?"

"Yes, I understand very well. If I could have another chance, I would never touch the stock market again!"

Mr. Wang said, sighing once again.

"Hmph, now you know regret?"

At his side, Mrs. Wang let out a cold snort after hearing this.

Then, as if something had occurred to her, she said passionately, "How could you dare to mortgage our house without telling me? If you had told me, I would never have allowed you to do it!"

"Why didn’t you speak to me about it before? If you had, how could we have ended up in this situation? Now we’re busying ourselves every day with the mortgage and that stupid loan of yours, you..."

"Mrs. Wang, I believe your husband did this for your sake!"

Seeing Mrs. Wang about to continue her tirade, Zhang Wei quickly interjected.

"For me?"

"Yes, what’s the purpose of earning money, if not to spend it on others?"

Zhang Wei said, pointing at Mr. Wang and smiling, "Since Mr. Wang is Uncle Zhao’s colleague, he certainly must toil late into the night with overtime, and weekends are probably busy too. He doesn’t really have anywhere to spend money on himself."

"Programmers, it’s always just a plaid shirt with jeans, worn all year round, and Uncle Zhao has also said that their company provides a cafeteria and late-night snacks. He’s so tired from working overtime every day that he probably doesn’t have time to go out. A man who’s frugal, honest, and brings home a decent paycheck, he’s working himself to the bone for whom – if not for you and your son?"

"I believe Mr. Wang’s impulsive decision to speculate and add to his stock position was also with the goal of making more money for you and your son, to live a better life together, wasn’t it?"

Zhang Wei spoke and gave Mr. Wang a meaningful look.

"Wife, yes, when I impulsively added to my stock position, it was because I thought of you. Haven’t you always complained about how cramped our small three-room apartment was? I wanted to earn enough money to upgrade to a larger home for us."

"I remember you saying how stifling it was living in that small three-room apartment, with one room even used as storage, leaving just two small rooms for the three of us, definitely a bit crowded. So I thought about getting us an improved residence – it wasn’t for our home, then what was it for?"

Mr. Wang said, his eyes moistening.

"Husband~" Mrs. Wang’s heart was slightly moved, and even her tone softened a bit.

"Wife~"

The couple was about to get all shameless and mushy.

"Ahem, Mr. Wang, Mrs. Wang, let’s get back to the case, shall we?"

Zhang Wei hastily coughed to snap the couple out of their lovey-dovey exchange.

"Lawyer Zhang, we don’t have any issues with the case, we’re counting on you!"

Mr. Wang’s eyes showed only determination, free of any other distractions.

As for the case, the one he naturally trusted was Zhang Wei.

The reason, of course, was because of Zhao Qingyan’s involvement.

He had also seen the post from earlier, understanding the tactics of Dongxing Securities.

If they really withdrew the case, they might only get a small amount of money, not even enough to address their urgent needs.

"Alright, let’s continue with the court hearing today. From now on, you and your wife will be the plaintiffs in this case!"

Seeing that it was about time, Zhang Wei hurriedly rushed to the municipal court with Mr. and Mrs. Wang.

...

Municipal court, civil chamber.

Both sides of the lawsuit had taken their seats.

On the defendant’s side, Master Tang had not expected Zhang Wei to find another pair of plaintiffs so quickly.

Moreover, he had his disciples find out that this couple was going to be tough to deal with.

Previously, Mr. Li and his wife agreed to withdraw their lawsuit for the money, and even used the same tactics to persuade several other families.

But after persuading them, they didn’t promptly pay up, instead giving each a small amount of money to get rid of them.

Because Master Tang was certain these people wouldn’t dare to report them, he was fearless.

But the fact that they didn’t pay up quickly also reached Zhang Wei, who told Mr. Wang.

So this time’s plaintiff’s side would definitely not withdraw the case.

Mr. Wang was still counting on the compensation to solve his problems, and he could only trust Zhang Wei. How could he possibly withdraw?

"This little bastard, he’s like a bad penny!"

Master Tang hadn’t expected that in less than 24 hours, Zhang Wei had found another pair of plaintiff representatives, and this time, they were much more reliable than the previous couple.

He looked towards the plaintiff’s bench with a gloomy gaze.

"Master Tang, didn’t you say you could resolve this matter once and for all? How come they still..."

Qian Moli was also dissatisfied, looking over with an unhappy face.

"President Qian, stay calm, even if that little bastard found representatives again, it doesn’t matter. After all, they can’t produce any key evidence!"

Master Tang reassured her, and a confident expression returned to his face.

What does it matter if you’ve found new plaintiffs, I’m certain you can’t do anything to us.

This time, the advantage is on our side!

"All rise!"

At that moment, Judge Ni Qiuping entered the room.

She sat down calmly, casting a glance at Zhang Wei in the plaintiff’s bench.

Their eyes met for a brief moment.

Judge Ni’s look seemed to ask, you little rascal, are your plaintiffs reliable this time?

Zhang Wei gave her a firm look back, indicating, rest assured Judge Ni, this time’s plaintiffs are much more reliable than before.

Judge Ni nodded, hoping it was so.

"This court declares, the lawsuit against Dongxing Securities... the third official hearing, now begins!"

With the gavel’s strike, the hearing commenced.

"Defense, do you require the presence of Wang Ru, who testified in the last round, to take the stand?"

"Judge Ni, we choose not to summon the witness Wang Ru to testify in court,"

Lawyer Sun stood up, casting a meaningful glance at the plaintiff’s bench, "On the contrary, we believe that the withdrawal of the last plaintiff’s case speaks to the nature of this case. The plaintiffs themselves must realize this lawsuit is nothing but a nuisance!"

"Ahem, Lawyer Sun, your statement is rather provocative!"

Judge Ni coughed as a reminder.

Lawyer Sun had to sit down.

"In that case, prosecution, do you wish to summon any witnesses?"

Zhang Wei glanced at Mr. Wang beside him.

"Lawyer Zhang, although I’ve agreed to attend court, going on the witness stand is a bit..."

Mr. Wang was somewhat frightened, his mouth and hands quivering uncontrollably.

"I understand, I understand."

Zhang Wei could tell that making someone who was not good at socializing take the stand was already a stretch.

If he were then subjected to cross-examination by the defense, there was no telling what complications might arise.

Moreover, Mr. Wang and his wife were already at odds, and Master Tang was no fool; some matters would be uncovered with just a little investigation.

It was too risky to put Mr. Wang on the stand.

He wasn’t going to take that risk.

"Judge Ni, the prosecution has decided to conclude its opening statement and rest its case!"

"The court understands," Judge Ni Qiuping nodded, then turned her gaze to the defense bench.

"What about the defense?"

Master Tang scanned the jury box, aware that due to the plaintiff’s withdrawal of charges the day before, the advantage lay on his side.

But when it came to the jury, who could be sure.

Though the jurors might side with them, they could also dislike capitalists, and by extension, resent Dongxing Securities.

What if one of them had a moment of folly, sympathizing with the investors?

So, Master Tang exchanged a look with Qian Moli and then nodded toward his apprentice.

"Judge Ni, the defense calls the first witness, Secretary Zhu, to the stand to give testimony!"

The defense’s first witness was actually Qian Moli’s secretary.

However, this was not beyond Zhang Wei’s expectations.

Secretary Zhu approached the stand.

"Hello, Secretary Zhu."

"Hello, Lawyer Sun."

After exchanging greetings, the questioning began.

"Secretary Zhu, although you have already been in court more than once, I still want you to tell everyone here, whose fault was the loss case of Dongxing Securities?"

"It was Zhan Qingze’s fault!" Secretary Zhu answered with certainty.

"Why?"

"Because there’s evidence!"

Secretary Zhu, saying this, glanced at Zhang Wei in the plaintiff’s seat and calmly stated, "In the previous criminal proceedings, the testimony of my colleague and myself has already proven that Zhan Qingze was the one who bribed those media individuals, using company reimbursement funds, totaling 11.2 million in expenses. This money was the bribe he used to influence the media personnel!"

"I remember in that trial, the defense attorney was Zhang Wei, sitting in the prosecution seat for this current case, correct?"

"Yes."

"So that means Lawyer Zhang actually knows all about the content of that trial, right?"

Lawyer Sun Kongwen mentioned this, flashed a cold smile at Zhang Wei, and then returned to his seat.

"The defense submits the court records from Zhan Qingze’s criminal case as evidence; this evidence can prove that Zhan Qingze is the real briber in this fraud case, and Dongxing Securities was deceived by him. The 11.2 million transferred from the company’s account was submitted without the finance department’s knowledge!"

Judge Ni Qiuping was also familiar with that case, so after receiving the court records, she read a few pages and developed an understanding.

"Secretary Zhu, although documents can tell us the facts, I know that people don’t like to read documents, so I’ll just ask directly. When Zhan Qingze applied for the 11.2 million reimbursement with Ms. Ji in finance, he had met with Ms. Qian on the same day, right?"

"Yes."

"But his meeting with Ms. Qian was in the morning, correct?"

"Yes, the meeting schedule is all recorded, it was in the morning."

"So, what is the finance department’s record of when the reimbursement was made?"

"At 4 PM!"

"That is to say, the email sent by finance was sent to Zhan Qingze’s internal email after the reimbursement was approved in the afternoon?"

"Yes."

"What were you doing at that time?"

"I was arranging Ms. Qian’s meetings for the afternoon. We have an internal conference room reservation record, which can prove I was busy all afternoon."

"Hmm, you were busy all along, obviously you couldn’t possibly be at Zhan Qingze’s desk, deleting emails from his inbox, right?"

"Of course not!"

"Then, we can see clearly, Zhan Qingze deleted the emails himself!"

Zhan Qingze spoke, displaying a portion of the documents through the projector.

The documents enlarged on the projection screen for all in the courtroom to see.

These documents were records from criminal court, naturally including testimonies from individuals like Secretary Zhu.

The jury found the testimonies very telling, and upon review, couldn’t help nodding their heads in agreement.

"Judge Ni, we have no further questions for Secretary Zhu,"

Seeing his objective achieved, Sun Kongwen also ended his questioning.

Zhang Wei stood up and calmly walked to the witness stand.

"Hello, Secretary Zhu."

"Hello, Lawyer Zhang," Secretary Zhu responded, his eyes carrying a hint of mockery.

"Secretary Zhu, may I ask, when was your company’s office system updated?"

"About 5 years ago, I believe."

"I heard you adopted a custom system from abroad, highly professional, such that it’s nearly impossible for any ordinary hacker to breach your company’s system, right?"

"All our measures are taken to ensure the security of our investors’ information and their transactions!"

"Hmm, yes, right. After all, your company has had its fair share of events where large investments were lost due to fraud by internal employees."

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about!"

"Don’t understand?"

Surprised, Zhang Wei feigned astonishment, "Do you recognize Mr. Dai?"

As he spoke, Zhang Wei took out a photo and handed it to Secretary Zhu.

"This person looks somewhat familiar..."

"Secretary Zhu, you’ve been with CEO Qian for ten years now, right? I recall that case caused quite the stir back then. You must have already been employed at that time, correct?"

"I seem to have some impression of this person..."

"This is Mr. Dai. Ten years ago, he embezzled 40 million from investors while working as a stock trader. Forty million from ten years ago was certainly a large sum of money."

Secretary Zhu did not respond.

"Objection, irrelevant to the case!"

From the defendant’s bench, Sun Kongwen stood up, seeking to interrupt Zhang Wei.

"Judge Ni, I believe the case I am discussing is highly relevant to the current one."

"Indeed, I think so too!"

Judge Ni nodded, turning to the defendant’s bench with a cold voice, "Objection overruled!"

"Secretary Zhu, I’d like to ask, your company had already encountered a similar case 10 years ago, where an employee hacked the system and stole 40 million. Why didn’t you take it as a warning then?"

"Even 5 years ago, under the pretense of investor interest, you switched to a new office system, theoretically making your operational procedures more regulated and less susceptible to internal loopholes, no?"

"Yet why has Dongxing Securities, starting from 10 years ago, experienced several incidents where internal staff embezzled substantial funds?"

Zhang Wei took out another document and placed it on the projector.

"Mr. Dai’s case from 10 years ago, the court found him fully responsible, and the amount involved was 40 million."

"Then there was the case of the trader Lei six years ago, involving 200 million; the court also held him fully responsible."

"Following that is Wu Mo’s case from three years ago, with the involved amount reaching an astonishing 1.5 billion; naturally, the court found him fully at fault."

"Lastly, we have Zhan Qingze’s case from this year, wherein the amount involved is an exaggerated 20 billion. If he loses in the public persecution case, will the court also hold him fully responsible?"

Secretary Zhu remained silent as Zhang Wei displayed the details of these four cases on the projection screen.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see the information on the cases, although the so-called ’ringleaders’ have been identified, how much of the involved money has been recovered?"

"It’s zero, not a single penny has been retrieved."

"What does that signify? Does it suggest that the real person with the money is still at large? And these four convicted individuals, who supposedly took so much money, haven’t received a dime - doesn’t that seem somewhat unreasonable?"

Zhang Wei immediately raised a finger, stressing, "Of course, the most important point I want to make with these examples is this —"

He pointed his finger at Qian Moli, towards the defendant’s bench, and questioned, "CEO Qian, I would like to ask you, what’s going on with Dongxing Securities, to have three such cases occur, and yet with this fourth case, you have no safeguards in place, allowing a minor trader to swallow a whole 20 billion in funds?"

"Didn’t the previous three cases serve as a warning?"

Upon this declaration, many in the courtroom were taken aback.

However, they also started to consider the point Zhang Wei had made.

After three occurrences, you should have gathered experience by now.

Isn’t there a saying ’Three strikes and you’re out’?

How come not only have you surpassed three strikes, but this fourth time it was still so easy for someone to succeed?