My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!
Chapter 689 - 432: Why Are the Profits Higher Again?

Chapter 689: Chapter 432: Why Are the Profits Higher Again?

The movie had let out; it was evening, and the street lights came on while the city’s neon started to flicker.

On the overpass, Lin Haitang stopped and leaned on the railing, watching the unending flow of traffic below, the evening breeze gently stroking her hair, a hint of desolation in her eyes.

"Here," Meng Lang handed her a hot drink.

"Thanks!"

Meng Lang glanced at Lin Haitang and stood beside her, slurping a sip of his drink.

"Is there something on your mind?"

Since a while ago, he had vaguely sensed that her mood seemed somewhat downcast, which was unusual given she had agreed to this "date."

After the movie, this feeling had only intensified.

Lin Haitang was silent for a moment, then sighed, "It’s nothing, I guess I’ve just been a bit tired from work lately..."

Meng Lang recalled Lin Haitang’s frequent business trips in recent times.

"What’s the matter? Ran into a tricky case?"

Lin Haitang shook her head, "It’s just that the movie left me feeling contemplative. Many things don’t necessarily yield results just because you persist, and sometimes, even if you do persist, you might not get the outcome you desire."

Meng Lang couldn’t help but nod, "Yeah! I can really relate to that."

Lin Haitang gave him a curious look.

"Oh, what I mean is, just like the male protagonist in the movie, persistence doesn’t always bring good results, but if the intentions are good, I think, in the end, the future will gradually change for the better."

"Perhaps, but for the people of the present, it’s ultimately a missed opportunity... Justice may be delayed, but it might also fail to show up..."

"Yes, yes!" Meng Lang nodded frantically by her side.

About this, he definitely had "profound experiences"!

"The judgment of justice serves to prevent tragedy from recurring.

But if the judgment loses fairness and justice, then similar tragedies will be replayed over and over again, and the law becomes a tool manipulated by money and power.

However, the reality is that there are too many things money can influence: witnesses, testimony, and even the plaintiffs...

Parties generally don’t care about whether it’s fair or just, unless the outcome is in their favor.

Perhaps, as the movie said, there’s really only one illness in this world, and that’s poverty..."

Meng Lang watched Lin Haitang speak passionately, already forming some guesses in his mind.

There’s no doubt that the judicial environment is gradually improving nowadays.

Of course, to be objective, the judicial situation in large cities is generally better than in local areas. The more remote the area, the more likely it is for extralegal forces to be involved in cases that touch upon the core interests of the parties...

Imperfect systems, unscientific allocation of official powers and mechanisms of power operation, and incomplete safeguard systems... these are all influencing factors.

If the use of financial power is mixed in, the situation becomes even more complex.

And the vast majority of lawyers are helpless in the face of such cases.

No matter how competent an individual is, they cannot fight against the system.

Lin Haitang’s recent business trips were likely encountering such situations.

But these kinds of issues differ from ordinary legal offenses and cannot be turned around by individual effort...

All he could do was try to comfort her.

"So, surely our Mr. Lin isn’t planning to quit practicing law for business, set on eradicating poverty and striving for our nation’s common prosperity?"

Lin Haitang was successfully amused by this comment.

"Not a chance, I’m not that fragile. Nietzsche said, ’Fairness is a plea from the weak,’ but in reality, it is the poor who need the law the most.

Because the law treats everyone equally, while the wealthy always have more power in reality to accomplish their will.

The principle of the law is to protect the weak; this is the greatest highlight of human society.

As part of the legal circle, if we ourselves lose confidence in judicial fairness, who else can we expect to have confidence?"

Meng Lang gave her a thumbs up.

"Well said! That’s the Lin Haitang I know! Rest assured, I will also fully support you in the background!"

"You? How are you going to support me?"

"Of course, you take care of fairness and justice, and I’ll take care of the common prosperity!" Meng Lang said half-jokingly.

"Common prosperity?" Lin Haitang looked bewildered at Meng Lang’s declaration of "support."

"I mean, look, it’s dinner time now. I invited you to the movie, shouldn’t you, a little rich lady with a monthly income of a hundred thousand, treat me to a big meal to narrow the wealth gap between us a bit?"

Lin Haitang was rendered speechless.

"But... wasn’t the movie ticket also paid for by me?"

"Aw, let’s not sweat the details; even the law says we should listen carefully to the voice of the people."

Lin Haitang couldn’t help but roll her eyes, "Well, the law also says to transcend the prejudices of the people..."

"How could treating a friend to a meal be considered prejudice! Come on, let’s go, we must have a lavish dinner tonight!"

...

Hospitals are like mirrors, reflecting the world’s human warmth and coldness, condensing the suffering of living beings. In the place closest to death, the most intense joys and sorrows of human existence, the most difficult choices are enacted every day.

And being poor is our most pitiful stance when facing the scourge of illness...

The recent movie wasn’t without its impact on Meng Lang, either.

We are merely ordinary people, in the face of illness, we feel fear, and we desire to keep Living.

Yet a few pieces of silver can dispel all sorts of panic...

In Lin Haitang’s view, legal fairness and justice are important, but for Meng Lang, he feels that "common prosperity" is the fundamental issue that resolves many social conflicts.

The main reason for such conflicts is the outdated manner of wealth distribution.

Poverty and illness, in the end, are issues of wealth distribution.

The initial distribution is monopolized by a large number of vested interests, creating a great wealth gap, a problem not only domestically but in almost all countries.

Throughout history, be it the so-called land annexations or peasant uprisings.

In the end, nearly all human conflicts and disputes, even the changing of dynasties, aside from religion, are caused by social unrest due to the uneven distribution of wealth.

A Gini coefficient is just a broad statistical representation, but the reasons for this situation are complex.

This involves society, law, institutions, human nature...

Perhaps it’s because he’s read so many books that Meng Lang has broadened his horizons, and his previous resentment toward the rich has faded quite a bit.

In his opinion, making money is not about morality.

The bottom line for making money is the law, not morality.

The only way to make money without violating morality may just be through physical labor.

Those who drive BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes are often deemed by the poor as "deceitful and sycophantic," with very few of them honestly working regular jobs.

Because these people follow not moral standards, but pragmatism, with profit as the supreme goal.

Take, for example, highly profitable companies like Fuji Shrine, which often turn out to be sweatshops that play to the extreme the game of "extracting surplus value" from employees.

Of course, they may come up with a set of high-moral-standard corporate cultures to appease employees.

For instance, in the boss’s office, there’s either a Buddha statue, or Bodhisattva enshrined, or plaques hanging with "The greatest virtue is like water" or "Virtue carries all things"...

But those who are wise know that these are all for show to the employees.

90% of the wealthy’s income stems from pragmatism, utilitarianism; they follow market rules, exploit human weaknesses, not morality.

And 90% of ordinary people’s income comes honestly from working, earning money that meets moral standards.

As a brother previously said, some people are poor not because they are lazy, but because the money they earn is too clean.

The reason the poor remain impoverished all their lives is often because they set their moral standards too high...

Though this may not apply to everyone, it could apply to 99 out of 100 poor people.

Of course, the law can restrict various "less than moral" ways of getting rich.

But the flaw of the law is... for the weak it’s all shackles, for the strong it’s all loopholes!

For instance, stealing or evading taxes for amounts like 10,000 is called tax evasion, while doing the same for amounts in the hundreds or thousands of millions is called tax optimization.

And for those who are strict with others but lenient with themselves, that’s called a dual-track system...

Meng Lang, who claims to have diligently studied the Tao Te Ching, knows he has substantial moral standards—not few—but he’s not foolhardy enough to challenge those aspects represented by "404."

Perhaps due to his "occupational disease," unlike Lin Haitang’s spiritual faith, what Meng Lang took away from the movie was something even more "utilitarian"...

To put it mildly, the allocation of medical resources is also a form of wealth distribution.

Looking at the bigger picture, the primary contradictions within nations, and even between nations, are still those of wealth distribution.

And wealth is the root cause and driving force of human wars...

At its core, human conflicts and disputes come down to the issue of wealth distribution, so when this uneven distribution reaches a critical point...

One must be on guard for "sudden events" like "World War III"...

For this very reason, Meng Lang is actually highly motivated to actively promote a more advanced way of "wealth distribution."

Undoubtedly, with social progress, there are now groups in the world with more advanced methods of wealth distribution.

For example, employee stock ownership at Hua Wei, "zero profit" at Amazon, and the millions profiting wildly from Douyin...

These can be seen as entrepreneurs who were the first to eat crabs in the modern advancement of wealth distribution methods, achieving a win-win scenario.

But this is far from enough!

The future trend will surely be... the less entrepreneurs want to earn money, the better their businesses will ironically perform...

"Dammit! Why is this month’s profit higher again..."

Welfare Bag Financial Information Service Co., Ltd.

Brother Biao looked at the string of zeros behind the profit column in the automatically generated report by the "Tianshu ERP" system and scratched his head in irritation...