154: President Lan is really a good person!

“Lawyer Zhou, Lawyer Zhou, love without material possessions is a pile of loose sand, so why does the police arrest people for love with material possessions?”

“Hello Lawyer Zhou, the owner keeps calling my new phone, can I sue him for harassment?”

“Lawyer Zhou, if a death sentence is not carried out, will it affect my credit score?”

It was the usual start to the weekly live broadcast, which basically always began with bizarre questions from netizens.

Zhou Yun sat in front of his computer, looking at these questions, with a relaxed expression on his face.

Now, this had become a daily interaction between him and the netizens in the live broadcast room, a form of relaxation, perhaps.

“Love with material possessions? Are you sure a reproductive activity you exchanged for money is love? Take my advice, don’t bother with all that nonsense.”

After Zhou Yun finished speaking, he was about to answer the next question, but the second-ranked user in the live broadcast room, who had given many gifts, seemed unconvinced and sent another message.

“Then why is marriage fine? You see, nowadays, so much betrothal money is required for marriage. If there’s no love between the two parties, isn’t it just exchanging money for reproductive activity? It’s just that the former has a limited number of times, and the latter has an unlimited number of times…”

Seeing this, Zhou Yun laughed. This user, named “Love Follows The Clock,” was truly a talent.

Ever since he first started broadcasting, this user had been asking these questions, and he was still asking them now.

However, perhaps he had been influenced by the live broadcast room quite a bit, so he had learned a thing or two.

Look at this understanding: both involve exchanging money for reproductive activity, one with a limited number of times and one with an unlimited number of times…

Zhou Yun then said, “Brother Love Follows The Clock, I actually answered this question for you before. What’s the difference? The difference is that the former is illegal, and the latter is not illegal, do you understand?”

Previously, the other party had asked why having a mistress was fine.

In Guang City, Du Jinghao, a seasoned enthusiast of foot massages, hydrotherapy, and all kinds of wellness activities, looked at his phone. He was the “Love Follows The Clock” brother online.

He was also a long-time fan of Zhou Yun’s, never missing a single live broadcast since the very first one. He had given many gifts, but he had never surpassed “Night Raid on Widow Village.”

His family background was very ordinary; he was a long-time local, living off the rent from about thirty apartments, and remained unmarried.

In fact, the Public Security Bureau was helpless with such people. What could you do even if you found out? Notify his family? His parents had long since given up on him, as long as he didn’t get sick. Notify his wife? He had no wife. Notify his workplace? Hilarious, he had no workplace at all. Spending fifteen days in a detention center was considered a health regimen…

In short, this brother was already famous locally; going inside was like going home.

But at this moment, Du Jinghao looked at Zhou Yun’s reply on his phone and found it a bit hard to understand.

“Lawyer Zhou, so it’s just a matter of whether it’s illegal or not?”

Zhou Yun said, “Many people may not understand, but this is the fact. What’s the difference? The difference is that one is legal, and one is illegal.”

“If you still don’t understand, then think again: what is the law? What is the essence of the law? I’ve said it before.”

“Alright, no more talk of politics today. Let’s answer the next question: the owner keeps calling your new phone, can you sue for harassment?”

“Good heavens, you must be the modern Captain Jia. Why did you write your name on my phone? I suggest you turn yourself in.”

After answering the questions, he chatted for a while, then connected with people one by one, but there were no good cases.

After all, he didn’t create dramatic effects here; it was truly completely random.

Time quickly moved to the next day. Not long after Zhou Yun arrived at his office and sat down, Xiao Duan came in.

“Director Zhou, Director Zhuang wants you to go over. It seems there’s something.”

Zhou Yun was a bit surprised when he heard this. “Old Zhuang wants me to go over? He always used to come here. Alright, I’ll go.”

After speaking, he went to the other Director’s office, where Old Zhuang was already waiting.

Seeing Zhou Yun enter, Old Zhuang immediately smiled and said, “Lao Zhou is here, come, sit, sit.”

Zhou Yun was not polite, pulling up a chair and sitting down directly, saying, “What’s up, Old Zhuang? What’s so important that you had to make me come over? Xiao Duan could have just told me.”

Old Zhuang smiled and said, “Actually, it’s nothing much. It’s just that every year, the Jinghai City Lawyers Association organizes a legal popularization activity, sending lawyers to the grassroots to popularize the law.”

“This year, I’ve coordinated with the Provincial Lawyers Association, and they will lead the effort, along with some professors from Jiangdong University of Political Science and Law, to conduct the activities, which means traveling to other cities and counties.”

“Do you have any thoughts on this?”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun immediately said, “Old Zhuang, it’s not that I’m not giving you face, but it’s really meaningless to go to these places. You know the problems in many places have nothing to do with the law.”

To put it bluntly, no matter how well you do your legal popularization work, if some units don’t take the law seriously, then there’s nothing you can do.

This is not baseless talk; some people have indeed said this: if you talk about the law with them, they tell you to go find whoever made the law, because their place just won’t comply.

Old Zhuang smiled and said, “That’s why I’m asking you to make conditions. President Lan Hongbo of the Provincial Lawyers Association also wants to do a good job with this activity, and he will likely try his best to meet your demands.”

Make demands, huh? Zhou Yun pondered for a moment before saying, “My demand is very simple: a thousand legal popularizations are not as good as one real, hands-on experience.”

“If I go down and encounter an interesting case, then I want to take it. That’s not a problem, right?”

Hearing this, Old Zhuang smiled even more broadly: “This condition is not excessive at all. Wait, I’ll go and communicate with President Lan. It should be fine.”

Walking to the side, Old Zhuang immediately pulled out his phone.

Zhou Yun’s conditions were indeed similar to what he had expected.

This was one of the activities for his promotion. Why? Could someone like Zhou Yun be easily let loose?

If you really let him loose, God knows what kind of trouble he could stir up for you.

When they come looking for you then, what will you do? Can you handle it?

If you can’t handle it, then quickly step aside and resign voluntarily.

This was a test. If Chairman Lan Hongbo could withstand the pressure, then Old Zhuang would first go to the Provincial Lawyers Association as a deputy, and then wait for the other party to retire.

If he couldn’t withstand it, then he shouldn’t blame him.

In this day and age, if you want to get ahead, you can’t be afraid of offending people. There’s only one position, and everyone wants to sit in it, so what to do? You must fight for it.

This is not a dinner invitation. Although it hasn’t reached the point of a life-and-death struggle, it is still very cruel.

Old Zhuang has been able to serve in the City Lawyers Association for such a long time; he’s not some pushover.

It’s just that in front of Zhou Yun, he acts that way. Just ask Jiang Qiming, and you’ll know that Old Zhuang is particularly ruthless when he sets out to deal with people!

Soon, the call connected. Old Zhuang spoke into his phone: “Hello, President Lan, oh, there’s something I want to tell you.”

“You previously wanted Director Zhou from our firm to participate in this activity, right? He has agreed in principle.”

“But there’s one thing: he likes to handle cases, so if he encounters a suitable case during this trip, he’ll take it. And when he handles it, there might be a bit of a commotion, so our Lawyers Association will need to provide protection.”

It’s a simple principle: if they go down under the name of the Provincial Lawyers Association, then when something happens, the Provincial Lawyers Association must take responsibility. Don’t let the other party pressure you to the point where you can’t handle it.

On the other side, at the Jiangdong Province Lawyers Association, Chairman Lan Hongbo, fifty-five years old this year, immediately laughed upon hearing this: “No problem, President Zhuang, Lawyer Zhou can take any case he wants. The Provincial Lawyers Association will certainly provide him with protection.”

It’s just going down to popularize the law; what could possibly happen? Even Zhuang Zhenrui could handle it before. How could he, the dignified President of the Provincial Lawyers Association, not be able to handle it?

Hearing this, Old Zhuang smiled and then said:

“And since it’s an activity organized by our Provincial Lawyers Association and universities, if the parties involved don’t have money, can we perhaps set up some legal aid together…”

Although Zhou Yun didn’t mention this, as the Director of the law firm, he definitely had to fight for the other party’s interests.

This was a very normal behavior.

What’s most important in a lawsuit? Money is most important!

Zhou Yun usually liked to use “copyright fees” or similar to offset lawyer fees, and this practice actually had problems.

If the Lawyers Association really pursued it, Zhou Yun would have been punished long ago.

This was essentially a disguised form of free service, but… frankly, given the current situation, how could the Lawyers Association possibly punish him? Even if the Lawyers Association wanted to punish him, the Bureau of Justice would be the first to disagree.

To put it bluntly, the Lawyers Association doesn’t allow lawyers to take cases for free, mainly to prevent internal competition and malicious competition. From a lawyer’s perspective, this is very normal.

They set a guiding price for you, and you shouldn’t go below that price. This way, no matter what, it leaves a meal for other lawyers and prevents the emergence of “law firm giants.”

But from the perspective of others, isn’t it market-oriented? Why do you still have this? Other industries are already so competitive.

Think about the concept when those giants in food delivery and ride-hailing entered the market: all kinds of subsidies and free services, first capturing customers, and then controlling them.

You can’t say who is right or wrong with these two ideas, and arguing about right or wrong on such issues is meaningless. Only children argue about right and wrong; adults only look at interests.

Moreover, the Lawyers Association as an organization is itself a product of its time. Its essence is an industry organization, just like other associations in other industries.

However, due to historical reasons, it has been granted some administrative powers, so it can formulate some internal industry regulations and impose penalties itself.

This makes a difference; with power in hand, what they say carries weight!

Not to mention ordinary people, many lawyers complain. You know, lawyers have to pay annual membership fees to the Lawyers Association, mostly 1,300 yuan per year in most places, and 2,000 yuan in some places.

Law firms also have to pay, roughly several thousand yuan.

This is mandatory; as long as you are a member of the Lawyers Association, you must pay. However, according to regulations, every lawyer must be a member of the Lawyers Association, so it means every lawyer must pay membership fees.

In addition, there are annual regular or irregular trainings, which are all chargeable and mandatory to attend…

When this request was brought up, Chairman Lan Hongbo on the other end began to frown.

“President Zhuang, isn’t this a bit difficult? What if Lawyer Zhou does something like before, like large-scale lawsuits, then what do you say about this…”

To this, Old Zhuang laughed and said, “Since it’s legal aid, we can just follow the legal aid standards, right? A fixed fee, no matter how big the case Zhou Yun takes, the fee is fixed, mainly to avoid some troubles.”

Hearing this, Chairman Lan Hongbo understood and his brows relaxed, saying, “In that case, it’s not impossible. I’ll discuss it with the Political Science and Law University, and it should be fine.”

The funds of their units are still very sufficient. Under a fixed fee, Zhou Yun wouldn’t have to worry no matter what.

Everything settled, Old Zhuang hummed a tune and returned to his office.

“It’s all arranged. You’ll go down under the name of the Provincial Lawyers Association. You can take any case you want. President Lan has personally promised that he can handle it!”

He didn’t know why, but when Old Zhuang said this, he felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction!

After such a long time, someone finally dared to stand up and say, “Whatever case Zhou Yun handles, he can handle it.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun’s eyes lit up: “Old Zhuang, are you sure it’s really ‘any case I want’?”

Old Zhuang said naturally, “Of course. What kind of status does President Lan have? How could he lie to you?”

He paused and then added, “And I recorded it.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yun silently gave a thumbs-up: “Director, you’re the best.”

Old Zhuang waved his hand with reserve, saying, “These are small matters. Not only that, President Lan also said that all the cases you take this time will be handled as legal aid, and the specific fees will be borne by the Provincial Lawyers Association and Jiangdong University of Political Science and Law.”

Legal aid is certainly not free. Cases that you apply for and get approved by the legal aid center are paid for by the national treasury to the lawyers.

After saying this, Zhou Yun’s eyes lit up: “Director, how did you do it? Someone actually agreed to such terms?”

Old Zhuang smiled and said, “Now you know what a Director is, right? Alright, go prepare. It’s probably in the next two days. The specific team leader should be a Vice President from the Provincial Lawyers Association.”

“You do what you need to do; don’t worry.”

Zhou Yun walked out of the office, feeling like he was walking on air.

President Lan, huh? He’s really a good person. Since he’s giving him so much face, it would be a disservice to him if he didn’t handle a few major cases this time.

Lawyer Zhou was as understanding as ever.

Time quickly moved to two days later; the day of departure arrived.

Zhou Yun, carrying his shoulder bag, arrived at the Jiangdong Province Lawyers Association. He realized it was his first time visiting this place since he had transmigrated.

After entering, he gave his name, and soon two people came out to welcome him.

“Director Zhou has arrived, welcome, welcome. Let me introduce myself, I am Chairman Yan Ruiyang, the Vice President of our Jiangdong Province Lawyers Association, and also the team leader for this activity.”

“This gentleman beside me is President Lan Hongbo.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun quickly stepped forward and grasped the man’s hand: “President Lan, I’ve heard your name for a long time, but never had the chance to meet you. Today, I finally have the opportunity.”

“I’ve read all the books you published before. In terms of legal research, you are the foremost in our Jiangdong Province!”

Chairman Lan Hongbo was a bit bewildered. This… wasn’t this Lawyer Zhou rumored to be particularly difficult to deal with? How come as soon as they met, flattery came flying out?

Although the flattery sounded a bit stiff and unnatural, you had to consider who was giving it!

This was the famous Lawyer Zhou!

Even if his flattery was stiff, it still made people happy!

He’s a good person; it must be those people below who don’t know how to deal with Lawyer Zhou. Look how much he respects me now.

As the saying goes, flattery never fails. Many young people find it awkward to hear, but flattery is truly something everyone likes.

So Chairman Lan Hongbo enthusiastically waved his hand: “Alright, Director Zhou, come in. We’ll have a short meeting, and then you can depart.”

“I hope you all do a good job this time and promote our Lawyers Association and Jiangdong University of Political Science and Law well.”