44: Isn't the evidence complete?

The so-called lawyer’s rhetoric is, in fact, quite simple once you understand it.

It’s just like a magic trick, where you draw attention to one side and then perform the “trick” on the other.

For example, Zhou Yun is using a similar tactic now; after Ma Qihua on the other side finished speaking, he deliberately revealed all of the opponent’s subsequent moves, and he did so in a provocative tone.

Of course, these tactics are real; while professional shutdown artists have many tricks up their sleeves, to those in the know, they all boil down to the same core methods.

Zhou Yun said this precisely to hide his true objective.

And his true objective was that last sentence, the one confirming Ma Qihua’s identity.

Sure enough, the other party hadn’t thought carefully about his previous questions at all and had casually fabricated an identity.

At this stage, it doesn’t matter what identity is used, but in the later mediation stages, it will be a significant issue.

Ma Qihua here spoke up: “Lawyer Zhou, and Mediator, you see, we certainly have sincerity. If we didn’t, wouldn’t it be better to just run away?”

“Right? Why would we need to stay and continue doing these things? It’s precisely because we are sincere that we stay and do things.”

“I can guarantee that we will absolutely not do such a thing.”

When Ma Qihua said these words, he looked very earnest, but anyone who truly believed him would be fooled.

Anyone who has sought legal protection these days knows that some people can lie without batting an eye or changing their expression, and they even dare to swear oaths.

Ordinary people have to think for a long time to tell a lie, but for them, lies just roll off their tongues.

Zhou Yun directly said: “Your guarantee? Who can believe your guarantee, Manager Ma? It’s not that I doubt you, but you have no credibility whatsoever with my client.”

“You have made countless similar guarantees in the past, but not once have you kept your word. So, how about this: let’s write all these terms into the mediation agreement. What do you think?”

Upon hearing this, Ma Qihua was instantly overjoyed internally, but a hesitant expression still appeared on his face.

He truly is a novice, isn’t he? This is pre-litigation mediation, so what if it’s written down?

So, Ma Qihua only hesitated for a moment before quickly saying: “I have no problem with this, Lawyer Zhou. If you don’t trust me, then you can draft this contract.”

“You are a professional Lawyer, so I believe drafting a contract should be no problem for him, right?”

Zhou Yun nodded: “Then I’ll draft it. Just a moment, I’ll be quick.”

After speaking, Zhou Yun went aside to prepare the contract. Such a contract was too simple for him.

He had taken on cases for over a hundred people. If they were to go to Court, it would be through representative litigation, but mediation is different.

Mediation requires talking to each person individually…

However, Zhou Yun could roughly guess what the other party was thinking: nothing more than believing that pre-litigation mediation has no legal effect, so he could sign anything.

Here, we need to differentiate. There are many forms of mediation. We won’t mention the others for now; here, we’ll only discuss the difference between pre-litigation mediation and pre-trial mediation.

Pre-litigation mediation is conducted by mediators from the Court’s pre-litigation mediation center.

As the name suggests, it is mediation conducted before a case is formally filed.

People in the legal system know that a few years ago, there was frequent talk of source governance of litigation and proactive judicial action, so basically, all cases were sent to pre-litigation mediation.

However, starting from the second half of this year, there has been no mention of source governance of litigation or anything similar.

On the contrary, the leaders of the Supreme Peoples Court directly stated that they must resolutely prevent the disguised control of case filing under the guise of source governance of litigation.

To put it plainly, it’s still the same old story: the original intention of doing this was good, because there were too many cases to review, so source governance of litigation was needed.

But it ended up being a bit problematic, because local Courts used source governance of litigation to control case filing.

“You see, there are regulations from above to do this, so your cases won’t be filed. Go to mediation first; you must go to mediation.”

This contradicts the regulation of “case filing registration system.”

Moreover, mediation in various regions often involves various delays. They say it’s one month, but in practice, some mediations last several months, which invisibly increases the cost of rights protection for many people.

And one point must be clear: the time for pre-litigation mediation is not counted in the trial period, because the case has not been filed then!

You must remember this point!

Pre-trial mediation, however, is different. This is mediation conducted after a case has been filed, by the judge or judicial assistant responsible for the case, and that time will be counted within the trial period.

At this point, there won’t be endless delays. At the very least, the judge has to watch the time. If mediation isn’t possible, he has to rule quickly, otherwise, it will be very troublesome if the trial period is exceeded.

Of course, pre-trial mediation is not what many people understand it to be, where the judge asks if you want to mediate before the trial, and if not, the trial begins.

It’s not like that.

Before sending you a summons, the Clerk or judicial assistant will communicate and mediate with both parties in advance; it’s an ongoing process.

Zhou Yun knew what the other party was thinking, but what he wanted was precisely for the other party to think that way!

Soon, a fresh mediation agreement was produced. Cheng Jingshu glanced at it and expressed her agreement. She now completely trusts this young Lawyer Zhou.

She believes that he should not trick her.

Moreover, there are no other options now. She had asked so many lawyers, and basically, they all gave the same answer: winning the case is not a problem, but the risk of enforcement is very high, and there is a high probability of not getting the money.

Only this Lawyer Zhou explained the situation of professional shutdown artists to her, so now she must trust him.

Ma Qihua took it and began to read it carefully. The young Lawyer on the other side had a very solid foundation. This mediation agreement basically included everything he had just said.

But he’s still young, isn’t he? Does he really think a well-made agreement is useful?

So, Ma Qihua quickly began to sign. Although he didn’t know why the other party had listed an “identity” next to the signature, he still signed as instructed.

Agent Name: Ma Qihua

Agent Identity: Legal Manager of Sunshine Sports Co., Ltd.

After signing, he pressed his fingerprint. The mediator stamped the mediation center’s seal. Two copies were made, and Zhou Yun nodded with satisfaction.

Ma Qihua was even more satisfied. The two shook hands, both smiling.

With the first step completed, according to the mediator’s intention, the next step would be to conduct mediation in batches.

Soon, Zhou Yun left with Cheng Jingshu.

Ma Qihua walked out of the Court and dialed a number.

“Hello, Mr. Liu, it’s Old Ma. That Lawyer on the other side is a complete novice. Yes, we’ve already signed a mediation agreement, and the rest can be mediated slowly.”

“This project should be fine. Yes, Mr. Liu, if there are new projects later…”

Mr. Liu’s voice came from the phone: “If there are new projects, I will definitely save them for you.”

Hearing this, Ma Qihua quickly expressed his gratitude. He wasn’t the only “watchdog” in the company. Although there were many projects, everyone still wanted to do a few more.

Next, it was business as usual: continue to wait. Doing cases requires patience, especially in this situation.

The most time-consuming part was actually comforting the clients.

During the day, he handled some ordinary cases, mostly divorces, with labor disputes ranking second, and private lending third.

These are the three most common types of civil cases currently.

Many clients are pitiful, lending money to relatives, friends, classmates, etc., and because of saving face, they don’t get IOUs or leave evidence. As a result, they only come to sue after the other party disappears.

Some don’t even know the other party’s personal information very well…

One can only say that in this day and age, it’s best not to lend money if possible. If you really want to lend, you should be prepared to consider that money as gone.

Otherwise, just wait, there will be plenty of trouble later.

Even worse are those who use their family homes as collateral for friends; that’s even more tragic…

And so, the two individuals, each with their “own schemes,” began to put on an acting show.

A gym needs to operate for at least two months before preparing to run away; this is the shortest time for those bosses who abscond with money in reality.

Of course, if you search online, you’ll find that many stores operate for four months to half a year from opening to absconding.

This is because the “watchdog” will operate the store for another one to two months after taking over, depending on the marketing situation.

Two months is both a long and a short time.

At least Zhou Yun is already preparing to transfer law firms.

Previously, he didn’t transfer mainly because there was a regulation that a practicing Lawyer must practice at a law firm for at least six months before being able to transfer.

Lawyer transfers are very complex. Transfers across provinces, across cities, and within the same city are all different.

Some provinces even require lawyers transferring across provinces to re-intern.

Zhou Yun is naturally transferring within the city, but he still needs six months of practice time.

This is because lawyers’ cases often take several months to start, and to ensure lawyers handle cases stably, this time limit was set.

And Tianhe Law Firm will definitely make things difficult for him.

Because according to relevant regulations, in principle, a Lawyer’s transfer must be approved by both the incoming and outgoing law firms.

The relationship between a Lawyer and a law firm is not a simple employment relationship, because a Lawyer’s practice certificate is registered with the law firm. If you want to transfer, you must cancel your practice certificate at the current firm and then re-register at another firm.

So, all these preparations need to be made in advance.

In reality, there was even a case where a female Lawyer wanted to transfer, but the head of her current firm refused, demanding that she sleep with him before he would allow the transfer.

Some people are curious and say that there are no such things in the legal profession. They are too young. Lawyers are also people, and they also have various small circles and unwritten rules.

Didn’t Shanghai expose a Lawyer scandal before, where five out of seven female Lawyers at a law firm were propositioned by the firm’s head…

Time passed quickly. During the waiting period, Zhou Yun took on some more cases, each one more outrageous than the last.

A middle-aged woman was walking her dog without a leash, and the dog bit someone else in the community. The bitten person got a rabies vaccination and then wanted the woman to bear the responsibility for compensation and apologize.

However, the woman adamantly refused to pay, claiming her dog was not sick and that the other party chose to get the vaccine themselves, and that she had no money to compensate.

For such a case, Zhou Yun even retrieved the other party's Bank statements and some purchasing records from a certain online shopping platform.

It turned out that the woman had just bought several thousand yuan worth of dog food not long ago…

Regarding this, Zhou Yun directly lashed out during the Court hearing: "What? Are you trying to tell the plaintiff—if you don't get vaccinated, all you lose is your life, but if I pay for your vaccine, my dog will starve?"

After he finished his tirade, even the judge couldn't help but crack a smile, then quickly rapped the gavel, signaling for the plaintiff's representative to watch his words.

The woman remained silent for a long time, finally deciding to pay the compensation, and she paid it right there in Court.

After that, he took on a divorce case, representing the male party, who was the plaintiff.

The female party did not hire a lawyer and represented herself in Court.

As the hearing began, the female party declared that she had new, “powerful” evidence to submit.

At that time, Zhou Yun was still dumbfounded, thinking, "Holy cow, am I encountering an evidence ambush again? Does the other party really have some amazing evidence?"

Soon, the female party pulled out a plastic bag from her clothing pocket, and from the plastic bag, she took out a condom—yes, a used one…

Don't ask Zhou Yun how he knew; it's a question he never wants to answer in his life.

The female party held up that item and stated to the judge, “This is what we used last night. We still had marital relations last night. Can you say our relationship has broken down?”

“Whose relationship breaks down and they can still have marital relations like this?”

At that moment… Zhou Yun was utterly stunned, then sat down and remained silent for a long time.

This evidence was truly powerful, so powerful that he, a great lawyer who had lived two lives and had a cheat, couldn't refute it.

Moreover, he could tell that the female judge, who was a virgin, was also at a loss when she saw this evidence.

Fortunately, the Clerk must have been well-experienced; he immediately stepped forward and told the other party to put the item back.

One can only say that there are too many absurd things in Court hearings, and divorce cases are the most prominent among them.

In any case, Zhou Yun has decided that unless he starves to death, he will not easily take on divorce cases in the future!

And in his free time, Zhou Yun was also checking some litigation records in the city.

He was performing an advanced search using the name Ma Qihua to see if there were any other similar lawsuits.

This method doesn't work anymore; a few years ago, most cases were uploaded online, and advanced searches could easily find the other party's litigation information.

But now, there are far fewer cases on the Judgment Document Network.

So, after searching for a long time and finding nothing, he could only wait.

Just like that, two months finally passed.

On a bright morning, Zhou Yun found Wang Shenggang.

“Can we make a run for it now?” Wang Shenggang said with a hint of reluctance, “I’ve felt quite happy these two months running the shop.”

Zhou Yun spread his hands, “Of course you’re happy. I paid for everything, and you’re the boss for free, with no worries about losing money. Of course you’re happy.”

“Hurry up, we’ve been preparing for so long, and it all comes down to this last push.”

Wang Shenggang took a deep breath and slowly started to get excited. Indeed, he estimated that if this case were exposed, it would definitely shock a lot of people.

Because there had never been a case handled like this before!

Not to mention netizens wouldn’t think of it, even professional closure specialists wouldn’t be able to conceive of it.

“Do you see this person? His surname is Ma. First, give him a call and tell him you have a shop that can’t continue operating, and someone recommended you to ask him.”

Wang Shenggang nodded, then walked aside and started making the call.

Of course, his phone had already been set to record calls.

On the other side, Ma Qihua was dealing with clients at the entrance of a training institution.

“Everyone, please don’t be anxious, really don’t be anxious. Look, I haven’t run away, I’m right here. Whatever you want to discuss, we can talk about it.”

He wasn't supposed to appear for this project today, but too many people called the Police, and the Public Security Bureau, for stability maintenance, asked him to show up.

After half a day of negotiation, the rights protection crowd finally dispersed.

Ma Qihua was about to report the situation to General Manager Liu when his phone rang. He picked it up and saw it was an unknown number.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Hello, may I speak to Mr. Ma Qihua?” a male voice on the phone asked.

Ma Qihua was a bit puzzled but still nodded and said, “Yes, this is he. What is it? Do you need something?”

“It’s like this, Mr. Ma. I have a gym, yes, I opened it two months ago and found it couldn’t continue operating. If I keep it open, I’ll just be losing money. Someone recommended me to you…”

Hearing this, Ma Qihua wasn't surprised; many people in this line of work knew about it.

However, he didn't directly admit it. Instead, he said, “Oh, a shop owner, well, let me give you a number. You can contact this person, ah, and tell him directly whatever you need.”

After speaking, Ma Qihua gave the other party General Manager Liu's phone number.

Because General Manager Liu is responsible for business review, if there are other risks, they will not proceed.

However, Ma Qihua still informed General Manager Liu, as this business was initially directed to him, so if it was accepted, it would definitely be handed over to him.

Naturally, General Manager Liu had no problem with this.

Now, professional closure specialists are also starting to face internal competition; they will post relevant advertisements on various platforms and in their friend circles to attract business. Now that a project has come to them, they naturally have to accept it first.

After the two parties connected, General Manager Liu quickly began the review, and naturally, there were no issues at all.

The rent was paid, the equipment was bought, it just couldn't continue operating, and they didn't want to refund the pre-paid card fees, which perfectly met the standard.

However, because the duration was relatively short, there would be a certain risk. But Wang Shenggang quickly proposed that the fee could be 40 percent!

Generally speaking, the fees charged by professional closure specialists are around 30 percent of the pre-paid amount; that's usually the maximum.

Because the original owner also needs to make money.

At such a price, General Manager Liu naturally had no problem. After the review passed, he began to notify Ma Qihua to connect.

“Old Ma, regarding the project you mentioned earlier, there’s no problem. It’s not about mismanagement; that owner is doing a short-term operation, so there might be some trouble, but he’s offering a lot of money. Pay close attention.”

Ma Qihua was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, “No problem, General Manager Liu. We’ve done short-term operations before. There might be some issues with the regulators, but it’s manageable.”

They just provide professional services and don't care about these things at all.

So, Ma Qihua and Wang Shenggang quickly added each other on WeChat, with the note: Ma Qihua.

Zhou Yun wanted to laugh when he saw this name, because this person was the biggest breakthrough in the entire case.

But not yet. Zhou Yun quickly sent the first message.

“Mr. Ma, is that right? My friend told me you are very professional. Can you show me some successful cases?”

As mentioned before, professional closure specialists also face internal competition, so they will send some successful cases as examples to others.

Normally, this is fine, because if they were to be arrested, the original owner would also be arrested, and who would specifically go and surrender themselves?

So Ma Qihua had no doubts and quickly sent over some of the exemplary cases he had handled.

“Mr. Wang, please take a look. These were all personally handled by me, with no subsequent issues whatsoever. Everyone can rest assured and earn their money. Let them report or sue; there will be no liability whatsoever.”

After Zhou Yun opened and saved all of them, he then invited the other party to come to the shop.

One afternoon, Ma Qihua arrived at the gym. The high-definition camera specially installed at the entrance captured his frontal photo clearly.

Wang Shenggang was handling the situation, while Zhou Yun had already brought all the evidence collected during this period to a nearby Police Station.

By now, the evidence in his hands was sufficient for the Public Security Bureau to conduct an investigation.

The evidence requirements for criminal cases are very high, but to file a case, you don't need to present all the evidence, and Zhou Yun couldn't do that either, because he doesn't have investigative power.

The existing evidence, Bank statements, and the evidence in the hands of the parties involved, indicate that this shop conducted two promotional activities before closing.

One was a few months before closing, and the other was in the last month before closing.

From the landlord, it was learned that the shop had not renewed its lease at that time and had instead defaulted on rent.

And Ma Qihua's involvement in the two cases indicates that he is a professional closure specialist.

Well then, he had no intention of operating at all, but he took a large sum of money through promotions before closing!

What is this? This is called “with the purpose of illegal possession”!

The subjective aspect of a crime is very special: the suspect must have criminal intent. But in reality, you can't open a suspect's head to see their thoughts.

Therefore, it must be proven through other evidence.

Now, the evidence in Zhou Yun's hands is already sufficient.

A closure specialist whose main business is professional closures certainly does not want to continue operating. This can be seen from his words and chat records.

In this situation, subjectively, there was an intent to defraud.

Objectively, they carried out “promotional activities,” usually various sales of courses and card memberships, often for two or three years.

When subjective and objective aspects align, it is a straightforward case of fraud.

At Qingnian Road Police Station, Zhou Yun walked in slowly, carrying his bag.

He wondered if the Police Officer would be surprised to see his evidence…