45: I'm waiting for the case to be filed, what are you waiting for?

Inside the Youth Road Police Station in Jingnan District, Jinghai City, Police Officer Old Tian had just finished handling a domestic dispute and was drinking water to soothe his throat.

Working at a grassroots police station, you just keep working without a sound.

The saying, "A thousand threads above, a single needle below," refers to these grassroots units, which are on the front lines and must handle all kinds of issues.

Just like the incident a moment ago, a woman reported domestic violence by her husband, which certainly needed to be handled.

However, after bringing them back and questioning them carefully, it was discovered that the woman had secretly lent money to her younger brother, and when her husband found out, she still felt justified, which led to her being slapped.

Then, she started crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide, reporting domestic violence and suicidal intentions.

Old Tian, with dark circles under his eyes, tried his best to mediate; what else could he do? If she really committed suicide, he wouldn't be able to continue being a Police Officer, and disciplinary action would be certain.

Now, he finally had some free time and could rest.

However, he hadn't even rested for two minutes when he saw the police station door open and a handsome young man with a bag walk in.

Well, another matter had arisen.

Old Tian spoke, "Hello, Comrade, is there anything I can help you with?"

The young man who entered was Zhou Yun, who immediately put down his bag upon hearing this, then said, "Oh, Police Comrade, I'm here to report a case."

As he spoke, Zhou Yun opened his bag, taking out items, and said, "It's a contract fraud case."

Hearing Zhou Yun's words, Old Tian wanted to sigh again, because generally, when ordinary people come to the Public Security Bureau to report such economic cases, they are usually not considered criminal offenses.

It's still that saying, cross-disciplinary cases between criminal and civil law; many industry experts have disputes, let alone ordinary people.

On the contrary, many people are stubborn, so every time they encounter such a situation, Police Officers like him must explain.

However, the other party seemed to have a lot of evidence, so Old Tian casually picked it up and looked at it.

"Sunshine Sports... Oh, I know, is it about that gym closing down?" Old Tian asked, looking at Zhou Yun in front of him.

Zhou Yun nodded, "That's the matter, now I'm here to report the case..."

Old Tian directly put down the materials in his hand and said, "Young man, what is your identity? Those who were protecting their rights have already reported this matter to our station before."

"At that time, it was explained very clearly to them that this is an economic dispute, not fraud."

"Why are you here again?"

"It's useless to come to the Public Security Bureau for this; I suggest you still pursue legal channels to protect your legitimate rights and interests."

Old Tian felt a bit tired because the people protecting their rights and the gym staff had clashed before, and there were many people protecting their rights, so they had responded to calls then.

It was very troublesome because they had to persuade both sides not to conflict and to persuade those protecting their rights to do so through legitimate means.

Because of this, some interesting things happened a few years ago.

In a certain place, there was an unfinished building, and a Police Officer from the police station also bought a unit in this unfinished building.

So, when the property owners were defending their rights, this Police Officer could absolutely not participate; not only could he not participate, but he also had to appear every time to persuade the owners not to cause trouble and to pursue legal channels...

But what about himself? There was nothing he could do, because the developer had already run away, and suing would either be for delivery of the property or for money.

Delivery of the property was impossible; getting money might be winnable, but what was the use of winning if it couldn't be enforced?

How miserable it was.

And now, he was also a bit annoyed by Zhou Yun's idea of reporting the case again; so much time had passed, and the case had already been reported once, with a clear reply given, but now he was back again.

Zhou Yun patiently listened to Old Tian finish speaking, then said, "Police Comrade, I am the Lawyer hired by these rights defenders, and they indeed want to pursue legal channels."

"Please see, this is my identification."

As he spoke, Zhou Yun handed over his Lawyer's license, then continued, "But I discovered a suspicious point during my litigation process."

"Please look here, this is the Bank statement of Sunshine Sports Company, and these are some of the parties' transfer records and photos taken."

"We can see that just before closing this year, the company held a particularly large-scale promotional event, mainly offering a buy-one-year-get-one-year-free deal, and various class sales."

"The Bank statement shows that this promotional event should have sold over two hundred annual cards; not to mention the income from class sales, just from annual cards alone, that's at least hundreds of thousands of yuan, right?"

Seeing that Zhou Yun was about to say something more, Old Tian spoke, "But this doesn't prove that the other party had an intention to defraud; a promotional event is just a promotional event."

"Moreover, as far as I know, the person in charge of that gym... that is, Sunshine Sports Company, has always admitted these debts and taken various active and proactive measures to compensate."

Zhou Yun smiled upon hearing this, "This is indeed not enough, but please look here, this is a mediation agreement signed two months ago, and the person who signed it on behalf of the other party was Manager Ma Qihua."

"He was in the rights protection group, he represented Sunshine Sports, he signed the mediation agreement, and he could even directly produce Sunshine Sports' official seal when signing, which indicates that he is the de facto controller of Sunshine Sports Company."

"But when he signed, he said he was only the company's legal counsel. Isn't this clearly problematic?"

Old Tian frowned, but this time he didn't say anything to question it.

And Zhou Yun had already taken out the third piece of evidence: "Please look at this, Ma Qihua said he was the company's legal counsel, but please look at the company's operating status; currently, the company has no insured employees."

"In other words, this company should have no employees now, so if Ma Qihua says he is the company's legal counsel, how did he become legal counsel, and who paid his salary?"

At this point, Zhou Yun smiled, "Of course, I know this is still not enough, after all, you always say it's an economic dispute, so what about adding these?"

"Look at this chat record, and this surveillance footage; these records clearly show that Manager Ma Qihua is also responsible for operating the closure business for other gyms that have run away."

Upon seeing this evidence, Old Tian was instantly stunned.

After carefully reviewing all the chat records and surveillance footage, Old Tian asked doubtfully, "This, how did you get this?"

There are many differences between criminal cases and civil cases, and the collection of evidence is one of the biggest differences.

The rule of exclusion of illegal evidence, also often referred to in theoretical circles as the "fruit of the poisonous tree," raises the question of whether fruit grown on a poisonous tree can still be eaten.

In criminal cases, it refers to whether illegally collected evidence can be used as evidence.

In common law systems, it is generally excluded. We have specific regulations on this, namely the "Two Highs" (Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate), the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security, and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the "Procedure for Excluding Illegal Evidence in Handling Criminal Cases."

In layman's terms, whether illegal evidence is excluded depends on the specific circumstances; it doesn't mean that any evidence obtained illegally will definitely be excluded.

For content obtained through surreptitious filming or recording, in civil cases, a high probability is considered, and it might be applicable, but in criminal cases, it's hard to say.

That's why Old Tian asked this, because under normal circumstances, Zhou Yun would not have been able to obtain these things.

Zhou Yun immediately said, "I used a rather unique method of evidence collection; you might be surprised when I tell you."

Who are you looking down on!

Old Tian directly said, "Just tell me. I've been a Police Officer for so many years; what haven't I seen? Just tell me!"

Zhou Yun then explained everything about paying Wang Shenggang and also produced corresponding evidence.

Transfer records, call recordings, evidence of registering a company and opening a gym, and so on.

Old Tian was stunned, silently taking the evidence and looking at each piece, finally speaking:

"So, to collect this evidence, you even specially opened a gym?"

His tone carried strong surprise.

Zhou Yun smiled and nodded, "Yes, I opened a gym, then specifically sought out this Ma Qihua, and from that, I obtained evidence proving that he is a professional closer!"

Old Tian hesitated for a long time but still didn't say, "Is there something wrong with your brain?"

A normal person would absolutely not do something like this. How much is your Lawyer's fee anyway!

Just now, he was saying he hadn't seen anything, but now, this situation is truly something he's never seen!

How much investment would that gym require? To spend so much money just to work on a case?

Zhou Yun saw Old Tian's doubt and directly said, "I should have no problem with my brain. The reason I did this is because I believe these people must be punished by law!"

"Why? They open a business to make money, then the boss closes down and runs away, and then professional closers use their specialized knowledge to bully ordinary people, and it all ends up unresolved?"

"Are ordinary people just destined to be bullied? And suing? You are a Police Officer, you should be very clear about these tactics. When you encounter a professional closer, it's impossible to get your money back."

"Hire a Lawyer, secure assets, pay litigation fees, spend a bunch of money, and in the end, get an unexecutable judgment?"

"So I'm going to target them. Is there a problem with that?"

It was still that saying: since he had the system, he might as well do something grand. Others couldn't deal with professional closers for various reasons, but Zhou Yun didn't care!

The money given by the system, plus his professional expertise, was enough to make this case the "First Case of Professional Closers"!

Old Tian was speechless, truly speechless.

Every word this young Lawyer said carried a certain correctness, and in the face of such correctness, he had no way to refute.

Just as Old Tian didn't know what to say, Zhou Yun regained that smile.

"Police Comrade, I now believe the evidence is almost complete. Ma Qihua is a professional closer, so as a professional closer, he certainly has no intention of continuing to operate."

"And when he has no intention of continuing to operate, he still continues to run promotions and sell annual cards. I believe this is a very typical contract fraud."

This was a complete chain of evidence.

In criminal law, there's a term called "isolated evidence cannot prove," meaning isolated evidence cannot prove a fact.

This is also why Zhou Yun had to produce Bank statements, business status, and other evidence; it was to form corroborating evidence.

Old Tian carefully examined the evidence for a long time, finally speaking, "Lawyer Zhou, I will accept this evidence for now, and the case will be accepted. As for whether to file the case, you'll have to go back and wait for notification."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yun nodded. As long as the case could be accepted, it would be easy to handle.

The Public Security Bureau is not obliged to issue a notice of non-filing; for ordinary economic disputes, they just tell you verbally.

Only after accepting the case will a decision be made to file or not to file.

However, Zhou Yun believed there was a ninety percent chance this case would be filed.

The evidence was already staring them in the face!

He was waiting for criminal evidence, and he didn't know what Manager Ma was waiting for.

It was another wait, but thankfully, this wait was well worth it.

On the morning of the third day, Zhou Yun received a call from the Economic Investigation Detachment of the Jingnan District Public Security Bureau.

"It's already been filed?"

It's finally been filed!

Although it seems very simple, and even in some films, TV shows, or novels, the protagonist just needs to explain the legal provisions and state the facts to make the other party awestruck and then file a case.

But the reality is that Police Officers have seen everything; saying those things is useless.

What is needed to handle a case? Evidence! The Court only looks at evidence!

Anyone who studies law knows that facts are divided into two types: one is the actual fact, and the other is the evidentiary fact. The Court looks at the latter.

No matter how reasonable you are, you can't move an inch without evidence.

Lawyer Zhou Yun made so many preparations in the early stage, which led to the current filing.

In a community in Jingnan District, Luo Zibin, a 35-year-old fitness enthusiast, was very annoyed and complaining in various ways in the lawsuit group established by Zhou Yun.

"It's been so long, why is there still no movement? Is that Lawyer scamming us?"

He had waited too long. They said they would sue, but then they just signed some mediation agreement. The key was that the other party hadn't even executed it yet.

And below Luo Zibin, others also started to speak.

"I think so too, @Lawyer Zhou Yun, Lawyer Zhou, tell us what to do now. That Ma Qihua just vanished."

"Yes, he said he would transfer my card, but there's been no movement. What do you think we should do now? We've paid so much in lawyer fees..."

Amidst everyone's mentions, Zhou Yun finally sent a message: "Everyone, don't worry. How about this, I'll give you an address. Those who are interested can come this afternoon. There will be a good show to watch then."

"As for what everyone is saying about the other party not executing the mediation agreement, please rest assured, everyone will be satisfied this afternoon."

After speaking, Zhou Yun sent an address, which was exactly the gym he had Wang Shenggang open.

Seeing that Zhou Yun stopped talking, Luo Zibin was a little confused. It would be resolved this afternoon... Could it be that he was going to transfer everyone's cards to this new gym?

That would be fine too; as long as he had a place to work out, it was okay for him.

And this gym wasn't far.

The thoughts of others in the group were similar; ordinary people's demands really aren't high.

Cheng Jingshu frowned as she looked at the messages in the group. She remembered that when she first found that Lawyer Zhou, he had talked to her for a long time about professional store closers.

It could be said that Lawyer Zhou was very clear about what he was facing.

Is it just ending like this now? She didn't quite believe it.

But she would know after going this afternoon.

Out of over 170 rights defenders, about 30 wanted to watch the excitement, which was already a considerable number.

And although the remaining people couldn't go, Cheng Jingshu had already said that she would record videos for them and send them to the group then.

Zhou Yun, of course, wasn't idle. On one hand, he once again arranged for Ma Qihua to meet at the gym this afternoon to discuss matters. On the other hand, he dialed the number of the contact Police Officer in the Economic Investigation Detachment.

"Hello, Police Comrade Fang, it's me, Zhou Yun again. Didn't that case already get filed? I guess you're also looking for where Ma Qihua is. Coincidentally, he'll be at Miracle Gym this afternoon."

On the other end of the phone, Police Comrade Fang of the Jingnan District Public Security Bureau Economic Investigation Detachment was stunned when he heard this.

He knew that this case was filed entirely by Lawyer Zhou; the other party even opened a gym for this... It was simply outrageous.

So after hearing this, he asked, "Lawyer Zhou, how did you know?"

Zhou Yun smiled and said, "Of course, I arranged to meet him this afternoon. You see, isn't this a coincidence? It saves you the trouble of looking for him."

Police Comrade Fang was dumbfounded. As a Police Officer, he felt the sensation of "all-inclusive service" for the first time.

This Lawyer Zhou not only collected all the evidence but now also found the person for them. It could be said that they didn't need to do anything extra; they just needed to go and arrest him.

Then, after an interrogation and preparing the materials, it would be complete!

This feeling was too good. If every case could be this smooth, it would be great.

Without any hesitation, Police Comrade Fang quickly agreed. Such a good thing must be agreed to!

Zhou Yun arranged this, of course, for the effect of the video program; otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to do this at all.

Just like that, time flew by to the afternoon, and Zhou Yun arrived early.

Wang Shenggang was hiding and wouldn't come out. After all, at the last moment, the other party couldn't be put in danger.

The entire matter was designed by Zhou Yun himself, so he had to take all necessary measures to draw the hatred onto himself.

After waiting a while longer, Ma Qihua still hadn't arrived, but the rights-defending owners did.

"Lawyer Zhou? Where's Manager Ma? How exactly will this be resolved this afternoon? Are our cards being transferred here?"

"Hey, don't tell me, this gym's conditions are pretty good. Transferring them here would be fine too."

Everyone asked questions at once, and Zhou Yun smiled, "Don't worry yet, Manager Ma will be here very soon... Hey, speak of the devil!"

It was while he was speaking that Ma Qihua had already gotten out of the taxi.

Ma Qihua had been doing very well recently. The previous Impasse project for rights defense was basically settled. He had originally thought that Lawyer Zhou would cause trouble, but he didn't expect it to be resolved with just a mediation.

It was simply too easy. He could only say that young Lawyers nowadays were too good at making money.

Thinking this, Ma Qihua walked upstairs all the way to the gym entrance.

This gym was on the third floor of the mall, which Zhou Yun and others had just seen through the window.

However, just as he reached the entrance, Ma Qihua realized something was wrong, because there was a crowd of people standing prominently at the entrance, all of whom were from the previous project's rights defense.

What's going on?

Just as Ma Qihua was in a daze, Cheng Jingshu on the side spoke directly, "The guy surnamed Ma is here! Come, come, come, you come over and explain why you're not executing that mediation agreement!"

"Yes, you must give an explanation today, or don't even think about leaving!" Luo Zibin next to him also roared.

Someone in the crowd pulled out their phone and started recording a video. Ma Qihua was immediately surrounded.

A wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him. Ma Qihua quickly explained, "I told everyone not to worry. These matters will be more troublesome to implement..."

"So it's still not resolved, is it? I'm telling you, youThe surname Ma, if you don't give an explanation today, I..."

Before Luo Zibin could finish his sentence, Ma Qihua roared, "What do you want to do? Do you want to hit me? Come on, hit me! I'm standing here, let you hit me!"

"Always rushing, rushing my ass off! I told you it needs to be arranged slowly. Are you never going to stop?"

You have to smile when you should, and get angry when you should. This is a basic quality of a professional store closer.

Because he had deceived too many times, if he continued that way today, it definitely wouldn't work, so he had to provoke these people and get into a conflict with them.

It would be best if they could lay hands on him, that would be great, because then he could call the Police, and in a state of injury, the Police would definitely help him get away.

Then he would be in the right, and those who hit him would definitely be punished.

These are all experiences from practice.

Luo Zibin was furious, but he didn't dare to act. These days, the Public Security Bureau is constantly promoting that if you win, you go to jail, and if you lose, you go to the hospital. There are many concerns about taking action.

He just started complaining inwardly, what exactly was going on with that Lawyer Zhou Yun!

Ma Qihua had already started shouting, "Manager Wang, Manager Wang, come out! What's going on!"

Soon, Zhou Yun walked out from inside and smiled, "Manager Ma, don't shout."

Seeing Zhou Yun, Ma Qihua's expression changed drastically: "You are, you are that Lawyer. Where's Manager Wang?"

Zhou Yun took out his phone, opened WeChat, and showed the screen to Ma Qihua, saying, "Don't you understand yet? I am Manager Wang."

"To catch you red-handed, I really did open a gym. It wasn't easy."

What? Hearing Zhou Yun's words, Ma Qihua was dumbfounded, pointing at the gym behind him, he stuttered for a long time but couldn't say a word.

The rights defenders next to them were also a bit confused. Luo Zibin spoke up, "Lawyer Zhou, what exactly is going on?"

Zhou Yun smiled, "I've studied your case many times. This person is a professional store closer; basically, all civil avenues have been blocked by them."

"So, it's necessary to use criminal means to facilitate civil ones. However, criminal proceedings are not that easy to initiate. To find evidence, I opened a gym to 'fish' for it."

"It worked quite well."

The rights defenders were stunned. To defend their rights, this Lawyer Zhou opened a gym?

This... this mind, no, what's wrong with this person!

Zhou Yun continued, "So I have to apologize to you. I said I would sue, but I can't sue now, because once criminal proceedings begin, civil ones have to be suspended."

"In the end, this Manager Ma, and the store closers behind him, as well as the boss who ran away before, might all be sent in. You shouldn't have any objections, right?"

Listening to Zhou Yun's words, the rights defenders looked at each other. Luo Zibin directly said, "No objection, definitely no objection! Haha, if they can all be sent in, I don't even need the money!"

God knows how much the other party had angered him. Now that he found out they could send people in, who still cared about that bit of money?

Ma Qihua on the other side had been in a daze. He never thought that this young Lawyer, whom he had always looked down upon, could do such a thing!

Suddenly, Ma Qihua roared, "Why? Why did you do this? How did I offend you, huh!"

Zhou Yun heard this and said, "No, you didn't offend me. It's just that I simply feel that people like you must be punished by law."

"So I planned this whole thing myself. You heard me right, the entire thing was arranged by me. How about it, is it clear enough now?"

What's getting sent in? He also wanted to hit him where it hurts!

You think I did this because you offended me? No, I did it purely for the law, for fairness and justice!

Ma Qihua wanted to retort but didn't know how.

And just then, Zhou Yun looked at the time: "It should be about time. They'll be here soon."

Soon? Before the rights defenders could even start asking, Police Officers had already arrived at the door.

"Ma Qihua, we are from the Economic Investigation Detachment of the sub-bureau. This is a summons. You are now being summoned."

"Do you know why we're arresting you?"

Ma Qihua nodded dejectedly, his heart cold. It's over, it's all over...

He looked at Zhou Yun on the side. It was all his fault, all this Lawyer's fault. If it weren't for him, how could he possibly...