38: The ingenious netizens

Upon hearing the officer's words, the woman immediately moved to take the Schnauzer.

"Hold on." Ye Su did not hand over the dog. "Didn't you post a 'Lost Dog Notice' saying there was a reward? Now that it's confirmed this is the dog you lost, shouldn't you fulfill your promise first?"

"Oh." The woman turned and signaled to her husband.

The man understood and immediately put on a warm, apologetic smile for Ye Su:

"Brother, thank you so much for helping us find our dog. We haven't had any children since we got married, so we only have Mao Qiu. You have no idea how heartbroken my wife was after Mao Qiu went missing."

As he spoke, the man took out his wallet, pulled out a stack of cash, and handed it over. "This is just a small token of my appreciation; I hope you can accept it."

Indeed, the saying 'one must always be on guard against others' was absolutely correct.

Looking at the money the man handed over, Ye Su doubted there were even ten bills there, and his expression instantly soured.

"Did you misremember? The 'Lost Dog Notice' stated a reward of twenty thousand yuan. Don't tell me you have two hundred bills in your hand, do you?"

When they first walked in and saw that the person who found the dog was just a young man, the man had secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that young people nowadays were easy to fool and too thin-skinned to make a fuss.

Now that Ye Su had called him out directly, the man's expression immediately became unnatural.

"How can the number on that notice be taken seriously? Just think about it, who pays twenty thousand yuan to find a dog? That's completely unreasonable, right? I have about one thousand yuan in cash here; consider it a fee for your trouble in finding Mao Qiu."

"That's right, Mr. Ye." The officer also spoke up from the side. "Sometimes when owners are anxious, they might overstate the reward amount when posting a 'Lost Item Notice'. Since it's confirmed to be their dog, you should just return it to them."

Ye Su remained unmoved. "Once a reward advertisement is published, it automatically possesses legal validity. That is the most basic common knowledge; what is there to be 'unreasonable' about?"

"Since you published the 'Lost Dog Notice' and didn't change it even after a day, it proves that you defaulted to the twenty-thousand-yuan reward amount."

"Now that I have found the dog and brought it here, I have fulfilled my contractual duty. Now it is time for you to honor your promise."

Realizing that events were beginning to exceed his expectations, the man could no longer keep his composure.

"Just as the Comrade said earlier, we were just anxious at the time, which is why we wrote an unreasonable amount. You surely must realize that twenty thousand yuan is unreasonable, right?"

"Now that the dog is found, you start thinking twenty thousand yuan is unreasonable."

"Let me ask you, when you posted the 'Lost Dog Notice', why didn't you think twenty thousand yuan was unreasonable?"

"The 'Lost Dog Notice' was up for so long, why didn't you think twenty thousand yuan was unreasonable then?"

"Now that the dog is found, you only just started thinking twenty thousand yuan is unreasonable. Reward advertisements are protected by law; I think you are treating our country's laws like a joke, aren't you?"

These words left the man unable to retort, and even the officer on the side didn't know how to mediate.

"Ahhh!"

Discovering that the situation was not as they had imagined at home, and seeing her husband rendered speechless, the woman suddenly flew into a rage.

"This is my son! On what grounds are you refusing to return it to me?"

After saying this, she tried to grab the dog directly, but Ye Su had already anticipated her actions. Using the table as a barrier, he instantly raised his phone and began recording.

"What do you mean? Are you trying to assault someone inside the police station, right in front of the Comrade officer?"

The young lady who had just brought the couple in already detested their behavior—breaking their word and colluding to bully a young man.

Seeing that the woman was actually going to strike, she immediately stepped in to block her. "Ms. Lin, this is a police station. Please calm down and control your behavior!"

However, due to the significant weight difference between the two, despite the young lady's best efforts to stop her, she was still pushed backward.

"Ms. Lin, please calm down!" The officer also stood up to intervene. "Mr. Xu, please control Ms. Lin to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings!"

A physical altercation in the police station with the involved party recording on a phone—if this were to get online, who knows how much of a public outcry it would cause.

"Mr. Ye, please put your phone down for now as well."

"She's trying to hit me; how could I dare to put the phone down?"

"Rest assured, with us here, such things definitely won't happen. Besides, there is surveillance in the mediation room, so you don't need to worry."

Surveillance?

Ye Su had a question mark in his mind, but he obediently put his phone down and did not push his luck any further.

Seeing Ye Su cooperate, the officer quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

He now knew that the most troublesome person in the room wasn't the couple playing good cop/bad cop, but this young man who had been speaking softly all along.

"Mr. Xu, Ms. Lin, you heard Mr. Ye's words just now. The 'Lost Dog Notice' was indeed posted by you, and he has the right to ask you to fulfill the agreement."

"Just because he says it's twenty thousand doesn't mean it is! I could say it was two thousand and he just misread an extra zero! If you don't believe me, make him take out the 'Lost Dog Notice' and look at it again!"

"I know you deleted the 'Lost Dog Notice' from the short video platform before you came here, but when that young lady copied down your contact number just now, she already confirmed the amount on the 'Lost Dog Notice'."

"That's right." Seeing the situation, the young lady also spoke up to testify. "I did indeed see that the 'Lost Dog Notice' stated twenty thousand yuan."

"Couldn't it be that she misread it too?!"

Such unreasonable pestering had already made the two officers displeased.

Before the young lady could continue to refute, Ye Su had already shown his phone screen to everyone.

"Before you deleted the 'Lost Dog Notice', I recorded the screen. This can prove that it was posted by your account, and it clearly states the reward amount is twenty thousand yuan."

With ironclad evidence, the woman was instantly silenced.

Ye Su's act of slapping their faces with direct evidence also made the young lady feel satisfied.

"After finding the dog, you didn't contact us but came to the police station first, and you even knew to record the screen in advance. If this isn't premeditated, then I'll say you stole the dog just to extort twenty thousand yuan from us!"

"Right!" The woman immediately regained her spirit. "You stole this dog! If you don't return it to me today, I'm calling the police!"

Sure enough, the netizens in the comment section were truly all-knowing; they could always accurately predict the shady moves of these people.

"Call the police? We are currently in the police station; what are you calling the police for?" Ye Su said unhurriedly.

"You say I stole the dog, well, that's even simpler. When I rescued this dog, I happened to record a video, intending to post it to my Moments. Now, you tell me where you lost the dog, and we can see if it matches the location in my video; that will prove whether or not I stole the dog."

Ye Su turned to look at the officer. "Comrade, you said there is surveillance in the mediation room. If it eventually proves that I didn't steal the dog, does their behavior constitute defamation?"

"Uh..."

While the officer was still hesitating, the young lady already spoke up: "Of course it does. Defamation refers to fabricating facts to slander others with the intent of having them face criminal prosecution. If the circumstances are more serious, it could even constitute the crime of false accusation."

The old Comrade felt a headache coming on: Is it not chaotic enough already?