0019 Carrying Public Opinion to Influence the Judiciary (Part 2)

"Should I accept a rape defense?"

The Weibo ID of the person who sent this private message is "神之韵".

Sent at 2:13 AM.

Aside from some retweet giveaways, Qu Zhong's Weibo account doesn't contain any original content. She also didn't deliberately change her ID to "lawyer" or her profile picture to a heavily photoshopped professional photo that even her own mother wouldn't recognize her, in order to expand her client base.

So the only possibility is that the comment she casually posted last night, which sank to the bottom, was seen by this person named Shen Zhiyun.

Moreover, judging from the time it was posted, this person must have scrolled through the comments for a very long time before seeing her post, and was very anxious to get her reply.

Qu Zhong clicked on this person's Weibo profile and, after seeing that the IP address was from Shanghai, quickly replied: "Please come to Guanzheng Law Firm in Area C this afternoon. The location is SG Office Building, Building 3, 22nd floor. When you arrive, tell the receptionist you're looking for me. My surname is Qu."

Actually, the phrase "if you have time" is completely unnecessary. How could someone who sent her a private message asking for help at 2 a.m. not have time?

Sure enough, at 1:30 p.m. that day, Li Li came to Qu Zhong's workstation to inform her that someone was looking for her and was already waiting in the conference room.

"Okay, I'm coming."

Inside the conference room sat a woman with long, slightly wavy hair and light makeup. Her posture was relaxed and casual, but when she looked up at Qu Zhong, her gaze was cool and aloof, like a lotus untouched by worldly dust. Unapproachable, untouchable.

Qu Zhong pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down, first introducing herself: "I am Qu Zhong." Then she asked, "What is your name?"

She answered, "Shen Yun."

Shen Yun, the charm of the divine. Qu Zhong immediately confirmed that she was the person who had sent her a private message last night.

Then she asked a stupid question, or rather, a question of ignorance: "What is your surname, Miss Shen?"

Shen Yun paused for a moment, then said expressionlessly, "My surname is Shen."

Qu Zhong was stunned. She never expected that Ju... could actually have the surname Shen...?

Ahem, pretending nothing had happened, she cut straight to the point: "Could you tell me the specifics?"

Shen Yun also got straight to the point: "My husband, Chen Xi, committed rape and is being held in the C District Detention Center. The police have informed me that the case has now been transferred to the procuratorate."

Unlike Yu Yacen, who was hesitant to speak, Shen Yun spoke clearly and fluently, like a confident top student stating his views at a thesis defense.

Chen Xi.

Chen… Qu Zhong keenly remembered that the suspect in yesterday’s police report was surnamed Chen.

So she boldly asked, "Is your husband a professor at T University?"

Shen Yun nodded: "Yes."

Good heavens, Qu Zhong was shocked: How could a case come up just from casually posting a Weibo comment?

Just as the saying goes, once a person becomes famous, all the good things will come to him like a snowball rolling downhill.

The result of this snowball effect is that lucky people become luckier and unlucky people become unlucky.

It's actually quite cruel, much like the gap between the rich and the poor. This unhealthy trend couldn't be allowed to continue, hence the government intervention. But in the legal profession, the Pareto principle applies: without intervention, it grows wildly like weeds.

Fortunately, Qu Zhong was assigned to the 20% group.

"Okay, I understand."

Qu Zhong accepted the case as usual, prepared the entrustment materials on the spot, printed them out, and handed Shen Yun a pen for signing.

After signing her name and paying for Shen Yun, Qu Zhong promised her, "I'll go to the detention center to meet Mr. Chen in the next couple of days. Is there anything else you need to add?"

Shen Yun raised a thin eyebrow indifferently and said something completely out of character for her: "It was that bitch Bai Qing who seduced my husband. She orchestrated this honey trap herself."

Qu Zhong vaguely remembered every word in the police report and guessed that Bai Qing, whom she mentioned, was the victim in this case: "Are you referring to that female student as Bai Qing?"

Shen Yun gave an affirmative answer.

At the end of the conversation, Qu Zhong couldn't help but ask one more question: "Why did you entrust me with this task?"

“I hope someone will defend him and prove him innocent,” Shen Yun’s voice returned to calm as she slowly began, “I have reviewed the cases you have defended before, and you are the best choice.”

"The best choice," she used a word that conveyed a high degree of trust. Qu Zhong's feelings were somewhat complicated. On one hand, she felt this was a huge challenge; on the other hand, she was also afraid that she wouldn't be able to achieve the results she expected.

We can only do our best, just like with all the previous cases.

After watching Shen Yun enter the elevator, Qu Zhong returned to the law firm. Passing the reception desk, Li Li looked up and asked, "What case is it this time?"

Qu Zhong replied: "Rape."

Li Li clicked her tongue in surprise, her mind racing: "Could it be the one from yesterday's news?"

The Chen Xi case has become incredibly popular, with public opinion continuing to escalate and all sorts of comments circulating online.

Qu Zhong nodded with a faint smile. Then she noticed that Li Li's eyes had changed drastically, now showing a look of respect and admiration.

...

The next morning, Qu Zhong went to the detention center to meet with Chen Xi.

Chen Xi, separated from her by a glass partition, looked completely different from what she had imagined.

Rape is the most serious sexual offense as defined in criminal law. This crime infringes upon women's sexual autonomy through violence, coercion, or other similar means, and poses a significant threat to society.

Qu Zhong thought that people who committed such crimes must be sleazy, lustful, and obviously malicious. But Chen Xi was completely devoid of these characteristics.

He had a thin face and wore silver-rimmed glasses, behind which were a pair of calm eyes. In addition, he possessed an inexplicable melancholy air, seemingly innate, probably related to his profession of spending a long time in an ivory tower. In short, he looked like a refined and cultured scholar.

If we were to say that he committed a crime, Qu Zhong could only think of high-IQ crimes such as patent and trademark infringement, and definitely not rape.

Qu Zhong was pleased to have a highly educated client, as she was easy to talk to. She briefly introduced herself to Chen Xi and then began asking him some basic questions: "Where exactly do you live in Zone C?"

Chen Xi: Lane 300, Agate Road.

Qu Zhong seemed startled by these three words, and inwardly exclaimed as if she had never seen anything like it: Wow... a mansion.

Agate Road—just hearing the name tells you it's not a place for ordinary people to live. The houses on that road are all one-apartment-per-floor, and the prices are extremely high. It's said that the koi swimming in the pond there live and eat a hundred times better than the average working-class person.

Qu Zhong then changed the subject to the next question: "You teach at T University, specifically in which department?"

Chen Xi's answer seemed perfectly reasonable to her: "The School of Literature."

After understanding the basic situation, Qu Zhong went straight to the key question: "What is your relationship with Bai Qing?"

This question clearly startled Chen Xi, a barely perceptible glint in her eyes: "I am her teacher, teaching modern literature appreciation."

Qu Zhong's intuition told her that he was hiding something, so she continued to ask, "Besides the teacher-student relationship, do you have any other kind of relationship?"

Chen Xi answered no.

Qu Zhong raised his chin, his admonishing tone leaving no room for doubt: "Mr. Chen, you must tell me the truth so that I can defend you."

...

Upon being released from the detention center, Qu Zhong's first action was to curb the further spread of negative public opinion against Chen Xi.

She selected several influential figures with a large number of followers and sent them individual warnings, telling them not to speculate or make unfounded claims before understanding the facts, and to rely on official information.

As a result, her action directly put her in the spotlight. Her basic information was exposed online, and Guanzheng Law Firm also became a trending topic.

The online condemnation has also shifted towards sympathy:

—Wouldn't it shorten your lifespan to be a lawyer for someone like that? [Doubt]

—Upstairs, lawyers don't care about any of that; they just make their dirty money without any conscience.

—It's really unlucky that the woman below spoke up for the rapist.

—666 even sent a letter, why wasn't she the one who was raped?

The further you read, the harsher the insults become; there isn't a single kind word.

Qu Zhong turned off his phone; out of sight, out of mind.

Not long after, Xu Yanru spun her chair over to her side, handed her a Crispy Shark snack, and said bluntly, "Just ignore what those people say online. They don't understand the law."

Xu Yanru is all bark and no bite; she's actually quite heartwarming in this situation.

Qu Zhong smiled, took the Crispy Shark, and casually opened it, taking a bite. She seemed completely unaffected: "Thank you, I understand."

Qu Zhong could remain unaffected by these comments, but a prosecutor from the Third Department of the District C Prosecutor's Office could not.

Zhai did not want this case to fall to him. Because, given the current public opinion, Chen Xi's rape case had clearly become a public case.

Public cases inherently involve public opinion. Although the judiciary and the courts are supposed to handle cases independently without interference, in a public case, the investigators cannot ignore public opinion. When judgments and decisions are influenced by public opinion, Zhai does not see this as a good thing.

More importantly, he learned the name of Chen Xi's defense lawyer from the trending topics.

Qu Zhong.

He didn't understand, why was it always her?