0002 Legality of Crimes and Punishments (Part 1)
When Zhai came out of the restroom and returned to his seat, the lust in his eyes had faded, and he had returned to being the taciturn and unpredictable prosecutor.
At least to the interns, nothing seemed amiss.
His colleagues, the secretary and the prosecutor's assistant, walked into the office in a flurry of activity, chatting and laughing. Upon seeing him, they casually remarked, "I didn't see you in the cafeteria today?"
It has nothing to do with genuine concern; it's more like a business courtesy of saying "good morning."
So there was no need to tell the truth. Zhai nodded slightly and said, "I've already eaten at home."
Everyone quickly returned to their places and said no more.
The silence in the office was broken by two unusually long beeps from Zhai Shi's landline.
The intern stopped the rustling sound of cutting paper and glanced at Zhai Shi out of the corner of his eye. The phone was right next to him, but he didn't rush to answer it. He waited until the third ring before reaching for the receiver and putting it to his ear.
It seems like he has some obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"Hello, please speak."
The four words, spoken at a leisurely pace and with almost the same tone, were clear and crisp, like snowflakes striking bamboo.
Qu Zhong's ears were like those of a prisoner who had been imprisoned for a long time and was suddenly granted amnesty, finally able to breathe the air of freedom.
Almost forgot why she called, Qu Zhong gently rubbed half her face to find her voice: "Excuse me, is this Prosecutor Zhai?"
A few minutes earlier, she saw on the litigation service website that the prosecutor handling Xue Bo's case had two words written on the page:
"Zhai is".
"Um, who is it?"
After confirming it was this person, Qu Zhong fully woke up. She straightened her back and went straight to the point: "Prosecutor Zhai, I am the defense lawyer for Xue Bo's organized prostitution case. I have some objections to the charges in the police's indictment. When are you available? I would like to communicate with you in person."
If the initial uncertain probing was like a gentle drizzle unveiling a spring curtain, then the long passage above suddenly turned into hail, raining down like a flurry of punches.
Confident and eccentric, he couldn't wait to take him to court.
Zhai frowned upon hearing this, but his expression gradually returned to normal after she finished speaking. He pondered for a moment and then said in a deep voice what she wanted to hear: "2:30 this afternoon, 1036 Changsheng Road. Take this straight line when you get there."
Qu Zhong hung up the phone, completely satisfied.
The joy lasted only a moment before the splitting headache returned. This time, the culprit wasn't a symphony orchestra, but a solo performance.
"Xiao Qu, you changed your perfume again today?"
Before you see her, you hear her voice; the one who said this is Li Li, the administrator of Guanzheng.
When Qu Zhong first joined the company, this woman constantly gave him trouble. If he asked her to stamp something, she would dawdle and take forever to do it; if he asked for a document, she would just roll her eyes and say she didn't have it. She even questioned whether Qu Zhong wore perfume each day, claiming, "Someone in our department is allergic to perfume."
I think she's "allergic to anything that doesn't cause trouble for Qu Zhong." Qu Zhong has complained to her friends more than once and has wanted to quit more than once.
Find another job? No way. Not only would her months-long internship be wasted, requiring her to start over – she couldn't afford that sunk cost. Even worse, the economic climate at the time was at its lowest point; if she rashly quit, she'd starve to death in Shanghai within a month.
So she was submissive and cautious. This damned workplace life was like a night-blind person climbing stairs, every step fraught with fear, afraid of making even the slightest mistake.
Later, on countless nights when she was exhausted and bedridden, Qu Zhong lamented that although she was born into a society governed by the rule of law, in the year she graduated, she had mentally endured all kinds of ancient tortures that the late Qing Dynasty had failed to completely abolish during the legal reforms.
However, she is no longer the intern lawyer Qu Zhong she once was, so there's no need to indulge her. She turned her head and smiled brightly, her pearly teeth sparkling: "Yes, Sister Li, Tokyo Citrus shouldn't be so strong anymore?"
The implication is that you have the best nose, so why don't you contribute to the country's investigative work?
Feeling awkward after being rebuffed, Li Li gave an embarrassed laugh and sullenly walked past her to the back of the workstation to chat with other colleagues.
Qu Zhong guessed that this guy had grown even more disgusted with her in his heart. Not only her, but all the colleagues who witnessed this should have been mentally conducting a legal syllogism.
The minor premise and the conclusion are both from the same person.
"Those who cannot integrate into Guanzheng are mostly outcasts; those who cannot integrate into Quzhong are outcasts."
It's ridiculous that everyone here is a lawyer, yet they're accustomed to using a judge's mindset. They insist on judging others' right and wrong based on their own values.
Qu Zhong didn't take it to heart and calmly continued with his work.
Sitting back-to-back with Qu Zhong was a female lawyer named Xu Yanru.
Because she was mentored by the renowned Gao Huoche, a famous lawyer at Guanzheng Law Firm, she was arrogant and spoiled. She would tell every new intern, "All lawyers at Guanzheng Law Firm who are her age (those within three years of each other are considered the same age) will have their salaries set based on her. As long as she is here, she will always get the highest salary."
Qu Zhong is the same age as her, truly the same age. However, Qu Zhong's years of professional experience are more than two years less than hers because Qu Zhong holds a master's degree.
In legal circles, there are two generally accepted hierarchies of contempt: law students look down on non-law students, and master's degree holders look down on undergraduates.
They were evenly matched, each disliking the other. Qu Zhong's undergraduate major was translation, and she later switched to law for a master's degree, while Xu Yanru interned at Guanzheng after graduating with her bachelor's degree.
Over the past two years, Xu Yanru had openly and secretly competed with Qu Zhong quite a bit, but she was exceptionally good at maintaining appearances. While everyone else was muttering under their breath, she seemed oblivious to the undercurrent between Qu Zhong and Li Li earlier, and slid to Qu Zhong's side on her five-wheeled wheelchair, her voice extremely low: "You want to change the charge?"
She was asking about Xue Bo's case.
At Guanzheng, apart from senior partners who have private offices, everyone else's workstations are clustered together in one space. Anyone with a keen eye can overhear everything – who makes which phone calls, what gossips are exchanged, and so on.
She must have overheard the phone call she made to Zhai Shi.
However, Qu Zhong didn't care; she didn't feel there was anything to hide, and simply hummed in acknowledgment.
"But the sentencing is no different, is it?"
It's not a question, it's a statement. Ah, here she is, waiting for her.
Qu Zhong did not fall silent. She maintained her logic and clearly stated, word by word, "There is not much difference, but qualitative analysis is the premise of quantitative analysis."
If there is no crime, there is no punishment. If the charge is improper, there is no way to determine the sentence.
Xu Yanru gave a cryptic smile, then stopped arguing and slid back to her workstation.
Qu Zhong felt that the mere twitch of her lips wasn't enough to prove she was smirking, after all, a single piece of evidence wasn't conclusive. But the next second, a series of piercing keyboard clicks from behind confirmed her judgment.
Damn it, it's better if he's dead.
"Damn it." At almost the same time, Zhai from the Third Department of the C District Procuratorate also cursed under his breath.
In a legal aid case, the suspect refused to sign the interrogation record last week, which was understandable. He was originally hoping that his defense lawyer could help him do something, at least to persuade him to sign the plea agreement, which would be good for the prosecution, defense, and judge, and the defendant could save him a few years in prison.
Before he could even make a contact, the lawyer called him himself.
As a result, this woman actually wanted to discuss the matter of the crime with him face to face?
Is he a new prosecutor who doesn't know how to handle cases? In legal aid cases, lawyers just need to cooperate with them to complete the procedures, right? How come he happened to run into such a meticulous person?
For a moment, both the man and the woman had splitting headaches.
At 2:15 p.m., Zhai's phone rang again.
Zhai knew that his splitting headache had arrived as expected.
After thinking it over carefully in his mind, Zhai still walked to the shop window and took out the uniform he had placed inside.
Like lawyers, prosecutors do not need to wear their uniforms all the time; they only change into them when necessary.
Hearing the commotion, the secretary looked up in confusion: "You have a court hearing this afternoon?"
Zhai shook his head, his tone somewhat helpless: "The reception lawyer."
After saying that, as if remembering something, he called out "Hey" to the intern who was threading a needle.
The little girl immediately stopped her craft and looked at him, stammering, "Teacher Zhai... what do you need me to do?"
Zhai often saw the pitiful, terrified look on the faces of the criminal suspects he interrogated.
Am I fierce? I wanted to ask that, but I stopped myself in time and replaced it with what I thought would be useful: "Come with me to greet them later."
In terms of procedure, the procuratorate generally requires two people to handle a case, including for interrogation, court appearances, and meetings, in order to ensure impartiality. Basically, it is one prosecutor and one prosecutor's assistant.
But Zhai had just been promoted to prosecutor, so he couldn't really command this powerful figure in his office. Fortunately, there was an intern who could barely fill the role of a second person.
Later, Zhai kept asking himself if things would have been different if he hadn't agreed to see this lawyer that day.
The moment Zhai pushed open the door to the reception room and his eyes met the person inside, his back stiffened, and he was rooted to the spot.
His first instinct was to back out and check if the door number was correct; he had entered an interrogation room, not a reception room.
But she had already stood up, smiled first, and then spoke: "Prosecutor Zhai, I am Qu Zhong, Xue Bo's defense attorney."
In an instant, Zhai's mind seemed to explode; he couldn't hear or identify objects. Of all his five senses, only a faint scent of orange remained.
The scent of this season has moved from the subway car to the entire reception area.
*
The prosecutor's office is divided into several areas, including a reception room, interrogation room, questioning room, and hearing room. Different people are received in these rooms: lawyers are received in the reception room, victims and witnesses are received in the questioning room, and criminal suspects, i.e., future defendants, are interrogated in the questioning room.
Finally, it says here that the male protagonist thought he had gone to the wrong place and ended up in the interrogation room. So this is a case of organized prostitution, and the most likely person sitting in the interrogation room is a prostitute.
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