After listening to the report, Liu Yutong nodded. Tell Suisui that I agree. Let's rent a larger private jet. It will be more convenient for such a large group.
Su Mansu replied, Understood, boss.
Liu Yutong asked again, By the way, Zhao Tianyi is coming with us. Can he finish handling his matters in Huaicheng?
Zhang Tao hadn't been released yet, and the lawsuit hadn't even started.
Su Mansu said, Lawyer Zhao said he will definitely get it done before we go abroad. He mentioned that the second communication meeting with the prosecutor's office will be held in two days. If nothing unexpected happens, the prosecution should drop the charges, so there won't be a need for a trial.
Liu Yutong said, That's good.
Also, communicate with the Yu Group. Our residential project should ideally be delivered by the end of this year. I promised to give Zhang Tao and the others houses, and we can't keep delaying it.
Su Mansu replied, Yes, boss!
She couldn't help but sigh inwardly at her boss's generosity. Working at Wanlonghui was truly a blessing.
Originally, she hadn't planned on buying a house in Pearl City, as purchasing property usually meant settling down long-term, but now she was tempted.
With so many industries under the Wanlonghui Group, plus the upstream and downstream supply chains it drove, the development potential here was absolutely stellar.
Most importantly, the company members were pleasant, interesting, and exceptionally driven.
Three days later.
Huaicheng Prosecutor's Office, Meeting Room 3.
The second hearing for the Zhao Biao case was being held here.
This wasn't a statutory procedure; it was more like a debate. If they could directly convince the prosecution, there would be no need to go to court, and Zhang Tao could be released immediately.
The attendees included personnel from the arrest approval division of the prosecutor's office, relevant police investigators, the defendant's defense attorney Zhao Tianyi, and three invited legal experts.
Sitting at the head of the table was the Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Huaicheng, a man around fifty years old surnamed Zhou.
Let's begin.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Zhou tapped the table and looked at Zhao Tianyi, saying, Lawyer Zhao, please state your reasons against the arrest approval first.
He used to just call him Attorney Zhao, but this guy corrected him every single time to use his preferred title, leaving him quite speechless.
Zhao Tianyi stood up. He didn't hold any notes, as he had memorized the content by heart and didn't need them at all.
Prosecutor Zhou, fellow prosecutors, what I want to talk about today isn't legal clauses. Those are all clearly stated in the written opinions. Today, I want to tell a few stories first.
With that, he turned on the projector. The first photo showed a man covered in blood, lying in a hospital bed.
This man is Chen Ershan. In early 2006, he was robbed at his own convenience store. He grabbed a kitchen knife to defend himself and injured the attacker. As a result, he was convicted of intentional assault and sentenced to one year and three months in prison. During his incarceration, his father fell ill from anger and passed away, and his wife divorced him. After being released from prison, he went south to work. Last Spring Festival, he jumped off a building at a construction site. He wrote one sentence in his suicide note: 'The biggest regret of my life is fighting back that day.'
Then, he brought up a second photo. It was an eighteen-year-old boy who had just reached adulthood.
Wang Xiaojiu. Last year, outside of school, three high schoolers tried to extort protection money from him. He fought back, injuring one of their eyes with his backpack. As a result, he was detained for half a month for picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and was expelled from school. His classmates and teachers all thought he was a delinquent. He swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills. Although he was saved, his mind was damaged. Now he sits at his front door all day, staring blankly.
...
These are all real cases I've found. I won't judge the right or wrong of those verdicts. I just want to ask one question: When our judicial system repeatedly tells ordinary people that there are risks in fighting back, who exactly are we protecting? Are we protecting law-abiding citizens, or are we giving thugs a get-out-of-jail-free card?
The meeting room fell silent for a moment.
Only then did Deputy Chief Prosecutor Zhou speak slowly, Lawyer Zhao, isolated cases cannot represent the whole.
Then let's talk about the case in front of us.
Zhao Tianyi pulled up the files on Zhao Biao's case and said, Zhao Biao, a gang leader in Qingniu Town. According to police records, this man has been involved in illegal activities in Huaicheng and Qingniu Town for many years, including intentional assault, gathering crowds for brawls, extortion, illegal detention, and so on. Most of the time, he escaped punishment by spending money or threatening victims to obtain letters of forgiveness.
However, these are enough to prove that he is a man with a notorious track record. On the day of the incident, my client Zhang Tao was celebrating his wedding. Yet Zhao Biao deliberately showed up to provoke trouble, bringing over a hundred people armed with machetes and steel pipes. They broke into a private residence and took hostages at knifepoint. Let me ask, does this or does this not constitute a violent crime that seriously endangers personal safety?
It does.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Zhou admitted, But after Zhang Tao snatched the knife, Zhao Biao no longer had a weapon in his hand. That is also a fact.
Prosecutor Zhou!
Zhao Tianyi raised his voice. Please put yourself in Zhang Tao's shoes and think about the situation at that time. His wife had a knife to her neck, and his parents-in-law were held hostage. In such a moment, you demand that Zhang Tao first determine whether Zhao Biao has a knife in his hand? You demand that he calculate the limits of self-defense within fractions of a second? You demand that he precisely control the angle and posture of a fall? Isn't that asking the impossible?
This is not law; this is a myth. If the law requires citizens to do things only gods can do in life-or-death situations, then such a law is tantamount to the murder of law-abiding people!
A young prosecutor couldn't help but speak up, But a death did occur.
A death occurred, so someone has to be held responsible? What kind of logic is that?
Zhao Tianyi countered, Then let me ask you, if Zhang Tao hadn't snatched the knife that day, what would the outcome have been? The outcome would be that he was killed by Zhao Biao.
He spoke very sharply today, mainly because this wasn't a courtroom; it wasn't a formal setting, so he could afford to be bolder.
Zhao Tianyi then took out a folder.
These are the written opinions of ten domestic authorities on criminal law regarding this case. Eight of them believe it constitutes justifiable self-defense, and two believe it might be excessive defense but the circumstances are remarkably minor and should not warrant an arrest approval.
Zhao Tianyi pushed the documents toward Deputy Chief Prosecutor Zhou.
Prosecutor Zhou, to approve the arrest or not is not a simple procedural decision. It sends a signal to the whole society: when violence comes, does the law stand behind you, or does it stand against you?
The law must not yield to lawlessness!
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Zhou carefully flipped through the opinions written by the criminal law professors page by page, passing each page to the next person after finishing it.
Everyone read through them seriously before finally looking at Zhao Tianyi.
Before they could speak, Zhao Tianyi said first, I've said my piece for today. No matter what decision you make next, I will respect it, and then I will overturn it in court using evidence and the law.
By the way, let me tell everyone: since I founded Tianyi Law Firm, I haven't lost a single case!
After Zhao Tianyi finished his boast, he executed a handsome turn and left the meeting room.
The meeting room instantly exploded into an uproar.
"Damn, this guy is way too arrogant!"
"Is he threatening us?"
"Prosecutor Zhou, we can't let him intimidate us."
"........"
Zhou Wenbin raised his hand, signaling for everyone to quiet down.
"Quiet, everyone! Lawyer Zhao's words might be hard to swallow, but was he wrong? I think he made an excellent point."
"The law should never yield to lawlessness!"
"........"
The next day, Huaicheng Detention Center.
Zhang Tao had been here for almost thirteen days. Thirteen days wasn't a long time, but it wasn't short either—it was more than enough time for a person to figure out a lot of things.
He sat by the window in his cell, looking out at the small patch of sky.
The sun was shining brightly today, and a few sparrows were hopping about in the courtyard.
"Zhang Tao, come out!" the voice of a correctional officer echoed down the corridor.
His cellmates all looked at him.
Having stayed here long enough, everyone was familiar with the meaning behind the different types of summons: a lawyer's visit, a prosecutor's interrogation, or a release.
Zhang Tao stood up calmly and smoothed out his clothes.
He had thought about so much over these thirteen days, but he had never once regretted his actions. Even if he had to do it all over again, he would still do the exact same thing.
Following the officer down the long corridor, he arrived at the meeting room.
Pushing the door open, he saw two people.
Zhao Tianyi and a young man wearing a prosecutor's uniform.
"Lawyer Zhao." Zhang Tao smiled when he saw him, already guessing what was going on.
Zhao Tianyi also smiled and nodded at him. "Good brother, you're free."
........
