Tokyo: Rabbit Police and Her Evil Partner

Chapter 484 Unscrupulous Lawyer
Zhou Hao met An Shuyao at the entrance of the office building.

Recently, during the plum rain season, Jiangcheng has been experiencing continuous rain and thunder. In low-lying areas, the water level has reached thigh-deep. An Shuyao was holding an umbrella, but she still got soaked to the bone. The strong wind blew the umbrella inside out, and several of the ribs broke. She squatted by the glass door, not making a fuss, and even the security guards couldn't bear to shoo her away.

Zhou Hao only glanced at her and hurried past, but unexpectedly the young girl followed him directly, specifically asking to see him. She said she had a case she wanted him to handle, but his assistant had refused.

Zhou Hao didn't take it seriously. Many customers came to him by word of mouth, and his assistant usually helped him get rid of them. Occasionally, a customer would be persistent and block the street downstairs asking for his help—he was a government official and didn't take on ordinary cases.

"If you're not going to answer, try someone else."

Zhou Hao refused decisively, behaving like a shameless elite lawyer, not even bothering to listen to the little girl's details of the case, and hurriedly got into his car and left.

He returned to his apartment, took a shower, opened a bottle of red wine, browsed through the files in his hand, and pondered who to kill tonight, when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Zhou Hao saw the little girl standing outside the door through the security monitor in the entryway.

He frowned, pressed the call button, and his first words were not words of concern, but rather an accusation about how the other party knew his address.

The other party didn't answer, but kept pressing the doorbell, as if she would keep pressing it until the end of time if Zhou Hao didn't open the door.

Zhou Hao wouldn't tolerate her, so he called security guards and had her kicked out.

Unexpectedly, half an hour later, the guy came back and rang the doorbell again. Zhou Hao had no choice but to call security again and tell the downstairs access control not to let people in casually, and only then did she quiet down for a while.

The doorbell rang again at 2 a.m.

Zhou Hao was furious and threatened to call the police to arrest the person, but the other party kept ringing the doorbell, showing no regard for the rule of law and resorting to shamelessness.

The elite lawyer couldn't handle the thugs, especially since the other party was only an eight-year-old child with legal immunity. He could only welcome the little girl in, intending to reason with her and make her give up completely.

The little girl was very polite. As soon as she entered, she said "Excuse me" and bowed slightly, just like a Japanese person.

Zhou Hao poured her a cup of tea and listened to her recount the entire case—basically, her mother was hit and killed by someone who was powerful, wealthy, and influential. The person kept pressuring the girl to sign a letter of forgiveness, intending to pay a large sum of money to settle the matter and not wanting to go to jail for it.

In fact, Zhou Hao could tell that the defendant was already very sincere. The compensation had been increased from 500,000 to 5 million, more than ten times the amount in between. They were willing to bleed money just to get the girl's letter of forgiveness.

With a letter of understanding, everything is negotiable.

As a criminal defense lawyer, Zhou Hao is actually very clear about the price of a human life.

Everyone says that human life is priceless. Whether it's an earthquake or a fire, saving lives is always the top priority. In China, this is an absolutely correct value—life cannot be measured by material things, and respect for human rights is also the cornerstone of the law and the foundation of the country.

But in reality, human life does have a price.

Take construction sites as an example. If a worker dies due to a work-related injury, how much compensation should the construction company pay? If human life is truly priceless, then any amount of compensation is acceptable, and losing billions of dollars in investment would be justified.

The slogan "Human life is priceless" is too vague, even somewhat ethereal and unrealistic.

In reality, let alone billions of yuan, even tens of thousands of yuan are worth the money. "Work injury compensation" has gradually become a tacit business: if someone from the same village dies on the construction site, the whole village will go to the construction site to make trouble. No matter how much money they make, they will split it 50/50 with the family.

People in a village are connected by both geographical and blood ties, and they can band together when faced with natural disasters or man-made calamities. The construction company was afraid of things escalating, but they couldn't let the other party make exorbitant demands. The two sides went back and forth, negotiating and bargaining, and in the end, the highest price they could negotiate for a human life was around two to three million.

If no one causes trouble, then go through insurance; the maximum is 500,000, and the minimum is only 100,000 to 200,000.

In the past, villages and clans banded together to protect themselves from risks. Now, with the rural population migrating to cities, clan ties are becoming increasingly weak. When most people encounter trouble in the city, they don't even have anyone to help them seek justice... Just like this little girl in front of me, whose mother died and who has no elders in her family. She can only run to find a lawyer in the cold wind and rain.

Besides construction sites, there are many other places where one comes into contact with the "trading of human lives." Zhou Hao has seen many similar cases and has gradually become numb to human lives. After listening to An Shuyao's account, he even felt that the price was already very generous.

But An Shuyao didn't think so; she was determined to send the other person in.

Zhou Hao had also encountered such stubborn people who were inflexible. For example, if their daughter was raped and murdered, the parents would not ask for money or compensation, but only for the murderer to pay with his life. These kinds of cases were relatively easy to handle, even if the other party had connections.

However, An Shuyao's situation is different. The other party knows the law, did not flee the scene of the accident, called the police and sought emergency medical assistance immediately, and was sincere in admitting his mistake. Moreover, it was an "accidental killing." The other party claimed that the brakes failed and malfunctioned, and even provided a third-party appraisal report to prove that the brakes did have a problem at the time. There were no cameras on that section of the road, so the probability of her being acquitted or receiving a suspended sentence is very high.

An Shuyao insisted that the driver was using his mobile phone at the time and did not notice the turn signal of the car in front. After the rear-end collision, the car skidded and probably mistook the accelerator for the brake, which caused the car in front to be knocked away and onto the sidewalk, leading to the tragedy.

"You saw her using her phone with your own eyes?" Zhou Hao poured himself a glass of wine.

"I saw it. My mom had just squatted down and was talking to me about the hospital when I caught a glimpse of a car window in the distance..."

Before An Shuyao could finish speaking, Zhou Hao shook his head. Such words wouldn't even be accepted as a confession; they would be considered fabricated. Even he didn't believe it: "You saw it out of the corner of your eye? You have such sharp eyes?"

“Yes.” An Shuyao’s tone was firm.

"You caught a glimpse, but you can remember everything?" Zhou Hao scratched his nose.

“Yes.” An Shuyao nodded again.

"You need to know that human memory can be flawed..."

Before Zhou Hao could finish speaking, An Shuyao interrupted him, saying, "When you got into your car in the lobby after get off work, you were reading 'Several Opinions on Increasing Reform and Innovation Efforts to Accelerate the Construction of Agricultural Modernization' on your phone. It seemed to be a news report."

Zhou Hao was taken aback: "You hacked my phone?"

"No, it's just that your glasses are reflecting light; I noticed it as soon as I glanced at them," An Shuyao said honestly.

“Fine, that doesn’t prove anything.” Zhou Hao remained unmoved.

"Then how can I prove that what I said is true?" An Shuyao leaned forward, her eyes red, her hands clenched into fists and resting on her knees.

"You can't prove it, and neither can I, so please leave. This case can't be pursued."

Seeing that she didn't move, Zhou Hao tried to persuade her again: "You're still young and don't understand money. Your mother probably doesn't even earn 120,000 a year. Five million in compensation is a lot. Even if your mother only earns 10,000 a month, she would have to work for 41 years without eating or drinking to save up that amount of money. You could buy two or three apartments in the outer ring and rent them out for enough to support you for the rest of your life."

“I’ll pay you five million to take your life, will you sell?” An Shuyao retorted.

"I'll sell! Why wouldn't I sell?" Zhou Hao would say anything to get rid of her. His sleazy and vulgar behavior wasn't something he developed in his next life: "If you give me five million, I'll even eat shit."

“Fine, then I’ll sign the letter of understanding and use this five million to pay you to fight the lawsuit,” An Shuyao said stubbornly, like a rock in a latrine, both smelly and hard: “If you can’t win, then you can just die.”

Zhou Hao was speechless. Reasoning with her wouldn't work, so he resorted to violence, dragging the girl out and slamming the door shut. An Shuyao rang the doorbell again, but Zhou Hao simply removed the batteries. So An Shuyao switched to banging on the door, smashing it repeatedly.

Zhou Hao didn't believe she could keep knocking all night, so he put on earplugs and went to bed, ignoring her.

The next morning, he got up and took out his earplugs, only to hear a series of loud knocks on the door. Although they weren't as urgent or loud as the night before, they were still very firm.

When he opened the door, he saw that An Shuyao's small hands were bleeding from the pounding, and her knuckles were broken. This girl really had been pounding all night without sleep.

Zhou Hao rubbed his temples and said, "How about this, I'll introduce you to a good lawyer in the industry. He's more capable than me. Go talk to him, maybe you'll get an answer..."

“No way.” An Shuyao refused.

She was very polite, standing at the door without squeezing in; but she was also very rude, knocking on the door in the middle of the night and disturbing the neighbors.

"Why me of all people?" Zhou Hao couldn't understand. There were plenty of lawyers who were more capable and had better connections than him, so why did this young girl cling to him?
Is it a coincidence?

Or has he already become famous?
An Shuyao gave him an unexpected answer: "Because the driver who hit the person was your mother."

Zhou Hao was truly stunned. He remained frozen for a full five seconds, so much so that An Shuyao thought he had lost his mind. She waved her hand in front of him before he came to his senses: "That has nothing to do with me. I've already cut off contact with her... What are you thinking? Are you suggesting I sue her?"

To be precise, it was about a son sending his mother to prison.

But Zhou Hao couldn't bring himself to say it; he didn't really acknowledge that 'mother'.

An Shuyao said earnestly, "I hope you can make it up to me on her behalf, persuade her to accept legal punishment, and let her make amends for the mistakes she made."

Zhou Hao found it amusing and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

“What’s so funny?” An Shuyao asked. “I know this idea is naive, but I think…”

“No, it’s not your problem,” Zhou Hao waved his hand, still smiling broadly. “I’m laughing at her… You probably don’t understand her. It would be more useful to talk to her boss than to me.”

"Really?" An Shuyao asked with some doubt, "Don't you two get along well?"

"No, I'm not familiar with her."

Zhou Hao's words were far colder than simply saying "we don't have a good relationship." He was still smiling when he said them, as if he were talking about a stranger.

“How could someone not be familiar with their own mother?” An Shuyao couldn’t understand. Subconsciously, she had a very good relationship with her mother, so much so that she didn’t feel uncomfortable when Chen Huixin took her mother’s place. She just felt that the relationship between a daughter and her mother should be like this: “If she were the one who got into trouble, wouldn’t you defend her?”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hao gradually suppressed his smile.

He stared at An Shuyao, scrutinizing her for a long time, to the point that An Shuyao felt a little uneasy.

The two stood silently facing each other at the apartment door. Zhou Hao suddenly stepped aside, gesturing for them to come in, and said, "I've changed my mind. I'll take this case."

While An Shuyao was happy, her curiosity was piqued again, and she couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

Zhou Hao said he felt sorry for her, but she didn't believe him. She was worried that Zhou Hao was slacking off and not putting in any effort, so she kept pestering him for answers. Only then did Zhou Hao say, half-truthfully, "You look a bit like me when I was a kid."

"How is it similar?"

An Shuyao was even more confused. She and Lawyer Zhou were not the same gender, had a very good relationship with her mother, and regarded money as dirt. She and Lawyer Zhou were like mirror images of each other, with no resemblance whatsoever.

"He's probably one-tenth as smart as I was when I was a child. He's a pillar of the nation and a future successor, so of course I'll take care of him," Zhou Hao said sarcastically. "Don't underestimate one-tenth of my intelligence. It's already quite good. He can be called a prodigy. Congratulations!"

"Liar!" An Shuyao didn't believe a word of it: "If a girl as smart as me, as persistent as me, and as cute as me asked you for help, would you still agree?"

"So you knew you were being persistent?" Zhou Hao's expression changed drastically, his cold face terrifying: "How dare you call yourself cute?"

An Shuyao fell silent and obediently went inside. Following Zhou Hao's instructions, she recounted the events of the case in detail once again.

This time, Zhou Hao asked very detailed questions, including details such as what they did that day, what they ate for breakfast, and where they stood on the sidewalk.

An Shuyao has an excellent memory and good narrative ability. She reconstructed the events of the incident 100% without any subjective elements or ambiguity. Words such as "seems," "probably," "should," "maybe," and "have an impression" were all absent.

After listening to the case, Zhou Hao stroked his chin and felt that it was difficult, but not impossible to solve.

All you need to do is be a little more ruthless.

Even if that woman is powerful, influential, and wealthy, she is still a greenhorn in front of the judicial authorities. Her reach doesn't extend to this area, otherwise she wouldn't have had to pay five million in compensation—there are many cases of fattening someone up before killing them, and Zhou Hao knows the ins and outs better than she does.

"Let's go." Zhou Hao had an idea. He got up and put on his coat. "Let's go to your house for a visit."

"Now?" An Shuyao had no idea what he was up to.

Zhou Hao was very efficient when handling cases, and he didn't bother to explain to An Shuyao. He changed his clothes, grabbed his briefcase, and went out.

An Shuyao followed behind him, giving him directions. The two traveled by car and arrived at 'An Shuyao's house'.

As Zhou Hao said, Chen Huixin's income is not high. She rents a house in the old town. There is no elevator, no tiles, the stairs are just bare cement, and every household has a wooden door. Permanent residents will install a security iron fence.

An Shuyao unlocked the door, pushed it open, and somewhat awkwardly turned on the light.

The warm yellow light came on, and the interior was not as dilapidated as the outside. The walls were painted clean, the table was covered with a tablecloth, and the sofa was crowded with stuffed animals. It even looked somewhat cozy, and a faint fragrance of gardenias wafted in the air.

Zhou Hao felt a sudden prick in his heart, but he didn't know where it had hit or what was wrong with him.

What came into his view was not just a cozy little home.

There was also a girl soaking wet, and a mother-daughter photo on the cabinet.

— Chen Huixin is hugging An Shuyao, and they are smiling at the camera.

(End of this chapter)