Right path to power

"Secretary, the reporter from Legal Daily is very efficient; they published the report today. The article focuses on how Zhenxing District is vigorously rectifying the chaotic situation of corporate pollution and cracking down on illegal and criminal business owners, fully demonstrating the rule of law spirit that everyone is equal before the law. They also deliberately left a clue—Zhou Huayu's second trial is imminent, and they will continue to follow up."

Qu Ningbo, secretary of the district's political and legal affairs committee, walked excitedly into Lin Xiao's office with a newspaper in hand.

He was genuinely excited; he hadn't expected the reporter Lin Xiao had invited to have such a firm stance.

Before the meeting, Huang Chun-ning called the deputy director of the newspaper on the spot, trying to intimidate the reporter. However, Zhuang Jing-shu did not buy it at all and made it clear that she would make the Zhou Hua-yu case a series of follow-up reports.

"It seems this reporter Zhuang is someone important. Secretary Lin's move was brilliant."

Qu Ningbo pondered to himself, becoming even more determined to stand on Lin Xiao's side.

Once this case is settled, Lin Xiao's prestige in Zhenxing District will be firmly established, and no matter how unwilling others may be, they will not be able to change the overall situation.

Lin Xiao slowly began to speak: "The fact that this case has attracted so much attention and has been full of ups and downs precisely illustrates that there are still many shortcomings in our legal system and that there is still a long way to go in realizing equality before the law for everyone."

This is just the beginning; there are still tougher battles to fight. We must not let our guard down and must persevere and continue to advance.

"Understood, please rest assured, Secretary, I will keep a close eye on it."

This report in the Legal Daily greatly angered Executive Vice Mayor Cai Zili.

He immediately approached Mayor Ma Guanghua, stating frankly that the report would impact the business environment of the entire city and state, potentially causing foreign investors to have concerns and hesitate to invest.

At the same time, he also brought up his former leader Huang Chunning, saying that Director Huang was also very dissatisfied with this and that a solution needed to be found as soon as possible to prevent further reports from escalating.

Although Ma Guanghua expressed his support in front of Huang Chunning, he did not intend to take action and was merely going through the motions.

He already knew why Cai Zili was so proactive, so he simply didn't stop him and let Cai Zili compete and fight with Lin Xiaoming.

Furthermore, Lin Xiao's initiative in taking on a 1 billion yuan investment attraction target and genuinely promoting investment attraction demonstrates that he is not worried that the verdict in Zhou Huayu's case will affect the district's economic development, so he has even less reason to get involved.

He paused, then added, "Of course, the best way is to communicate with those three reporters and persuade them to stop focusing on this. Once the hype dies down, the matter will gradually fade from memory, and no one will remember it."

Cai Zili knew perfectly well that Ma Guanghua was trying to smooth things over and avoid taking responsibility.

Afterwards, he talked for a long time with Huo Tianqiong, the president of the Intermediate People's Court of the city.

That evening, Zhuang Jingshu received a call from an unknown number. The caller spoke tactfully, saying that Zhou Huayu had already paid the price and did not want the case to be used as a negative example again. He was willing to offer 200,000 yuan to plead with her to stop following and reporting on the case.

Meanwhile, in the hotel rooms where Kwan Wing-mei and Tai Lai-ying were staying, each was found with a manila envelope on the coffee table containing 20,000 yuan in cash, along with a piece of white paper. The paper had red crosses drawn on it, with no written explanation, but the implications of enticement and intimidation were unmistakable.

The two immediately informed Zhuang Jingshu of the situation.

Zhuang Jingshu was furious: "This is outrageous! They actually tried to bribe us with money and threaten us. Do they think they can make us stop? I'd like to see what other tricks they have up their sleeve."

Upon learning the news, Lin Xiao was both angry and helpless, never expecting the other party to resort to such clumsy tactics.

Out of concern for the personal safety of Zhuang Jingshu and her group, Lin Xiao contacted Su Anji, the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and asked him to coordinate with the Municipal Public Security Bureau to arrange for plainclothes officers to secretly protect the three and to arrange for them to stay in a safe hotel.

The next morning, Zhuang Jingshu and two others went to the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department and met with Propaganda Minister Du Zhaoheng to report what had happened the previous night.

Du Zhaoheng dared not delay and immediately contacted Su Anji.

In fact, Su Anji had already arranged for police to intervene in the investigation after Lin Xiao made the phone call last night.

Upon learning of the situation, Party Secretary Wang Yuanze issued instructions: the public security organs must investigate the truth as soon as possible, ensure the personal safety of the three journalists, and at the same time urge the Intermediate People's Court to conduct a fair and just trial of Zhou Huayu's appeal case in accordance with the law to avoid any further complications.

Upon hearing the news, Cai Zili was furious and summoned his subordinates, giving them a severe scolding.

However, this commotion escalated the conflict and forced Wang Yuanze to clarify his stance, putting even more pressure on the Intermediate People's Court.

The reasons why the Intermediate People's Court of the city has delayed the trial are as follows: first, it is waiting for Huang Chunning to coordinate and mediate in the province; second, it is hoping that Cai Zili can find someone to persuade Zhuang Jingshu and others; and third, it plans to hold the trial and pronounce the verdict after Zhuang Jingshu and others leave.

Now, following Wang Yuanze's instructions, the Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission is conducting case supervision on the Zhou Huayu case, which has attracted widespread public attention, and is demanding that it be tried in accordance with the law as soon as possible.

Huo Tianqiong was helpless, but he continued to find excuses to delay.

Zhuang Jingshu and her two companions stayed in Quanzhou for a week before returning to Beicheng.

They couldn't stay in the state for an extended period just for one case, so they could only follow up closely by phone.

However, the day after they left, the Legal Daily published a second report on the Zhou Huayu case. It pointed out that during Zhou Huayu's appeal phase, the case proceedings encountered external interference, and the reporters covering the case were subjected to bribery and threats. But the article reiterated at the end that it would continue to follow up on the case.

The day after the report was published, the Intermediate People's Court of the city formally opened a hearing on the appeal case of Zhou Huayu.

Three days later, the Intermediate People's Court of the city made a second-instance judgment: upholding the guilty verdict against Zhou Huayu, ordering him to bear full civil liability, and sentencing him to three years in prison with a one-year suspended sentence.

This judgment is completely compliant in terms of paperwork and procedure, and there is no flaw or illegality to be found.

The Intermediate People's Court's reasons for leniency were also very well-organized: during the second instance, Zhou Huayu's family fully compensated for the losses and obtained the victim's written understanding; in addition, Zhou Huayu pleaded guilty and accepted punishment in court and showed remorse, which met the statutory conditions for leniency in sentencing.

But those in the industry can see right through it.

This case is a typical example of premeditated hiring of an assailant to injure someone, with obvious subjective malice. It is a case that should be severely punished and probation should be used cautiously in judicial practice.

However, the Intermediate People's Court deliberately avoided discussing the egregious nature of the case, focusing only on mitigating circumstances such as compensation, forgiveness, and confession, which was tantamount to skirting the red line of judicial policy.

Therefore, the second instance court's seemingly lawful and compliant reversal of the verdict was actually a clever leniency—the charge was retained to ensure no procedural issues were left unaddressed, while sparing the defendant from imprisonment.

In this way, both the personal relationships of all parties are taken into account, and the risk of accountability brought about by public opinion supervision is avoided.

It has to be said that these people at the Intermediate People's Court have a knack for "playing with the law".

Upon seeing this result, Lin Xiao laughed in exasperation.

He didn't expect the other party to play such a slippery trick—leaving no obvious flaws in evidence or procedure, but in reality, it effectively reduced the severity of criminal punishment by more than half.

He immediately called Zhuang Jingshu to inform her of the second trial result.

Zhuang Jingshu's voice was clearly angry: "These people are too arrogant. But do they really think they can get away with it by using letters of forgiveness and pleading guilty to change their sentences to probation by skirting the rules? If so, we wouldn't need to do news reporting."

Tomorrow, we will first publish a follow-up report, specifically highlighting the controversy surrounding the sentencing standards in the second instance of this case, and delving into the issue of "trading compensation for criminal charges" in such cases. At the same time, we will submit materials to the editorial department, along with a column commentary in this newspaper to continue following up and closely monitor all subsequent developments.

Lin Xiao spoke calmly, but a cold glint flashed in her eyes: "Fine, then I'll arrange for people to keep a close eye on Zhou Huayu's probation. If he slips away without authorization, we'll immediately initiate the process to bring him back to prison. So, he shouldn't even think about using his probation to get away with it."

Zhuang Jingshu said in a deep voice, "In fact, this verdict itself is the best example and material, and we will definitely continue to follow up and supervise it. In addition, whether the supervision of probation is being implemented effectively is also an important aspect."

Lin Xiao responded softly and hung up the phone.

He knew in his heart that in the second trial, the other party had successfully obtained a seemingly respectable result by relying on the boundaries of the legal rules.

But this contest is far from over.

On the other end, in the district head's office.

"The previous incident caused a huge uproar, with state media following up and public opinion being stirred up, making it seem unstoppable."

"After all this trouble, this is still the result."

"Does he really think he can change the landscape of a place all by himself? He's overestimating himself."

"Can a powerful dragon suppress a local snake? Now you should understand, right?"

District Mayor Yang Songfeng and Executive Deputy District Mayor Deng Guanglin were chatting casually, both looking relaxed and subtly smiling.