"So it’s stuck here, isn’t it?" Zhao Yuhuan said:
"Do you think exposing it would work? Using public pressure to make them promise?"
"It could work, but you must be cautious, or it could lead to trouble."
"What kind of trouble? I don’t understand what you mean, Lin Bro."
"If this kind of thing gets reported, they’re definitely going to face online abuse, and their lives will be affected. If any of them has an elderly family member who can’t handle the pressure and ends up jumping from a building or suffers a cerebral hemorrhage, it will affect us too."
Lin Yi’s reminder made Zhao Yuhuan realize the gravity of the situation.
"These people are really shameless to the extreme. We can’t fight them or scold them, and there’s nothing we can do about it."
Lin Yi smiled and said, "But the more contentious the issue is, the more views the account gets."
"But I’m kind of confused now, not sure how to handle this."
"First, call these people and say you’re a journalist from a TV station. Ask them to e out and talk."
"Got it."
Zhao Yuhuan took the list and went to make the calls. Lin Yi also sent the list to Xiao Bing, asking her to investigate these people thoroughly for a better solution.
At this moment, Lin Yi thought of a way to solve the problem, but he needed to find a breakthrough, which depended on what Xiao Bing could uncover.
More than half an hour passed before Zhao Yuhuan finished making the calls.
"How is it? Are they willing to meet you?"
"It was quite troublesome, but with some soft and hard tactics, they all agreed to meet at the munity’s property office at six tonight."
"Good."
"What should we do now?"
"Let’s go to the property office to check the surveillance and see what happened at that time."
"Alright."
The two drove to the munity property office, and knowing they were there to report on the matter, the staff were very cooperative, piling all the videos and copying them onto a USB drive.
"Task plete, let’s slack off and e back later tonight."
"Alright."
Lin Yi drove back home, waiting for Xiao Bing’s update. If they couldn’t find a breakthrough, the meeting tonight wouldn’t be effective.
After returning, Zhao Yuhuan relaxed while Lin Yi analyzed the surveillance videos.
The ages of the six kids weren’t very big; the oldest was just seven or eight years old.
While playing next to the cars, they picked up stones and drew on the cars, writing words and drawing many patterns.
Especially the engine hood and the passenger side windows were severely damaged.
Two of the cars seemed to have dents on the engine hood, likely from being stepped on.
Just asking for 200,000 yuan isn’t excessive.
Besides watching the surveillance, Lin Yi also occasionally handled tasks assigned by Zhao Jing, making the day quite tiring.
Around four in the afternoon, Xiao Bing sent a message, having investigated the basic situation of the six households.
Three of the households were dual-ine, with both parents working during the day and grandparents looking after the children. The other three had the men working outside and the women as housewives.
This ine structure gave Lin Yi some opportunities.
Feeling the time was about right, Lin Yi and Zhao Yuhuan clocked out early and drove to River Sea Home, first contacting Feng Zhengxiang and then heading to the property office.
The property staff weled Lin Yi and Zhao Yuhuan, otherwise, they would have to resolve the issue themselves.
When the two arrived, the six children’s parents hadn’t arrived yet.
"These people really have no sense of time. It’s already ten past six, and they’re not here yet."
"They’re always like this. Every time I talk to them, they’re never punctual," Feng Zhengxiang plained:
"Among these people, there’s a leader named Zhou Li. She’s the hardest to deal with; she can argue even without reason."
"Does that mean if we can deal with this Zhou Li, they’ll agree to pensate?" Zhao Yuhuan asked.
"Not necessarily; each person needs to pensate over 30,000 yuan, which is not a small amount," Lin Yi said:
"Let’s wait a bit more and see their attitudes first."
After waiting for about half an hour, Zhao Yuhuan stood by the windowsill and saw several people approaching.
"Are they the ones?"
Feng Zhengxiang stood up and looked at the people outside.
"Yes, that’s them!"
Zhao Yuhuan checked the time, "They’re really something, arriving half an hour late."
"It’s good enough that they’re here. Let’s not dwell on that."
"That’s true."
At this moment, Zhou Li and the others were leisurely walking toward the property office.
One of them was quite elderly, probably in her sixties, a grandmother.
"Big Sis Li, it’s looking tricky this time. The journalist from the TV is here; this thing seems blown up."
"Blown up or not, they’re being unreasonable," Zhou Li said:
"Let’s stick to a unified stance and settle this quickly with a pensation of at most 1,000 yuan each. So they stop bothering us with calls every day, it’s annoying."
"A thousand it is. Let’s consider it paying our way out of bad luck. I was in a good mood recently, and now this happens; it’s like shame on all eight generations of our ancestors."
"Nothing we can do, we just have to accept it," Zhou Li said:
"If everyone’s okay with it, we’ll pensate following the 1,000 yuan standard."
"But don’t start with 1,000 yuan; start with 500 first, and if they disagree, raise it to 1,000."
"Don’t worry, I know what to do."
"Alright, let’s settle on that."
After finalizing their plan, they quickened their pace toward the property office.
Going up to the second-floor conference room and seeing Feng Zhengxiang, their expressions weren’t great, as they were here to discuss pensation.
Seeing them e in, Lin Yi stepped forward, extending his hand with a smile.
"First, let me introduce myself. I’m a journalist from the TV station, my name is Lin Yi. This is my colleague Zhao Yuhuan."
Pausing for a moment, Lin Yi continued:
"Regarding this matter, we have understood it. You all aren’t willing to pensate because the amount is too high, right?"
"What else could it be? It’s just some paint chipped; fixing it doesn’t cost much, but they’re asking us for 200,000 yuan, clearly trying to scam us. Are they crazy for money?" Zhou Li said with her arms crossed and eyes rolling.
"We’ve watched the surveillance footage. Our kid just made a small scratch. Why should we pay so much?" Another person said.
"Yeah, our kid just touched it briefly. Offering 500 yuan is already pretty good."
The crowd chattered on, one after another, continually shifting the blame, all thinking fixing the cars wouldn’t be so costly.
The mediation process deadlocked at this point.
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