"We won?"
As he listened to the verdict, Li Weiguo blinked. He hardly dared to believe it. He hadn’t expected... not only could he get back the money Yang Minghui and the others had swindled from him, but he could also receive such a substantial sum in damages for breach of contract.
In fact, after he discovered that Yang Minghui and the others had deceived him, and that the children involved had dropped out of school, he had grown sowhat disillusioned with making donations. Nowadays, wanting to get children from impoverished families to attend school... was simply too difficult. Direct one-on-one donations could end up with the other party swindling his money. If he donated to charitable organizations, they might also swindle his money. These were the realities of society, which most people simply turned a blind eye to.
But now... from the current verdict, he felt warmth once again. Justice still existed.
"Xiao Qin, thank you." Thinking this, he turned to look at Qin Mu. If it hadn’t been for Qin Mu this ti... he might have just accepted his losses in silence. After all, it was very difficult to get donation money back. There was no precedent for it.
Qin Mu smiled. With a grand gesture, he looked towards the nursing ho crowd that had co to support them.
"Let’s go, let’s celebrate! Today, we’ll have a big al out!"
After a pause, he added, "I’ll host, but Mr. Li will pay."
Instantly, Wang Dachui, Zhang Qingyuan, and all the seniors burst into cheerful laughter.
「anwhile.」
「In Jin City, Yang Family Village.」
Inside Yang Minghui’s house, the three of them were gathered, exchanging anxious glances.
"Sister Yang, do you think... if we don’t go to the court session today, there’s really no way the lawsuit can proceed?" the other two asked Yang Minghui anxiously.
"Of course not. I’ve already asked around. For a lawsuit to happen, both parties need to be present. We didn’t go, so how could they pass judgnt on us?" Yang Minghui declared confidently.
"Um... Sister Yang, who did you ask?"
"The village butcher. He said he’d been sued before. He didn’t go to court, and nothing happened."
"That’s good, that’s good. Now we can rest easy."
"Exactly! That old fellow Li Weiguo is really sothing else. He should have just stuck to donating. Suddenly suing us... I regret sending him that comndation banner."
"Sigh, never mind, let’s drop it. It’s almost noon. Everyone should head back ho; it’s ti to make lunch..."
After so idle chat and grumbling, they each returned to their own hos and started cooking as usual.
With very little formal education, their thinking was quite simple. Lawyer Zhang Wei had said they definitely couldn’t win the lawsuit. If they couldn’t win, it was better not to go at all. As long as they didn’t go... the lawsuit surely couldn’t proceed, and the other party couldn’t get a verdict against them. In the end, it might even just be dropped.
With this mindset, the three of them calmly began preparing their als at ho.
However, at two o’clock in the afternoon...
WEE-OO WEE-OO WEE-OO—
Accompanied by the sound of sirens, several police cars drove into Yang Family Village, shattering its long-standing tranquility.
"What happened?"
"Why are the police coming to our village?"
"Could a fugitive have fled here?"
The villagers ca out of their hos one after another, gathering to see what was happening.
From one of the police cars, Police Chief Shen Dao stepped out and faced the crowd of onlookers.
He asked, "Who here is the village chief?"
"I... I am. I’m the village chief." A middle-aged man in his fifties erged from the crowd.
He inquired cautiously, "I am Yang Huaiyun, the chief of this village. May I ask why you officers are here...?"
Shen Dao took a deep breath and pulled three arrest warrants from his briefcase. He handed them to Yang Huaiyun.
"These three individuals have committed fraud and have been legally sentenced. They should still be in your village, correct?" he said.
Yang Huaiyun finished reading the arrest warrants, a look of disbelief on his face.
"This... Yang Minghui and the other two are just ordinary won. They rarely leave the village, let alone defraud anyone. Could there be so mistake...?"
As the village chief, he was quite familiar with everyone in the village. Although Yang Minghui and the other two could be a bit harsh-tongued and selfish, they were otherwise decent. At least, they wouldn’t knowingly break the law or commit cris, certainly not fraud.
Shen Dao looked up and explained earnestly, "They defrauded a kind-hearted donor. The victim filed a lawsuit and took them to court.
"The verdict was declared just this morning.
"They have indeed committed fraud and will be sentenced to five years in prison, and also ordered to pay 480,000 yuan in compensation."
Hearing this, Yang Huaiyun was even more dumbfounded.
The families of Yang Minghui and the other two won were among the poorer ones in Yang Family Village. For years, they had been receiving donations from a stranger. Furthermore, a few years ago, they had let their children drop out of school. Yet, it seed they were still accepting donations from this stranger. In the last two years, they had even built new houses in the village.
He had never imagined... they would actually be involved in fraud.
"They concealed the fact that their children had dropped out of school, yet continued to ask the donor for money. This is fraud, and it’s also a cri," Shen Dao stated.
He then took a deep breath and continued, "Moreover, during the trial this morning, they didn’t even show up to defend themselves, which resulted in their imdiate loss of the case. By the way, where do they live?"
Yang Huaiyun, startled, didn’t dare to delay and quickly led the way personally. He brought Shen Dao and the other law enforcent officers to Yang Minghui’s ho.
At this ti, Yang Minghui was at ho tidying up and doing chores.
When she suddenly saw Village Chief Yang Huaiyun enter with a group of police officers, her face turned deathly pale. Her legs instantly went weak with fear, and she lost all strength to even think of running.
Subsequently, Shen Dao followed procedure and presented the arrest warrant.
"How... how is this possible? We didn’t even go; how can you sentence us?" Yang Minghui, who had slumped to the ground, kept mumbling this over and over, her face filled with incomprehension.
Shen Dao saw this and shook his head with a sigh, explaining, "The court can still pronounce a judgnt even if the defendant doesn’t show up. You... missed your chance to present a defense."
Ultimately, it was Yang Minghui and the others’ lack of legal awareness. But even so, that couldn’t be an excuse for their cri.
Having said this, he waved his hand.
The officers under his command imdiately stepped forward and escorted Yang Minghui to a police car.
Before long, the other two won were also brought to the car.
WEE-OO WEE-OO WEE-OO—
The police cars started up again, taking the individuals away from Yang Family Village, leaving behind only a crowd of villagers at the entrance, watching the commotion.
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