What's wrong with this lawyer?!

The second trial didn't bring any surprises; Jingzhou Intermediate Court reviewed the case in writing and directly rejected the lawsuit. Old Tang immediately integrated the case into an article and posted it online.
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The title was: "Stop cursing, the labor union is actually a bit useful."

What he did was actually quite dangerous, as the labor union could very well file a lawsuit for defamation. But Old Tang didn't care—let them sue if they want to lose face by doing so.

These days, who doesn't know what's going on with the labor unions? You've done the deed, now you don't even allow people to talk about it?

Many commented on the article when it was published, but in fact, many workers were already aware of the issue; it wasn't really obscure knowledge.

But Old Tang's goal had been achieved. At the very least, it sparked the corresponding discussions online—two discussions, in fact.

One was that there should be a more detailed definition of these legally ambiguous areas, and the other was whether one can bring an administrative lawsuit if the labor union fails to act!

Old Tang's intention was to get everyone talking about the first issue, but somehow the blame got deflected back to the labor union...

Consequently, the labor union in Handong was lambasted yet again, with netizens saying it felt like having you or not makes no difference at all; useless in every aspect—what's the point then?

This case was just a minor episode for Old Tang, but Miss Xiao Yan was quite happy about it; her little comics had received a lot of new material.

Time passed day by day, and before one knew it, October arrived. However, Old Tang still hadn't received any investigation results from Lincheng.

In fact, not only were there no results, but when Zhou Zhixing specifically inquired about it, no one even paid him any attention.

So, Old Tang posted another update online.

"It's been a while since they said they'd investigate, but still no results. I wonder if I'll make it to see the results before I kick the bucket."

The accompanying image was a screenshot of the original announcement from Lincheng claiming they would conduct a thorough investigation.

People like Old Tang are an anomaly among lawyers; few litigation lawyers can achieve such notoriety.

So, just as the netizens who had criticized the labor union for lacking initiative were getting bored, Old Tang gave them an excellent target for their attention.

A significant downside of modern public opinion channels is that it's difficult to look back; even if there was high interest at the time, once it passes, it's nearly impossible to reignite that level of attention.

But Old Tang, having previously risked his life to build a reputation, had earned the right for his publications to be seen, no matter how much they were suppressed, there would always be those who would read them.

People like Ju Haiqing, the former troubled property owners, and the migrant workers, for instance.

Maybe Tang Fangjing couldn't count on them for other things, but getting them to share a post was doable.

Thus, "Lincheng has yet to produce any results from the investigation," made it to the trending searches.

In Lincheng, the leaders of the relevant departments were vexed. It's not that they wanted to suppress the issue, but they planned to handle it slowly once the uproar had subsided.

Now, however, the public outcry had re-emerged, and they couldn't do anything to Tang Fangjing.

So, on the third day after Old Tang posted his update, the Lincheng official media "Lincheng Release" issued a new statement. The leaders of Changshan Sub-bureau had been negligent in their review and the traffic police department of Lincheng City had been perfunctory in submitting evidence, and both were given corresponding punishments.

The latter's punishment was more severe; after all, this involved an administrative lawsuit. If you claim you're conducting an investigation, and after all this time, you still use the original content to pretend there's progress, obviously there's an issue.

When the results of the investigation finally came out, in Jingzhou, Old Tang saw his progress meter finally reach two hundred percent, the utmost limit of his effort.

Public opinion supervision is very effective for small matters, but there's always a limit for bigger issues, even if you are Tang Fangjing, even if you act recklessly, it only goes so far.

Using your life as a threat doesn't necessarily work that well; as proof, being alive allows for more output.

In his previous life, Old Tang knew of a case—though it could also be just hearsay, who knows.

It was a typical loan dispute. The defendant was an elderly farmer from a village, already in his seventies, having spent his life farming.

The plaintiff claimed that the old farmer had borrowed ten thousand yuan from him, and there was a note to prove it, but no bank transfer records—it was allegedly given in cash.

Of course, the defendant, the old farmer, denied it. He said there was no such thing, that he never borrowed money from the plaintiff.

The case seemed simple, easy to discern.

The judge thought so too. He believed it was plausible to lend ten thousand in cash; now, the plaintiff had a promissory note, and the defendant didn't. The old man had to prove the signature on the note wasn't his.

The logic seemed sound enough, right? But there was an issue: proving this required a forensic examination, which cost money, two thousand yuan.

This brings us back to the chicken and egg conundrum. When Old Tang first started dealing with property management, this examination cost was also a major issue.

He had the economic crimes division "help" him, but of course, the old farmer didn't know that. He naturally felt it was absurd to be charged out of the blue and now had to pay first to prove he hadn't borrowed money.

That was utter nonsense, so he told the judge that if he were ordered to pay, he would drink pesticide in front of the courthouse.

The judge naturally didn't care about such threats. There were too many threatening him, so if everyone acted like that, how would he ever get through his cases? Without self-examination, the old man would bear the burden of failed evidence—so he lost the case.