At that time, the lawsuit might be dragged into a second trial process.

Meanwhile, after hearing this, Lin Gang was startled. "How... how could there be two crimes?"

He had initially felt that something about this wasn’t quite right, but he hadn’t expected the consequences to be this serious. If everything was exposed, facing three charges, wouldn’t he go from earning fifty thousand to losing money, paying fines, and serving a prison sentence on top of it all!

Moreover, that person who claimed to be a lawyer, although he kept saying only heaven and earth knew, walls have ears.

If he were to turn against him in court, Qin Mu would undoubtedly notice something amiss. Given Qin Mu’s relentlessly meticulous character, he really wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

Qin Mu smiled. "Obstruction of Testimony is defined as using violence, threats, bribery, or other methods to prevent a witness from testifying or to instruct another person to commit perjury."

"Then there’s assisting a party in destroying or fabricating evidence. If the circumstances are serious, this is punishable by up to three years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention."

"And Perjury is when, in legal proceedings, a witness, expert, recorder, or translator intentionally provides false testimony, expert opinions, records, or translations regarding facts of material importance to the case, with the intent to frame another person or conceal criminal evidence."

These two crimes—Obstruction of Testimony and Perjury—are often triggered by the same act. Therefore, even if sentenced, the penalties will not accumulate. Usually, it’s less than three years of fixed-term imprisonment.

"Less than three years?"

After hearing this, Lin Gang could no longer remain calm. He broke out in a cold sweat.

He hurriedly said, "Qin, Brother Qin, I will definitely testify truthfully tomorrow. I haven’t taken the money yet, so there shouldn’t be any problem, right?"

Qin Mu nodded. "If you haven’t taken it, there shouldn’t be a big issue."

Both crimes require certain factual elements to be established. If you haven’t taken the money or testified, it wouldn’t even qualify as a criminal attempt. Naturally, there is no penalty.

"That’s good, that’s good. Brother Qin, what should I do now? I’ll do whatever you say."

Lin Gang wiped away his cold sweat and hurriedly made his stance clear.

If he hadn’t met Qin Mu, he might have taken a risk and gone through with it. But the implicit deterrence from Qin Mu was just too strong. Having been around Qin Mu for a long time, he now lacked even the courage to commit a crime.

"First, save the chat screenshots as evidence," Qin Mu thought for a moment, then continued. "Then, contact the other colleagues who were present at that time. I suspect the opposing lawyer might have approached them as well."

He remembered there wasn’t just Lin Gang present at the time. If they were trying to bribe witnesses, they wouldn’t just approach one person. Otherwise, during the trial, once cross-examination started, everything would be exposed. So, there must be others besides Lin Gang.

"I see, I’ll go ask them right now," Lin Gang readily agreed and then hung up the phone.

In the study, Qin Mu put down his phone and continued to gather evidence from a new batch of internet trolls.

Half an hour later, he received another call from Lin Gang.

"Brother Qin, it’s settled. They also experienced what I did, but none of them dared to take the money..."

On the phone, Lin Gang’s tone was a bit complicated.

This money was practically handed to them on a platter... Yet, all because of Qin Mu, none of the four dared to take it.

They might be poor, but taking the money could cost them their freedom. They understood the stakes clearly.

"Brother Qin, what should we do now? Should I directly reject that lawyer?" Lin Gang took a deep breath and asked again.

In the study, Qin Mu smiled slightly and advised, "Don’t be hasty. You don’t need to reject them right now."

The trial starts tomorrow, and that opposing lawyer is clearly no pushover. If you reject them now, who knows what trouble they might stir up. It’s better to pretend to agree and then, during the trial tomorrow, give them a surprise.

...

「The next day.」

「At nine o’clock sharp.」

「At the entrance of the nursing home.」

As agreed, Qin Mu arrived at the nursing home first. He picked up Zhang Qingyuan, Lin Gang, and others, ready to set off.

This case... The plaintiff was Old Zhang, with him and Wang Dachui as the legal representatives. Wang Dachui was just a name on the roster and didn’t need to rush to the scene.

As they were about to set off, Qin Mu felt something was off and couldn’t help turning to Zhang Qingyuan. "Huh? Where are Mr. Li and the others?"

Usually, every time there was a court session, Li Weiguo, Song Tiancheng, and those seniors were always extremely excited. Logically, they should have been waiting at the door already. But the entrance now only had a few of them and seemed somewhat deserted.

"Oh, them? They said you came too late, so they went to the courthouse first to grab seats and give Cheng Chuxiao a bit of an intimidating welcome," Zhang Qingyuan said off-handedly.

Qin Mu’s mouth twitched. "Intimidating welcome," my foot. These seniors were great in every other way, but whenever one of their own was involved in a lawsuit, they firmly believed in strength in numbers. They were convinced that by packing the gallery, they played a crucial role in winning the cases!

"Let’s go."

Then, he led Zhang Qingyuan, Lin Gang, and the others straight to the courthouse.

「At nine forty.」

They entered the First Civil Tribunal.

As expected, the spectator seats in the courtroom were filled with people from the nursing home, a dense, cramped crowd.

"Xiao Qin? Come over here! I’ve already found out for you, those two are the opposing lawyers. I hear they’re from out of town."

"These two lawyers are quite arrogant. But we’ve been waiting for ages, and it’s just these two. Cheng Chuxiao hasn’t even shown up yet."

"Xiao Qin, are you confident about winning against them? They were even provoking us earlier."