186: Think carefully about what kind of nature you are.

After waiting a bit longer, Principal Liu from the school finally arrived, quite late. Upon his arrival, he stared at Zhou Yun as if they had some deep-seated grudge.

In fact, the animosity was indeed great. Despite having communicated with the bureau in advance, they still didn't know how to handle the situation.

The most crucial point was that the complainant's name was Zhou Yun, and if you tried to brush him off, he certainly wouldn't be satisfied.

The current problem was that the bureau didn't want any trouble, so they told the school to quickly resolve the matter, which meant dealing with the duty officer...

But in a small county town, the duty officer had also gotten in through connections. Although he was a temporary worker, dealing with him was still troublesome.

So, the school leaders were all very stressed, and now they were even sitting in the defendant's seat. Naturally, they didn't have a good expression when they saw Zhou Yun.

Zhou Yun didn't care. He thought, 'Many people want me dead; who are you? Get in line first.'

It was in this atmosphere that the court hearing began.

First, it was the usual procedure: court discipline, whether to recuse, and whether to mediate.

After confirming that there would be no mediation, Presiding Judge Wang Yanqing spoke, "Now, please, the plaintiff, make your statement."

Zhou Yun immediately made his statement. The purpose of this statement was mainly to explain what the other party did and what rights they infringed upon, in other words, the facts and reasons.

In Zhou Yun's statement, the several defendant students infringed upon the plaintiff's property rights and health rights.

If you beat someone until they are unhealthy, then it means you have infringed upon their health rights.

Infringing upon property rights is even simpler: forcibly demanding someone else's property certainly infringes upon property rights.

After Zhou Yun finished speaking, the old Liu on the other side quickly began his defense.

Old Liu's argument was that there was insufficient evidence of infringement of health rights. The video only showed the children roughhousing, and there were no injury appraisals or hospital examination reports.

As for the infringement of property rights, Old Liu's defense reason was that it was a gift between classmates.

Upon hearing this reason, Zhou Yun almost burst out laughing. He had heard before that the methods of grassroots legal workers were very 'wild,' and seeing it today, it truly lived up to its reputation!

The other party couldn't claim insufficient evidence for this, because the money was demanded through transfers...

There was no way around it. The development of various payment methods not only stumped thieves but also made it impossible for these hooligans to demand cash directly like before.

Most adults rarely carry much cash, so for someone like Guo Xitian, who works out of town, they usually transfer money to their child's WeChat.

Therefore, they could only demand money through transfers.

And you can't deny transfers; why would someone transfer money to you for no reason?

As a result, the other party now directly said, "a gift between classmates," which almost made Zhou Yun choke with laughter.

However, he was professionally trained and wouldn't easily laugh; he could still hold it in for now.

Presiding Judge Wang Yanqing also almost laughed. She knew Old Liu; he always had unique ideas, but she didn't expect him to say something like this this time.

Old Liu on the opposite side also saw Zhou Yun's expression, and his face was a bit dark. He felt that Zhou Yun was looking down on him.

'Just wait. Your evidence isn't that sufficient either. It's just a transfer. How does that infringe on property rights? It was clearly a voluntary transfer. Why can't it be considered a gift!'

As for the school, Zhou Yun's reason was that they failed to fulfill their educational supervision responsibility and had serious fault.

The reason was that after being beaten, communication with the teacher yielded no follow-up, which indicated an extremely serious inaction on their part.

Principal Liu's defense was that they had fulfilled their educational supervision responsibility. After the incident, they contacted the parents of the students who committed the assault for communication, but the parents did not come to the school.

If the parents didn't come to school, there was nothing they could do. Students in compulsory education cannot be expelled; they can only be educated.

Just like that, the statements were completed, and the presentation and cross-examination of evidence began.

Zhou Yun's evidence included the assault video, chat records with the teacher, transfer records, etc., all of which Old Liu deemed to have insufficient relevance.

He believed that these could not fully prove the existence of infringement and had insufficient probative value.

Of course, most civil cases are like this; there are rarely extremely complete chains of evidence. If there truly were such a chain of evidence, you wouldn't even need to hire a lawyer; you could just tie a dog to it and win.

That's why judges need to decide based on the high probability, which means combining facts with common sense and so on, to determine which side's claim has a higher possibility.

There are also often cases in life where criminal punishment is not possible, but civil compensation is required.

The school, on the other hand, presented chat records between teachers and parents like Lü Dehai, proving that they had indeed communicated.

Zhou Yun cross-examined each one, with similar reasons: insufficient relevance and insufficient probative value.

Soon, the presentation and cross-examination of evidence ended, and the court debate began.

It could be said that from the very beginning of the case, Zhou Yun told the other party a story.

In the story, the assault and the demand for money were separate. The claims were also for infringement of health rights and infringement of property rights, and then compensation was sought based on these.

So, by common sense, the other party would also respond separately; this is a normal way of thinking.

Unexpectedly, the other side immediately claimed it was a gift between classmates.

This caught Zhou Yun a bit off guard, because if you say it's a gift, it means that money was indeed given unconditionally to the other party.

Under the premise of violent behavior, and then giving money unconditionally, what is that called? That's called robbery!

Of course, at this point, whatever the other party said was useless. No matter what they said, Zhou Yun was already prepared and could directly extend it to robbery.

But then, an unconditional gift suddenly popped up. Zhou Yun hadn't prepared for this, as even if the other party lacked criminal sensitivity, they should have realized that violence plus unconditional money was very dangerous.

However, man proposes, God disposes. The other party actually used this reason, so there was nothing he could do; it saved him a lot of trouble.

Soon, Zhou Yun spoke, "Presiding Judge, I request to question the several defendants."

Wang Yanqing nodded, "Permission granted to question."

Zhou Yun then looked at the opposite side and said, "First, I want to ask these guardians: I want to know if the unconditional gift mentioned by the agent represents your common understanding."

This question was actually unnecessary. An agent's words certainly represent the principal's expression of intent.

However, there are too many cases where agents and principals squabble. Those who frequently litigate know that while the lawyer is speaking, the principal directly jumps up and says, "Don't talk nonsense, that's not what I meant!"

The lawyer is instantly dumbfounded, desperately signaling the principal to stop talking, but the principal speaks even more enthusiastically.

The judge... the judge didn't even bang the gavel; he just watched silently, and he seemed quite happy watching.

So, at this point, it was important to clarify.

Lü Dehai and the others exchanged glances, then said, "Yes, that's what we all think. That is... that is, the gift between classmates."

Zhou Yun nodded, then looked at the school and said, "Principal Liu, I need to confirm with you again: are you sure those few surveillance cameras are broken and there's no video footage, right?"

Principal Liu didn't quite understand the meaning of the question, but he still said, "Yes, those cameras are indeed broken. They are currently undergoing repairs."

Zhou Yun then looked up, "Presiding Judge, my questioning is complete."

"Now, I would like to ask everyone to look at the evidence timeline. Evidence 1 (assault video) occurred on the 6th, and Evidence 3 (one of the transfer records) occurred on the 8th."

"So, this means that on the third day after the four defendant students ganged up on my client, my client transferred twenty yuan to them."

"The defendant's agent says this was an unconditional gift. Can I understand this to mean that the defendant confirms my client gave them money unconditionally?"

"Then, just two days after someone was severely beaten, even having their face whipped with a mop, they unconditionally gifted money? I don't think that makes sense."

"The only reason that makes sense is that my client, after being severely beaten, transferred these twenty yuan to the other party out of fear and dread."

Upon hearing this, the Presiding Judge's expression suddenly changed. Old Liu, the legal professional, frowned as if deep in thought.

Lü Dehai and the others, on the other hand, looked bewildered. They didn't understand what the other party meant by that.

What did 'confirming unconditional money' and 'fear and dread' mean?

Principal Liu on the side was also a bit confused.

"Old Liu, what does he mean?" Lü Dehai asked.

Old Liu finally understood now. Assault, transfer—this was robbery!

He quickly said, "He's saying your son robbed the other party of twenty yuan. No, this..."

He really hadn't paid attention to this transfer record because it was only twenty yuan.

And this was why Zhou Yun insisted on confirming robbery rather than extortion.

Because for robbery, theoretically, even one yuan can lead to conviction; it's a conduct crime, meaning that theoretically, as long as you commit the act of robbery, you can be convicted, without requirements for actually obtaining money or a specific amount.

After speaking, Zhou Yun even smiled at Principal Liu, which immediately made Principal Liu's face turn as dark as the bottom of a pot...

If this was robbery, then what was the nature of their previous actions...?