Chapter 416: Chapter 303: Clues! Major Suspicions!
Upper City... what does Upper City have to do with me?
He’d never even been to Upper City!
Except...
Liu Jinshui, the corpse, filing a case...
Zhu Haoyi paused, then his face suddenly showed disbelief, as if he’d just figured something out, and he hurriedly said:
"Liu Jinshui went to Upper City to file a case!?"
There was no refutation on the other end of the line, which counted as tacit acknowledgment.
Hearing this, Zhu Haoyi was instantly stunned, his brows tightly furrowed.
He knew that Xu Liang and Liu Jinshui had left; otherwise, with Xu Liang around, he would never have dared to force the demolition.
He just never imagined... they hadn’t gone to the provincial capital, but to Upper City!
"Liu Jinshui went there with his head in his hands!"
"The Supreme Court had just finished a press conference, dozens of well‑known reporters were still broadcasting live there, and he went into the crowd with his head in his hands to file the case..."
"Do you have any idea how serious this is!?"
The voice on the other end was very rigid, the breathing sounded extremely unsteady.
Zhu Haoyi was taken aback, and after he reacted, sheer horror spread across his face.
Carrying his own head to the Supreme Court, crying injustice in front of dozens of reporters!?
Just imagining it made his scalp go numb; at this moment he also understood why the other party would risk contacting him, even opening with a torrent of curses.
’Damn, lunatic... why is this guy like a plaster that won’t come off!?’
Just thinking about it, he knew it was Xu Liang’s doing, and he cursed inwardly, clearly on the verge of losing it.
’This is basically slapping the Supreme Court in the face... isn’t he afraid of being punished!?’
’Damn lunatic, a lawyer pulling this kind of stunt...’
The people don’t fight the officials.
Lawyers may be part of the judicial system, but no matter how big a lawyer you are, in the end you’re still just one of the masses.
For something like this... don’t even say the Supreme Court, not even the High Court.
Even the Middle Court!
Across the whole Eastern Country, is there a second lawyer who’d dare to do this? You do it one day, and the next day as soon as the case is checked out, the whole profession will blacklist you!
The notice of your practice license being revoked would hit you in the face the very next second!
But Xu Liang not only did it, this was already the second time, and he chose, of all places, the damn Supreme Court!
Calling him a lunatic would be an insult to lunatics; even lunatics wouldn’t pull something like this...
"I already found out the case details through my connections."
"Couldn’t you have just spent a little more money, you fuck? Zhu Haoyi, is your head stuffed with shit!?"
The voice on the other end dropped low, roaring in anger.
"I..." Zhu Haoyi also felt incredibly aggrieved.
The mining company made money.
But damn it, he himself didn’t have any cash; sure, the chaos in Zhengyang City worked in his favor, but he had to grease palms everywhere, and just that batch of red‑bean‑paste mooncakes last time had to be in double portions...
Still, he knew this wasn’t the time to complain.
"The case... where does it stand now?"
Zhu Haoyi asked in a low voice.
Filing a case in Upper City versus filing in the High Court wasn’t that different in theory.
After all, in the end the case has to be handed over to the locality where the crime occurred, which was Zhengyang City.
As long as it was tried there, Zhu Haoyi could completely minimize the impact of the case!
But...
"The Upper City Middle Court is in charge."
"They haven’t issued any notice yet. You be careful."
The other party took a deep breath, speaking impatiently.
Upper City handling the trial... Zhu Haoyi’s face instantly turned ashen, looking extremely ugly.
"Fine, I got it."
Zhu Haoyi took a deep breath, forcing all his impatience down.
"How’s the rare‑earth matter progressing?" the voice on the other end eased a bit, thought for a moment, then asked.
"Half a year. At most half a year and we can get in touch with the right people." Zhu Haoyi said.
Half a year, huh...
"Good."
Once he knew the timetable, the other party said nothing more and directly hung up.
Right after, Zhu Haoyi deleted all the call records, leaving no relevant information, only then putting the phone back in his pocket.
"What happened?"
Li Yang, who’d been standing at his side, asked in a low voice.
"Call from Upper City. There’s been a screw‑up with our business."
"That lawyer... took people to Upper City, and at the Supreme Court he carried his head in his hands and filed the case in front of dozens of reporters."
Zhu Haoyi spoke with a pounding headache.
Li Yang instantly understood, grasping the cause and effect.
Filed in Upper City, tried in Upper City, and as defendants they had to appear in court...
Then what about Zhengyang City?
"The forced demolition continues. The rare‑earth project can’t be delayed; every extra day the project drags on is a risk. It has to be pushed through and implemented as fast as possible."
"We..."
Thoughts were already forming in Li Yang’s head.
As things stood, even the Upper City Middle Court couldn’t possibly reach a verdict on this case in the short term!
Why?
Because there’s a contract!
The contract had Zhang Shan’s clear signature and fingerprint, notices to them, and remittance records.
And after Zhang Shan’s death, the only doubtful point was the stool; that could only show the possibility that a second person was present at the time of death, but it couldn’t be proven!
As long as it can’t be proven, it doesn’t count as evidence.
And they had quietly taken care of Zhang Shan’s wife as well; they could completely claim that his wife ran off with the money, driving Zhang Shan to commit suicide.
Granted, the clues couldn’t confirm it.
But Xu Liang also had no evidence to prove that they killed Zhang Shan!
"With both sides dragging it out, the case could go on for years."
"And by then..."
They might already have gotten out clean.
Hearing this, Zhu Haoyi let out a small breath of relief; fortunately, they’d left a move in place with the man’s wife back then, otherwise they might really have gone down this time!
At that thought,
his face grew even darker, a trace of gloom flashing in his eyes.
He really couldn’t figure it out—why was Xu Liang sticking to him like a damn plaster?
There were so many illegal enterprises in Zhengyang City, why did he have to latch onto him and not let go!?
"Get ready, we’re going to Upper City to fight this in court."
Li Yang said.
Zhu Haoyi nodded, the image of the liaison on the other end of the phone just now flashing through his mind.
But then he thought it over and figured it probably wouldn’t affect the other party.
In the end, Zhu Haoyi nodded.
"Okay."
...
...
At the same time.
"Hey, you really are at the Supreme Court!"
"But this time I’m afraid you can’t be my secretary... just be a tourist."
Upper City.
Supreme Court, the reception room where Liu Jinshui was staying.
Xu Liang looked at Yang Ruoxi and Wang Chao at the door, a faint smile appearing on his face.
Wang Yao had tricked him into coming to the Supreme Court by saying Yang Ruoxi wanted to see him; he’d thought it was just something said offhand, who’d have thought Yang Ruoxi actually was here....
"Hmph, I’m very responsible, okay!"
Yang Ruoxi tilted her chin up; she’d been keeping an eye on Liu Jinshui’s condition, barely even sleeping.
Xu Liang glanced at Wang Chao next to her and immediately hesitated.
"Chao, you..."
He saw Wang Chao lying across a public bench.
Hearing the voice, Wang Chao lifted his head and forced a smile at Xu Liang, but just as he smiled, a sharp pain shot up from his butt, twisting his whole face.
He sucked in a cold breath, hissing through his teeth, leaving Xu Liang staring dumbfounded.
"What’s going on?" he whispered to Yang Ruoxi.
"My dad beat him," Yang Ruoxi said.
Wang Yao had nearly blown a gasket yesterday.
It was Wang Chao who’d brought Liu Jinshui into the Supreme Court!
So when Wang Yao got home, he grabbed a feather duster and laid into him with all his might.
Luckily, Wang Chao’s hide was thick; aside from his butt being a bit sore, he didn’t have any real injuries, so it wouldn’t affect him going to the police station later to collect a commendation.
"By the way, how’s the case going?"
Yang Ruoxi glanced into the reception room at Liu Jinshui, who was packing his things, then looked back at Xu Liang.
She lowered her voice and asked, "Has it been filed?"
Xu Liang nodded. "Most likely it’s been filed... should be Upper City handling it."
To be honest, if it were just some random lawyer, their opinion wouldn’t carry much weight; people like Wang Yao couldn’t be bothered to listen.
But Xu Liang was different.
He pulled stunts—and serious ones at that!
Even Zhao Yi wished Xu Liang would talk more during the evidence phase; he would definitely take it into consideration. What he feared was Xu Liang keeping his mouth shut and only speaking at a critical moment.
Wang Yao and the others had learned from that, so if Xu Liang was willing to say a bit... it was actually quite valuable as a reference.
"Upper City is handling it... phew, that’s good, that’s good."
Yang Ruoxi let out a breath of relief; they knew quite a few people in Upper City!
It was just...
"We’re still short on evidence."
Xu Liang frowned, sat down next to Yang Ruoxi, and pointed out the biggest problem at the moment.
The case had been filed.
But that didn’t mean filing it guaranteed a win!
Filing just meant they could go to trial, and the trial would ultimately come down to the evidence!
On their side... honestly, they had no proof that Zhang Shan had been explicitly killed by Zhu Haoyi, unless they found Zhang Shan’s wife’s body and could concretely prove she hadn’t run off with the money, thereby pinning suspicion on him.
Even then, it would still be extremely difficult.
After all, they were in Upper City now; even if the body was still around, it would only be in Zhengyang City...
"Have you looked into who exactly Zhu Haoyi and Li Yang are...?"
Xu Liang suddenly asked, turning to Yang Ruoxi.
Because of the recusal system in Eastern Country, Yang Ruoxi couldn’t appear in court in Upper City as a lawyer.
But acting as his assistant and quietly looking into things on the side was no problem.
"I have; they’re clearly both high-education types."
Yang Ruoxi nodded.
With Wang Yao as her backing, she only had to ask around a bit, and Zhu Haoyi and Li Yang’s backgrounds were laid out before her like a blank sheet of paper.
"What’s their story?" Xu Liang asked.
"Mm... on paper, their résumés look fine."
Yang Ruoxi spoke with some hesitation, then said:
"Back in the day, Zhu Haoyi popped up around the port; his family was fairly well-off. But when Eastern Country raised its flag here and there were issues with their businesses, he went to the Western Country to study abroad."
"He came back to Eastern Country at thirty, then used all his family assets to found Zhengyang Mining Company."
After that, it was the usual mining and selling, no different from any other legitimate mining company.
Up until now...
He’d set his sights on the rare earth mine under Liu Jinshui and Zhang Shan’s factory.
Rare earths could basically be called an unavoidable cornerstone of humanity’s future technological development.
Right now Eastern Country could practically monopolize the global supply; just from that alone, its future development prospects already had one foot over the line ahead of other countries.
It was just....
"He wants to cooperate with a state-owned enterprise?"
"But even if he partners with a state-owned enterprise, he’d barely make any money..."
Xu Liang fell into thought.
There were only two models for rare earths: either sell raw ore, or cooperate with a state-owned enterprise; after setting up a project, the state-owned enterprise handled the refining.
But the core tech was in the hands of the state-owned enterprises, so mining companies didn’t make much.
Of course, it was possible Zhu Haoyi really just wanted to make money.
However...
In a daze.
It was like something clicked for Xu Liang; he looked up at Yang Ruoxi, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said softly:
"Wait, you’re saying..."
"Zhu Haoyi grew up and studied in the Western Country?"
