Chapter 989: Chapter 767: Nan Zhubin Is Not Fighting Alone (2)
"Self-preservation comes first. That’s the basic rule of the workplace." Nan Zhubin said calmly. "I thought you would’ve been mentally prepared for that."
"Uh... are you feeling a bit hurt right now? Maybe even... betrayed?" Nan Zhubin watched Boss Wang’s expression and pressed his lips together. "You seem to have been expecting some kind of non-existent organizational loyalty from us?"
"Unfortunately, that kind of thing was never there to begin with."
"To make a project team you just met for the first time work themselves to the bone and even develop so-called ’loyalty’—that demands a lot from the leader’s personal charm. Clearly, you don’t have that... Forget it. Given your personality traits, I’m not surprised this is how it turned out."
...
This whole stretch of explanation sounded, on the surface, rather unnecessary.
Without concrete evidence, it might actually provoke a stubborn leader into a ’I refuse to believe this’ mindset, making him insist on challenging it.
But if you show specific evidence, it might just put him on guard instead.
From that angle, Nan Zhubin and his team really ought to have simply left the company without a word, then waited for Boss Wang to, driven by anger, order the legal department to blindly go after them—after which Nan Zhubin’s side could slam their own evidence on the table and settle everything with one decisive blow. That would actually make the outcome less controversial.
But as Nan Zhubin had been saying all along—his purpose in showing up today was to assess Boss Wang’s current state, and avoid any future energy drain on the project team and on Bai Qinghua.
Well, even if Bai Qinghua had energy to spare and might not waste much of it on this matter anyway.
At least it could save a bit of effort for Chonghui or Weng Pinting.
Nan Zhubin was still quite considerate.
And with Boss Wang’s personality, if he really lost it, the trouble he caused might spread much further, and that would become hard to control.
After all, humans are always the most complicated animal. Even Nan Zhubin wouldn’t dare claim he could predict a hundred percent of Boss Wang’s subsequent moves.
Keeping the situation within his own controllable range was better.
...
This seemingly "unnecessary" section was only the beginning of what Nan Zhubin planned to say today.
He wanted to awaken Boss Wang’s Fear, but if he didn’t want that Fear to in turn awaken an uncontrollable Anger, then he had to make Boss Wang realize—there were already more and more things slipping out of his control.
And while Boss Wang was only just realizing he’d lost his grip on the situation and was flailing around, Nan Zhubin also had to stuff something into his hands that he could still control, to slightly rouse his rationality and fence in his behavior.
"That reminds me—Boss Wang."
After finishing the part about his own project team, Nan Zhubin deliberately switched topics as if dragging out the one thing no one wanted to mention.
Nan Zhubin swept his gaze around the office. "You called so many people here today because of what happened in the cafeteria, right? Because of Old Mo?"
For a moment, Boss Wang failed to follow Nan Zhubin’s wildly jumping topic and froze.
"You must be really angry right now—okay, that’s obvious nonsense."
"You’re angry that Old Mo shattered the balance within the company and caused trouble, right?"
"You want to be the first to sue him, don’t you?"
Isn’t that just stating the obvious?
Boss Wang finally found a question he could respond to and regained a shred of confidence.
He had just opened his mouth.
But Nan Zhubin again cut him off with a perfectly timed rhythm, nodding to himself. "Mm, I was right, even if it’s self-evident."
Nan Zhubin sighed as he spoke. "As for putting this kind of thing at the top of your priority list... I’m not going to comment. But what I need to tell you is—"
Nan Zhubin looked straight at Boss Wang. "You basically have no way to seriously hold Old Mo accountable."
This made Boss Wang jerk in surprise.
Nan Zhubin continued on his own. "Theoretically, you do have three possible paths."
"First, you can report Old Mo to the police for suspected ’unlawful detention’ and pursue his criminal liability."
Nan Zhubin raised one finger. "Old Mo held a knife and took Shi Chuxin hostage, using coercive means to deprive someone of their personal freedom. That meets the constitutive elements of the crime of ’unlawful detention’, and as the entity where the incident occurred, your company has the right to file a report."
"But—"
Nan Zhubin’s pupils unfocused slightly, as if some text was being projected onto his retinas and he was simply reading it out.
His speaking tempo did not change in the slightest. "Although Old Mo’s conduct technically constitutes ’unlawful detention’, it falls under the category of ’debt-collection-type’ unlawful detention. Subjectively, his goal was to demand the unpaid severance compensation owed to him, not to maliciously endanger others’ safety or extort property."
"And he released the hostage of his own accord, which constitutes voluntary abandonment of the crime. Under the law, punishment should be mitigated or even waived. So the odds are high that he won’t even be indicted, and even if he is, he’ll likely only get a suspended sentence, or even be exempted from criminal punishment."
This speech left Boss Wang utterly at sea; he had no understanding of such detailed legal provisions. His entire cognition of the Criminal Law was based solely on a naïve moral sense.
His own moral sense, at that.
On that basis, Boss Wang reflexively opened his mouth to say something.
But again, Nan Zhubin got ahead of him. "I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to call it assault, aren’t you? Or kidnapping?"
Still with that slightly unfocused gaze and unchanging tempo, Nan Zhubin said, "The core of ’kidnapping’ is extorting illegal property or coercing a third party. Old Mo was only demanding the severance pay he was already entitled to; there was no intent to extort anything illegal. As for ’intentional injury’, it requires a subjective intent to harm and at least minor bodily harm as a result. Old Mo only brandished the knife for intimidation; he did not inflict any... ’excessive’ actual harm on Shi Chuxin."
Here, Nan Zhubin paused, then went on. "There may be some harm to Spirit, but... Shi Chuxin has no intention of pursuing it."
After that addendum, Nan Zhubin raised a second finger.
"Second, you can file a civil lawsuit against Old Mo for all the losses his actions caused the company, and demand that he bear civil liability for compensation. That includes indirect losses such as reputational damage, decreased employee efficiency, doubts from partners, and so on, as well as direct losses caused by the on-site chaos."
"However..."
Nan Zhubin shook his head.
"Most of those claimed losses are indirect and hard to prove with clear evidence as to the amount. And since Old Mo has no stable income after being illegally laid off, he very likely doesn’t have enough assets to satisfy a judgment. Even if you win the case, you won’t be able to actually enforce it."
"He will suffer almost no loss, and you won’t gain anything."
Boss Wang’s eyes grew even more vacant.
He didn’t even bother to refute the "illegal layoff" that Nan Zhubin had just mentioned.
Nan Zhubin then raised a third finger. "Third, you can report Old Mo to the public security organs for brandishing a knife and taking a hostage on company premises, thereby disrupting normal business operations, and ask that he be given administrative penalties such as detention or fines, to serve as a warning to others."
"But the severity of that kind of punishment is minimal. Old Mo might get a few days of administrative detention at most, which is almost no real constraint, let alone any kind of make-up for your losses."
...
President Wang stared blankly.
The tiny bit of confidence he had just mustered to speak evaporated again.
What Nan Zhubin had just laid out landed squarely in his blind spot of knowledge, and at the same time covered all the possibilities he could think of.
So... with you saying all that, what am I even supposed to say?
Everyone else in the office looked at Nan Zhubin with the same kind of dazed expression.
Wait... isn’t this guy supposed to be in psychology? How come he’s reciting legal provisions like this?
But this was nowhere near the end.
"You can hardly do anything substantial to hold Old Mo accountable. But... his impact on you is far from small."
Nan Zhubin said meaningfully, "After all, Old Mo’s situation qualifies as a criminal case. The police... will file and investigate."
"As the place where the incident happened, and as a relevant responsible party, the company will be brought under the scope of the investigation. The scrutiny you’ll be facing afterward—will be very thorough."
This time, Boss Wang understood.
