What's wrong with this lawyer?!

No need to guess to know it's the case; with a lawyer like Tang Fangjing, Han Chengli definitely wouldn't want him—he's just a troublemaker, and what does it matter if he can fight lawsuits?

As time quietly slipped into the next day in such an atmosphere, Old Tang grabbed his briefcase and left, ready to meet up at the law association today.

There was no need for introductions; they were pretty much all acquaintances, with each person's topic of expertise already assigned. Old Tang was in charge of criminal law, mainly publicizing some new and inventive fraud tactics.

They say urban areas are plagued with electronic scams, but in reality, fraud is even more rampant in the countryside, where all sorts of con artists deceive the elderly villagers. Some cases make you really want to hit someone when you see them.

Old Tang arrived at the law association, familiarly making his way to the meeting room, and upon entering, he found that many people were already there.

"Hey, Director Tang is here, come sit over here. Oh, and let me tell you, Director Han from Dafeng Law Firm is also participating. You two are both top criminal lawyers, so you can arrange the division of labor when the time comes, all right?" Explore more stories at My Virtual Library Empire

The speaker was an acquaintance of Old Tang's, Tong Yuanfu, the vice dean of the Civil Law School at Handong University of Political Science and Law, who had a deep research background in civil law, and was also the leader of this legal publicity trip to the countryside.

Upon hearing this, Old Tang immediately said, "Director Han is here too? How unusual."

Honest to goodness, he truly just blurted that out—Tang Fangjing could swear he didn't mean any harm.

Sitting not far away, Han's face suddenly turned dark. This Tang Fangjing, still as tactless as ever, so infuriating!

Forget it, I'm a law firm director; I won't stoop to argue with a madman.

Thinking this, Han turned his head to look at the wall, not wanting to see Tang Fangjing.

Old Tang didn't proactively approach either. "I am now the director of Tengda, and after this I might become a vice-chairman. We'll all be on the same level then, so there's even less need," he thought and turned his head toward another wall.

Dean Tong and the other professors: "..."

Lawyer Tang is a nutcase, but why does it feel like Chairman Han is also not quite normal right now? Or is it that this illness is contagious?

But that wouldn't make sense either; Director Wang from Tengda is doing just fine right now. It's strange no matter how you think about it.

In such an atmosphere, everyone finally reached the time to depart. The law association had chartered a bus, and they quickly hit the road.

Old Tang naturally didn't share a vehicle with old Han. Right now, he was looking at his phone and said, "Dean Tong, our first destination is Jingnan County, right?"

"Yes, Jingnan County. This county isn't very populous, and its villages have even fewer people. I visited here a few years back. Sigh, don't even mention it, quite a few of the local elderly were scammed terribly."

What Dean Tong was referring to was a common scam seen in rural areas a few years ago, where farmers were persuaded to purchase water purifiers.

In Dean Tong's words, it really lacked any scruples, as many elderly folks who lived alone and farmed would make less than ten thousand yuan a year, and yet, these con artists would overhype the product, selling something that might have cost only a few hundred yuan for as much as four or five thousand yuan.

What's more, if you went to the police to report such a thing, they seldom filed a case, for the authorities would deem it a sales activity. If there was false advertising or anything of the sort, they'd suggest taking legal action.

Let's be real, how many people in the countryside would take legal action over this? Even city dwellers rarely do it.

The Bureau of Industry and Commerce could certainly get involved, but these scammers were always on the move in coaches, their whereabouts unknown, and without investigative authority, complaints to Industry and Commerce often went nowhere...

Not to mention all the other fancy scams, like pension investments, or things sold as medicines that were actually health products. The number of schemes was frightening.

Old Tang shook his head as well, aware of the long and difficult road ahead.

There was a fair distance from Jingzhou City to Jingnan County, and the drive took a full three hours.

Finally, they arrived at the county, and for such an event, it certainly involved officials. The local Justice Bureau took charge, and the group checked into a hotel in the county.

Everyone was tired that day, and there was also a local reception ceremony to attend, so after returning to the hotel, they just slept.

The following day came quickly, and Old Tang, as usual, woke early. Today they were scheduled to start with legal publicity activities at the schools in the county.

He glanced at his legal calendar; today was a good day. So let's begin. The place of the county town is actually quite significant, but the disparity in the level of rule of law from one county town to another is astoundingly large.

Two hours later, Jingnan County's First Middle School – the students, all in uniform, listened intently to the lecture, and the professors on stage were delivering eloquent speeches.

Afterwards, they answered the students' questions, which were all rather theoretical in nature—exactly scratching the professors' itches.

The professors answered with great enthusiasm, creating such a harmonious scene that Old Tang almost had the illusion that the students had rehearsed specifically for the lecture...

It was too harmonious, with people taking pictures inside the venue, and it looked like there might even be interviews after the lectures. Old Tang was a bit bewildered by this routine, which seemed all too familiar from his childhood.

Without any exaggeration, Old Tang remembered that when he was a student, whenever leaders came to inspect, the school would arrange everything perfectly. He hadn't expected that after so many years, it would still be the same old story.

So bored, too bored. Old Tang was almost falling asleep listening; this kind of formality was not the reason he was there to spread legal awareness.

He really couldn't listen anymore. For someone like him, a veteran lawyer who's seen plenty of the darker side of life, this pure setting really wasn't for him.