After reviewing this bill...
He could roughly imagine that over these years, Li Weiguo had shouldered every single one of the children's expenses.
Li Weiguo paid for the children's living expenses.
Li Weiguo paid their tuition.
Li Weiguo paid for their clothes.
Li Weiguo paid their medical bills when they were sick.
Li Weiguo paid for their tutoring, study materials, and extracurricular classes.
It could be said... Li Weiguo, single-handedly, had truly done his utmost to help these three children get an education. If these three children weren't Li Weiguo's illegitimate offspring... then a donor like Li Weiguo would be truly rare. At least he had never encountered such a person before.
When Yang Minghui heard Zhang Wei's words, her expression hardened instantly. Unhappily, she said, "Lawyer Zhang, what are you implying? We don't even know him. Nine years ago, he suddenly heard our family was poor and offered to fund our children's education."
The other two also nodded repeatedly in agreement. One of them grumbled, "Yeah, yeah, we didn't even want to send the kids to school in the first place! It was a waste of several years' labor when we needed help with the farm work at home."
"Exactly! If we'd known we'd get sued, we would never have listened to that guy Li Weiguo! We never should have sent the kids to school!"
"Back then, we even wondered how such a good person could exist in this world. Now that we think about it, he was just playing the long game, waiting to sue us for money!"
The three of them spoke all at once, frantically venting their frustrations. In their speech, they repeatedly called Li Weiguo "that old scoundrel," with no respect whatsoever.
Zhang Wei couldn't bear to watch this any longer, and his expression gradually cooled. Regardless of what Li Weiguo might have done to make them speak so maliciously, considering he had funded their children's education for nine years... they shouldn't be calling him "that old scoundrel" like that.
"You probably don't realize the gravity of the situation yet." He took a deep breath. Looking at the three of them, he said coldly, "The other party has already filed a lawsuit against you, demanding ten times the liquidated damages for breach of contract, and also charging you with the crime of fraud."
"If you're convicted, the principal offenders in your three families will each be sentenced to a minimum of three years, and it could easily be over ten years!"
The moment he finished speaking, the noisy complaints and grievances of Yang Minghui and the other two came to an abrupt halt. Disbelief, mixed with a hint of panic, was written all over their faces.
"Pay ten times? One point three million? We wouldn't have that much money even if we sold our houses! How could we possibly pay him?"
"Go to prison? When did we commit fraud?"
"We're just ordinary poor families who accepted Li Weiguo's donations! When did that become fraud?"
"Lawyer Zhang, we've told you everything we know! You have to help us..."
The three gathered around Zhang Wei, their faces extremely grim.
But Zhang Wei merely snorted coldly. Though he found their shamelessness detestable, as their lawyer, he still analyzed the situation from a professional standpoint. "The other party is suing you for fraud, likely based on the fact that you continued to ask for money even after your children dropped out of school..."
Before he could finish, Yang Minghui loudly interrupted, "We didn't even ask for that much money afterwards! Why should we pay one point three million? And go to prison for three years?"
"On what grounds?!"
Seeing her still so arrogant and shameless, Zhang Wei snorted coldly again. "You probably still don't understand what the crime of fraud entails."
With that, he began to explain the legal concept of fraud to the three of them in detail.
"For a fraud conviction, three standard conditions must be met. First, subjectively, there must be intent for illegal possession. Your repeated requests for money from Li Weiguo already constitute this subjective intent."
"Second, objectively, there must be an act of concealing the truth or engaging in deceptive behavior that causes the victim to voluntarily hand over assets. Concealing the fact that your children had dropped out of school also meets this condition."
"Third, the amount of assets defrauded needs to reach 3,000 yuan to constitute a crime, and you have clearly far exceeded this amount."
As he explained, the faces of Yang Minghui and the other two grew increasingly ghastly. They had never imagined that merely accepting donations could satisfy all three criteria. Some of them even felt their calves tremble, their bodies going limp.
If the lawsuit is successful... then they would probably really go to prison!
"No, that's not right! The money we received was a donation, not fraud! Lawyer Zhang, you have to save us..." The three of them, completely limp, looked pitifully at Zhang Wei, their eyes filled with pleas.
However, Zhang Wei shook his head. "You've met all three criteria. There's nothing I can do. The other party is suing for ten years in prison and ten times the compensation. At most..." He paused, glancing at the three of them again. "At most, I might be able to get the court to sentence each of you to three years and order five times the liquidated damages plus fines."
When the three of them heard this, their faces turned even paler with fright. They had never imagined that simply using their children's education to emotionally blackmail Li Weiguo could actually be linked to fraud. Moreover, the consequences were actually so severe.
"The best solution now," Zhang Wei took a deep breath and earnestly pointed out their only remaining path, "is to obtain the other party's understanding, seek their forgiveness, and get them to voluntarily withdraw the lawsuit. Otherwise, you cannot win this case."
From what Yang Minghui and the other two had told him, he now completely understood the cause and effect of the situation. This lawsuit... Even if the King of Heaven himself were to argue it, they couldn't win. They had fulfilled all three essential elements of fraud. Moreover, they had exploited the charitable donations of a kind-hearted person; for this reason, the court might even impose a harsher sentence. If they wanted to avoid prison, the only way... was for the other party to withdraw the lawsuit. After all, although this involved suspected fraud, it was also considered an offense prosecutable only upon complaint. It was the kind of case where 'if civilians don't sue, officials won't investigate.' As long as the aggrieved party dropped the charges, the public prosecutor's office wouldn't continue to pursue a thankless case.
And Yang Minghui and the other two, who had slumped to the floor, upon hearing this only solution... with crestfallen expressions, they sank into complete despair.