I Advise You To Like Me As Soon As Possible

Chapter 4 (1)

<Translated By Crystal>

Although Ning Wan had repeatedly stressed that it wasn't easy to do legal work for the community, Fu Zheng was still not taking it seriously. When he thought of the cases he had handled in the past, each with tens of millions of dollars riding on a successful outcome, this trivial civil dispute simply held no challenge.
Looking through the statements and evidence for Shi Xiaofang's and Liu Guizhen's case materials, he began to regret his decision to expand into the civil field. It now seemed so much more unattractive than commercial affairs, with no flat plains where a horse could gallop.
When he remembered Ning Wan's very last provocation, he couldn't help but sneer. How like a summer worm expounding on ice and snow, a frog in a well1.
He had seen people like her before. Guarding their own tiny territory, they felt like they sat upon the most precious throne in the universe, one others were constantly jealous of. Such a person doesn't know about the people pulling the strings behind the scenes. In his whole life, would he ever covet her tiny little field? What a loss to say that she had a good reputation in the community. It just went to show that the common people were startlingly easy to fool. Perhaps her two-faced, muddled solutions had won their hearts.

From an objective standpoint, though she was certainly good-looking, her narrow-minded way of haggling over every ounce did not suit her appearance at all. Feeling like three months was too long of a time to waste in this community, Fu Zheng contemplated going straight back to headquarters under the mantle of 'partner' after having successfully completed this case.

He had used a fake resume, and when she saw an inexperienced newcomer come in, to whom she was a senior, she had tried to push him out. Had she thought of him as someone with no experience, and so was exaggerating the difficulty of handling community cases to "intimidate" him?

Fu Zheng had no idea. But how hard could this case possibly be? Even if no substantial damage had been caused, it was an infringement. He could easily seek the help of the landlord, and if the landlord couldn't solve it, the Department of City Appearance and Environmental Sanitation sat behind them.

He figured that such a trivial matter would likely end simply by calling the landlord. There would be no need to contact the Department. However, upon actually contacting the property owners, he discovered that this was not the case...

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lawyer, but don't talk to me about what what the law does and doesn't stipulate. If chickens are raised in shared areas of the building, we should naturally be obliged to deal with them, but this one is being raised in a person's private apartment. Why should we care? You can't tell someone what to do in their own private property, so we don't have the right to enforce the law in this case. Even if it was in a public area, we would only be able to persuade. "

“……”
Having hit a wall with the landlord, Fu Zheng was not discouraged. He quickly made his way to the Department of City Appearance and Environmental Sanitation. It was certainly illegal to raise chickens in an apartment building, so if he put in a complaint, they must deal with it. And if Liu Guizhen, the chicken-raiser, did not cooperate, the culling of that chicken would be enforced. He didn't buy Ning Wan's 'mediation' nonsense. He believed only in following the law strictly, and the law was written in black and white. Could you still call yourself a lawyer if you went through such crooked ways?

Sure enough, upon hearing his complaint, the answer given by the department was just as expected--

"It is indeed according to regulation to cull a chicken raised within an apartment building."

Pushing up the glasses perched upon his nose, the staff member of the department gave a positive answer. However, before Fu Zheng had time to rejoice, he continued--
"However, although we have the right to enforce the law, it is extremely difficult to push forward the culling if we run into truly uncooperative residents. We live in a society ruled by law, and using violence to enforce the law is highly frowned upon. If we knock on the door, carrying culling tools, and the resident refuses to open the door, we can't just break in. Furthermore, even if the door is opened, we can't force our way inside without the resident's permission. Such things are very sensitive nowadays, and we must pay close attention."