The other dozens of people, however, didn’t receive such treatment and were all detained in the detention center.

"You... you’re not from Zizhou?" After taking his business card, the group couldn’t help but voice their objections. The card clearly stated that Legal Pioneer Law Firm was from Jin City. Although not far away, they weren’t local lawyers.

"AHEM. Let me briefly introduce ourselves, as you all might not be familiar with our Legal Pioneer Law Firm," Wang Dachui cleared his throat and patiently explained. "Our firm is based in Jin City and is very well-known, having handled many challenging cases. Our specialty is sentence reductions. Of course, we have also handled many classic defense cases, such as achieving not-guilty verdicts in cases of death resulting from righteous intervention, or one death and three injuries during wedding hazing..."

In front of the elders, Wang Dachui continuously promoted the law firm, trying to gain their trust. He had come this time specifically to secure the representation rights for this case.

"Really? Can someone still be found innocent after killing someone?"

"Is your firm that strong? You’ve helped defend over nine hundred defendants?"

"We don’t seem to have such powerful law firms here in Zizhou. What are your fees like?"

"You’re not just boasting, are you? Can you really get us all acquitted?"

"..."

After hearing this, the elders burst into chatter. Surrounding Wang Dachui, they bombarded him with questions.

"If you don’t believe me, you can look up our firm online. Many of these cases have made the news," Wang Dachui responded calmly, then continued, "As for your case... I’ve actually gained some understanding of it, and there’s a good chance none of you will have to go to prison!" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

As soon as he said this, the entire courtyard was suddenly plunged into a brief silence. Seconds later, loud murmurs erupted.

"Really, no prison time? If that’s the case, I’ll hire you!"

"My grandson said that if I were sentenced, it would affect three generations of our family. Is that true?"

"By the way, we have another issue. Someone has slandered our village, making everyone in the town discriminate against us. Can we sue them for that?"

"No, I need to have my son check online. What if you’re deceiving us?"

"..."

The elders’ reactions varied. Aside from Zhao Dezhu, most were excited, feeling a surge of hope. If even murder could result in an acquittal, then their theft of a few melons should definitely be a non-issue!

"Everyone, please calm down." Looking at the group of seventy- and eighty-year-old elders before him, Wang Dachui hastily said, "Regarding the specifics, I need to thoroughly understand the details of the case before I can draw a conclusion and make a judgment. Of course, the strength of our firm is evident to all. If you trust me, I will have my colleagues from the firm come here right away to prepare your defense. As for a sentence affecting three generations..." Wang Dachui looked at the elder who had raised the question and patiently explained, "The idea of impacting three generations is an old saying; the law changed a long time ago. Only the crimes of one’s direct parents can affect their children; grandparents’ actions won’t."

Many people misunderstood this point. A lot of them thought that "three generations" referred to grandparents, parents, and then grandchildren. But in reality, if one person commits a crime, that person alone bears the consequences. Current laws do not advocate for collective punishment. The only area where it has an influence is during political vetting, and this is because parents’ education and family environment can potentially affect a child’s character, moral integrity, and so on. Therefore, if parents have a criminal record, it directly impacts their children.

"So that’s how it is! I need to call my grandson quickly."

"That little rascal! He only half-understood and was slandering me. So, it means I’ll only affect my son, right?"

"Then it’s fine. My son is almost sixty this year; he doesn’t need to take any complicated exams."

"Oh, and what about the defamation of our Zhaojia Village? Lawyer Wang, you have no idea, other villages are discriminating against us now..."

"..."

Many of the elders smiled, a wave of relief washing over them. As long as their grandchildren weren’t affected, that was better than anything.

The biggest problem now was the defamation of their village, which made life there very difficult. Some essential daily supplies even had to be bought through connections.

These days, when they went to the town market, people recognized them from afar. No one would talk to them. They couldn’t even buy what they wanted, and selling their own goods had become an extravagant hope.

"That bad?" Wang Dachui listened to their predicaments, a look of surprise on his face.

The actions of these elders... initially, they had gotten him quite worked up. If they weren’t "wealthy," he wouldn’t have come. He hadn’t expected Qin Mu to come up with such a method to make their village’s reputation stink. The township’s way of handling things internally was even simpler and cruder than he had imagined. These shameless, lawless old folks, constantly met with cold shoulders and ostracized everywhere, had finally reached their breaking point.

"This matter... might be a bit difficult." After a brief moment of thought, Wang Dachui organized his words and said to the group, "Defamation refers to the act of damaging someone’s character by slandering them or fabricating false facts to attack them. And these rumors... are all based on actual facts. If you can find evidence that the other party fabricated rumors or made false, slanderous claims, then you might be able to sue."

After he finished speaking, he scanned the faces of the elders. He saw that they were looking at each other, having suddenly fallen silent.