...

「The next day.」

Qin Mu woke up early. He habitually checked the video’s playback data and was surprised to find that overnight, the video’s viewership had soared past five million. The numbers were still rapidly increasing.

After logging into the Study Law Alliance Forum, he found that it was business as usual in the forum. There were occasional jokes and remarks from legal outliers. In the law-specific section, the forum users had also begun to discuss and study elderly crime. However, the direction of their research was somewhat preposterous.

"Is there an expert who can help clear my confusion? I encountered an elderly scammer on the street yesterday. As soon as I got on my bike, he lay down, and I could only give him the last five yuan I had. Can I sue him for extortion?"

"The crime rate among the elderly is soaring. I just checked the numbers, and they are frightening. Crime is trending towards older age groups, with a very high proportion of first-time offenders."

"Does that mean that most of these elderly individuals had no prior criminal records and were law-abiding? I don’t believe it."

"It’s a pity that in this case, the elderly didn’t commit robbery. I think that a young girl faced with a group of elderly people should at least be considered part of a vulnerable group, right?"

"Actually, if this young girl knew the law, she could purposely injure herself, thus becoming disabled, and definitely be recognized as part of a vulnerable group. She could then directly report them for robbery and get these elderly people arrested."

"..."

Qin Mu shook his head helplessly as he read these posts. Several directly presented evidence of the proportion of elderly crime over the past two decades, soaring from 2.6% twenty years ago to 5.7% in recent years, with most offenders being over 60. Most of these elderly individuals were first-time offenders. Crime rate surveys across various cities showed a distinct trend.

However... Qin Mu considered. "Elderly crime in Jin City is quite rare," he mumbled to himself. At least the elderly around me are very compliant and don’t abuse their status as seniors to misbehave. This might also be related to Old Zhang and others gaining a bit more reverence after learning about the law.

The surge in the crime rate among the elderly is mostly due to inadequate legal education, leading these elderly individuals to be ignorant of the law and therefore fearless. Take Zhaojia Village, for example. To put it nicely, it’s called rustic simplicity. To put it bluntly, it’s lawlessness. They completely disregard the law. In addition, it’s also related to the tendency in many places to downplay illegal acts committed by the elderly. With frequent offenses going unpunished, these elderly people become increasingly unruly, directly descending onto a path of crime from which there is no return.

...

「Zizhou.」

「Zhaojia Village.」

Eighty-two-year-old Zhao Fangquan returned home, his mood somewhat gloomy as he gazed at the empty courtyard. In his hand, he held a verdict sentencing him to two years of imprisonment, suspended for four years. Unlike Zhao Dezhu and others, he didn’t have to go to prison and enjoyed a certain degree of freedom.

"Ah, how did things turn out this way?" he sighed. There was some regret in his expression, but not much.

Some days ago, he had heard rumors in the village about a pumpkin patch where the pumpkins could supposedly be taken at will. So, he went along with others. The first time, he hadn’t brought any tools and took three pumpkins. He gave them to his eldest son to sell in town, and they made more than 200 yuan.

Gradually, more and more people in the village learned about this and went to take pumpkins. The owner planted such a huge pumpkin patch; they won’t miss a few, he thought. Since I’ve taken some, what’s done is done. He ended up taking pumpkins seven or eight times in total, earning more than one thousand yuan.

However, his eldest son, who had stayed at home to care for him, was arrested for selling the pumpkins. Subsequently, they were all prosecuted and tried in court. He received a suspended sentence.

"A pity for that other man; he has to spend a year and a half in prison," he muttered, looking at the empty home, and couldn’t help but sigh deeply again. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Actually, if it were possible, I’d rather go to prison myself. I heard the prison environment is quite good, like a nursing home, with personal care and regular health check-ups. The most important thing is, it doesn’t cost a penny. But after my eldest son was taken away... now, I’m the only one left at home. My second and third sons have all gone to different provinces, far, far away.

Thinking of this, he picked up his senior citizen’s cell phone and called his second son, telling him about the recent events.

"What? Dad? You sent Eldest Brother to jail?" a slightly shocked voice came from the other end of the phone after he finished listening.

Zhao Fangquan’s face fell, and he retorted indignantly, "What are you talking about? How can you say *I* sent him? It was just a few pumpkins! I didn’t get into any serious trouble, so who knew they’d sentence the eldest to a year and a half?"

He still didn’t quite understand. He was the one who had taken the pumpkins, yet his eldest son was sentenced to a year and a half.

"Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore," Zhao Fangquan said. "I’m calling to ask if one of you can send someone back to our hometown for a while. Now that the eldest is also locked up, it’s inconvenient for me to live alone."

After a long silence from both sides, Zhao Fangquan sighed and stated his request. I’m eighty-two now. Living alone will inevitably have its difficulties; I might even die at home, and no one would know.

But on the other end of the phone, his second son said with a bitter laugh, "Dad, it’s not that I don’t want to help. It’s just that I’ve run into some trouble with my business this year due to special circumstances. Besides, we had an agreement before, didn’t we? Each of us brothers would take turns caring for you for half a year."