Morally, there was no blame to assign, nor any responsibility to bear. Yet Cheng Chuxiao and the others clung to this point, escalating the situation.

"The plaintiff accuses you of committing five crimes. Have you committed these acts?"

When Cheng Chuxiao and the others kept their heads down without speaking, Zhou Quanmin took a deep breath and began his inquiry directly.

Meanwhile, in the defendant's dock, Cheng Chuxiao and the others swallowed hard, not daring to answer directly. They all looked towards Zhang Wei beside them.

Upon noticing this, Zhang Wei immediately stepped forward and spoke on behalf of the seventeen individuals, "Respected Judgment Chief and judges, regarding the actions mentioned in the accusations by the plaintiff's lawyer, my clients indeed committed them."

Faced with the Judgment Chief's questioning, Zhang Wei immediately adopted a respectful attitude. There was no denial. In fact, there was no way to deny these matters. Even online statements left traces and records, making it impossible to hide anything. A single investigation would reveal everything clearly. Quibbling would do them no good.

"First, on behalf of my clients, I wish to extend our deepest apologies to the elderly individual who suffered from this cyberbullying, to the opposing counsel, and to the retirement home."

Following that, he looked toward the plaintiff's seats, bowed slightly, and offered his apology first.

"Secondly, I would like to state that my clients acted so irrationally purely out of desperate concern for their dog. This clouded their judgment, leading to illegal behavior. My clients' sole intention was to have the elderly person apologize. This stems from a most basic human emotion and should be considered understandable, if not excusable. In fact, after public opinion spread, my clients ceased their actions and did not continue organizing these illegal 'rights protection' activities. This should be regarded as abandonment of the crime. Furthermore, my clients…"

Standing in the courtroom, Zhang Wei spoke eloquently and without any sign of fear. He began by expressing their willingness to plead guilty and accept punishment. Then, he argued for mitigating factors, such as their actions being impulsive and understandable, and their abandonment of the crime, all of which could warrant a lighter sentence. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Taking all these factors into account, if nothing unexpected occurred, everyone except Cheng Chuxiao had a chance to receive probation. As for Cheng Chuxiao, she was the instigator of this incident and faced numerous charges from Qin Mu. Prison time was certain for her.

The six charges Qin Mu levied—defamation, illegal business operations, insult, damage to business and product reputation, extortion, and picking quarrels and provoking trouble—were all factually based. If the relevant laws were examined in detail, Cheng Chuxiao would meet the criteria for each.

Insulting others online, causing a nationwide sensation with such widespread dissemination—the charge of defamation was inescapable. Posting demands on social media platforms like Moments and QZone for Zhang Qingyuan to kneel and apologize to her dog also constituted the crime of insult. According to relevant criminal law, publicly demanding someone to kneel, verbally abusing them, or throwing feces—along with other acts insulting personal dignity in public—all constitute the crime of insult. The sentence for the crime of insult is imprisonment for up to three years.

As for the crime of extortion, she had committed that as well. Article 274 of the Criminal Law defines extortion as the act of using threats or coercion against a victim to forcibly demand public or private property with the intent of illegal possession. As long as the act is illegal and involves using threats or coercion to demand property, it constitutes extortion. She believed she was defending her rights, but in reality, her methods of "rights protection" are not supported by law.

Normally speaking, if it's legitimate rights protection, it doesn't involve extortion. For example, if you find a fly in your food at a restaurant, you could demand one hundred million yuan from the owner, and this would not constitute extortion. This is because such an act is recognized by law as a legitimate defense of rights. An outrageous claim for compensation is a different matter, however. Demanding exorbitant compensation can help individuals protect their lawful rights and also serves as a warning to certain institutions. This is supported by law. It isn't deemed a crime. However, illegal "rights protection" usually goes hand in hand with extortion; the two are virtually inseparable. Cheng Chuxiao's actions were a classic example of extortion.

As for the crime of illegal business operations, she illegally hired people online to help promote and spread internet public opinion, essentially stirring up trouble online. Engaging in paid online commentary (acting as an "internet water army") without a business license constituted suspected illegal business operation.

The crime of damaging business and product reputation involves fabricating and disseminating false information to harm another's commercial standing or product reputation. "Fabricating" here means inventing information out of thin air, and "disseminating" refers to spreading these fabricated falsehoods to the public through various channels. Cheng Chuxiao's actions perfectly matched the definition in this article of the criminal law and caused enormous losses to the retirement home. Cheng Chuxiao and the others could not escape this charge either.

Since Qin Mu had raised these six charges, he clearly had sufficient confidence. All Zhang Wei could do now was attempt to mitigate their sentences as much as possible by arguing from other angles.

After Zhang Wei concluded his defense statement, Zhou Quanmin looked at him intently, a surprised expression on his face. Zhang Wei's defense was completely unexpected. An ordinary lawyer, when faced with a criminal private prosecution, would typically try to refute the elements of the charges from various angles. This time, however, Zhang Wei had chosen to admit guilt and express remorse at the outset of the trial, indicating their willingness to accept punishment.

After a moment of reflection, Zhou Quanmin looked again at Cheng Chuxiao and the others, asking gravely, "Do you all agree with what your lawyer has just stated?"

Although a lawyer can represent their client's wishes to a certain extent, this matter was particularly crucial.