Chapter 184: Rampant

From a legal standpoint, in a family setting, a woman with a child who hasn’t made any major mistakes naturally holds a powerful combination of advantages.

These advantages are tied to the child, and also to her biological role as a mother.

So how do you fight back?

“Information asymmetry, severe damage to your reputation, the child being brutally abused, the child being held captive, the other party’s infidelity and cohabitation…”

“Mr. Wang.”

“During the marriage, if your spouse causes extremely severe damage to your reputation, that…”

“…is also considered a major fault!”

In the holding room.

The group sat on a bench. Xu De looked at Wang Yu and began to explain slowly.

“The law takes matters of reputation—that is, mental and psychological harm—very seriously.”

“Take, for example…”

“‘Compensation for emotional distress’!”

“These four words represent a form of compensation, but how much can you get? Theoretically…”

“In criminal cases, the compensation for emotional distress can be as high as the damages awarded in a homicide case!”

“For instance, compensation in a homicide case might be half a million, and the compensation for your emotional distress could also be half a million.”

But compared to the ultimate price paid in a homicide, getting that level of compensation for emotional distress is a massive win.

“Especially since the police themselves were the ones who broadcast the reputational damage caused by the wife!”

Xu De added.

“The fault lies with her, but the actions that publicized it were carried out by the police.”

“The police mobilized taxi companies, issued a public reward, alerted the news, contacted hotel receptionists, and involved concerned citizens…”

“The scope of this mobilization has spread the news of this case so widely that it’s tantamount to a criminal act of defamation!”

The most critical part is the ‘telephone game’ effect, how the story gets distorted as it’s passed along.

At first, the people involved might have known Wang Yu was cheated on and just gossiped about it casually.

But as one person tells two, two tell ten, and ten tell a hundred, the truth gets diluted.

Eventually…

…what’s being said becomes baseless rumors and outright slander!

“Is… is it that serious?”

Wang Yu was stunned. He hadn’t considered that at all.

But after a moment’s thought, he was a bit puzzled. His experience didn’t quite match what the lawyer was describing.

“But I don’t feel like anything’s wrong…”

‘My social reputation has been severely damaged, and people outside might already be spreading rumors… but I don’t feel it at all!’

And it was hard to feel it.

First of all, as long as the gossip and rumors weren’t said directly to his face, they wouldn’t trigger any negative feelings.

Second, who even knew that the person who filed the report was Wang Yu?

Other than the police, practically no one knew. At most, they might know the child’s name was Wang Xiaoyu, and that’s it.

Because of these two factors, Wang Yu felt absolutely no impact on his reputation.

“No. Right here, right now, you are undoubtedly overcome with grief!”

Xu De shook his head, refuting him. Sitting on the bench, he firmly asserted that his client was clearly sinking into a state of ‘depression’.

As he spoke, he turned to look at the police officers off to the side.

On a nearby bench, Officers Li Xiang and Wu Kang were already glancing over.

When he heard this, Officer Li Xiang’s eye twitched.

‘Dammit, what did I just hear…’

‘How dare he say something like that so brazenly in a police station!?’

And yet, what the lawyer said hadn’t crossed any lines. It was as if he were merely analyzing the current situation.

Until…

…Xu De’s gaze fell upon him.

Li Xiang’s heart skipped a beat. He was about to get up and leave, but before he could move, a voice called out to him.

“Officer Li.”

“The reporting party now suspects that his wife, Yang Chunping, and the suspect, Guo Tu, are involved in trafficking their biological child!”

“Furthermore, he suspects that in the process, they caused irreversible physical harm to the child.”

“We request a detailed physical examination of the child, and for the results to be included in the official case file!”

Xu De stated.

At these words, Lin Yue, who was sitting nearby, raised an eyebrow.

‘What’s he up to?’

It was simple.

He was using the police report as a pretext to get the police to officially endorse their ‘evidence’!

The child’s physical exam results would be presented in court regardless, but by filing a police report like this… it created an opportunity to manipulate the origin of the examination data.

If you get a private medical examination that diagnoses major psychological trauma, the court will likely treat it as only minor.

But if the police are the ones who order the exam…

…then the court will believe it’s genuinely major psychological trauma!

“Tsk.”

Li Xiang’s eye twitched again, and he sighed deeply.

“The police will handle it… In fact, we’re already on it.”

The police would theoretically look into health issues, but not with particular rigor—unless someone like Xu De specifically requested it as part of the official report.

After all, the examination wouldn’t require much manpower.

It was just…

“Entered into the case file?”

“Won’t… won’t that Sun Li find out about it?”

Lin Yue suddenly realized something. Her brows knitted together as she sank into thought.

“In civil court, things are more flexible. If you spring evidence on them as a surprise… the judge will most likely call a recess to deal with it.”

“But if we submit the evidence in advance… the case file will be a little too detailed.”

“Even though it’s ironclad proof, it would give the other side some time to prepare.”

In court, evidence is subject to discovery.

By 2026, lawyers would be able to go online and check for any new evidence submitted by the opposing counsel at any time.

But then again…

…this was 2003.

The internet wasn’t nearly developed enough for Sun Li to pull up evidence on a computer!

“If she wants to check the evidence, she has to physically go to the courthouse to pull the file. No lawyer is going to wait at the courthouse 24/7 just to check for updates.”

“And the timing for our submission…”

Xu De paused for a moment before stating the exact time.

“The day before the trial!”

In other words…

…they would submit the evidence the day before the trial began!

Submitting it then wouldn’t be considered overdue, and the judge would still receive it. The opposing counsel would see it, but wouldn’t have grounds to request a recess, and by then, there would be less than twelve hours until the trial started.