What's wrong with this lawyer?!

Old Tang naturally refused the suggestion. Even if he really were mentally ill, at least he'd still be alive, whereas if he suspended his practice, three years later people could go clubbing on his grave.

After a while, he would have to visit the legal aid center again. They had called to inform him of a very troublesome case that had come up, the kind that basically no one would take on, the kind normally assigned to some unlucky saps.

However, Old Tang had previously made it clear that he wanted to be informed first about any dangerous or troublesome cases, so when they called, he definitely had to go take a look and, by the way, handle the legal aid work.

As time slowly passed, Old Tang didn't know that over in the initiative district court, his greatest rival Wang Dengfeng was facing the biggest test of his legal career.

"What? A countersuit demanding the contract be continued? This…" Wang Dengfeng looked at the opposing real estate company's legal affairs representative, his face full of shock.

He had handled a few deposit cases before, but he had never seen such a scenario!

If the developer refused to refund the deposit, naturally he would choose to sue, arguing that his side was still actively negotiating when the developer refused to participate in discussions, simply stating unilaterally that the contract couldn't be changed.

Moreover, the sales team had blacklisted the client, a clear breach of contract!

As a lawyer, he certainly had his own ambitions. He also wanted to apply the penalty rule for deposits to compel the developer to refund the deposit double.

But unfortunately, according to the provision of the Civil Code, Article 587, the party receiving the deposit must double the refund if they fail to perform their obligations or if the performance of their obligations does not conform to the agreement, making it impossible to realize the purpose of the contract. Discover stories with My Virtual Library Empire

Only when it's impossible to realize the contract's purpose, can the deposit be refunded double.

What is impossibility to realize the contract's purpose, that is what we call fundamental breach of contract.

In this specific case, the subscription agreement was actually a preliminary contract, where both parties agree on which day and where to sign a pre-sale contract or a purchase contract, which unit to subscribe to, and then make a down payment or full payment and so on.

Now, there was a disagreement about specific clauses, but it hadn't reached a point where the contract could not be fulfilled at all, so a double refund was out of the question.

What he hadn't expected was for the other party to actually bring a countersuit demanding the continuation of performance…

Wang Dengfeng, after all a smart man, quickly figured out the reasoning behind this, but... but there was no way around it, the other side was already shamelessly going ahead with it!

Normally, when he sought to negotiate a contract modification with the developer, the developer would surely ignore him, and there had been no issue with his earlier approach.

And now? Damn it, now they're requesting to continue fulfilling the contract, as if to say all those problematic clauses are negotiable…

The developer's meaning was clear: you accuse me of imposing unfair terms, so now that you've sued me, I'll reluctantly agree to discuss them. Look, I've agreed to your terms, what more do you want!

What could he, Wang Dengfeng, say? Could he admit that he just wanted out and that those clauses were just an excuse?

If he said that, it would be a straight-up defeat.

In the meantime, the legal director of Yashi had already started speaking.

"First of all, about a dozen days ago, the plaintiff had a conversation with our sales representative Wang Rui, wherein the plaintiff asked if the money could be refunded if he no longer wanted the purchase,"

"This indicates that the plaintiff actually already had the intention to breach the contract. Then, three days later, the plaintiff went to the sales office with this Lawyer Wang, who then began to pick at the contract's flaws…"

"And the date of the commissioning agreement with their representative was signed on the very day they expressed their thoughts, so according to logic we can deduce that after learning from our sales that the deposit was non-refundable, the plaintiff turned around and found a lawyer, who then gave him this advice."

With each statement, the faces of Lv Ziyang and his wife grew paler and paler.

Fortunately, Wang Dengfeng was still arguing. The other side's so-called inquiry had no evidence, and the testimony of the salesperson as an employee of the company could not be accepted.

But his rebuttal was feeble indeed. It was true that the evidence on the other side was insufficient, but there was the date of signing the commissioning agreement and footage of the Lv family visiting Wang Rui, and according to the rule of probability, the judge could already make a judgment on this point.

The company's request was simple: they knew you wanted to breach, but with the idea of continuing to cooperate, we changed those terms, and we continue our cooperation, perfect.

If you insist that you definitely don't want to continue, that's easy, then: you, the plaintiff, have breached, the deposit clause takes effect, and we profit an easy two hundred thousand, also perfect."

The Judgment Chief announced a recess, and Wang Dengfeng was numb, looking at Lv Ziyang and his wife, unable to say a word.

"Lawyer Wang, about this… what do we do now?"

Wang Dengfeng didn't speak; he had been utterly outmaneuvered by that sly fox on the other side.

But Lv Ziyang couldn't hold back; the two hundred thousand deposit he had made was money he had saved up over a long time.

Finally, after being pestered by Lv Ziyang, Wang Dengfeng blurted out, "Why are you telling me all this? I'm paying for this case out of my own pocket, you know. It's a risk that I, as your lawyer, am willing to take. If we lose the case, can't I make no money?"

With that one sentence, Lv Ziyang was instantly rendered speechless.

Before they could even start arguing, the Judgment Chief was already coming down, hoping to see if a continued mediation could be arranged during the recess, since the developer was quite sincere and didn't want to watch Lv Ziyang's two hundred thousand go to waste.

Lv Ziyang stammered for a long time, equally unsure of what to say. He neither agreed to mediation nor stated that he wanted to back out of the purchase; he simply stayed silent.