Too Bad I Take Things Seriously-Chapter 449 - 195: You Celebrated Too Early_2

"I... I... I came in a hurry, with no evidence..." Meng Lei could only tell the truth, facing the scrutinizing gaze of the collegial panel. Before the trial, he hadn’t considered this at all. He truly had prepared no evidence whatsoever.

"No evidence? Not a single piece?" the Judgment Chief asked again, his expression surprised.

Meng Lei swallowed hard. Bracing himself, he replied, "No evidence."

He hadn’t even prepared any falsified evidence. At this point, it was impossible for him to conjure evidence out of thin air.

Seeing this, the Judgment Chief gave Meng Lei a long look. From the plaintiff and defendant in the courtroom, he could clearly sense the seriousness of one party and the perfunctory attitude of the other. But then he remembered this was a lawsuit over eighteen yuan, and he quickly dismissed it from his mind. Ordinary people really wouldn’t take such a lawsuit seriously. Meng Lei hadn’t even bothered to hire a lawyer.

"Since the defendant has no evidence to support his claim, we will now proceed with the application of the ’High Probability Certainty’ principle."

Subsequently, the Judgment Chief took a deep breath and gave the floor to Ma Ming’s side.

From the lawyer’s seat, the counsel immediately stood up and looked towards the gallery. He asked, "Among those present, is there anyone willing to testify to the defendant’s habitual borrowing of money?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire gallery erupted.

"I will! I will! I’ve disliked that punk for ages! He owes me 288 yuan and still hasn’t paid it back!"

"You’re only talking about 288? Old Wang supposedly lent him eight thousand! When Old Wang and his wife were having issues and discussing divorce, he needed the money back, but Meng Lei didn’t give him a single cent!"

"That time he went home, he claimed he didn’t have money on his card for a train ticket, so I helped him buy it. I even bought him a sleeper ticket! I was wondering how this guy could afford to travel in a sleeper—turns out I was the one footing the bill!"

"Every time he borrows money, he says he’ll pay it back in a couple of days, then uses all sorts of excuses to avoid us..."

The crowd in the gallery, as if a Pandora’s box had been opened, vented all the dissatisfaction accumulated over the years. In the past, considering they were classmates who saw each other often, they had felt too awkward to make a fuss. After graduation, since they no longer saw each other, they had gradually forgotten about the borrowed money. But this time, inspired by Ma Ming, everyone’s grievances erupted. It turned out the victims... were far more numerous than just themselves!

「At the same time.」

「Jin City.」

「The nursing home.」

Hearing the complaints from the gallery, Zhang Qingyuan and the others were somewhat shocked.

"So all these classmates... came to collect debts?"

"This Meng Lei, this isn’t just shameless anymore. This is outright despicable."

"A borrowing fiend! He actually borrowed money from the entire class."

"If forgetting to repay one person could be excusable, he borrowed from so many people and hasn’t paid any of them back!"

Zhang Qingyuan, Li Weiguo, Song Tiancheng, and others whispered among themselves, their disdain for Meng Lei’s character deepening. They had initially thought that, due to a lack of evidence, Ma Ming’s side might lose the lawsuit. They hadn’t expected such a turn of events. Meng Lei had no evidence to support his claim, effectively handing the initiative completely over to Ma Ming.

"By the way, Xiao Qin, what does ’High Probability Certainty’ mean?"

In the crowd, Wan Zhongyuan, who was also watching with great interest, couldn’t help but turn to Qin Mu beside him. This term... was one he had never heard before.

Zhang Qingyuan and the others, upon hearing this, also turned their inquisitive gazes towards Qin Mu.

"’High Probability Certainty’ refers to a principle that can be applied when there is insufficient evidence, and there’s a significant discrepancy in the evidence presented by the two parties," Qin Mu explained with a smile. "It’s mainly used to help the party lacking direct evidence to deduce, through legal procedures and logic, the sole conclusion as the factual truth."

High Probability Certainty—not many people were aware of it. Unless one was in the legal profession, it was hard to come across.

"So that means... we can deduce Meng Lei’s character from other people’s assessments and then conclude that he engages in borrowing behavior?" Wan Zhongyuan blinked and asked again.

Qin Mu nodded and added, "Not just that. Besides character assessment, there needs to be other corroborating evidence, such as proof of his actual borrowing from other people..."

"For example, the incidents Ma Ming and his college classmates testified about needed corresponding evidence. It couldn’t be fabricated. If any evidence is falsified, their testimonies won’t be accepted."

"However, looking at it now, the chances of winning the lawsuit are quite high," Qin Mu said, glancing up at the live broadcast screen with a smile.

He had initially worried that the other party might also present a series of "evidence." "If there was an abundance of evidence and no significant gap in probative value between both sides, the use of ’High Probability Certainty’ wouldn’t be permitted, and the case would become rather complicated."

It was just a shame... Meng Lei hadn’t taken this seriously at all and had directly relinquished his chance to speak.

「Yangcheng.」

「A district court.」

「The First Civil Court.」

Under the direction of the Judgment Chief, the people in the gallery testified one by one, each narrating one of Meng Lei’s "glorious incidents." With every "classic" story told, Meng Lei’s expression darkened further. It was like a grand public shaming.

Meanwhile, many classmates had even found original records of helping him buy train tickets, transfer money, and so on. Aside from Ma Ming, much of the money he’d borrowed had been via online transfers, and the recipient accounts were clearly his. This left him almost speechless, unsure how to refute the claims.