Chapter 406: Shouldering all Responsibility!
Chapter 406: Shouldering all Responsibility!
Late at night.
A nationwide outcry!
Each year at this time, whether it was on TV or in other forms of media, the topic of discussion would usually revolve around the Spring Festival Gala. They would either be discussing a certain celebrity or program, but this year was different. On the first day of the new year, the topic of discussion was not about the Spring Festival Gala, but about the fight after the gala. It had shocked the entire nation!
......
At Zhang Ye's maternal grandma's house.
"What the hell! Something bad has happened!"
"What's the matter, Mengmeng? Why are you shouting?"
"Our brother....he beat someone again!"
"Don't fool around. Why are you spouting nonsense on the first day of the new year."
"I'm not spouting nonsense. Come and watch the news! Hurry!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Ye's parents rushed over to see. His maternal grandparents and other relatives also put down whatever they were doing and came over. They were stunned by what they saw!
His mother immediately cursed, "That damned child! Why can't he sit still!"
His father remained silent as worry showed all over his face.
......
Jiaomen
Rao Aimin's house.
"Aunt." Chenchen called out to Rao Aimin, who was cooking dumplings in the kitchen, with a deadpan face. She pointed to the TV and said, "Zhang Ye is on the news again."
Rao Aimin took a look, "Heh, this kid's zodiac sign must be a gunpowder keg. He explodes so easily!"
......
At a house somewhere.
Inside a certain bedroom.
Dong dong dong. The sound of the door being knocked on furiously came from outside.
Wu Zeqing was already tucked in bed, getting ready to sleep. She called out, "Who is it?"
"Aunt, it's me!" Wu Mo replied from outside the bedroom, "Are you asleep yet? Watch the news, quickly! Zhang Ye's in trouble!" He had actually fallen asleep as well. His parents and family were all watching TV downstairs when they saw the celebrity spokesman for Wu Mo's commercial appear on the news, so they immediately woke him up.
......
Somewhere
An old man said, "Shanshan, isn't that your old classmate? That guy who does the talk show?"
Dong Shanshan came out of the room in her pajamas and said, "Zhang Ye? What's up about him?"
"He's on TV. It seems like he’s beaten someone up!" The old man said.
......
The news spread like wildfire!
Lee Anson had been beaten up! Zhang Ye's on the headlines!
As it was a period that was rather special, there wasn't much news to begin with. When this piece of news broke, it only took 30 minutes for it to take the top spot on Weibo. The number of people who were discussing and forwarding the post was difficult to measure, as it kept increasing every second!
"I'm shocked!"
"Zhang Ye's creating trouble again!"
"Teacher Zhang, you're really f**king can't stay idle for one day!"
"Hahaha, this is making me excited! Teacher Zhang was indeed worthy of being the leader of Professional Korean Insulters! Only he'd dare to do something like this!"
"Deserved beating, good beating, such a beating to make Lee Anson wail in agony!"
"What's so good about that? This will lead to adverse effects, what is Zhang Ye even thinking? Eh, but it's also because that Lee Anson was so stuck up. He's really deserving of hate! If only he had treated our Chinese fans with more respect, giving them a few autographs and helping the girl up after she fell, then things wouldn't have turned out this way. Even if Zhang Ye's temperament was bad, those who know him would vouch for him to be reasonable. Lee Anson was mainly to blame for this incident with only some responsibility to Zhang Ye."
"Zhang Ye doesn't need to be responsible! That Lee Anson is earning our Chinese people's money and enjoying the adoration of our Chinese fans, yet he doesn't even treat them as people? F**k! That's so maddening! I'm just angry that I wasn't at the venue! Otherwise, I would have given him the ultimate beating!"
"Zhang Ye's impressive!"
"That's a good one! I'm starting to like Zhang Ye more and more!"
"Me too. Teacher Zhang Ye is so different from other celebrities!"
"That poem was so well written! 'I love this land'? We love this land too!"
"That's right, Zhang Ye's really the type of person I like, but this time, the trouble he has caused is not small. If the other party were to take legal action, he'd definitely be detained?"
"Is it that serious? It was Lee Anson who was at fault in the first place!"
"If it's really in accordance with the law, then Teacher Zhang Ye would be the one at fault. It could even be argued that Zhang Ye was responsible for the whole incident, as he was the one who made the first move!"
"Support Zhang Ye!"
"Support Zhang Ye+1!"
"Get out of our country, Lee Anson!"
As each media outlet reported the incident in detail. Every citizen who knew about it also expressed their own views on it. Most of them fully supported Zhang Ye and thought that his actions were appropriate. A small minority of them felt that it was uncalled for and also expressed their feelings about it. Yet another minority group, the group of Lee Anson's hardcore fans, who were made aware of the incident, strongly denounced Zhang Ye on the internet. They called for action to be taken against Zhang Ye, so as to be fair to Lee Anson. They threatened the police department to punish Zhang Ye heavily, otherwise they would take the matter up with them!
......
Police station.
It was just around the area at Bayi Lake. Driving there only took a few minutes.
This police station was much larger than the one that Zhang Ye had been in last time. After entering the building and making seven or eight rounds while walking, he was led to a room.
The young policeman asked, "Teacher Zhang, water for you?"
Zhang Ye asked, "Do you have warm water?"
"Yes, let me get some for you." The young policeman said politely.
After a while, he brought the water to Zhang Ye who took it from him, "Thank you."
Seeing no one around, the young policeman secretly gave him a thumbs up and said, "What I'm going to say does not represent any official stance, but personally, I find you to be really great. I've been unable to stand those Koreans for a long time now. On your "Zhang Ye's Talk Show", as long as it's a segment insulting Koreans, I'd watch it!"
Suddenly, someone arrived outside.
The young policeman quickly stopped saying what he was about to tell Zhang Ye and said, "Superintendent Yang."
Yang Jie nodded. He came in with two old policemen and sat down in the interrogator's seat. He faced Zhang Ye and said "Teacher Zhang, we invited you back here today as we had no choice. We're all Chinese citizens, so I won't hide what I want to tell you. We are angered by this incident as well, and we know that Lee Anson's attitude was very bad, but since you beat him up, we can only deal with this officially. Please understand our situation."
Zhang Ye smiled, "I understand that."
Yang Jie said, "Let's record your statement, please cooperate with us."
"No problem." Zhang Ye said nicely and cooperated.
This surprised Yang Jie and the policemen. Rumors had it that Zhang Ye was a hooligan and wouldn't take both soft and hard approaches. His temper was bad and he liked to create trouble. He wouldn't give face to anyone. What they had heard from their colleagues at the other police station was already bad enough, but it seemed like the situation was not the same. This person wasn't as bad as the legends told. Even if he did hit a person first, to them policemen at this station, it was the rage of a nationalistic youth. It wasn't the same as hooliganism.
"Full name."
"Zhang Ye."
"Age?"
"24."
The proceedings began.
Yang Jie had not really wanted to handle this case. If it were any other person, he would have closed one eye on the matter and let it slide since such incidents did not cause a big deal in society, but this case involved a Korean, and he was even a celebrity. Even the accused was also a celebrity and while they were heading back to the police station, the news had already been reported online and on TV. It had caused a sensation! As such, it was a prickly case to handle for Yang Jie, since this fight involved two public figures. Everyone from their police station knew this would be a headache to handle!
At this moment, an old policeman walked in from outside. He looked around the room, then lowered his head and whispered into Yang Jie's ear, "Zhang.....leader at work.....made a call.........Peking University Vice-Pre......Wu Ze........"
Zhang Ye's ears were sharp, so he overheard a little of it.
Wu Zeqing called the station?
Yang Jie did not dare to delay, so he went outside immediately.
After five minutes, Yang Jie returned to the room. He looked like he had a headache and was in a dilemma. Wu Zeqing probably had given him some pressure.
At this moment, Yang Jie's cellphone rang.
Yang Jie became serious as he answered the call, "Director Zhou....yes....yes, he's with us here.... I understand....I will handle it carefully.....yes..." He spoke as he walked out of the room, "....I've seen the news......yea......I know it would affect this case....don't worry...." In the next 30 minutes, Yang Jie received a lot of calls, either from his leaders who wanted to know the situation, or from those who wanted to plead for Zhang Ye.
After a while, the calls finally came to a stop.
Yang Jie sat down once again. He was more prepared now, "Teacher Zhang, although this incident was started by you, we understand that Lee Anson's bodyguard was in the wrong first. He had pushed someone down and you were unhappy about that so you stepped forward to help. That is understandable. Our people have taken Lee Anson and his people to the hospital for a checkup. Their injuries seem to be mainly on other parts of their bodies instead of their stomachs, so that would mean that your kick to him did not cause them any damage. Now, we need to understand from you during the time he was beaten up, how many people were there?"
Zhang Ye looked at him, "What do you mean?"
Yang Jie euphemistically said, "I can tell you very assuredly that Lee Anson's injuries are not heavy, but they are not light either. He has no thoughts of settling the matter privately, so now we need to find the people who inflicted these injuries on him. Because Central TV's venue is where the beating took place, there was no CCTV. We can only rely on eyewitnesses and investigations to find the people who took part in the beating. When we can get them, your charge will be reduced as well."
The few policemen looked at Superintendent Yang. They understood that he was trying to help Zhang Ye by finding the people involved and taking responsibility.
"Teacher Zhang?" Yang Jie blinked.
Zhang Ye suddenly smiled, "Superintendent Yang, I appreciate your kindness, but you don't need to look any further. Lee Anson was beaten up by me alone. It has nothing to do with anyone else."
Yang Jie said, "But the people who joined in on the beati....."
"No one else took part." Zhang Ye answered, "Just me!"
Yang Jie and the policemen were stunned when they heard that, "Just you? What do you mean, Teacher Zhang?"
Zhang Ye was very accepting of the situation. What happened had already happened. He was the one who led the beating, he was the one who started the conflict, so he might as well shoulder it all on himself. A heavy debt did not burden one any further. They could handle it however it should be handled. It was the new year and since he was already being detained by the police, why would he implicate others as well? There was no need for that. It wasn't something that Zhang Ye could do either, so he replied, "I was the one who injured Lee Anson. His shoulder was dislocated by me, the bodyguard's faces were bruised by me. Their legs were broken by me too. No one else was involved!"
Yang Jie stared with his mouth wide open, "But there were so many people who surrounded and beat them. A lot of witnesses saw that!"
Zhang Ye said, "They merely surrounded them, but they did not move a finger. I was the one who did all the beating. Do what you need to do. I'm already here anyway. I have no plans to go back either, so whether it’s detaining me in a dark room or whatever, I will do as you say."
Their injuries weren't heavy, at most it would be a detainment!
10 days? 15 days? Zhang Ye was already mentally prepared for it. He was rather easy-going with it all!
The last time he was detained, he had been maligned. It was Wang Shuixin's son who had beaten someone first, Zhang Ye had only hit back due to self-defense, yet he was arrested. Of course he wasn't happy about that and thus caused the mess he did, but this time, Zhang Ye understood that his behavior was wrong and so he did not argue. In any case, he had already beaten Lee Anson and his two bodyguards. He had already helped the little girl and everything else wasn't important to him. This was Zhang Ye's logic, a sense of logic different from others!
The young policeman was astonished, "You can't speak nonsense like that , Teacher Zhang!"
The old policeman was also visibly touched. He said, "We all know that you did not beat him up after that kick!"
Zhang Ye kept silent.
Yang Jie took a deep breath and asked, "Are you sure?"
Zhang Ye said, "I'm very sure. I will take full responsibility. This has nothing to do with any others. It's the new year, let's not create trouble for them. It's not easy for anyone here either, so after you are done handling my case, you should all go back home for the new year too." Then he reached his hand out, "Has the statement has been written according to what I’ve said? If it's done, allow me to sign it."
But Yang Jie did not give it to him. He looked at him and said, "Teacher Zhang, what you are doing is completely unnecessary. Shouldering all the responsibility is very disadvantageous to you!" He tried to persuade him patiently, "Actually, even if we found the other commoners involved in the beating, it wouldn't be too big of an issue. They would just need to compensate him or at worst, be detained for a few days. I can guarantee you that, so please don't be like that. Besides, the law requires evidence, even if you claim to be responsible, it won't work."
Zhang Ye asked, "Did you see it yourself?"
"....No." Yang Jie answered.
Zhang Ye asked again, "Was there any video footage of the incident?"
Yang Jie sighed, "No."
Zhang Ye threw up his hands, "Then it was all done by me. Superintendent Yang, let's not argue anymore. I understand your kind intentions, but I was the one who picked the fight this time. I will take responsibility for my actions, don't drag the commoners into this. We will all feel bad about it, don't you think?"
Yang Jie was silent.
The young policeman said, "Superintendent Yang!"
Yang Jie clenched his teeth, "Just write it according to Teacher Zhang's confession!"
"We can't write it that way!" The young policeman said, "We all know what really happened there! If Teacher Zhang were to bear all the responsibility on himself, that would amount to more than just a detainment!"
Zhang Ye calmly said, "I surrendered myself voluntarily, so you have to write it according to my words."
Finally, the statement was written according to Zhang Ye's confession!
Zhang Ye did not read it and just signed it.
The old policeman looked at Zhang Ye, suddenly feeling a great sense of respect for him! The few other policemen present felt the same. They finally understood why so many people liked Zhang Ye! Zhang Ye had a certain kind of charm which allowed people to respect him. This respect was very infectious as well!