Chapter 5 What a Coincidence!
In the Bright District case filing window, the staff member looked at the young man before him and then at the bagful of materials, subconsciously leaning back in his seat.
"Got everything? This is a labor dispute, have you gone through arbitration... oh, I see your arbitration results here."
Great, looks like overtime again today. Filing a case at the registration window isn't just about accepting materials; each one has to be reviewed to see if a case can be filed.
And this young guy is filing the suit himself; he's not even a lawyer...
The reason for knowing he's not a lawyer is quite clear.
Though operations may vary from one court to another, in Jingzhou City, the filing by lawyers and laypersons is separated.
Lawyers have their own window for filing, and they are sorted apart from the start when taking a number.
No one is in a good mood having to work overtime—the staff began to carefully review the complaint and then he too was taken aback.
"Overtime... you're asking for over six hundred thousand in overtime pay?"
After looking at the arbitration results again, the staff member lifted his head to look at Tang Fangjing, hesitating before saying, "Comrade, the Labor Arbitration Committee didn't support your claim for overtime pay either. Which lawyer helped you with this?"
After saying it, he probably felt it wasn't appropriate to speak like that and quickly added, "Of course, I'm not saying there's any problem with you filing a lawsuit..."
Now with the case registration system, as long as the basic requirements are met, a case can generally be filed, and the staff member was just as worried as Ma Yao from the Arbitration Committee that the other party might have been duped by a shady lawyer.
After all, every industry has its scoundrels. The only difference is that the scoundrels in the legal industry always talk tough, spouting things like "This is completely legal, none of your business," making you want to throw a punch.
The response from the young man across the window sent a chill down the staffer's spine...
"Well, comrade, I prepared all the materials myself; I'm currently studying hard for my certification."
The staff member looked stunned, glancing again at the pile of materials before him, his face twitching.
Perhaps the only thing worse than reviewing a bundle of materials is reviewing a bundle of "unprofessional" materials, much like how a teacher grading humanities exams feels about a poorly written test filled to the brim...
As Tang Fangjing filled out the paperwork, the staff member across the window grew increasingly bewildered—why did the materials prepared by this young man look so professional?
Moreover, he discovered that most of the materials were evidence, which made things easier.
After confirming there were no issues, the staff member notified Tang Fangjing that his case was filed.
As for the litigation fees, there is a very good policy in place for labor lawsuits: the fees are not linked to the amount claimed, but are only a symbolic ten yuan.
Sometimes they may even be reduced to five yuan...
Having completed the filing process, Tang Fangjing left directly. The next step is to wait, as court procedures always take time.
......
Back home, looking at his small rental place, Tang Fangjing decided after some thought that it was time to move.
The original occupant had some savings, as his parents had passed away when he was in college, the standard start...
So money was not an immediate concern.
The main reason for the move was that Tang Fangjing felt the environment was too damp and could easily make one sick.
After calling the landlord of this house in advance, the landlord arrived quickly—an older gentleman named Kang, who looked rather stern and serious, but surprisingly turned out to be quite understanding.
"Hey, Xiao Tang, no problem if you need to move. Just go ahead and move to the new place; I'll give you your deposit back when the time comes. It's not easy for you young people starting out."
Society is just like that, whenever you feel like there are too many bad guys and maybe there's no hope left, there will always be someone, something, that warms your heart.
Tang Fangjing didn't even know what expression to make with the tense look she originally had on her face.
The reason for her tense expression was because, from the memories of her original self, she knew that this old man was quite blunt with his words, and they'd often end up arguing; her former self had also quarreled with him.
Unexpectedly, when it came to something so important, he had a very clear idea about it.
Tang Tangjing nodded silently, not knowing what to say, while the old Mr. Kang across her still had the same old look, stern-faced and serious, he nodded and turned to leave.
That's probably just life.
In Bright District, Tang Fangjing didn't know many people, she had originally planned to rent a house directly from a landlord, but after looking around for a while, she gave up.
Basically, it could be said that the intermediaries had monopolized everything, so there was no choice, she had to go through an intermediary.
As for the profession of intermediaries, Tang Fangjing was no stranger; in her past life, she had dealt with them a few times. To say "whether they sell boats, shoes, or act as go-betweens, they are all deserving of death" would definitely be an overstatement.
But indeed, it's easy for all kinds of problems to arise, ultimately because the industry still isn't very regulated.
She searched in the app market, downloaded an app named "Anke," which boasted a download count of one billion.
She started to look for an apartment, and of course, Tang Fangjing was aware of some of the tricks real estate agents use.
A lot of people would look at pictures when searching for an apartment, but you must know that nothing is easier to deceive with than pictures!
Otherwise, why would all those good-looking girls and guys be all over the internet, yet so rare in real life…
Besides, such nice apartments you see in the pictures are renting for so little? Whoever says it's difficult to rent a place nowadays!
If you just think about it for a moment, do you really think there are pies falling from the sky in this world?
If there were such a good deal, would it still be available for you on an app downloaded a billion times?
If you actually took a look around, you'd realize, hey, isn't this apartment identical to that one in the photos...
That's one of their tricks: they get you excited about the pictures, and when you get there, they'll make up an excuse, like "oh, that apartment was just rented out not long ago, but I could show you another place, it's not bad either."
You'd think, "how unlucky," and "since I'm already here," might as well go take a look…
Naturally, Tang Fangjing knew these tricks; she even knew that sometimes they would ask for money upfront…
But knowing is one thing; not all agents in the industry are bad, so you shouldn't use a broad brush to paint them all.
And besides, Jingzhou is so big, it can't be such a coincidence that she would run into that kind of agent…
After carefully searching for a while, mainly looking at locations, she finally found an apartment she was satisfied with, contacted the other party through the app, and they quickly came to an agreement.
Come the next morning, Tang Fangjing left her house and headed straight to the residential complex named Lin Yu Residential Complex, a name that had a poetic sense to it.
Waiting at the entrance of the complex was Qi Guang from Hua Shi Real Estate Agency, who, seeing Tang Fangjing get out of the car, approached her with a friendly smile and said, "You must be Tang Fangjing, Tang Ge, right?"
Agents are always polite before they get the money, sweetly calling you brother and sister.
Tang Fangjing nodded and looked at the complex, saying, "Shall we go up and take a look now? I'm a bit pressed for time, we need to hurry!"
The other party, Qi Guang, immediately responded, "Tang Ge, I really owe you an apology; I am so sorry, but the apartment you saw on the app, well, it just happened to be rented out today."
Isn't that just convenient…