Core tips: On November 6, an old woman selling bean cakes in Huai'an, Jiangsu province found 1700 yuan on her way home. After some twists and turns, she returned the money to its rightful owner. However, the owner insisted that he had lost 8200 yuan and sued the old woman for the remaining 6500 yuan. A lawyer said that without sufficient evidence, it would be difficult for the owner to win the case.
After being sued, Zhou Cuilan was very sad. Wang Changyu pointed out to the reporter the location where Zhou Cuilan picked up the money. On November 26, Xinhua Press Network - Yangtze Evening News reported that the old woman from Huai'an claimed to have found 1700 yuan on the road, but the owner said he had lost a total of 8200 yuan. What exactly happened? The 59-year-old Zhou Cuilan from Huaiyin District of Huai'an made a living by selling bean cakes door-to-door. She could only earn a few cents per pound of bean cakes. On the morning of November 6, she found 1700 yuan while riding her bike selling bean cakes. After going through many difficulties to find the owner, Zhou Cuilan was surprised when Zhou Jiwei insisted that he had lost 8200 yuan and demanded that she return the additional 6500 yuan. Yesterday morning, Zhou Cuilan and a witness, Wang Changyu, received a court summons. It turned out that Zhou Jiwei had sued both of them. Holding the summons, illiterate Zhou Cuilan felt wronged and wondered why she was being sued after returning the money she found.
Finding a pile of hundred-yuan bills on the side of the road
"I really only found 1700 yuan. How can he say I found 8200 yuan? I did a good deed without expecting any reward, but I can't just lose 6500 yuan for no reason." Yesterday morning, after consulting with a lawyer in the county and returning home, Zhou Cuilan tearfully expressed her grievances to the reporter.
According to her account, on the morning of the 6th, while pushing her bicycle loaded with bean cakes along a small road in Yangzhuang Village in Huaiyin District, villager Wang Changyu bought two yuan worth of bean cakes from her. As Wang Changyu was paying, she suddenly noticed a pile of hundred-yuan bills scattered in the grass by the roadside. She bent down to pick up the money and asked Wang Changyu, "Do you know who might have lost this money?" Wang Changyu told her that it might belong to someone from a nearby dairy farm. Since the money might belong to someone from the dairy farm, she handed the money over to Wang Changyu without counting it, asking him to look for the owner while she continued selling bean cakes. On her way, she also noticed two hundred-yuan bills stuck to the bottom of her shoe. Around 11 a.m., she returned home and told her son about the incident, handing over the two hundred-yuan bills stuck to her shoe. Her son asked her, "If you gave the money to someone else, what will you do if the person who lost the money comes looking for it?" Reminded by her son, she retrieved the money she had found earlier from Wang Changyu. At that point, she realized that she had given Wang Changyu 1500 yuan in the morning and still hadn't found the owner.
The owner insists the old woman "kept" 6500 yuan
"The next morning, Zhou Jiwei came to my house demanding money. He insisted that he had lost 8200 yuan and accused me of keeping 6500 yuan." Zhou Cuilan told the reporter that after bringing the 1700 yuan she had found back home, she hoped that the owner would come forward as soon as possible. On the morning of the 7th, the owner, Zhou Jiwei, indeed found her house and said he had lost money. She thought that since the money belonged to the person who lost it, she should return it. But when she handed over the 1700 yuan she had found to Zhou Jiwei, he said it was 6500 yuan short and threatened to take her to court if she didn't return the "kept" 6500 yuan. As a result, they quarreled and called the police. Under the mediation of the police officers at Xiba Police Station, Zhou Jiwei temporarily took away the 1700 yuan he had lost.
After much difficulty, the reporter finally found the 22-year-old owner, Zhou Jiwei. In response to the reporter's interview, he insisted that he had lost 8200 yuan. According to his account, the 8200 yuan he had was repaid by a friend on November 5. At the time, he also had 100 yuan on him, so he placed the 8300 yuan in an inner pocket of his jacket. Around 11 p.m., a friend invited him to dinner and karaoke. When he left, he took a taxi back to Huaiyin District. Upon exiting the taxi, he pulled out a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket to pay, and the change was placed in his pants pocket. After getting out of the car, he felt a bit warm, so he took off his jacket and carried it on his arm as he walked home. He slept until noon on the 6th and woke up to find that the 8200 yuan in his jacket pocket was missing. He called his wife, who said she hadn't seen it, so he deduced that the money might have been lost in the taxi. He immediately used the information on the taxi receipt to go to the taxi company and found the driver, but the driver told him that there was no money left in the car. On the morning of the 7th, his wife heard from a neighbor that Zhou Cuilan, who sold bean cakes, had found money on the side of the road early on the 6th and was looking for the owner. So, he went to Zhou Cuilan's house with his wife.
The old woman received a court summons yesterday
"I really lost 8200 yuan, and now she is only giving me 1700 yuan, so of course I won't let it go. Besides, my money wasn't stolen or robbed." When asked why he sued Zhou Cuilan and the witness Wang Changyu, Zhou Jiwei said, "Now everyone around here knows about this, and some people are saying I'm extorting her money. To clear my name, I have to sue her and Wang Changyu." In the lawsuit submitted to the court by Zhou Jiwei, the reporter found that his claim was for Zhou Cuilan and Wang Changyu to jointly return the additional 6500 yuan he had lost. Regarding whether he could win the lawsuit, Zhou Jiwei admitted that he "didn't have much confidence."
Like Zhou Cuilan, Wang Changyu, who received the court summons, also felt aggrieved. He told the reporter that when he noticed Zhou Cuilan had found the money, he kindly suggested, "This money might belong to someone from a nearby dairy farm." When Zhou Cuilan handed him the money, he immediately went to the dairy farm to look for the owner but couldn't find anyone. With several villagers as witnesses, he counted the money, which totaled exactly 1500 yuan. When Zhou Cuilan came to retrieve the money, he returned every cent to her. At the time, they even joked, "If no one claims the money within ten days, we'll share the joy." He told the reporter that instead of sharing the joy, they ended up in court. This time, he was determined to fight the lawsuit at all costs, otherwise, who would dare to do good deeds in the future?
Lawyer: Without sufficient evidence, it will be hard for the owner to win the case
During the interviews conducted yesterday, the reporter discovered that this incident had already spread widely among the local residents. The police officer who mediated the dispute also told the reporter that from a moral standpoint, Zhou Jiwei seemed to have acted improperly; however, from a legal perspective, he was also defending his legitimate rights. Regarding this case, the reporter consulted Huang Kequan, deputy director of Jiangsu Haozhenhan Law Firm, who analyzed that if Zhou Cuilan had indeed found 8200 yuan but only returned 1700 yuan to the party involved, then she and Wang Changyu might be suspected of embezzlement. However, the key issue here is that Zhou Jiwei must provide solid evidence proving that he lost 8200 yuan that day and that all the money was indeed found by either Zhou Cuilan or Wang Changyu. Otherwise, it would be difficult to win the lawsuit.
Moral issues should be handled morally, legal issues legally
Upon reading this news, the first thing that came to mind was the Peng Yu case, where helping an elderly person at a bus stop led to a court trial.
From a moral standpoint, it certainly doesn't feel right that Peng Yu and the old woman selling bean cakes became defendants. Who would dare to do good deeds in the future?!
However, if we look at it from another angle, shouldn't we also acknowledge the rights of the person who lost the money to reclaim their property?
Moral issues should be handled morally, and legal issues should be handled legally—this is how a civilized society operates.
To maximize the protection of both parties' interests, it seems that the legal system is the only way forward. First, how the court rules will have a significant demonstrative effect. Second, can the public security authorities promptly investigate and restore the truth of the matter through their inquiries?