Preface
Helping others is a very good virtue, and if everyone can develop the habit of helping others, then the world will be a better place.
But there is one such thing, and its occurrence has almost set back the moral standard of the mainland by a full twenty years.
This is the famous Peng Yu case.
On the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, there is also a sketch adapted from this incident, and everyone was amused to laugh when they watched the sketch, but Peng Yuke, the protagonist of this case, couldn't laugh at all.
The summer of that year was probably his most memorable day. What is going on, let's review this sensational case at the time.
Ridiculous verdict
On September 4, 2007, a verdict had just been handed down in a case in the Gulou District Court of Nanjing.
This is the famous Nanjing Peng Yu case, and the presiding judge of this case is Wang Hao, maybe some people don't know much about the content of Peng Yu's case, so let's briefly introduce it to you first.
One day in 2006, a young man posted a message on the Internet, saying that he had helped up an old lady who had been knocked down because of his kindness, and instead of receiving the other party's thanks, he was framed.
This young man is Peng Yu, who thought he had done a good deed, but in the end he would face a huge amount of compensation.
Peng Yu naturally won't accept such a verdict, he thinks that his original intention is to do good deeds, why did he get such a result.
Faced with this situation, the presiding judge at the time, Wang Hao, was shocked, and his sentence: "Why do you need to help if you hit it."
Even though eighteen years have passed since then, many people will still think of this case after hearing this sentence.
It is no exaggeration to say that the occurrence of this case has set back the moral standards of mainland residents by at least a few decades.
The spirit of helping others, which had been cultivated so hard, came to naught at this moment, and Judge Wang Hao's words also stirred up a thousand waves at that time.
Because this sentence is not only illogical, but also implies a characterization of the case, that is, Peng Yu pleaded guilty. In the eyes of some, this sentence was uttered by the judge in order to confirm the facts.
We don't know, after all, some of the evidence at that time had all been lost.
All we know is that the judge at the time, Wang Hao, simply became a street rat, and the slanderous Mrs. Chen was also ostracized by the neighbors.
Good intentions get into big trouble
One day in 2006, young Peng Yu was walking on the street, as an ordinary migrant worker, he had not yet bought a scooter of his own, so the bus was his best choice.
When he arrived near the bus stop, he saw a shocking scene.
An old lady lay on the ground and kept wailing, it seemed that she had been hit, Peng Yu didn't think too much about it in this emergency, and hurriedly stepped forward to ask about the old man's condition.
Because he was worried about causing secondary injury, he didn't move the other party easily, and then Peng Yu dialed the 120 emergency number.
Soon the ambulance roared, Peng Yu and the medical staff carried the injured old man into the ambulance, and he followed the vehicle to the hospital for insurance purposes, and paid 200 yuan in advance for the ambulance.
At this time, the old lady saw that she was in the hospital and also expressed her gratitude to Peng Yu.
Peng Yu, who has learned the spirit of Lei Feng since he was a child, adheres to the principle of saving people to the end, helps the old lady contact her family, and then leaves the hospital in a hurry because she still has to go to work.
I thought that this matter would end like this, but I never expected that a phone call a few days later made Peng Yu realize what makes people sinister.
The call was from the old lady's family, and the other party said that his mother had several fractures on her body, and the reason why she called Peng Yu was because the old lady insisted that she was hit by Peng Yu.
It's really a big joke in the world, after hearing the news, Peng Yu immediately denied it, and said that he was just a good person.
If it weren't for him seeing the old man pitifully calling an ambulance, then she didn't know how long she would have to lie on the cold ground, so she helped the old man call an ambulance and paid 200 yuan in advance.
The other party's family not only did not have the slightest gratitude, but instead beat up and said that they were the perpetrators.
Although Peng Yu tried his best to defend himself, the old lady's family did not listen at all, and they said that Peng Yu could not produce any evidence to prove that he did not hit anyone.
After saying this, they asked Peng Yu to compensate their old lady for the treatment costs of hospitalization and mental damages. Seeing that there was no communication on the phone, Peng Yu decided to go to the hospital to confront him personally.
Peng Yu always thought in his heart that it was possible that the old lady had recognized the wrong person, as long as he went to the hospital to meet the other party, then all this could be revealed.
But Peng Yu made a thousand calculations, and he miscalculated people's hearts.
When Peng Yu arrived at the hospital, he asked the old lady: "Hello, take a closer look at my face, did I hit you?"
As soon as the words fell, the old lady immediately nodded in affirmation, and Peng Yu couldn't fix it now. He didn't expect this old lady to be so cheeky.
When the family of the old lady on the side saw this scene, they regarded Peng Yu as the perpetrator, shouted angrily and demanded that Peng Yu pay money!
This kind of dumb loss Peng Yu naturally couldn't eat, and he directly refused the other party's request. The conflict between the two sides became more and more intense, and finally the old lady's family said that if Peng Yu was unwilling to pay compensation, they would sue.
Peng Yu, who was sitting upright, was naturally not afraid, he thought that the law would definitely give him justice.
However, the first-instance verdict a few days later was like a slap in the face to Peng Yu.
The justice he was waiting for not only did not come, but it turned into a huge amount of compensation falling on his head.
Peng Yu was naturally dissatisfied with this verdict, and he directly appealed and said in an interview with reporters: "If I encounter such things again in the future, I will pretend to turn a blind eye."
The impact of a word
Because the evidence on both sides was not sufficient, the progress of the second trial was very slow, and Peng Yu became extremely haggard because of this incident.
After all, he was well-intentioned at the beginning, but in the end he ended up like this. At present, there are only two ways in front of Peng Yu, and he does not admit that he hit the old lady, or he needs to pay a full 130,000 yuan in compensation.
But if Peng Yu admits that it was the old lady he hit, then in the end he only needs to compensate 10,000 yuan, although this is still very unfair, but for Peng Yu at that time, he had no way back.
We don't know what kind of way Peng Yu chose, but what we can know is that because of this incident, Judge Wang Hao's words, the moral level of the whole society seems to have returned to more than 20 years ago.
After this incident, an old man fell on the road, and those who wanted to help would think of Peng Yu.
There is a joke on the Internet, how can you not help the old man when he falls, don't look at me riding a bicycle today, but before I helped the old man, I drove a big run!
A cold and humorous joke is like a sharp blade, piercing everyone's hearts fiercely.
In this incident, Peng Yu lost his innocence and money because of this case.
And the judge of the first instance, Wang Hao, was sent to the grassroots department because of the anger of the masses, but he is still a civil servant, isn't he?
In addition to these two people, the old lady became the object of disdain in the neighborhood because of this incident. Not long after the incident, he left with infamy.
The last of the last
Now that a full eighteen years have passed since Peng Yu's case, presumably the original judge Wang Hao must regret what he said at the beginning.
Since that incident, we can see more and more stories like "The Farmer and the Snake", where everyone has to weigh whether they will be blackmailed before helping others.
And for those who blackmail, there is almost no cost, and they can start a big gamble with just a few words. On one side of the gamble are the mouth-opening detractors, while on the other side are the innocents who are helpful.
Wu Weiqing in 2014 used his life to prove how difficult it is for an ordinary person to be innocent.
That year, Wu Weiqing saw an old man who fell to the ground on the road, and like Peng Yu, he was kind enough to send the old man to the hospital and left.
But soon after, the old man's family began to frame Wu Weiqing, claiming that he had bumped into him. Wu Weiqing himself called the police directly, but because of the lack of evidence, the case reached an impasse.
What did Wu Weiqing do to prove his innocence? After he told the people he could contact, he told his grievances.
Abandoning his wife and daughter, he walked into the lake alone. What was he thinking at that moment, and at the moment when he was submerged in the lake, would he think that his innocence had been proved?
Maybe we think that Wu Weiqing has proved his innocence with death, and this matter should be understood, but the old man's family still relentlessly went to court with Wu Weiqing's family.
To this day, there has been no definite outcome in this case, and it doesn't matter if Wu Weiqing bumped into the old man?
Eighteen years is enough time for a generation to grow up, but it can't make people forget the original Peng Yu case. People are still struggling with the choice of whether to help or not to help for so long.
I believe that the vast majority of people are indifferent to the elderly who have fallen, but if you touch your pockets and think about it, whether you want to pay it or not, this is a very risky question.
Throughout the ages, the Chinese nation has always been a helpful nation, and there will always be someone to lend a helping hand when compatriots need help.
But in light of today's situation, we also need to take some precautions before we can help others, right? People will eventually stay away from things that are harmful to themselves.
This is not to advocate that everyone should not be helpful, but that they should protect their own rights and interests first under the premise of being helpful.
After all, it's good to help others, don't let this good thing turn into a bad thing.