During the National Day holiday, I returned to Hunan and met two elderly men from my village. Both had suffered significant losses from work and investments outside the village. After hearing their detailed stories, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of sorrow. For individuals, the burden of legal risk prevention is simply too heavy.

Case A: Fired Just Before Retirement

Elderly Mr. A, aged 59, started working as a security guard in a residential community in 2008. By next year, he would have been eligible for retirement.

Unexpectedly, shortly after this year’s Spring Festival, he was fired by the company.

The reasons for his dismissal were as follows:

1. Despite being on a regular shift schedule, Mr. A was absent without reason from February 10 to 13 (during the Chinese New Year period).
2. On February 18, while on duty, he was not wearing his uniform, was smoking, and was watching movies on his phone.
3. On February 19, he left his post without permission, opened the security booth door without authorization, and was smoking and playing on his phone while on duty.
4. On February 20, he was smoking and playing on his phone while on duty.
5. On February 21, he was smoking, playing on his phone, and sleeping while on duty (night shift).
6. On February 26, he was openly sleeping on duty, rendering the security post ineffective (night shift).

Since this was a security position, all the above reasons were supported by surveillance footage.

After being fired, Mr. A sued the company but lost the case. The court’s reasoning was as follows:

1. Chapter 6, Article 2, Section 1 of the Employee Handbook lists over 10 types of serious violations of company regulations, including “eating, smoking, listening to the radio, browsing the internet, playing games, or reading newspapers while on duty.”
2. Chapter 6, Article 2, Section 3, Point 2 of the Employee Handbook states that “the company has the right to dismiss employees who commit Class A violations twice.”
3. The Employee Handbook was established in 2008, and Mr. A had signed to acknowledge receipt of it. Multiple meeting records showed that the company had conducted training on the handbook’s contents, and Mr. A had signed attendance sheets for these meetings.
4. The termination of the labor contract was discussed with the labor union beforehand.

Honestly, I’ve never seen a security guard who never eats, smokes, or looks at their phone while on duty, or who doesn’t doze off during night shifts. Over the past decade, Mr. A’s behavior was commonplace in the industry.

However, because the company had long codified these rules and had video evidence, Mr. A had almost no room for defense.

Faced with such ironclad evidence, he had no choice but to accept his fate.

Case B: Bankruptcy Due to Leasing a Fish Pond

Elderly Mr. B, nearly 50 years old, decided to make one last effort while he still had some strength left. In 2017, he invested all his savings to lease a 40-acre fish pond in another province. The lease was for 20 years, with a rent of 1,900 yuan per acre, payable every five years, with rent increases every five years.

Since the pond was leased from the village, local officials often brought people to fish there. Considering they only took one or two fish each time, Mr. B usually didn’t charge them.

This situation wasn’t a big deal when times were good, but during the pandemic, it became unbearable. Mr. B had several arguments with the local officials.

This escalated the situation, and the village demanded to terminate the lease contract. They even diverted the water upstream to force Mr. B out.

Only then did Mr. B realize the gravity of the situation. He tried to negotiate, but to no avail. Eventually, he took the case to court and lost.

The village’s reasons for terminating the contract were:

1. On April 11, the village committee took a water sample from the pond’s outlet, which showed that the pH level exceeded the contract’s stipulated range.
2. On April 15, during an inspection of the village’s living environment by the town government, a large amount of plastic waste was found around Mr. B’s pond.
3. On April 20, during a sanitation inspection of the pond by the village committee, it was discovered that plastic sheets were still being used to cover the ground around the pond, affecting the environment.
4. On April 21, the village committee took photos as evidence that the embankment between two ponds had been damaged.
5. On April 21, the village committee took another water sample from the pond’s outlet, which still showed excessive pH levels.

The court ruled in favor of the village committee, primarily based on the Lease Contract signed by both parties.

Article 8 of the Lease Contract listed 22 obligations for the lessee, including:

1. The lessee must not harm the environment or litter during the lease period.
2. The lessee must ensure that the pond’s water meets Class V or higher standards.
3. The lessee must not obstruct villagers’ access or damage existing embankments and roads.
4. If the lessee violates any of these terms, it will be considered a breach of contract, and the lessor has the right to terminate the contract and seek damages.

I was shocked when I saw the lease contract Mr. B brought out. The entire contract was only five pages long, but Article 8, “Lessee’s Obligations,” took up two pages.

The 22 obligations listed were full of pitfalls, any of which could easily be triggered.

For example: The lessee must have someone stationed at the pond 24/7 to ensure no children fall into the water; if dead fish are found in the pond, they must not be disposed of within the village.

For the lessor, proving these violations would be simple—just take a photo when no one is at the pond to show it’s unstaffed, or take a photo of dead fish to prove they weren’t disposed of outside the village, or take a photo of litter to prove the lessee failed to maintain sanitation.

However, when Mr. B first signed the contract, he only skimmed through it. In his mind, the key points were the lease term and rent—everything else was secondary.

In the end, he fell into this trap, and his later years are now filled with uncertainty.

The Law is the Bottom Line of Social Life, But Not the Bottom Line of Being Human

These two cases made me feel as if my legal education was for naught. How can one guard against such legal risks? It seems almost impossible.

When the law is exploited by those with ulterior motives, it becomes nothing more than a tool for the powerful to exploit the weak.