Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 128 - 127: Just Copper? There’s Plenty!

Chapter 128: Chapter 127: Just Copper? There’s Plenty!

After Deputy Officer Lu had decided the reward for Zhang San, Principal Officer Yue turned toward Pharaoh with a beaming smile and asked, "Pharaoh, are you satisfied with this outcome?"

Pharaoh laughed and waved his hand, saying, "After all, this is a matter for the Town Martial Office, and it’s not appropriate for me to intervene. Continue with your cases and don’t mind me; I’m just passing by to have a look. After all, Zhang San is my closed-door disciple, a direct apprentice, and I must avoid any appearance of favoritism."

Principal Officer Yue’s face was all smiles.

Indeed!

You really avoid favoritism, sitting right at the top.

What else could we do?

However, Principal Officer Yue also discerned another implication in Pharaoh’s words.

This is Pharaoh’s closed-door disciple, and a mere reward of sixty jin is settled?

That’s not taking Pharaoh seriously at all.

"We naturally adhere to the principle of fairness, but today we have the rare opportunity to learn from Pharaoh, so naturally, we do not want to miss it."

While speaking, Principal Officer Yue glanced at Zhang San, pondered for a moment, and continued, "The earlier reward was solely an internal reward of the Town Martial Office for what Zhang San has done. It wasn’t the usual mission reward."

"In this particular mission, Zhang San was both brave and strategic, displaying good performance."

"Although he has just broken through to the True Core Realm, considering his merits, promoting him to Military Chief wouldn’t be excessive. However, within the Town Martial Office, one must be in the Spiritual Platform Realm to hold the Military Chief position. So, how about this..."

"Since Zhang San has entered the True Core Realm, he will officially become a Martial Artist of the Town Martial Office, and because of his merit this time, although he cannot be granted the post of Military Chief, he can be given the treatment of a Military Chief."

"He will be appointed as Deputy Military Attache, at Ninth Grade, which just fits the treatment of a Military Chief. How does Pharaoh feel about this?"

When the people present heard Principal Officer Yue’s reward, many were stunned.

At Ninth Grade!

Even if it’s just a Scattered Official, that’s a Ninth Grade official appointed by the Imperial Court!

The treatment is one thing, but more importantly, with this status, other Military Chiefs in the Town Martial Office must treat Zhang San with deference, and even when the Town Martial Office and other Martial Path Sects go to war, those people have to think twice before they act.

After all, killing an ordinary Martial Artist of the Town Martial Office and killing a Ninth Grade official of the Great Sui are completely different concepts.

Although Pharaoh was not very satisfied with the Ninth Grade arrangement—as after all, if Zhang San followed him back to Legalism, he would start at Sixth Rank with an actual position—in your Town Martial Office, it’s just a scattered Ninth Grade official, which is uninteresting.

But this Principal Officer Yue is only a seventh-rank, and that he can arrange a Ninth Grade Scattered Official for Zhang San, a Martial Artist who has just broken through the True Core Realm, is already the limit of his authority.

"You handle your own affairs in the Town Martial Office; just arrange it yourselves," Pharaoh said.

Principal Officer Yue understood; this was Pharaoh barely giving his approval.

He then felt somewhat relieved.

At this point, Third Miss Gan stepped forward and said, "I recall, according to the rules of our Town Martial Office, a Martial Artist participating in operations can take one-quarter of the equivalent value of any spoils of war that are not mission targets, right?"

Principal Officer Yue nodded and answered, "That is indeed the case."

"I also remember that if a Martial Artist obtains spoils of war that are not mission targets by taking great risks, they can take up to half, right?"

Principal Officer Yue knew that Zhang San must have obtained something valuable, so he nodded and said, "That is indeed the case."

Although Principal Officer Yue was not sure whether Zhang San had taken great risks, with Pharaoh here, it was considered that Zhang San had taken great risks to obtain these things.

Hearing Principal Officer Yue’s confirmation, Third Miss Gan began to remove items from her person.

The Corpse Wrapping Bag of Corpse Nether Sect, the Qiankun Bag and Storage Ring of Mysterious Soldiers Sect, the Storage Belt of Clear Wine Sword Sect, and the Snake Skin Qiankun Bag of Dragon Serpent Gang among over a dozen Storage Magical Treasures.

"These items were all seized by Zhang San risking his life during the operation, but Zhang San was concerned that his own strength was limited and could not protect these items, so he temporarily stored them with me."

Clearly, these items were probably the entire spoils of war from this operation.

But originally, the target of this operation was the non-existent blueprint of the Seven-Star Repeating Crossbow.

Thus, everything other than the blueprint theoretically could be considered non-target spoils of war.

Principal Officer Yue looked at the dozen or so Storage Magical Treasures with an expression of distress.

How much money is this worth, and now all these benefits go to Zhang San.

"Alright, I will have someone inventory these items and store them, and afterward, according to half of their value, it will be given as Zhang San’s reward for participating in this operation."

Zhang San looked gratefully at Third Miss Gan for a moment, acknowledging that his Big Sister was indeed quite impressive.

Then, Third Miss Gan gave Zhang San a slight smile and made a mouth shape.

Others might not have noticed, but Zhang San saw it clearly.

The mouth shape said, "Share half with me."

Zhang San nodded slightly.

After all, without Third Miss Gan fighting for him, these items would have been handed over through the normal spoils of war process, and what he would have received might not have even been one percent of his current share.

But the trial was not over yet.

Although Wang Junwu was still unconscious, there was still an important person who had not been interrogated.

That person was the one Bai Yucheng had trained as a Hidden Martial, Shadow.

Soon, Shadow was brought up.

Zhang San did not know what Shadow originally looked like, but seeing the pale, gaunt face and the lifeless eyes, he knew from the way the person was flung to the ground and did not even have the strength to get up that Shadow had not been having a good time.

To others, Bai Yucheng was just a superior officer.

But to Shadow, he was like a father.

As a result, the towering father figure in her mind collapsed overnight, completely shattered and even rebuilt into an entirely unrecognized villainous image.

Such a heavy blow would be difficult for anyone to bear.

Seeing that Pharaoh was present, Lu Qingquan thought that if he conducted the interrogation well, Pharaoh might take notice of him and bring him into Legalism.

So when Shadow was brought forth, Lu Qingquan went on the offensive.

"Do you know about Bai Yucheng’s corruption?"

Shadow shook her head.

"Do you know Bai Yucheng has premeditated plans to kill colleagues from the Town Martial Office?"

Shadow shook her head.

"Were you conspiring with Bai Yucheng?"

Shadow still shook her head.

"So you know nothing at all?"

Shadow continued shaking her head.

At this point, Zhang San stepped forward and said, "Deputy Officer Lu, when we were avoiding being killed by Bai Yucheng, Shadow rushed out to stop Bai Yucheng and was severely injured and knocked unconscious by him, so she’s not a conspirator and probably unaware of anything."

Sensing that Zhang San was supporting Shadow and likely had his own plans, Third Miss Gan also stepped forward to help, saying, "That’s right. I was undercover next to Bai Yucheng at the time, and I had asked Bai Yucheng if he intended to kill Shadow. Bai Yucheng said that she still had her uses, so he didn’t kill her. Clearly, Shadow was unaware of Bai Yucheng’s plans; she was just being used."

Thinking to himself, Lu Qingquan realized that with Bai Yucheng’s downfall, his own rise to power would inevitably face resistance from martial artists below.

If I let White Shadow go now, they will certainly think I am wronging Bai Yucheng, so this White Shadow still needs to be punished.

With this in mind, Lu Qingquan said, "However, the two have a father-daughter relationship, and Shadow was raised by Bai Yucheng. We can’t prove they weren’t conspiring. Even if what you say is true—that she intervened to stop Bai Yucheng and opposed the Officer’s blade—the crime of assaulting a superior still cannot be escaped."

After finishing, Lu Qingquan felt secretly pleased.

With the three Military Chiefs having problems, and this White Shadow, possibly inheriting the grace and resentment of Bai Yucheng, once imprisoned, my rise to power would be secured.

Just then, Zhang San took off the Gluttonous Bag from his waist and began pulling out a copper pot, sneering, "I’ve got this. One and a half years of penal servitude, thirty catties of copper, right?"

"Are these four copper pots and this copper block enough for thirty catties?"

"It’s just copper! There’s plenty of it!"

At that moment, the entire place was stunned; everyone still remembered when they previously asked Zhang San for copper, and he had responded with the shocking phrase, "I’m broke, just forget it, let it be destroyed!"

Lu Qingquan was so annoyed that he even yanked a strand of hair from the back of his head!

Excessive!

Way too excessive!