Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 316 - 302: I, Zhang San, Have Come to Bring Wealth to Your House!

Chapter 316: Chapter 302: I, Zhang San, Have Come to Bring Wealth to Your House!

In the dark of night, Zhang San felt it too dangerous to be walking the streets alone.

After all, there was a curfew in the Capital at night, and it definitely wouldn’t do to be wandering about so openly.

Inside the neighborhood, it was somewhat better, but once he left Yanshou Fang, Zhang San could only rely on his shadow to help him, entering into the shadows and then heading straight for the Shen Family’s mansion.

At this moment, Shen Bao was reading in his room.

Suddenly, he heard a knocking sound from outside, which startled Shen Bao into immediately stuffing the book he was holding under the bedcovers.

"Who’s there?"

Shen Bao asked in feigned calmness.

"Me."

Zhang San said, and, using the Wind Technique, blew the door latch open and pushed the door to enter.

Seeing that it was Zhang San, Shen Bao relaxed a considerable amount.

Before entering, Zhang San had employed the Ninefold Scrutiny and had seen what kind of book Shen Bao was reading.

Who would have thought, this kid was reading an illustrated book, not bad!

"What are you doing here so late at night? You better not have gotten yourself into trouble," Shen Bao said.

Zhang San curled his lip and glanced at Shen Bao before sitting down behind the desk in Shen Bao’s room.

"Get me some paper and a pen quickly, I’m here to bring wealth to your household. If this is how you think of me, your brother, I might just leave."

Fatty Shen immediately got up from the bed, closed the room door, found some paper and a pen for Zhang San, and asked with a chuckle, "What kind of wealth? Do I have a share in it?"

"How could your family’s wealth not include your share?"

Zhang San said, and started quickly jotting down all the records of the crimes committed by Shen Wen he had seen earlier.

Zhang San believed that there must be many things that Shen Wen had cleaned up, even getting rid of evidence and witnesses.

But there are no walls that don’t leak air in this world, and because of the existence of Techniques, there are many ways to unearth clues.

Shen Wen, oh Shen Wen, why did you have to offend me?

Although I, Zhang San, am kind-hearted and wouldn’t let personal feelings affect justice, I just can’t stand this sort of criminal behavior.

As Zhang San wrote, he turned to Shen Bao and asked, "I remember that it’s your uncle who is the Family Head of your household, right? What about your grandfather? Has he been marginalized?"

Fatty Shen smiled smugly and said, "While in other families brothers fight over the inheritance, our family is different."

"My uncle Shen Qi and my grandfather are both extremely capable people, and they have a very good relationship."

"My uncle wants to maintain a good reputation, so he is the Family Head."

"My grandfather, on the other hand, is completely different from my uncle; he doesn’t care about appearances, only about tangible benefits."

"So, although my uncle is in charge of the whole Shen Family, my grandfather effectively has a half-share in it."

These words relieved Zhang San a great deal.

He had been worried that by helping the Shen Family, he might inadvertently cause internal strife.

Knowing that the Shen Family was in such a state made Zhang San much more at ease.

Then Zhang San handed over the paper he had written to Shen Bao, instructing him, "Find a way to deliver this to your grandfather so he can see it first thing tomorrow morning."

Shen Bao nodded repeatedly.

Next, Zhang San wrote another version, but this time the content was separated onto two pieces of paper.

On its own, each paper only had half the useful information; they had to be matched with the other paper to make sense.

Just as Shen Bao finished reading the contents of what Zhang San had just written, he was completely shocked.

"Is Shen Wen really such a terrible person?"

Zhang San let out a cold laugh and asked in return, "How many officials are good people?"

Shen Bao chuckled and said, "Luckily, neither my uncle nor my grandfather is serving as an official right now."

After Zhang San finished copying both versions, he turned to Shen Bao and asked, "Does Shang Bufa stay at home every night, or does he sometimes spend the night working at the Ministry of Punishment?"

"He definitely goes home. The Shang family’s head treasures his grandson, Shang Bufa, enormously!"

Zhang San nodded and put away the two pieces of paper he had finished writing.

Three important pieces of intelligence: one for the Shen Family, one to be sent to the Ministry of Punishment to benefit Shen Wei later, and one for Shang Bufa.

Thus, among the four families of Legalism, three had become involved in this affair, sealing Shen Wen’s fate for certain.

Zhang San looked at the blank paper, pondered for a moment, and then shook his head slightly.

He knew that he could not view the matters of this world with the mindset of a modern person.

Would they arrest someone just because there was evidence of their guilt?

Not necessarily.

Only if the incident became so widely known that it was completely out of control and they were forced to deal with it.

Just like with the Floating Corpse Case, if the body hadn’t been floating in the sky, it probably wouldn’t have caused such a commotion.

With this in mind, Zhang San picked up his pen and continued to write.

But what he wrote next were simply the various bad deeds Shen Wen had likely done, and he hoped that those with information would go to the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Personnel to report it.

Zhang San believed that there must be some who knew a thing or two.

Plus, spreading such intelligence in Daxing City would inevitably stir up public opinion.

At that point, Shen Wen would have no choice but to be investigated.

And this man could not withstand an investigation!

Seeing Zhang San begin to write the same things over and over, Shen Bao said, "Zhang San, are you going to keep handwriting these?"

Zhang San was startled and retorted, "Do I look like someone who would write with their feet?"

Shen Bao shook his head and said, "What I meant was, when you were punished as a child by being made to copy text, did you just handwrite it all by yourself?"

Zhang San, baffled, replied, "What else?"

At that moment, Shen Bao smiled smugly.

"Come, it’s time to reveal some real Techniques."

With that, Shen Bao had Zhang San move aside and took a seat behind the desk himself.

First, he used Qi to lift the lamp’s oil flame, then he took the papers that Zhang San had written on and held them beneath the lamp, making them float in the air.

The lamp’s light projected the ink shadows from the papers onto the blank ones below.

As Shen Bao continually adjusted the brightness of the flame and the position of the floating paper, he managed to make the ink traces clearly visible on the white paper beneath.

In the end, Shen Bao dipped a finger into the inkstone beside him, and lightly smeared a bit of ink on the bottom paper.

The ink did not fall onto the paper but spread out on a layer above it as if dripping onto a layer of water that could move about, gradually dispersing.

Finally, it completely overlapped with the projected characters.

Shen Bao gave Zhang San a proud smile and whispered, "This is my secret technique, unseen by the likes of Shang Bufa. Watch closely, Zhang San."

As he spoke, Shen Bao flicked his hand gently across the floating layer of ink.

With a swish, the blank paper below now bore the imprint of an entire page of characters.

Zhang San pulled out the bottom sheet and found that it was almost identical to his own writing, except that the characters were slightly larger.

Then Shen Bao flicked with one hand while pulling away the instantly written paper with the other.

"Whenever my grandpa punished me to copy something, he’d demand a hundred times over! Who would actually copy all that? I’d just copy it once, then use this method to mass produce it!"

At this moment, Zhang San was genuinely amazed.

This was the first time he had seen Techniques applied in such a way.

It had to be said that in some respects, Shen Bao might have advanced the development of printing Techniques in this world.

In an instant, Shen Bao had printed out hundreds of copies.

Zhang San nodded in satisfaction and said, "That should be enough."

Zhang San gathered up the papers and then told Shen Bao, "Even though you’ve been helpful, once your grandpa or your uncle secures an advantage, you owe me a meal."

As he spoke, Zhang San, suddenly feeling hungry, remembered something.

"I haven’t eaten in two days and a night, and I just remembered when I said you should treat me to a meal. I’ve got some elbow here, let’s share..."

Zhang San took out the elbow he had before from the meat store from his Gluttonous Bag.

But on inspection, the meat had gone bad!

"No worries, once my grandpa or my uncle reap some benefits, I’ll ask them for some money and then treat you to a month of feasts! All the wine you can drink, and all the meat you can eat!"