Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 320 - 306: A Dinner Table Where Everyone Minds Their Own Business

Chapter 320: Chapter 306: A Dinner Table Where Everyone Minds Their Own Business

In the tavern, a large square table with four people seated on each side.

Shen Bao was pouring himself a drink while worrying.

"You all say, after I go back, won’t my Grandpa kill me?"

"And the rest of you, how come no one told me that my Grandpa was right behind me at the time?"

"Maybe... I should bring him back some fine wine. Would one jar be enough?"

As Shen Bao drank, he scratched his head, his expression filled with a kind of agony as if he had suffered heartbreak.

Shang Bufa, sitting beside him, also had a furrowed brow, poured himself a drink, said nothing, and gulped it down.

"I really can’t figure this out. Who would run to my doorstep in the middle of the night and slip that piece of paper under my door?"

"Although I know this certainly helped me, this kind of help from an unknown source and without any reason, can even say it’s a benefit, is very dangerous!"

"Since I was young, my grandfather always told me that what we Legalists must be most wary of is the enemy corroding our pure and proud souls through various means!"

"Who in the world wants to corrupt my soul?"

Zhang San was looking at the documents in his hands, his eyebrows tightly locked, poured a glass of wine, and drank it while thinking.

"The seven people who died at the Ba River Case were all former trusted aides of Kaihuang, they had been with Kaihuang even before his accession to the throne. Logically speaking, such people, even if they retire and return home, shouldn’t be murdered! After all, they were people who had followed Kaihuang."

"Who would dare to strike against the former trusted aides of Kaihuang? And if it really was to target Kaihuang, they wouldn’t strike at retired aides."

"And the six members of the Yu Family, all small officials, quite low-key, how they just got murdered out of nowhere. It’s a pity, the daughter had just gotten married and then she was killed. Does anyone know about this Pei Family?"

Shen Zhongdian looked at the other three people at the table, each drinking their drink, each talking to themselves.

This drink, drank in solitude.

Just then, Zhang San smacked the table and said, "You guys help me analyze this, what is really going on?"

After Zhang San finished speaking, he realized that he seemed to have always been ignored by everyone at the table.

Shen Bao drank one cup after another, the wine fueling his sorrow.

Zhang San patted Shen Bao on the shoulder and said, "Shen Bao, don’t worry, this is nothing at all."

Shen Bao shook his head repeatedly and cried, "You don’t know! My grandpa hits really hard!"

Zhang San reassured him, "As far as I know, your elder uncle has no children, and it can be said that in the Shen Family, it’s just you as the descendant, right?"

Shen Bao nodded.

Zhang San smiled and said, "There you go. Think about it, you’ve got three legs below, even if you go back, your grandpa wouldn’t really break them, right? Besides, he has just become the Magistrate of Metropolitan prefecture, he wouldn’t come home at night and start beating his son, right? If that gets out, people would definitely think you’ve done something illegal or against the rules, don’t worry, at most he’ll just scold you a bit and then make you copy some text or something. It’s no big deal."

Shen Bao thought about it and realized that was really the case ever since he was young.

Although his grandpa’s hits were quite painful, the injuries were never serious.

And looking at the two bags of gold on the table, it seemed the pain wasn’t so much painful anymore.

Then Zhang San turned towards Shang Bufa across the table and called out.

"Stop pondering, with that brain of yours always plotting behind closed doors, I’m curious how they ever considered you the future hope of Legalism."

Shang Bufa grimaced and said grumpily, "But you need to know, even within the four big families of Legalism, there are many incidents of dragging each other down. After all, if I’m going down, I’ll also pull you in, so you’ll keep me safe! I’ve seen too many cases, and I’m scared!"

Zhang San said, "What’s the use of just analyzing the relationships between characters, you should learn from Shen Zhongdian. Look at him, he never leaves any evidence. If you reverse-engineer his thought process and specifically check those pieces of evidence, wouldn’t that be enough? You people from the Ministry of Punishment always start too high, coming in and directly looking at the dossier. What are you going to find out? Look at the physical evidence, the scene! Where’s that paper? Take it out and have a look."

Hearing Zhang San’s words, Shang Bufa took out the piece of paper from his Storage Ring, looked it over, and suddenly said, "This paper is so thin! Shen Bao, help me take a look. I remember you asked me to accompany you to buy paper before, and it was this kind, right?"

Shen Bao often had to copy texts as a punishment and naturally needed paper with better translucency, so he always chose the thinnest paper.

Of course, such paper was cheap, and he could make a little extra money by quoting a higher price at home, which was also an important reason for choosing it.

Shen Bao asked in return, "Is it possible that this paper is from my house?"

"Hmm!?"

Shang Bufa stared at Shen Bao with wide eyes and asked, "So you provided the information? No wonder Second Uncle Shen knows so much. But that’s not right! He’s also looking for the person who provided the information..."

Zhang San really didn’t understand why Shang Bufa was regarded as the hope of Legalism.

Because he’s adorably stupid?

On the side, Shen Zhongdian saw it all and helplessly clinked his glass with Zhang San’s.

"No, that’s wrong!"

Shang Bufa suddenly realized, glanced at Shen Bao, and analyzed, "Second Uncle Shen doesn’t know about this, so it’s not him. Elder Uncle Shen wouldn’t either; if it were him, he wouldn’t keep it from Second Uncle Shen. Was it you?"

Shang Bufa shook his head repeatedly and said, "You don’t have the brains for it. So it’s..."

At this point, Shang Bufa turned his gaze toward Zhang San.

Zhang San and Shen Zhongdian exchanged looks.

"Not bad, this fool hasn’t completely lost his senses."

Hearing Zhang San say this, Shang Bufa instantly understood what was going on.

"Okay, your problem is resolved; it was me who sent you the information."

"Shen Bao, stop looking so glum, cheer up with some wine. What, should I also call a couple of girls for you? Come on, help me look at these scrolls, I’m feeling like I’m missing some clues right now."

Shang Bufa and Shen Bao quickly picked up two scrolls and started to go through them.

A moment later, the three of them finally finished examining both scrolls, exchanging them among themselves.

Shen Bao shook his head repeatedly after finishing; there were no clues at all.

Shen Zhongdian frowned slightly, seemingly also unable to think of any clues.

Meanwhile, Shang Bufa rolled up the Ba River Case scroll, picked up the second scroll, and pointed to a record near the end of it.

"The entire Yu family of six died, leaving only one daughter who had married earlier. It was because of the daughter getting married that they entered the Capital, right? So, this daughter is the last clue."

Zhang San looked at it and asked, "But what’s the deal with the Pei Family? Does anyone know?"

In that moment, Shang Bufa, Shen Bao, and Shen Zhongdian looked at Zhang San with shocked faces.

"You don’t know about the Pei Family?"

"This is the Pei Family we’re talking about!"

"How could you possibly not know about the Pei Family?"

In that moment, although Zhang San still didn’t know, he had already guessed that the Pei Family must be very significant.