Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 416 - 391 - Why Must One Cut Their Own Robe to Sever Righteous Ties?

Chapter 416: Chapter 391 - Why Must One Cut Their Own Robe to Sever Righteous Ties?

"At last, we’re safe and sound! I’ve been so worried about Brother San these past few days, I couldn’t even eat properly!"

Shen Bao, with a jar of wine in his left hand and two wrapped roast lamb legs in his right, followed Shang Bufa and Shen Zhongdian to the front door of Zhang San’s house.

Having heard that Zhang San was now pardoned and declared innocent by Kaihuang, everyone was happy for him.

Guessing that Zhang San would likely go home first, the three of them brought fine wine and meat to visit him straightaway.

Shang Bufa turned to look at Shen Bao and asked, "How come I feel like you’ve put on weight recently? Are you sure you were worried about Brother San and didn’t eat?"

"Not at all! These last few days, I’ve been praying for Brother San and eating meat while chanting Buddha’s name every day! I haven’t touched a single grain of rice or a bit of flour!"

Shen Zhongdian looked at Shen Bao’s several chins and chose not to speak.

When the three of them arrived at the gate of Zhang Mansion, Shang Bufa stepped forward to knock on the door knocker and said, "Is Brother San home? I’m Shang Bufa, I’ve come to see..."

Shang Bufa hadn’t finished speaking when the door was forcefully pulled open from the inside by a strong gust of wind.

Just as Shang Bufa was about to step inside, he suddenly sensed something was wrong and quickly dodged to the side.

Shen Zhongdian, although unsure of what was going on, saw Shang Bufa dodge and quickly sidestepped in another direction.

As a result, the three men, who were about to enter the gate, all dodged to the left and right, except for Shen Bao, who, grinning, continued to walk inside holding the wine and meat.

Whoosh—

A basin of water, as if soaked in ink, poured out from inside the gate and drenched Shen Bao completely.

"Brother San, look what I’ve brought for... glug glug glug..."

Shen Bao staggered backward, nearly toppled by the basin of water.

Then, Zhang San’s voice came from inside.

"From now on, we are no longer friends."

Hiss—

Before the voice had even faded, a piece of cloth flew out from inside and landed at the feet of the three men.

Then, with a bang, the door of Zhang Mansion closed again.

Shang Bufa and Shen Zhongdian looked at each other, while Shen Bao, to the side, set down the wine and lamb legs and began wiping his face with his sleeve.

Curiously, Shang Bufa asked, "What’s this?"

"Cutting the robe to break off the friendship. Brother San must mean that," Shen Zhongdian said as he picked up the torn piece of sleeve from the ground to take a look, then loudly declared, "Since Brother San has cut the robe to break off our friendship, we have no ties with him from now on! If he has any issues, he won’t come to the Shen Family for help!"

After shouting that, Shen Zhongdian pulled Shang Bufa and Shen Bao away from there.

"Wait, the wine and lamb legs." Shen Bao, who had been pulled a few steps away, turned back to pick them up but then thought better of it and, after picking them up, left them by the door before turning to leave.

Once the three men reached an isolated spot, Shen Bao whispered, "Shen Zhongdian, did you notice something?"

Shang Bufa also looked towards Shen Zhongdian, it was clear that Shen Zhongdian’s loud declaration just now was unusual.

Together with Zhang San’s strange behavior today, there must be something going on.

Shen Zhongdian took out the piece of cloth that Zhang San had just thrown, and showed it to the three people.

On it were written in ink eight big characters—"The world unsettled, a temporary leave is safest."

Shen Bao thoughtfully nodded, then asked, "What does this mean?"

Shang Bufa glanced at Shen Bao and explained, "Brother San is probably worried that even though he has been pardoned and declared innocent, the Floating Corpse Case is not over yet. Our contact with him is actually not good for us. If he gets into trouble again in the future, it could easily implicate us, so he’s telling us to stay away for safety."

Shen Bao suddenly understood and then said in a low voice, "So what do we three do now? Should we go back and ask my grandfather what’s going on? See if there’s any way we can help Zhang San."

Shen Zhongdian shook his head and said, "No need. I reckon your grandfather is at Brother San’s mansion."

"How could that be? My grandfather is very timid. At this time, Brother San and all of us are pretending to sever ties. Can my grandfather really come to help Brother San? I don’t believe it!"

Shen Zhongdian thrust the cloth into Shen Bao’s hands and said softly, "See for yourself."

Shen Bao looked at the cloth, bewildered. Was there any other important clue on it?

Meanwhile, at the entrance to Zhang San’s mansion, the Tiger Demon directed two servants, disguised as Ghosts, to open the door and bring in the wine and grilled lamb legs from outside, then ordered the Ghosts to deliver the wine and one of the lamb legs, while secretly having the other delivered to itself.

Inside the pavilion in the front courtyard, where Zhang San was reviewing a large number of documents, he turned to Shen Erxian with a smile and said, "Second Master Shen, this is for their own good. What if something happens to me again later? It’s better to maintain a distance now to avoid implicating them later."

Shen Erxian, with a mournful expression, said, "I can understand what you’re saying. But you’re severing ties; you should have torn your own sleeve, why tear mine? This is my official robe!"

"Just say it got torn when you passed through Pingkang Fang."

"But I still need to go to the Government Office. If I’m late and delay matters... you... do you know what the crime is for an official failing to show up for duty without cause?"

Zhang San laughed and said, "I know, ah! Failing to appear without excuse, not arriving for one’s shift... twenty blows for one day, add one degree in three days, which means thirty blows!"[Note 97]

Shen Erxian glared angrily and retorted, "You know and still mess with me like this!"

Zhang San pushed over several documents that he hadn’t finished reading and said with a smile, "Second Master Shen, do the math! If you don’t show up for one day without an excuse, you get twenty lashes—that’s an average of twenty lashes per day! But if you skip four days, it’s only thirty lashes, which averages out to just seven and a half lashes a day!"

"But you are here helping me look through records of the Northern Zhou period and all sorts of important clues about the Imperial Court. If you make a significant contribution, the reward will be much more than seven or eight lashes a day. It’s worth it! Worth it!"

Shen Erxian felt like crying without tears, regretting that he had left the house that morning and ran straight into Zhang San, who then brought him here!

Shen Erxian only wished he could find all these clues right away when suddenly, he spotted a record in one of the documents.

"Zhang San, look quickly. The identification records of those nine people who perished in the fire north of the Imperial Palace are here."

Zhang San took the document and saw that it was the Imperial Palace’s internal registration of the deceased’s identities.

Then Zhang San compared it to the roster of personnel responsible for the Empress Dowager during the Northern Zhou period and was shocked!

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[Note 97]A small legal knowledge pop-up

According to "Tang Lv Shu Yi" (The Comments on Tang Code) in the section on official duties: "An official conduct rule five—Officials absent without cause" records: "Officials refer to those serving both inside and outside the court. ’Absent without cause, failing to arrive for one’s shift’ means that persons scheduled to work are absent... Offenders receive twenty lashes for one day, and with each additional three days, the penalty increases by one degree; beyond one hundred lashes, every ten days increase by one degree, up to a maximum penalty of one and a half years of penal servitude. For officials in frontier outpost locales, the penalty is increased by one degree."

This means that officials, both internal and external, absent without leave, it’s like they should be on duty but aren’t... those who commit this crime, for a day’s absence they receive twenty lashes, and if they add three more days, the punishment increases by one degree (which means an additional ten lashes); exceeding twenty-five days it’s one hundred lashes, with every ten days beyond that, increasing the punishment by one degree, with the most severe punishment being one and a half years in penal servitude. For officials at military outposts, the punishment automatically increases by one degree.

It turns out that being late as a public servant in ancient times was so dire, but in the modern era... cough, cough... this is just a pop-up to publicize legal knowledge, don’t misunderstand the rest.