Chapter 292: Invitation to a Trap |
The autumn sunlight was always so gentle, like a warm and pleasant breeze, bringing people long-missed warmth and comfort.
This was especially true for elderly men like Wen Yanbo.
After enduring the cool morning indoors, once the sunlight spilled into the courtyard, he eagerly stepped outside, preparing to work in the corridor. Standing at the doorway, he slowly stretched his arms and twisted his neck slightly.
Suddenly, his gaze fixed on the left side, where he saw Sima Guang sitting in the corridor, raising his hand to cover his right eye, then lowering it, then covering it again, repeating this cycle.
What was he doing? Wen Yanbo walked over. “Sima Guang.”
“Lord Wen.”
Sima Guang quickly stood up and bowed with cupped hands.
Wen Yanbo asked, “What are you doing?”
Sima Guang gently rubbed the area under his right eye and smiled bitterly. “Since early this morning, my right eyelid has been twitching. Sigh, it’s really disturbing my peace of mind.”
“Thank you for your concern, Lord Wen. I’m in excellent health with nothing unusual.”
Sima Guang quickly shook his head.
Wen Yanbo nodded slightly. “That’s good. Now that the weather is turning cool, you should be careful.”
Sima Guang smiled and nodded. “Thank you for your concern, Lord Wen. I’ll be careful.”
“Academician Sima.”
Suddenly they heard a shout.
Sima Guang turned his head and saw Liu Shu quickly entering the courtyard.
Coming before Sima Guang, he suddenly noticed Wen Yanbo was also there. Liu Shu quickly bowed. “This subordinate pays respects to Lord Wen.”
Wen Yanbo nodded lightly.
Sima Guang asked, “What’s the matter?”
Liu Shu first glanced at Wen Yanbo, hesitated slightly, then said, “It’s not really a big matter, but I heard that the General Police Bureau has been sued.”
At these words, both Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang were startled.
But what they were thinking was different.
Wen Yanbo was surprised by who would dare sue the General Police Bureau.
While Sima Guang was surprised that it wasn’t the General Police Bureau suing others. He urgently asked, “What happened?”
Liu Shu said, “A few days ago, a patrol police accidentally drove a horse cart into a shop on Embroidery Lane. Now that shop wants to sue the General Police Bureau.”
Sima Guang frowned slightly and immediately asked, “Which shop?”
“It’s Spring Breeze Ten Li,” Liu Shu said. “The Gu family’s establishment.”
Sima Guang immediately understood and cursed through gritted teeth, “That damned brat.”
Liu Shu obviously misunderstood Sima Guang’s meaning and quickly said, “However, I heard that the General Police Bureau originally planned to compensate, but because both parties couldn’t reach an agreement on the compensation amount, Spring Breeze Ten Li decided to file a lawsuit with the Bureau of Records.”
Sima Guang’s mouth twitched, but he remained silent.
He knew in his heart that this must be Zhang Fei’s scheme – he had deliberately caused the collision. This made him very angry, as Zhang Fei had led him into a trap again.
He had previously thought Zhang Fei would file a normal lawsuit, but when nothing happened for a long time, he kept worrying about it, which made him constantly restless.
Sure enough, Zhang Fei was playing underhanded tricks again.
He really disliked this.
Wen Yanbo, unaware of the situation, chuckled, “It seems they want to give him a taste of his own medicine. This should be quite entertaining to watch.”
Hearing Wen Yanbo say this, Sima Guang actually felt a bit better.
Bureau of Records.
“Judicial Administrator Lu, it’s not that our police force is unwilling to compensate, it’s just that those embroideries aren’t worth that much money. If you don’t believe it, you can send someone to investigate. The other party is completely being unreasonable and extorting money. This lawsuit is completely without merit.”
Zhang Fei spoke with agitation, arguing his case.
Li Guozhong on the opposite side immediately countered, “Your Honor, you can go look at the shop – the entrance is so dirty and messy, how can we open for business? This loss was caused by their patrol officer’s mistake. Our demand for compensation is completely reasonable. Just because the other party is the police force doesn’t mean the Bureau of Records should cover up their crimes.”
Judicial Administrator Lu Jiawen looked again carefully at the compensation claims and felt that Li Guozhong and his side were being somewhat aggressive. He then said to Li Guozhong, “This was just an accident after all. Now that the Police Bureau has expressed willingness to compensate, you should also show understanding. Could you reduce the amount somewhat?”
Li Guozhong said, “Actually we’ve already reduced it quite a bit – we’re only pursuing compensation for actual losses. If we let Zhang San make the claim, it would probably be several times higher. Everyone has witnessed his compensation demands before.”
Lu Jiawen could only look helplessly at Zhang Fei. Li Guozhong was right – Zhang Fei’s previous compensation demands had all been astronomical, the kind that left no room for survival. In comparison, this current claim was indeed much more moderate, as gentle as a sheep.
This was the precedent he had set himself, and now he was reaping what he had sown.
“Very well, I’ll give you three more days. If you truly cannot reach an agreement, I shall open court to hear this case.”
“Yes, sir.”
After leaving the Bureau of Records, Li Guozhong said in a low voice, “Brother San, don’t blame me. I’m acting on someone else’s behalf. I did speak up for you before, but Director Gu refuses to agree.”
“I understand.”
Zhang Fei nodded. “But if this goes to court, you definitely won’t get this much.”
Li Guozhong merely smiled slightly, then cupped his hands and said, “I take my leave.”
He had just taken a step when he saw someone rushing over in great haste.
It was Su Shi.
“Zhang San, how did it go?” Su Shi asked nervously.
Zhang Fei sighed. “I’m afraid we’ll still have to go to court.”
Su Shi exclaimed excitedly, “That’s wonderful!”
“Hm?”
“Ahem, what I mean is, you don’t need to be afraid. I’ll defend you,” Su Shi said with complete confidence.
Zhang Fei was stunned, thinking to himself that he hadn’t been afraid until Su Shi said that.
Upon hearing this, Li Guozhong’s eyes flashed with delight. Seeing Zhang Fei glance at him sideways, as if to say, “Didn’t you just say goodbye? Why aren’t you leaving?”
Li Guozhong smiled awkwardly, cupped his hands toward Su Shi in salute, then departed.
After he left, Zhang Fei said to Su Shi, “Mister Su, there’s no need to trouble yourself with this matter.”
Su Shi said excitedly, “Why not? Are you worried I’ll lose? I guarantee I won’t make the same mistakes as last time.”
He was such a proud man that he absolutely had to regain his dignity. That’s why when he heard about this case, he immediately rushed over, afraid that Fan Chunren might steal his opportunity.
Zhang Fei smiled helplessly. “I’m not worried about your abilities, but as a prosecutor, your main responsibility is to bring charges, not to defend people. Moreover, this isn’t a major criminal case, so you have no authority to intervene.”
Su Shi was stunned. “Is… is that so?”
Zhang Fei said, “If you don’t believe me, you can go check the Prosecution Office’s regulations again.”
Su Shi’s face showed disappointment.
Zhang Fei continued, “You shouldn’t be discouraged. In the future, you’ll be too busy to handle everything – so many criminal cases occur in our capital every day. Besides, this is just a small compensation case. Even if you won, it wouldn’t prove much.”
Su Shi thought this made sense and asked, “So what do you plan to do?”
Zhang Fei sighed. “I can’t make this decision myself. We’ll have to see what the Police Bureau says.”
Returning to the General Police Bureau, he found Cao Ping inside, furiously berating Cao Dongdong. When he saw Zhang Fei return, he became even more enraged.
“What exactly are you doing?”
Cao Ping said, “Either you find a way to pay nothing at all, or you pay the full amount and settle the matter peacefully. If this case goes to court, do you know how much damage this will cause to our Police Bureau’s reputation? Don’t forget that our Police Bureau has just been established – we haven’t even hung up our plaque yet.”
Zhang Fei replied, “Chief, please calm your anger. We do want to settle peacefully, and we’ve made concession after concession, but the other side is being aggressive and clearly has no intention of reconciling with us. They’re determined to take this to court. Even if we agreed to their current terms, they would certainly make even more outrageous demands. That’s precisely why I refused to agree.”
“These people are truly despicable.”
Cao Ping naturally knew that Gu Ji was behind this lawsuit. He asked, “So what do you plan to do now?”
Zhang Fei said, “Chief, please rest assured. This time I plan to handle this personally. I absolutely won’t let them succeed.”
Cao Dongdong beside him nodded repeatedly. “Father, you know Zhang San’s methods. He’ll definitely think of a solution.”
Cao Ping glared at him sideways, and the latter immediately lowered his head again. Cao Ping took a deep breath, then instructed Zhang Fei, “Remember, what we want isn’t money, but our reputation.”
Zhang Fei nodded and said, “I certainly won’t disappoint you, Chief.”
“You’d better conduct yourselves properly.”
With that, Cao Ping left.
Only Zhang Fei, Cao Dongdong, and Ma Xiaoyi remained in the room, exchanging meaningful glances.
Previously, Cao Dongdong had been worried that the other party might compromise, but now seeing that they had actually filed a complaint with the Bureau of Records, he had no more concerns.
Finally, he could avenge the humiliation of that dung incident.
Li Family Bookstore.
“This lawsuit seems unavoidable now.”
Li Guozhong, having returned to the bookstore, informed Li Lei, Fei Ming, and the others about the Bureau of Records’ position.
Fei Ming asked, “What do you think?”
Li Guozhong frowned slightly. “Zhang San’s meaning is that he will try to keep the compensation down to cost price, while Gu Ji doesn’t care about how much compensation there is – his main goal is to make this matter public.”
Fei Ming said, “Do you mean we should just go through the motions?”
“No!”
Li Guozhong shook his head. “Based on my observations, Zhang San is extremely angry right now. He’s very likely to take the field personally, and if that happens, we should fight for full compensation. After all, we have never defeated Zhang San in a fair and square manner.”
He then looked at Li Lei and asked, “Lei’er, do you have confidence?”
Li Lei replied, “Please rest assured, Master. I have confidence, because Zhang San has previously demanded exorbitant compensation multiple times and succeeded. We can follow his example.”
Li Guozhong smiled and nodded. “You think exactly as I do!”
…
“Academician Sima?”
Zhang Fei had just left the police station and was preparing to go home when, before he could even board his carriage, he saw Sima Guang standing across the street, staring at him expressionlessly.
Zhang Fei hurried over and bowed respectfully.
Sima Guang said, “I had thought you would file a lawsuit in an honorable manner, but I never expected you would still resort to these petty tricks.”
Zhang Fei’s eyes lit up with delight, and instead of answering, he asked, “I’m surprised Academician Sima learned of this so quickly. I only just returned from the Bureau of Records.”
Sima Guang replied, “This matter has already spread throughout the capital.”
Zhang Fei chuckled and said, “This shows that one must not harbor malicious intentions!”
Sima Guang said irritably, “How can you have the face to say such words?”
Zhang Fei quickly responded, “I don’t believe I did anything wrong, nor did I use any underhanded methods. Yes, I arranged for the carriage, and I had it collide with them, but I was also willing to pay full compensation. If they had agreed, this matter wouldn’t have blown up at all, and they wouldn’t have suffered any losses. It was they who refused, they who wanted to make this matter public in order to attack the Police Bureau. Therefore, the fault lies with them, not with me.”
Sima Guang snorted, “That’s pure sophistry.”
“This is not sophistry, but strategy,” Zhang Fei explained. “If I had directly sued them for street encroachment, then the entire judicial reform program might have become difficult as you predicted, encountering tremendous resistance.
But if they initiated this matter first, and I was merely forced to respond, thereby exposing the facts about street encroachment, then you would have grounds to explain everything.
This way, it won’t affect the entire judicial reform program.”
Sima Guang had already thought of this point before coming here.
He had to admit that this move was indeed brilliantly played.
The reason he had previously opposed Zhang Fei was because he knew that the earlier vehicle registration had already caused dissatisfaction among many powerful families. To be even more aggressive would not be wise.
This was too frightening.
The key issue wasn’t about this small amount of money, but about the Police Bureau’s power and purpose – who exactly was the Police Bureau established to deal with?
But now it was the other side that attacked first, being aggressive, while his side was forced to counterattack. If they ultimately lost, it could only be said they brought it upon themselves, and they couldn’t blame anyone else.
Zhang Fei’s step-by-step retreats were retreated so masterfully.
This matter was extremely sensitive, involving too many interests, and this foreplay had to be thoroughly performed.
Now Zhang Fei was acting, appearing very aggrieved at the Bureau Records – it’s the government which has collided with you, and they’re even willing to pay full compensation. This made even Lu Jiawen feel that Zhang Fei had indeed handled this matter impeccably.
Zhang Fei must truly not want to fight this lawsuit.
Regarding Zhang Fei’s shrewdness, Sima Guang was not witnessing it for the first time. Zhang Fei was even capable of using the crime of deceiving the Emperor to obtain a household registration. Although he did not approve of such methods, he had to admit that this young man was indeed bold and meticulous, considering everything very thoroughly. Acting this way would indeed reduce much of his burden.
At the same time, it truly might achieve this objective.
Zhang Fei continued, “Academician Sima, you cannot expect a humble runner like me to be able to defeat them without employing any tactics whatsoever, in a completely upright and honorable manner.”
Sima Guang sighed, “Not to mention a runner like you – even we State Counselors cannot achieve that. But you must also remember that people who always walk along the edge of gutters, will fall in sooner or later.”
Zhang Fei smiled, “I don’t feel that I’m walking along the edge of a gutter. I’m merely placing a piece of meat in the courtyard of my home.”
Sima Guang chuckled, “Then inviting them into the trap.”
Zhang Fei said, “To be precise, I haven’t invited anyone. In fact, I’m very resistant to this. They’re the ones who insist on barging in. I… I can only be forced to accept.”
Sima Guang snorted, then asked, “What do you plan to do next?”
“Continue resisting.”
Zhang Fei said, “I hope they can give me an opportunity and spare me, but if they won’t… then I have no choice but to engage in battle.”