Chapter 137: Go Ask Zhang Biao, Who Is The Hero?! 【 Seeking Monthly Tickets 】
“Bastard! I’ll kill you—!”
Sun Gui was furious and was about to charge towards Old Clerk Wang, dagger in hand.
But Shen Lang pulled him back tightly at this moment, looking coldly at Vice Minister Fu: “Is Vice Minister Fu planning to silence them? Even though we’ve lost our official status, we’re not to be trifled with!”
“Hahaha! I never expected you to walk right into our trap!”
Vice Minister Fu clapped his hands and laughed, looking smug: “I laid a simple trap with a few fake account books, and caught you two foolish fish!”
“Silencing? Did you think we’d be as stupid as you?”
Ru Chang’s plump face was covered in a sinister grin: “Trespassing in the Ministry of Revenue’s secret archive! Caught red-handed! That crime is enough to send you to your deaths!”
“Bastards!”
Sun Gui was both shocked and enraged, he fiercely shielded Shen Lang, dagger in hand, his eyes about to split: “I’ll fight you to the death!”
“Fight?” Zheng Ci sneered: “With just the two of you, mere small fish, do we need to risk our lives fighting you?”
“Exactly. You really thought Zhang Biao was desperate enough to scare us, and you can do the same?” Zhai Shan chimed in.
Shen Lang’s heart sank to the bottom, despair spreading through his body like icy water.
He clutched the few fake account books in his hand, his knuckles turning white from the force, then he suddenly turned his head, his gaze like a poisoned knife shooting towards Old Clerk Wang, his voice hoarse with extreme anger and disappointment:
“Why?! We gave you money to save your mother! They oppressed you and withheld your pay, we genuinely wanted to help you! You had a clear and honest path to choose! Why did you still help these vermin harm us?!”
“Heh!”
Old Clerk Wang scoffed: “What clear and honest path? It’s just a dead end where you’re used and then settled with later!”
“The path is yours to choose, don’t blame others!”
“I don’t blame others, which is why I chose the second path: betraying you!”
“Hahaha!”
Hearing their conversation, Vice Minister Fu and Ru Chang burst into laughter.
Then Vice Minister Fu said, laughing: “Good! Well said! Wang Yong, you made a good choice!”
“Thank you for your praise, Sir. I have always been loyal and devoted to you!” Old Clerk Wang nodded and bowed obsequiously.
The other two, Ru Chang, glanced at him with a hint of disdain.
Vice Minister Fu then looked at Shen Lang and the other, mockingly saying: “I heard Zhang Biao once told you that heroes are as numerous as carp crossing a river?”
“Hmph!”
Shen Lang and the other let out a cold snort simultaneously, both calculating how to escape.
Vice Minister Fu, however, seemed to be in high spirits and continued to sigh to himself: “What a pity! You are just five small fish! No matter how you struggle, you are still small fish!”
“Heh, small fish are small fish, still dreaming of riding the wind and waves, going against heaven?”
Ru Chang also said sarcastically: “Wasn’t that Zhang Biao quite good at inciting people? Did you ask him who the heroes of this world are?”
“Brother Biao didn’t tell us who the heroes are, but they are definitely not you vermin of the nation!”
“Insolence! Seize them!”
“Yes!”
At Vice Minister Fu’s command, the clerks immediately obeyed and then rushed towards Shen Lang and the other like wolves.
Just then!
Perhaps Sun Gui stumbled into the archive shelf next to him as he nervously retreated, or perhaps it was a coincidence, but with a slight ‘click,’ the side panel of a seemingly solid archive shelf behind Sun Gui popped open slightly!
Inside, there seemed to be a dark space!
Sun Gui instinctively reached out and felt it, pulling out a small, rusty iron box, about the size of a palm, and cold and heavy in his hand!
This sudden turn of events stunned everyone, even the clerks stopped in their tracks.
Sun Gui himself was bewildered, holding the iron box helplessly.
The smiles on Vice Minister Fu’s and the others’ faces froze, a flicker of uncertain surprise in their eyes.
Only Vice Minister Fu knew about that secret compartment…
“Hand it over—!”
Vice Minister Fu suddenly roared, a hint of imperceptible tension in his voice.
Although Shen Lang didn’t know what the iron box was, Vice Minister Fu’s instant reaction made him realize that this might be real.
So, he used all his strength and shouted: “Run—!”
Immediately, he snatched the iron box from Sun Gui’s hand and, at the same time, hurled the fake account books he was holding at the approaching clerks.
“Stop them! Get the iron box back!”
Vice Minister Fu screamed in fury, completely losing his earlier smugness.
The clerks, hearing this, swarmed forward again.
“Get lost—!”
Sun Gui roared, brandishing his dagger and fighting desperately to buy Shen Lang precious moments.
Shen Lang, clutching the cold iron box, without hesitation, used all his might to hurl it towards the taller window on the east side of the archive, the window paper already torn.
“Bang!”
The iron box precisely pierced the window frame and flew out the window, falling into the darkness of the night.
“No—!”
Vice Minister Fu, Ru Chang, and Zheng Ci simultaneously roared in shock and anger.
The clerks froze in place.
“Useless! What are you waiting for!”
Vice Minister Fu furiously roared at the clerks: “Go outside and search! You must find it—!”
Soon, some of the clerks rushed outside the storeroom and headed towards the east wall.
Sun Gui, taking advantage of the chaos, knocked down a clerk and pulled Shen Lang towards the back of the storeroom, trying to find another exit.
But the opponents were too numerous, and soon, more clerks surrounded them, attacking them with clubs and swords.
Although Sun Gui was brave, he couldn’t fight so many alone and was quickly tripped and taken down.
Shen Lang was even more powerless to resist, and the two were pinned to the ground and bound tightly.
Vice Minister Fu’s face turned ashen, he quickly stepped forward and kicked Shen Lang hard: “Speak! Who did you throw the iron box to?!”
“Peh—!”
Shen Lang spat out a mouthful of blood, and despite the pain all over his body, a pleased, mocking smile appeared on his face.
He looked at the enraged Vice Minister Fu and repeated his earlier words word for word, but with a new meaning: “Vice Minister Fu, the path is mine to choose, and I don’t blame anyone else. I only want to take the second path!”
After speaking, he glanced at the shocked and angry faces of Vice Minister Fu, Ru Chang, and Zheng Ci, filled with disdain and a near-maniacal sense of victory.
Sun Gui, with a crazed grin similar to Zhang Biao’s, said: “Want the iron box? Dream on! You vermin of the nation, wait to be held accountable!”
“Damn it!”
Vice Minister Fu’s face was so dark it could drip water; he hadn’t expected things to go wrong at the last moment.
But soon, he sneered again: “Heh! Even if the iron box is temporarily lost, with the two fugitives in my hands, I’m not afraid of not finding its whereabouts? Take them away! Lock them up in the Ministry of Justice Prison! Give them a good ‘welcome’!”
“Yes!”
The clerks responded in unison.
Shen Lang and Sun Gui were roughly dragged up.
They exchanged glances, seeing despair in each other’s eyes, but also a hint of relief.
As long as the iron box didn’t fall into their hands, there was still hope.
Vice Minister Fu was almost driven to the brink by their gaze and couldn’t help but roar: “Take them away! You must pry their mouths open! Get the iron box back!”
And as they were dragged out of the archive, Shen Lang cast one last look at Old Clerk Wang, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes, but it ultimately turned into icy indifference.
Those who deserve pity are also those who are hateful.
They, because their salaries were owed, because of injustice, because of their sense of justice, followed Zhang Biao, facing death with no fear.
But not everyone was like them.
Even if those people were also oppressed and victims, they were unwilling to step forward to help those who suffered the same hardships as themselves.
They would even take this opportunity to use the other party as a token of loyalty, letting those who oppressed and harmed them suppress the other party.
And they hoped that those who oppressed and harmed them would look at them differently, or even promote them.
It could be said that at this moment, Shen Lang truly understood what it meant to be like-minded.
Why Zhang Biao would rather stay in prison and go to death generously than come out.
Because he had long seen through the essence of human nature, or rather, he had long seen through this world.
One could escape the imperial prison, but not the world.
If one were to talk about heroes, in his heart, Zhang Biao was the hero of this world.
And outside the east wall, in a dark alley.
Zhao Fengman heard the sounds of battering, fighting, and roaring from inside, knowing that something big had happened.
Before he could react, he saw a dark object fly out from inside the wall and land with a ‘clank’ in the grass not far from him.
He immediately rushed over and picked it up; it was heavy and cold in his hand, a small, rusty iron box.
Just then, the side door of the Ministry of Revenue burst open, and a large number of clerks holding torches swarmed out, roaring: “It’s over there! Catch him! Get the box back!”
Zhao Fengman was terrified at the sight.
Without any hesitation, he clutched the unexpectedly acquired iron box and turned to run.
Then, relying on his extreme familiarity with the terrain, he dashed frantically into the crisscrossing alleys like a startled rabbit, desperately trying to escape the pursuers and shouts behind him.
…
At the same time, in Huagai Hall.
Old Zhu sat withered in his bedroom, facing a thin but heavy-as-a-thousand-pounds secret report that Jiang Huan had just submitted.
The report contained only a few words, the core being two names that Zhang Biao ‘casually’ mentioned in prison.
A certain official surnamed Wang from the former Shaanxi Provincial Administration Bureau, who has now been promoted to the Ministry of Revenue, and Ru Chang, the Minister of War’s brother-in-law who served in the Shaanxi Provincial Military Command.
Old Zhu’s fingers tapped on these two names over and over again.
His expression was terrifyingly calm, but in his eyes, a more violent darkness than before churned.
Shaanxi… Shaanxi again!
Biao’er… he died after returning from Shaanxi!
Corruption? Military Equipment?
What exactly did you do in Shaanxi?!
He didn’t look at Jiang Huan, but slowly, word by word, said in a voice like a thousand-year-old ice: “Jiang Huan.”
“Your subject is here.”
Jiang Huan knelt on the ground, his head buried extremely low.
“Go investigate.”
“Investigate these two men thoroughly for Us…”
“Especially… what they did, who they met, and what matters they handled during the Crown Prince’s inspection of Shaanxi, and… around the time of his demise.”
“Remember, investigate secretly. Do not alert anyone.”
Old Zhu paused and added a sentence that made Jiang Huan tremble: “If necessary… use ‘extraordinary’ means. We… only want results.”
Extraordinary means!?
Jiang Huan instantly understood what this meant.
The most clandestine and cruel interrogations in the Imperial Prison might be used on these two officials.
“Your subject… obeys the decree!”
Jiang Huan’s voice carried a hint of imperceptible tremor.
He knew that the Emperor’s butcher knife had been quietly raised due to Zhang Biao’s casual ‘naming’ and was first aimed at these two unfortunate souls.
And this was just the beginning.
He hoped there would be no more trouble, otherwise, the Emperor would truly start a massacre.
With a complex and extreme sense of anticipation mixed with fear, Jiang Huan cautiously withdrew from the hall door.
…
On the other side.
The intricate alleys of Yingtian Prefecture.
Zhao Fengman, clutching the cold and heavy iron box, fled desperately like a stray dog.
The sounds of pursuit, footsteps, and roars behind him grew closer, the light of the torches casting his fleeing figure long and short on the walls.
His heart pounded, almost bursting, and his lungs burned.
He was extremely familiar with the area, using every intersection, every pile of miscellaneous baskets, every low wall, to dodge and weave desperately.
Several times, the pursuers almost grabbed his clothes, but he narrowly avoided them.
He could even hear the enraged curses of the clerks behind him.
Finally, after squeezing through an extremely narrow firebreak alley that only allowed a person to pass sideways, he temporarily lost the pursuers.
But he still didn’t dare to stop, stumbling into a long-abandoned earth temple, collapsing behind a cobweb-covered statue, panting heavily, his body soaked in cold sweat.
After confirming he was temporarily safe, he tremblingly took out the rusty iron box.
The box was not locked, just tightly sealed.
He pried it open with force.
Inside, there were no gold or silver treasures, only a few smaller account books with yellowed and brittle pages, and a few old-looking letters.
Zhao Fengman’s heart sank.
Without thinking, he knew this must be something Shen Lang and the others had found, but for some reason, they had thrown it out in haste.
And they were probably also in dire straits.
【 This is something Shen Lang and the others protected with their lives, it will never be simple! 】
A flicker of realization crossed Zhao Fengman’s eyes, and then he couldn’t help but carefully open an account book in the dim light.
With just one glance, his pupils contracted sharply, as if he had experienced a magnitude nine earthquake.
Immediately, the account book in his hand, seemingly due to the great shock, fell to the ground with a ‘thud.’
No wonder Vice Minister Fu was so nervous!
This wasn’t a problem of corruption!
This was a world-shattering secret that could lead to the extermination of nine generations of a family!
Boundless fear and a shiver of discovering the truth instantly gripped Zhao Fengman.
He finally understood why Shen Lang had risked death to throw this out!
This was not something people at their level could touch!
But now, the item was in his hands!
What to do?! Who to hand it to?! The Emperor?! Would the Emperor believe it? Would he kill them to cover up the scandal?!
Hand it to Jiang Huan? Jiang Huan is the Emperor’s confidant, but…
Zhao Fengman fell into unprecedented panic and confusion.
…
Seeking monthly tickets~
Seeking monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, follow-up subscriptions, full subscriptions, automatic subscriptions.
【 Remember to like Pig’s Head Meat! 】
