Chapter 4: The Foolish Scholar and the Talented Scholar

  Updated

  Now in Jianye City, the two words 'Su Jing' are well-known to every household. The First Detective Agency has also become the go-to place for catching cheaters in the entire city of Jianye. However, Su Jing couldn't get excited about it. Because in his heart, he wanted to crack bizarre cases, become a master detective, and make a name for himself all over the world. The First Detective Agency wasn't established just to handle trivial matters like those of the Li and Zhang families.

  Su Jing sat in front of the desk, bored watching people coming and going. Since he posted the "Detective Agency Recruitment" notice, not a single applicant had shown up. Maybe everyone thought that this detective agency, which relied on catching adultery for a living, wouldn't last long either. Chen Zhan didn't care about any of that, and was busy stuffing his face with fruit from the full table.

  At this time two elegant scholars walked over.

  "Excuse me, are you hiring here?" one of the scholars asked. Su Jing looked up at him, this scholar was slender in build but had an ordinary appearance, and his face always wore a bitter smile.

  "Ah, you're all here to sign up?" Su Jing glanced at the handsome young scholar behind him.

  "Not really, I just signed up, Yan Song and I are just fellow travelers. May I ask what kind of treatment do the assistants get here?"

  Su Jing couldn't help but laugh and said: "I haven't even evaluated you yet, and it's not certain that you'll become a staff member of the detective agency. Are you asking about salary now?"

  The student was full of confidence: "Alright, what's the assessment about?"

  "What's going on? Let me think for a moment..." Su Jing looked around and was drawn to a spot where a crowd had gathered. He walked over and saw an old man tightly grasping a young man who looked like a doll, refusing to let go.

  He slightly inquired about the situation and found out that the old man was saying that this young man had stolen ten taels of silver he had placed behind him. After all, it wasn't easy for this sugar cake seller either, and his daily income probably didn't even amount to ten taels, so he refused to let this suspect who had allegedly stolen his ten taels of silver go.

  But the young man said he didn't steal the old man's silver!

  Things started to get contentious.

  Su Jing took a look at the two men. The old man was wearing tattered clothes, his face was weathered, and his hands were covered in sugar syrup, he was indeed a laborer who had suffered hardships. However, when he turned to look at the young man, he saw that he had a pointed mouth and chin, and his eyes darted back and forth, definitely not a good character. But you can't judge someone by their appearance, just like the scholar who came for the job earlier, didn't he also have a bitter melon face?

  Su Jing smiled lightly and had already made a judgment in his heart. At the same time, he also thought of a way to verify whether the young man was a thief or not.

  "Alright, you scholar, what's your name? Come here!" Su Jing pointed at the recruited scholar and said.

  That bitter melon-faced bookworm ran over, with the handsome bookworm following behind. "I'm Lin Yun, Yun of White Cloud!"

  "Ah, Lin Yun, I suppose. The test I'm giving you is to determine whether this young man is a thief!" Su Jing pointed at the sharp-mouthed youth.

  Lin Yun blinked and smiled wryly: "How can I tell if he's a thief or not? How am I supposed to judge?"

  "You can use any method, such as interrogation, observation, or inspection, as long as you can prove whether this young man is a thief or not," said Su Jing.

  Chen Zhan looked at him for a long time and still had no clue, he quietly approached Su Jing's ear: "Boss, you let him judge? You don't even look at his silly appearance! I reckon you don't know what to do either?"

  Su Jing glared at him: "Do I not know?! To determine whether this brother stole the old man's money, it's simple, just use a group of ants!"

  "What? With ants!" Chen Zhan also scribbled.

  Lin Yun's bookish friend thought for a long time but had no clue, and behind him, Yan Song's handsome bookish friend secretly reminded him: "Brother Lin, the ant is the key to solving the problem!"

  The silly bookworm was stunned at first, but suddenly enlightened and walked up to the young man with a smile: "Excuse me, do you have one or two silver coins on you?"

  "Of course there is!"

  "Then please hand them over to me, and I'll let them tell me whether you took the old man's money or not," said Lin Yun. The little servant initially showed reluctance, but with everyone discussing it, he had no choice but to comply.

  "They're all here! I'd like to see how you make them talk!" The young servant glared at Lin Yun with anger in his eyes.

  Lin Yun smiled wryly and said, "I didn't say they told me, they would tell the ants the facts, and then the ants would tell me!"

  Su Jing smiled and nodded, saying to Chen Zhan: "This is exactly what I thought of. Since this old man sells sugar cakes, his hands will have sugar liquid on them for a long time. When collecting money, he uses his hands with sugar liquid to take it, so the silver coins will naturally have sugar liquid on them, and ants will be attracted to the sugar! If this young man stole the old man's money, then his ten taels of silver must have something that attracts ants, right?!"

  Chen Zhan couldn't help but glance at Su Jing with admiration, giving a thumbs up: "Boss, you're really something! That silly bookworm is pretty clever too!"

  Lin Yun put three pieces of silver on the ground and brought over a pile of sand, which was full of ants. The silver was placed at the edge of the sand pile. In less than an hour, one piece of silver was already covered with ants!

  The young man sneered: "What does this prove?! Kid, do you have any evidence?!"

  "This is the best proof that you are a thief! Old man often sells sugar cakes, his hands will naturally stick to the sugar liquid, and the silver he collects will also have it. Ants love sweet things, so they will stick to it! So this piece of silver must be the old man's! Because the old man is doing small business, the money he usually gives to others is one or two cents coin, and you haven't bought sugar cakes from him before, so this money is definitely not what the old man gave you, but what you stole!"

  The explanation left the young man speechless, and everyone else was suddenly enlightened, praising the young man's extraordinary intelligence. Later, the perpetrator was also caught and brought to the government office. The old man was so moved that he gave a piece of sugar cake to the foolish bookworm.

  "Haha, you've been accepted! Welcome to our First Detective Agency!" Su Jing stood up and said loudly.

  Lin Yun excitedly smiled wryly and handed the rice cake to Su Jing, saying: "For the first time entering the door, there's nothing good to give to Boss. A subordinate will just give you a piece of rice cake! By the way, how is my assistant treatment?"

  Su Jing furrowed his brow and took the rice cake from Lin Yun's hand, "There are two options for treatment. One is one hundred taels of silver per month, and the other is to give you a tenth of the share for each case handled. Which one do you choose?"

  Lin Yunke would not choose the latter, in his opinion, this detective agency could not make much money at all, and a salary of one hundred taels was already the highest price for him, so he blurted out: "I choose a fixed monthly salary of one hundred taels!"

  Chen Zhan sneered behind his back, this bookworm was really short-sighted and stupid.

  Su Jing nodded, "It's getting late, why don't we all go upstairs and sit down together? Since it's our first meeting, I'll treat everyone to a meal!"

  Lin Yun and Yan Song nodded slightly.

  On the upper floor of the wine house, Su Jing and two scholars were chatting about things from all over the world.

  "Alas, I originally planned to find a temporary job in the capital after arriving and then take the imperial examination next year. But as soon as I arrived in Jianye, I found that I didn't even have a single penny! So I thought of finding a job to earn some money first, and then I met you, boss." Foolish scholar Lin Yun said with great helplessness.

  Su Jing: "Huh? So you were planning on freelancing here with me? No way!"

  As soon as Lin Yun saw Su Jing preparing to back down, he hastily said: "Originally I was planning to work odd jobs, but I didn't expect the salary you gave me to be so high! I don't want to go to Beijing for the exam, I'll just stay here and honestly help you with things!"

  Su Jing and Jun Shu looked at each other and smiled, this Lin Yun really opened his eyes when he saw money.

  "That can't be, Lin Yun, you're so talented, you'll definitely become a pillar of the country in the future. If you waste it here, wouldn't that be a pity?" Yan Song said, "You and I have an agreement, we must go to the capital together and win honors!"

  Lin Yun shook his head and sighed, "I'm different from you, Yan Song brother. Your family background is good, after high school, relying on your connections, you'll definitely be able to soar to great heights. But me, a small commoner, with a seriously ill mother at home, now that Old Su is willing to give me 100 taels of silver per month, I'm already satisfied! I'd be willing to work under him for the rest of my life!"

  Su Jing smiled and said to Lin Yun, "You say that, but it makes me feel uneasy. You can work for me, or you can go to the capital to take the exam. However, you must promise to work for me for five years, and I will give you a salary of 100 taels of white silver every month."

  Lin Yun heard Su Jing say this, and her heart couldn't help but feel a surge of joy, gratitude overflowing: "Sir, you truly understand people! I toast to you!"

  Su Jing picked up his wine glass: "Don't call me Mr., we're about the same age, just call me boss!"

  Lin Yun naturally nodded in agreement.

  "According to Lin Yun, Elder Yan Song, your family background seems very good. I wonder where you are from?" Su Jing asked curiously.

  Yan Song didn't hide it either, "I am a Hangzhou native, and I'm also considered a member of the gentry. I was preparing to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination, on the way I met Lin Yun and we traveled together, passing through Jianye City to handle some matters, after a while I will leave here and head north."

  "Hangzhou?! That's a beautiful place, especially the women there, each and every one of them is born with a flower-like face and a moon-like complexion..." Chen Zhan's eyes lit up as soon as he heard the two words "Hangzhou".

  Su Jing knocked on his head, "I knew you were thinking about women. I'm asking you, how much of the 1,000 taels I gave you yesterday was spent on a woman?!"

  Lin Yun almost choked and stuttered: "What?! One thousand two?"

  "Hey, how did you know I went to the Wan Hua Building last night?" Chen Zhan licked his face, "The girls there are really beautiful, especially Du Chubutterfly! Tsk tsk..."

  Su Jing directly kicked him away, "Next time you're not allowed to go, if I see you going again, your salary for next month will be gone!"

  "Yes, yes!" Chen Zhan rubbed his kicked leg, saying very reluctantly.

  When he heard the three words "Wan Hua Lou", Yan Song's expression changed.

  Su Jing saw that Yan Song seemed to be thinking of something and asked: "Brother Yan, what's on your mind? Can you tell me?"

  Yan Song's expression suddenly became tense, and he hastily said: "N-nothing! I just feel that Jianye City is too prosperous. Really, nothing! Come on, everyone, let's drink!"

  Chen Zhan quickly changed the subject, "Right, right, let's drink, come on, silly bookworm, as your colleague, I'll toast you a glass!"

  Lin Yun corrected him: "Don't call them colleagues, we can only call them fellow workers. Come on, let's have a drink!"

  Su Jing glanced at Yan Song and also raised his wine cup, drinking it all in one gulp.

  If you think it's written okay