Judge of the Song Dynasty

Better to do things oneself than to rely on others.

One’s own dreams should be pursued by oneself.

When Zhang Fei initially arranged for Xu Zhiqian to take pro bono cases at the law firm, this was essentially his intention.

After all, the two of them had many different views.

They could help each other, but couldn’t force each other – that would be meaningless.

Although their relationship was different now from before, on this point, neither Zhang Fei nor Xu Zhiqian thought there needed to be any change.

However, Zhang Fei’s views had undergone some slight changes.

He discovered that in this society, one couldn’t merely follow the principles of procedural justice, but needed to first consider substantive justice.

If procedural justice was a scale, in the previous era, the weights on both sides might not have been exactly equal, but were at least close. Cases required concrete evidence – one couldn’t fabricate claims out of thin air.

But in this era, procedural justice itself was already tilted. And it always tilted toward the powerful.

So to achieve procedural justice, the scale first needed to be balanced, and litigation tactics were the weights to add.

Simply put, if Zhang Fei still blindly pursued procedural justice, the result would be further destroying procedural justice, making the scales tilt even more, while also further destroying the entire profession.

If he pursued substantive justice, he would instead be building procedural justice and building up the profession.

Forcing the powerful to also produce evidence in court cases, rather than acting arbitrarily.

Zhang Fei had transformed from someone seeking shade to someone planting trees.

But there was one problem – planting trees required capital.

Where would the money come from?

When pursuing substantive justice, one certainly couldn’t earn much money. Of course, following procedural justice wouldn’t earn much either.

The logic was simple – the weak would gradually give up on litigation.

They were bound to lose.

What was the point in playing?

Revenue was a problem.

Without money, every step was difficult.

At the Authentic Books Store’s printing workshop.

“Boss Zhang San is here!”

“Greetings, boss!”

When Zhang Fei arrived, the craftsmen at the printing house all stood and bowed, whether meeting him for the first time or not, each showing utmost respect.

Although they were printers, they knew every detail of that court case. Now in teahouses, everyone discussed that case.

Their reverence for Zhang Fei was like an endless river – he had even brought down the Kaifeng County Magistrate. Moreover, they felt more secure, unafraid of being bullied.

More craftsmen had also joined the printing workshop.

Hou Donglai, who was accompanying him, immediately claimed credit: “Brother San, our printing house now has over thirty craftsmen, plus some apprentices, totaling over fifty people. Though we haven’t made a profit yet, we’re already the number one printing house in the capital.”

Zhang Fei had been urging him to hire workers all along.

Shouldn’t being number one be about profitability? Zhang Fei swallowed and asked, “What are the monthly expenses?”

Hou Donglai replied, “At least several hundred strings of cash. Besides, look, when should we rent the neighboring courtyard? This place is already too small.”

Zhang Fei’s heart skipped a beat as he wiped sweat from his forehead, “Don’t just talk about these things, tell me when we can start making a profit?”

Hou Donglai hesitated, “We probably won’t start printing for another two or three months, and real profits won’t come for at least half a year.”

Zhang Fei clicked his tongue: “Does it have to take so long?”

Hou Donglai said, “Isn’t this what you ordered? We need to print the most exquisite books, with every character meticulously crafted. This takes considerable time. And those movable type pieces – though we’ve mostly figured out the technology, we still need to carve many more characters, which also takes time.”

“That’s true indeed!”

Zhang Fei nodded.

One wrong step led to endless mistakes!

He had originally thought that once he made a name for himself and got involved in tax collection, he would have endless money. Instead, after all these twists and turns, he had lost quite a bit of money.

This Authentic Books Store was also supposed to be a money-making venture.

After investing a thousand strings of cash, there hadn’t been even a single bit of profit, and it would take another half year – how could he sustain this? Zhang Fei sighed to himself, lamenting that he couldn’t bring in investors for either of these businesses, which would have made things much easier.

The fundamental purpose of his printing workshop was to gain control over public opinion. If he brought in investors, he would be constrained, since they would be investing to make money, not to cause trouble and offend the scholar-officials.

The Bianjing Law Firm faced the same problem – if others invested, they might not have been able to take Wei Yushan’s case, as the investor might have been Wei Yushan himself.

Suddenly, Zhang Fei seemed to remember something and asked, “Oh right! Those contracts you printed last time were excellent. Have you calculated the costs?”

Hou Donglai was slightly startled, thought for a moment, and said, “I only made rough estimates, haven’t calculated exactly, but it should be about right.”

Zhang Fei asked, “How much is it?”

Hou Donglai said, “It depends on the quantity – the more we print, the lower the cost. If we reach three thousand copies, the cost drops to two copper coins each. If we exceed five thousand copies, it drops to one copper coin. Once we start using movable type printing, it might cost even less than one copper coin.”

Zhang Fei exclaimed joyfully, “That little?”

Hou Donglai nodded, “Printing these contracts don’t have many characters, unlike books, so naturally the cost is very low.”

Zhang Fei nodded thoughtfully.

He had previously considered getting into the contract printing business, and now the Bianjing Law Firm was purchasing all its contracts from here. But after the tax collection incident, he had forgotten about it, since it wasn’t a major business.

But now, every little bit counted!

The next day!

At the Bianjing Law Firm.

“Why did you ask us to come today?” Ma Tianhao was characteristically straightforward.

Beside him, Chen Maoqian and Fan Yong watched Zhang Fei cautiously, even with a hint of fear.

Zhang Fei glanced at Chen Maoqian and said, “Business hasn’t been good lately for Mogul Chen, has it?”

Chen Maoqian heard this and became angry, speaking in a tone of suppressed rage, “Thanks to you, I almost died.”

Due to the Geng Ming case, the court was conducting a thorough investigation of informal, unsealed contracts, with realtors being the main target of the crackdown.

Most unsealed contracts involved realtors’ manipulation.

This development had left them terrified.

All of this was thanks to Zhang Fei, and Chen Maoqian hadn’t come here for a long time, harboring resentment. He thought, “I’m your big client, yet you come after me? What kind of cooperation is this?”

Zhang Fei smiled and said, “It will be over soon.”

“What do you mean?”

Chen Maoqian suddenly became nervous.

Zhang Fei said, “Lately, many people have come to me wanting to file lawsuits against you realtors.”

Chen Maoqian immediately became anxious and stood up: “Zhang San, I’m a major client of your firm, and I’ve always treated you well. You can’t be so ungrateful as to turn around and sue me.”

This fellow had become increasingly terrifying – being sued by him meant losing everything, if not worse! How could Chen Mouqian not be afraid?

Even Ma Tianhao and Fan Yong were uneasy – who in their business was truly clean?

Zhang Fei hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, how could I possibly sue you? I still have professional ethics – I’m here to help you. Please, sit down!”

Chen Maoqian was still nervous and asked, “You really won’t sue?”

“As long as you maintain your business relationship with my firm, how could I sue you? That would mean I’m breaching our contract,” Zhang Fei said.

Chen Maoqian realized this made sense – as their legal counsel, suing them would constitute a breach of contract.

Only then did he sit back down.

Zhang Fei continued, “This is actually why I invited you here. These days, there are more and more contract dispute cases, especially those involving property and land, which are key targets of government supervision. Contracts absolutely cannot have errors.”

Ma Tianhao said, “Haven’t I paid you to help us draft contracts?”

“Yes,” Zhang Fei nodded, then added, “But you still have various miscellaneous contracts that are still written by yourselves.”

Chen Maoqian asked, “How could you handle all those minor contracts if we came to you for those too?”

For example, the rental contracts at Chen Maoqian’s shop – they still wrote those themselves. After using them for so long, they were fairly standardized. They only sought Zhang Fei’s help for higher-value contracts.

Zhang Fei said, “That’s exactly what concerns me.”

Fan Yong asked, “What do you mean?” Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel•fire.net

Zhang Fei explained, “I’ve reviewed the contracts from your shops in detail. There are too many loopholes. The government is scrutinizing these matters closely now, and key clients are being more cautious. As your legal counsel, I need to help you avoid these risks.”

Ma Tianhao nodded, “Now that sounds reasonable.”

“It’s essential.”

Zhang Fei continued, “At Bianjing Law Firm, our service isn’t about waiting for you to come to us – that might be too late. When we spot issues, we contact you immediately.”

Fan Yong asked, “So what’s your solution?”

“Printing!”

Zhang Fei explained, “Handwriting always leads to errors. With printing, as long as we verify the template carefully, the chance of errors is minimal. I plan to provide printed contract templates for all our clients, just like mortgage contracts. You’ll only need to fill in names and amounts when signing.”

Ma Tianhao immediately nodded, “That’s a good idea. Those mortgage contracts have too many characters to write.”

Despite the complaints, he had benefited greatly from it. His mortgage contracts became much more convenient after standardization.

Zhang Fei nodded with a smile, “Brother Hao has good insight.”

Fan Yong noticed Zhang Fei’s peculiar smile and felt something wasn’t quite right. He asked, “You’re not going to charge extra for these contracts, are you?”

Zhang Fei’s contracts were already very expensive.

Only mortgage contracts and shareholder agreements warranted such prices.

“No!”

Zhang Fei said, “Our cooperation agreement clearly states that we will provide these services.”

Fan Yong nodded, thinking perhaps it was just his imagination.

But just as this thought crossed his mind, Zhang Fei added, “However, printing has costs, which you’ll need to cover.”

Ma Tianhao protested, “We have to pay for that too?!”

Zhang Fei immediately said, “Brother Hao, business must be done with conscience. You use thousands of mortgage contracts annually, and I’m already taking a loss. After all, this is the Bianjing Law Firm, not a printing house!”

Fan Yong whispered, “But don’t you own the Authentic Books Store too?”

Zhang Fei replied, “Yes, I do own it, but even the Bianjing Law Firm has to buy all its printed contracts from the Authentic Books Store. As successful businessmen, you should understand this.”

Chen Mouqian was the first to compromise. With the government’s current crackdown on brokerages, he was walking on thin ice. He asked, “How much?”

Zhang Fei said, “Three, five, or ten coins depending on the word count and print volume. For special contracts, handwriting might be better, but for rental agreements, printing works fine.”

Ma Tianhao laughed, “Zhang San, are you short on money?”

Zhang Fei nervously replied, “What makes you say that, Brother Hao?”

Ma Tianhao said, “You used to charge five hundred strings per contract, now you’re doing business for five coins.”

This was indeed quite a downgrade – making money wasn’t easy! Zhang Fei coughed and said, “It’s different. The contract drafting fee is part of our cooperation costs, while these five coins go to the printing workshop.”

Chen Mouqian said, “Five coins per copy doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up. Writing them ourselves wouldn’t cost this much.”

“You can’t think of it that way.”

Zhang Fei continued, “Think about how much you’d have to pay in government fines if there’s an issue with the contract. Plus, my contract designs help avoid many risks.”

Fan Yong finally understood – this was highway robbery. He sighed and said, “Brother Chen, don’t argue. We have to spend this money. If we don’t, he might not help us when problems arise.”

Ma Tianhao caught on too and snorted, “You’re even more ruthless than our moneylending business.”

Zhang Fei hurriedly said, “Brother Hao, you’re being modest. I’m not as ruthless as you. If I were… ahem… if you really feel unfair about this, how about this: let’s have all your competitors print contracts too. If everyone’s doing it, there’s no unfairness, and no competitor will have a cost advantage!”

Ma Tianhao asked, “How do we get them all to print contracts?”

Zhang Fei replied, “Just spread the word – five coins for a contract, or five hundred guan when you get sued.”

This wasn’t business anymore.

This was straight-up extortion.

But then again, it wasn’t right that they were the only ones being squeezed.

As they say, shared joy is double joy.