"Bullshit!"
Zhang Quan finally lost his temper. He slammed a palm onto the table, his beard trembling with rage. "How can anyone be so shameless? He swindled me out of eight hundred taels with a worthless stone, then had the gall to leave a letter twisting black into white.
"He's the swindler, yet he makes himself out to be the victim!"
The more Zhang Quan spoke, the angrier he grew.
But amid his fury, something suddenly became clear.
Deng Qing had not fled on a whim. The brat had guessed Zhang Quan would double back. But he was no immortal—how could he have planned that far ahead?
"Wait. Why does he say in the letter that I love litigation? Damn it. He investigated me!"
Zhang Quan was both shocked and furious.
Li Dashan fixed his gaze on Fan Sheng. "You're closest to Deng Qing. How much do you know about this?"
Fan Sheng cupped his hands. "After Junior Brother Deng returned from Yanshan Prefecture, he did tell me that Mr. Zhang bore him ill will. He hoped I'd help him look into Mr. Zhang's character.
"I advised him that a feud was better settled than deepened. If it was only a misunderstanding, he should ask Li Cheng to mediate.
"But now it's clear this was no misunderstanding. Mr. Zhang, you've behaved disgracefully."
Zhang Quan snapped, "Deng Qing cheated me out of eight hundred taels with a fake. That is a fact! If his conscience were clear, why would he run?
"And everything in that letter is his side of the story. How can you believe it?"
Li Dashan said nothing, but Zhang Yan spoke up. "Junior Brother Deng's letter mentioned that Xiong Zhen appeared at the Martial Arts Hall after the Martial Dao Trial.
"That was big news. Even I