Chapter 612: Chapter 612 Extortion Chapter 612: Chapter 612 Extortion Ever since that fake monk proclaimed his affair with Madam Ruan, Mo Daoyan steamed daily with irritation. As soon as he stepped out of his house, the neighbors would point and gesture behind his back, whispering and laughing loudly. Despite his anger, he couldn’t lash out at them; he could only bottle up his frustration, which only deepened his resentment towards Madam Ruan. In his mind, it was all her fault, that unfaithful wench, for bringing such shame upon him.
Though boiling with anger inside, Mo Daoyan had to suppress his rage, for he still needed her to persuade Ruan Xinzhi to leave. So, he said, “I can trust you, but you’ll have to prove it to me somehow.”
“Husband, whatever you ask of me, I will do it,” Madam Ruan pledged resolutely to demonstrate her innocence.
“That damned old man is causing a scene right at our doorstep. Get him to leave, now.”
“Alright! Wait here, husband. I’ll kick that old ruffian out this instant,” Madam Ruan agreed, and without a pause, turned to leave.
Ruan Xinzhi, that old ruffian, had tarnished her reputation and now had the audacity to show up at her door, as if she were easy to bully. Madam Ruan fumed inside.
Outside the courtyard, more than a dozen strong men wielded clubs, banging on the front gates while chanting aloud, “Open up, open up.”
Not a single villager from Mo Family Village dared approach; they all watched from afar. The more faint-hearted immediately ran home, bolting their doors in fear of accidentally provoking this mob of thugs–what a disaster that would be.
Ruan Xinzhi, seeing how the villagers cowered before him, swelled with pride. He slammed his club against the Mo family’s gate even more furiously, shouting, “Madam Ruan, you wicked woman, call out your man! Don’t hide like a cowardly turtle; it’s unbecoming for such a big man to hunker down in a woman’s skirts. Aren’t you afraid of being the laughingstock, ahahaha…!”
With that, the group of strong men burst into raucous laughter.
Madam Ruan stepped out of the house just in time to hear this and was livid.
“Ruan Xinzhi, you old thug, you’ve ruined my reputation and still dared to come to our house? Are you asking for a beating?” She stood in the courtyard, yelling at the top of her lungs at the men outside.
Upon hearing her, Ruan Xinzhi immediately brightened up. “Madam Ruan, I’m telling you, your husband injured me severely last time. If you don’t compensate me with a hefty sum today, say a hundred and fifty taels of silver, I’ll take your man’s leg off. Believe it or not?”
“Pah! You old thug, you’ve sullied my name and I haven’t even settled the score with you. Now you have the nerve to come demanding money from us. Have you gone mad with poverty?”
Madam Ruan trembled with rage, chiding herself for ever seeking help from this old thug, which had now become a curse.
“I don’t care, you owe me for the injury, you need to pay up. Are all the Mo family men cowards, hiding inside and too afraid to come out? If you’re so bold, call your man out for a duel. Let’s see what it means for a woman to stand up for herself.”
Madam Ruan was infuriated yet amused by his words. “You shameless old bastard, you couldn’t beat my husband last time, so now you bring a crowd to seek revenge.”
“So what if I am?” Ruan Xinzhi was arrogantly unabashed outside the courtyard. He had brought this many men over primarily to extort some silver for household expenses. His several wives all needed to be fed, and their pots were close to empty. With no other options left and reminiscing about the beating he took from Mo Daoyan a month ago, he rallied a group of goons to come and try their hand at a shakedown.