Chapter 888: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 888: The Savage Yan Yan (2)
The man before them was none other than Du Wencai’s father, Du Laizi. Due to his high self-esteem but lack of abilities, combined with his laziness and tendency to loaf around in the streets, Du Laizi had earned the nickname “Laizi” from the neighbors. Over time, this nickname stuck, and his real name was largely forgotten.
Madam Liu’s face turned blue with anger. Thinking back to how she had once foolishly arranged such a disgraceful match for her daughter, she was filled with disgust and wished she could grab a broom and chase them all out.
Suppressing the urge to shout, she stopped Liu Tinglan, who was about to step forward to argue, and coldly said, “You and I both know why the engagement was called off. If you want to make a scene, go ahead. Let’s see how far your Du family is willing to go. If you want to extort my Liu family, let the word get out. I wonder if your precious son’s future will still be intact.”
In the Da Chu Kingdom, those who followed the imperial examination route to enter the officialdom not only needed talent but also a good reputation. Those with poor character, who earned a bad name, were often stripped of their titles, and examples of such cases were not rare.
It was like the third-place scholar from three years ago, who had drunkenly drowned in a river, or those who had disrupted their household and caused scandals that led to their rejection by higher officials. Such people were unable to find success in the bureaucracy and had their careers cut short.
Du Laizi was hoping that his youngest son would pass the imperial exams next year and lead a life of luxury. When he saw Madam Liu using this threat against him, he immediately lashed out, shouting, “You foul woman, how dare you curse my son! Do you think I won’t beat you?”
Madam Liu looked at Du Laizi with disdain, as though she were looking at a rat in the gutter. “If you dare to lay a hand on me, perhaps it will make you look a little better. But if you’re not afraid of ending up in prison, then go ahead and strike. Just be careful your precious son doesn’t end up ruining his chances of passing the exams because of you.”
Du Laizi, enraged by Madam Liu’s contemptuous gaze, lunged forward, but something seemed to stop him. He paused and, with a menacing tone, sneered, “Hmph, do you think I would dirty my hands personally? I have many ‘brothers’ who can make your Liu family’s life miserable. If you don’t hand over a thousand taels of silver today, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Having spent decades idling around, Du Laizi didn’t possess any real skills, but he knew a lot of petty criminals. These thugs weren’t powerful enough to take on influential families, but they were experts at causing trouble. While they couldn’t be easily caught by the authorities, they were adept at spreading rumors or disturbing families without being noticed.
They couldn’t do anything to wealthy families, but for a common family like the Liu’s, they could easily harass them at night or spread malicious rumors about them during the day, causing enough trouble to tarnish their reputation.
“Du, don’t you dare!”
Upon hearing Du Laizi’s words, Madam Liu’s face grew tense with worry. She wasn’t afraid of the other threats, but she feared the rumors would spread to the Shen family. The Shen family was still in the capital, preparing for the engagement ceremony, and any misunderstanding could ruin the match.
If that happened, then everything she had tried to avoid earlier—allowing this shameless family in—would be for nothing. She had feared that these troublemakers would cause a public scandal, which might lead to the Shen family’s involvement and drag the whole engagement into jeopardy.
Noticing Madam Liu’s hesitation, Du Laizi smirked triumphantly, tossing a peanut into his mouth and crunching it loudly. “You’re a smart woman. Why bother arguing with people like us? Your Liu family is rich and powerful, a thousand taels isn’t much. Consider it a charitable donation for us poor folks. I, Du Laizi, guarantee that once we have the silver, we won’t bother your family again.”
[End of Chapter]
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