Chapter 21: A Standoff, Neither Side Willing to Back Down

“Beating? Seeing the magistrate? Fine, let’s go see the magistrate then! We’ll have him decide how much silver should be repaid, and we’ll pay it right on the spot!” The voice was neither loud nor soft, neither humble nor arrogant, but it carried clearly to everyone present.

What a joke! As a modern person who had been dragged out since childhood to recite poetry in front of all sorts of aunts and uncles, would she be afraid of a situation like this?

What did it matter if they had faces full of rough, menacing flesh?

What did it matter if they sounded vicious and aggressive?

If their ultimate goal was to take this house, they would only dare to drive them out—they wouldn’t dare let anyone die or have an accident happen inside!

A house where someone had died or an incident had occurred—not to mention in superstitious ancient times—even modern people would have some reservations about it.

Even if it could be sold, it would be dirt cheap, the price as low as it could possibly go!

By then, forget sixty taels, it might not even fetch ten taels!

Everyone in the main hall turned to look at the source of the voice. When they saw Wen Nuan Nuan with the large black birthmark on her face, they were all startled.

The three little ones pursed their lips, saying nothing in perfect tacit understanding.

The usury loan enforcers turned their heads away as if they had seen something filthy and offensive.

Lai Da, the leader, was taken aback. He naturally knew they couldn’t go to the magistrate. After all, if they really went, the contract with the black-and-white terms and fingerprints would have to be presented. That document was written clearly, leaving no room for falsification.

Over this matter, the master had racked his brains but couldn’t find any loopholes.

It shouldn’t be like this! In the past, they had secretly swindled many people using such methods!

How had they failed this time?

The master said it was because Leng Family’s eldest son had drafted it, and he wouldn’t recognize the old wording.

They had come while the eldest of the Leng Family was away, to make his younger brother press his fingerprint on the house mortgage paper, leaving them no room to deny it!

Lai Da snorted coldly, “Do you think you can see the magistrate just because you want to? Besides, if such a small matter requires seeing the magistrate, what would the master keep us around for? If you don’t repay the silver now, don’t even think about walking out of this door alive!”

As soon as Lai Da spoke, the men behind him looked menacing and stirred restlessly.

On this side, Leng Tian, holding a sharpened curved firewood knife, had already taken large strides to stand in front of Wen Nuan Nuan, shielding his sister-in-law and his two younger brothers behind him.

Leng Chen and Leng Tian, holding sharpened wooden sticks, flanked Wen Nuan Nuan on either side, protecting her.

As soon as Lai Da finished speaking, Wen Nuan Nuan grew spirited.

Oh ho! She was the type who responded better to kindness than to threats. If others treated her with respect, she would return it tenfold. But if someone tried to cause trouble unreasonably, she wouldn’t indulge them!

How did that saying go again?

If you endure for a moment, the more you think about it, the angrier you get; if you take a step back, the more you think about it, the more you feel cheated.

Wen Nuan Nuan summoned all her focus, not allowing any room for error. Otherwise, she would regret it later.

Regret that she hadn’t performed well on the spot!

“Alright then, show me what you’ve got. I remember that if someone kills a person, not only does the killer have to pay with their life, but their parents, siblings, and children are also implicated, right? Oh, how could I forget—people in your line of work probably don’t care about the lives of their parents, siblings, or children, do they?” After all, ancient times practiced collective punishment—she was sure to hit the mark with that.

Come to think of it, without collective punishment, how could they control such unruly people?

As soon as Wen Nuan Nuan spoke, the expressions of the six or seven burly men opposite immediately changed.

Who didn’t have family?

Who didn’t have someone they cared about?

They were only doing this job to make a living—how could they really risk their entire families?

Seeing the desperate, life-risking stance on the other side, the thugs behind Lai Da unconsciously retracted their feet, which had been itching to move.

Wen Nuan Nuan glanced at their expressions and movements, knowing she had guessed correctly, and continued, “Or are you saying your master is already the law in Ling Kingdom? That he can cover the sky with one hand and disregard all rules? Well, there’s no choice then. Just kill us. Since there’s nowhere to escape anyway, we might as well die in this house—saves us the exhaustion!”

Lai Da’s expression had shifted several times. Before coming, the master had repeatedly warned that nothing must happen to this house, or it would end up worthless in their hands!

At that point, not only would it be unsellable, but they’d lose everything they invested.

Come to think of it, in this remote mountain hollow, even three large brick-and-tile houses were beyond the means of the locals.

If not for Old Master Bai hiring a feng shui expert who took a fancy to this land, saying it had mountains behind, water in front, and a jade belt encircling the waist—a layout that could produce generals and ministers—and offering one hundred eighty taels for the master to intervene, why would the master have lent thirty taels to the Leng Family?

The master had intended to use thirty taels to swallow this property and net a profit of one hundred fifty taels. Who would have thought the Leng Family would rather pay usury loan interest than sell!

The key now was that they couldn’t actually resort to violence!

This feng shui treasure land was all about its auspicious energy, but even the best feng shui couldn’t withstand an incident.

If something really happened, not only would Old Master Bai refuse it, but who else would want it?

Even if given for free, he wouldn’t dare come live here himself!

Lai Da turned the matter over in his mind, untangling the complexities, and soon had an idea.

Resorting to violence was out of the question.

Going to the magistrate was also impossible.

That left only negotiating over the silver.

Clearing his throat with a few coughs, Lai Da adopted a conciliatory tone, “We brothers are also just seeking wealth and don’t want to do anything that harms our karma. Besides, you did take our silver. As the old saying goes, repaying debts is only natural! If you have no silver to repay, of course the house must be used to settle the debt. That’s the principle everywhere, isn’t it?”

“Here we go again, back to square one.” Wen Nuan Nuan smiled brightly, in no hurry—she had plenty of time to wear them down.

Leng Chen tugged at Wen Nuan Nuan’s sleeve from beside her and whispered, “Sister-in-law, we borrowed thirty taels. The paper we stamped said we’d repay sixty taels total in three months. Eldest Brother reminded each of us, so we can’t be wrong! The proof is kept safely at home. Eldest Brother said we mustn’t take it out before an agreement is reached.”

Wen Nuan Nuan understood—this was to prevent the other side from using their numbers to forcibly seize and destroy their proof.

No wonder the three little ones insisted the proof was with Leng Xiao. This way, they could use the excuse of fetching the proof to call Leng Xiao back.

“The old saying goes that repaying debts is only natural, but it also says words alone are no proof. Since you’ve come to collect the debt, you should produce the proof.

Otherwise, what debt are you collecting? Do you think just talking before the magistrate will make others hand over silver?” Even in modern times, you need an IOU as evidence in court.

Wen Nuan Nuan didn’t believe they’d come to collect a debt without bringing proof!

They were professional usury lenders with their own set of methods—they wouldn’t leave themselves without a fallback.

“You!” Lai Da spat out angrily, too furious to speak!

From the sound of it, without proof, the Leng Family wouldn’t acknowledge the debt.

“If you produce proof, and if it’s truly written in black and white as one hundred twenty taels, even if it differs from the original verbal agreement, we’ll admit defeat and repay you one hundred twenty taels! But if not, don’t even think about getting a single tael more!” Wen Nuan Nuan said leisurely.

“Hmph, if it turns out to be written as one hundred twenty taels, do you even have the silver to repay? This one-hundred-tael silver note is all your family’s assets, isn’t it? What big talk!” Lai Da’s small eyes shifted, deciding to test them.

It seemed the Leng Family was unlikely to back down and give up the house. If he could recover one hundred twenty taels of silver, that would be quite good too—surely his master would be somewhat satisfied with him.

As long as he confirmed the Leng Family still had silver, with their numbers and strength, would they fear not being able to get their hands on it?

Dealing with a few half-grown children—how hard could it be!