16 — Extortion

Mao San stood among the people along the long street and took his shirt off. He walked toward the crowd to let them take a closer look.

“Come and take a look! Look at it! What sort of situation would leave such an injury behind? Some bruises are oval in shape, some are long, and some are caused by tripping or hitting into something, but what sort of bruise would look this bad? Besides getting bashed up by someone, there’s no way it would look like this!”

“It’s true that I’m a shameless chap, and I’ve got the balls to tell anybody anything. I don’t think it’s embarrassing that I lost in a fight. We’re all hot-blooded men who would fight if we got angry. But Boss Li bashing me up so badly when I obviously can’t win is definitely not right of him. I just want him to pay for my medical bills! What’s wrong with that? Don’t I have the right to do that?”

Everyone frowned deeply and fell silent.

These bruises really did look like they were a result of a beating. They didn’t look fake.

So…did Boss Li really beat Mao San up?

If they asked themselves honestly, they would rather take the side of Boss Li, regardless of whether he caused Mao San injury or not. Mao San was always doing terrible things that deserved a beating, after all. But now that Mao San had put things this way and none of them were witnesses to it actually happening, they couldn’t help Boss Li just like that. They couldn’t behave unreasonably!

Mao San became even bolder when he saw their reactions. He sneered and went on, “We’re all neighbors along this street, so we’re acquainted in some way or another, and I don’t want to go too far. But it’s still the same set of conditions – Li, give me your house and shop, you can keep your wife and kids, and we’re even after that!”

“PUI!” Mrs. Li put her hands on her hips and spat loudly, “How dare you extort money from us with such confidence! First of all, there’s no way my man could have beat you up. Secondly, even if he did, you deserved it!”

Mao San stiffened his neck, “Why we fought is not the point! Your man injured me, so he owes me compensation!”

At this juncture, Boss Li finally snapped out of his horrified state and pulled his wife behind him. He sounded agitated as he said, “You can talk to me! Why argue with a woman?”

“Oh my, Boss Li, you’ve finally taken a step forward?” Mao San smiled nastily as he narrowed his eyes, took two steps forward, and grabbed hold of Boss Li’s collar. He shouted, “Tell everyone right now! Yesterday afternoon! Did you beat me up or not!”

Boss Li didn’t back down. He glared at Mao San and yelled back, “I did! I hit you! But I only hit you a couple of times! There’s no way I could have left so many bruises!”

With so many people watching and even a genius doctor who could revive someone from the dead, Boss Li didn’t feel scared. He was very skinny and was being held by the collar like he was a chicken waiting to be slaughtered, but he remained sure of himself and even brought up points to defend himself,

“The bruises on your body are so serious, they look like you’ve been hit by someone all over. Never mind whether I can defeat you in a fight or not – if someone were this injured, how could they possibly even stand? Someone this injured would probably still be lying in bed and unable to get up at all, yet you’ve walked all the way here to extort money from me!”

The crowd went into an uproar.

They agreed with Boss Li. Anyone with such serious bruises would have been unable even to get up, much less walk.

And Boss Li beating up Mao San? Comparing the difference in their size side by side was already hilarious!

The bruises didn’t look fake, but clearly, Boss Li wasn’t the one who caused them. Mao San was probably trying to extort money again!

Mao San was a hooligan, but he was a very clever man, especially when it came to getting money out of others.

He quickly found a reason, “Who said my injuries aren’t serious? I almost died just now! If it weren’t for someone with amazing skills, I would be somewhere in hell right now! I might look healthy, but I’m filled with internal injuries! Do you know what that means? That means I might die anytime!”

Everyone froze. That did…make some sense.

Mao San even pointed in Song Caitang’s direction, “Wasn’t she the one who saved my life? Why don’t all of you ask her if I had collapsed earlier because of all these injuries I have?”

He was very confident.

Any woman who was interested in studying medicine had to be the kindhearted sort. She looked aloof, but she definitely had a good heart. Why else would she save someone like him?

Besides, women were all timid. They might dare to save someone’s life, but they wouldn’t dare to spout nonsense. If this were something they didn’t understand, they wouldn’t dare to say anything about it.

These people had great respect and trust in this woman who saved him, so he was going to let her end up proving his bruises were real and slap these people in the face! There was no way Li was getting out of this mess!

As for the bruises on his body…

It was a new skill he had just learned. Even the officials couldn’t tell they were fake, so how could a young lady like her tell?

Mao San let go of Boss Li and marched up to Song Caitang.

“Miss, please take a goooood look and give your mooooost honest opinion. Tell them what it is!”

He bared his crooked yellow teeth as he spoke in a threatening manner, as though he was warning Song Caitang to watch her words.

As he came closer, the stench came along with him. Qingqiao quickly pulled her Young Mistress backward so she wouldn’t have to endure this smell.

The entire place fell silent, and everyone looked toward Song Caitang.

This young lady was a capable one. If there were problems with the bruises, she would definitely be able to tell!

Song Caitang calmly stood where she was and just waited for Mao San to finish his performance. Now that he had shut up and everyone was silent, she finally broke her silence, “It’s too bad.”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but the entire street was silent. Everyone was looking at her, so nobody missed what she said.

It’s too bad?

Too bad for whom?

Too bad in what way?

Nobody said anything, but Mao San let out a loud laugh and pointed at Boss Li, “Did you hear that? She said it’s too bad for you! There’s nothing shameful in admitting that you beat someone else up! Besides, I’m just asking you for some money, I’m not sending you to jail! You should have listened and paid up right from the start!”

These words and this tone…Qingqiao recognized it. A very similar thing had happened when her Young Mistress first snapped out of her idiot state…thinking about that brought tears to her eyes.

She grabbed the bowl that was used to hold the chive juice that had been poured down Mao San’s nose and flung it straight at his face without hesitation, “What nonsense are you spouting?! Young Mistress is saying that it’s too bad for YOU!”

Mao San hadn’t been hurt much by the men who had slapped him earlier, but this bowl hit him right on the nose bridge. He felt a little dizzy, and his nose nearly started bleeding.

“You little bitch! You really need me to teach you a…” Mao San’s oily hands reached for Qingqiao.

Song Caitang threw the rolling pin at his feet, forcing him to stop right there.

“She’s right. I’m saying it’s too bad for YOU.”

She took a step forward and pointed at the bruises on his body, “This skill of yours is not bad, but not good enough. If you rub it hard enough, it’ll disappear. Let me teach you a better way.”

“Apply the sap of the zelkova tree on your skin, then bring a flame near it. That will create an injury that looks just like you’ve been beaten with a stick, and water can’t wash it away.”

The crowd burst into an uproar again.

These bruises were fake? He was really here to extort money?

What was that she mentioned? Zelkova tree sap?

Also, seriously, she could have just said it was fake and upheld justice for Boss Li. Why did she have to spell out the entire formula?!

Mao San had just been reveling in his triumph a moment ago, and now he had been exposed. His expression couldn’t even change in time.

How could this be?

How could a young woman like her know this much?

She had to be trying to fool him!

He glared at her, “I say, young lady, one has to have proof for the things they say. You can’t just spout bullshit like that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I know you like to do that, but not everyone is as good at it as you are.”

She turned around such that she basked in the sunlight. Her pretty brows and hair exuded confidence. She raised a brow slightly to reveal the intelligent glint in her eyes. She was like a colorful butterfly in the wind, like the aura of spring. It was impossible for anyone to tear their eyes away from her or to be distracted by anything else.

“I’m sure everyone has seen similar bruises before. Sometimes, you get one when you bang into something or fall onto something.” Song Caitang pointed to the bruises on Mao San, “The bruises on him are scattered, have different sizes and different shades of the same color. All of them are a deep, almost black, purple color, then reddish toward the edges. They look very realistic as if they were really created by someone else. He’s even considered what a bruise on a different part of the body would look like…”

“But if it’s fake, then there’s definitely something that would give it away. A real bruise would not only turn this color, but it would also swell because of the blood gathered under the skin. Everyone can touch the bruises on him and check if the skin of his bruises is slightly higher than the rest of his unhurt skin.”

All the men standing closest to Mao San took a step forward, held Mao San down, and started touching his skin.

Mao San went into a panic, “What are you doing?! Let go of me!”

“His skin’s the same all over!”

“It’s flat! It’s flat everywhere! It’s not swollen at all!”

Song Caitang nodded, “Real bruises have blurry edges. The part between the red swelling, the slight pinkish skin, and the normal skin is usually not clearly visible. But you can see that the edges of his bruises are clear and clean.”

The men checked Mao San over and said, “You’re right!”

“That’s exactly what he has!”

Mao San was indignant and shouted, “And how can you be so sure that whatever she says is right? She’s making things up! She’s lying to you to help Li!”

Song Caitang’s expression didn’t flinch, “You can use warm water to wash it off. Adding some strong alcohol will make this process faster.”

Nobody cared about Mao San’s protesting at this point. They got some warm water and splashed it on him, then used a warm towel doused in alcohol to rub his skin hard.

“It’s getting lighter!”

“The color’s really gotten lighter!”