Chapter 125： extortion

 Wei Zhan didn’t show up, and Ying Bao finally had two days of peaceful life.

When the girls don’t go out to do things, they learn to make rouge and powder from Yan Ru.

They picked some lotus flowers and red and blue flowers, then put them in a stone bowl, pounded them repeatedly, added water to wash them, and poured off the yellow liquid on top. The red grease that finally settled became bright rouge.

Scrape this thick rouge into a small porcelain bottle and it can be used for a long time.

The production of fragrant powder is a bit more troublesome. Folk women often use butterfly powder made from ground chestnut flour to apply on their faces, while noble ladies from aristocratic families often use lead powder, or various amounts of lead powder and aluminum powder are added to the chestnut rice flour.

There is also Jade Girl Peach Blossom Powder which is blended with gypsum, talc, clam powder, wax fat, shell musk deer and motherwort.

Yanru taught them to roast the clam shells on the fire, remove the outer layer of black shell, and leave only the shiny layer inside, pound and grind them into fine powder.

The lotus and peony flowers are then dried and ground into powder, and then mixed with clam flour and chestnut rice flour.

This kind of fragrant powder is soft and smooth when applied to the face. It would be better if you add a little lead powder.

However, Yingbao said that women would get sick if they applied lead powder, and would not let Yanru add lead powder.

On this day, Yan Ru was taking a few girls to do rouge, when suddenly some uninvited guests came.

Leng’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Cao, took her son and daughter to Jiang Erlang’s house.

Jiang Erlang was not at home at the moment, and Yan Ru didn't know these people, so she was pushed and pushed several times by them.

"You vixen! You actually seduced my son-in-law!" Mrs. Cao came up and beat Yanru.

Da Ni Er Ni was frightened and quickly stepped forward to protect Yan Ru.

"Er Ni! You actually helped this bitch?" Leng was furious when she saw her daughter protecting Yan Ru. She rushed up and slapped Er Ni in both mouths.

Upon seeing this, Ying Bao quickly shouted: "Uncle! Mother! Come quickly!"

Sister-in-law Jiang and Chun Niang heard the sound and came over. They pushed Leng's mother and daughter away, quickly pushed Yan Ru into the house, and closed the door to prevent Cao's mother and daughter from approaching her.

“What are you doing?” Chun Niang was very angry.

This Leng family is really going too far. Jiang Erlang is already married, and she is already married and has children. I don't know why he is making trouble again.

“Third brother and sister, wuwuwuwu...are you protecting that **** like this?” Mrs. Leng covered her face and cried.

Chun Niang said coldly: "I'm not your brother or sister, so don't try to get relatives."

This Leng family has two children with the pickle seller surnamed Zuo. I don’t know what I want to do here today.

"Chun Niang, are you so heartless?" Leng cried. Seeing that Chun Niang was indifferent, she ran to Zhou again: "Sister-in-law, is mother-in-law at your house? I want to kowtow to her."

Zhou's goosebumps started to rise. She quickly winked at Chun Niang and asked her to go find Jiang Sanlang and Jiang Erlang.

Chunniang went out without saying a word, and met Jiang Erlang who was hurried back on the way.

"You're finally back. The Leng family is going crazy again. I guess the person who came here is evil," Chun Niang said.

“I understand, third brother and sister, please take the children back first and I will take care of this matter.”

Jiang Erlang stepped into the house, glanced at the people standing in the yard, and asked in a cold voice: "Do you want to sue for breaking into a private house?"

As soon as Mrs. Cao saw Jiang Erlang coming back, she immediately rushed over and said, "Erlang, it was all my old woman's fault in the past. You and your wife shouldn't have been separated. Now you can beat or scold you if you want. Now that my girl knows it's wrong, you two will Let’s make peace.” Leng Shi also wanted to attack Jiang Erlang, but he dodged.

“Erlang, I was really wrong. For the sake of our two children, let’s make peace, wuwuwuwu…”

Jiang Erlang ignored her crying and directly picked up a broom and swept over: "Get out of here!"

Mrs. Cao's family was swept back and forth, and finally Jiang Erlang rushed them to the entrance of the courtyard, refusing to leave again.

“Jiang Erlang! What are you so proud of?” Leng’s younger brother Leng Da roared: “I am the biological uncle of Erni and Huzi, and you actually chase me away like this?”

"My Huzi Erni has no uncle. The divorce letter was clearly written in the marriage letter, and your whole family put their fingerprints on it."

Mr. Cao and her family have said all kinds of heartless things in order to get those fifteen taels. It is simply ridiculous to mention uncles now.

“So what if I pressed the fingerprint? Erni and Huzi are always my sister’s biological flesh and blood.” Leng Da roared without giving up.

Jiang Erlang sneered: "Your sister's flesh and blood is selling pickles in the town. Don't feel uncomfortable here."

Mr. Leng gave birth to two children, a son and a daughter, to the pickle seller. The younger son was only a few months old. He didn’t understand why she came here to look for trouble over and over again.

"I don't care, you have to give us another fifty taels, no, one hundred taels of silver. Otherwise, it won't be over." Leng Dalang shouted, finally telling us the purpose of his trip.

"It turns out it's extortion. Who do you think you are? You dare to ask me for money? Well, Sun Li is about to come over, so let him make the decision."

At this time, Sun Li was leading people from the county government to learn about the cotton planting situation with the three Jiang brothers. Unexpectedly, someone told Jiang Erlang that the Leng family had come to Nanpo to cause trouble again, so Jiang Erlang hurried back.

When Mrs. Cao heard that Sun Li was coming, her calves couldn't help but twist. She turned to look at her son and silently asked what to do.

Leng Dalang was dazzled by the Jiang family's new houses and ignored his mother's hints. "It's useless for me to come as the king of heaven. I am the uncle of Erni and Huzi. From now on, their marriages will have to go through me." agree."

The uncles in the countryside have great power and some are overbearing and unreasonable. They can even interfere in the marriage affairs of nephews and nieces, so Leng Dalang said this.

"Hey, that's not a bad tone." Sun Li was walking over with his hands behind his back, followed by several village leaders and villagers, and the crowd gathered around the two middle-aged men with long beards.

Yingbao recognized at a glance that one of them was Mr. Liao, the aide of the previous county magistrate.

“What’s going on?” Mr. Liao asked.

Jiang Erlang immediately explained his entanglement with the Leng family.

"Mr. Leng and I have reconciled and signed a divorce agreement. I paid the Leng family fifteen taels of silver. Unexpectedly, Mister Leng has already married and had children, but she still comes to my house to pester me again and again. Today she still wants to blackmail me for a hundred dollars. Two pieces of silver, if you don’t give it, it will ruin my children’s marriage.”

“You said we should break off the relationship?” Leng Da was still shouting, “My sister and I are not dead yet!”

Mr. Liao looked at Leng Da coldly and turned to ask Sun Lizheng: "Weng Sun, are there such unscrupulous people in your countryside? No one cares about the blatant extortion?"

Sun Li was being asked and sweatdropped on his forehead. He defended himself: "This is also the first time for me to encounter such a thing."

With that said, he turned around and ordered the villagers: "Tie them up and send them to the village hall to wait for trial."

Seven or eight villagers rushed up, knocked Mrs. Cao, mother and son to the ground, took out the ropes they carried and tied them up.

Mr. Leng and Mrs. Cao were so frightened that they screamed: "I am a relative of Jiang Erlang, Li Zheng, why did you kidnap me?"

Before the countryman could speak, he tore off Leng Da's sweatshirt, tore it off and stuffed it into the mouths of Leng and his daughter, dragging them away so as not to disturb anyone from the county.