The splendor of the Red Chamber, the power that reigns supreme.

Chapter 102 Another storm arises
Meanwhile, in front of Wang Zhaoxuan's residence, the sun was setting in the west, and the evening glow burned half the sky as if it had been splashed with blood.

The idle gossips of the day had just cooled off, and the people in the mansion thought they could catch their breath, when suddenly a horde of fierce-looking men barged into the alleyway!

Leading the way were none other than Zhang Sheng, the notorious "street rat," and Lu Hua, the "grass snake," two scoundrels who specialized in scheming in the shadows.

Behind them followed several idle scoundrels with their headscarves askew and their chests exposed, each with a fierce expression and spewing filth and maggots.

Zhang Sheng walked to the bottom of the bluestone steps in front of the mansion gate, stood with his skinny legs spread apart, and began to howl in his broken voice towards the two tightly closed vermilion doors:
"Hey! You little brat Wang Sanguan, listen up! You lost everything at the 'Happy Forest' gambling den in the capital, owing Master Li a full three hundred taels of silver! With interest compounding, it's already well over eight hundred taels! Hiding under your mother's crotch like a coward, what kind of hero are you, hiding back in Qinghe County?"

“If you don’t bring out a mountain of silver today, we’ll sit here and die right here in front of you! We’ll make sure everyone in Qinghe County knows you as ‘Wang the Debtor’ and ‘Wang the Scoundrel’!”

Lu Hua was like a wild donkey without a bridle, hopping around and spitting out saliva that flew three feet away:
"You son of a bitch, Wang San'er! You haven't even grown your pubic hair yet and you're already gambling? You lost all your money and now you want to renege on your debts? Your mother was a master of adultery and keeping mistresses, and you're the spineless coward you were born with! When you're gambling, you're all bossy like a living Yama, but when you lose, you turn into a sickly chicken?"

"If you don't pay back the money, I'll tear down the gilded plaque of your 'Zhaoxuan Mansion' and chop it up to use as firewood to burn your mother's foot bath water!"

His outburst of curses provoked a cacophony of rabble behind him, their foul language flowing like a dam bursting, even more vicious than the group that had come during the day.

The old gatekeeper of Zhaoxuan Prefecture huddled in the gatehouse, peeking through the crack in the door. He was so frightened that his legs trembled, his teeth chattered, and he dared not breathe.

In the warm pavilion of the inner courtyard of the mansion, Wang Sanguan'er, still young, had never experienced such a scene before. He had just been beaten by Master Ximen and had been frightened during the day. He never expected that people from the capital would come to Qinghe County to collect debts.

He knelt before his mother! His face, usually adorned with powder and flowers, and always slicked back, was now pale with fright, a sallow yellow with a bluish tinge, cold sweat streaming down his forehead like a stream, and even the back of his fashionable silk robe was soaked.

The hooligans outside, shouting insults and hurling names at him, along with the muffled thuds of bricks being smashed against the door, were like chains that pierced his ears, each word tearing at his heart!

After crying, Mrs. Lin sat upright in front of the screen, looking at her son Wang Sanguan, who was dejected and had a bruised and swollen face. She thought that her own son still needed to be disciplined.

The dignity of that official family could not ultimately suppress the fire in their hearts. They tempered their anger into words as sharp as ice crystals, wrapped in brocade, and hurled them down fiercely:
“My son! How did you feel after that beating from Master Ximen? How dare you come back like this! If you had gritted your teeth and immediately filed a complaint with the authorities, with the respect and dignity left by your father, who in the yamen would have dared not give you some face?”

“Even if Ximen is incredibly wealthy, he would still have to be wary! If you had stood up straight then, even if there had been a storm, he wouldn’t have dared to come after you again. Your father’s good reputation in the afterlife would have protected you. Why did things have to come to this?”

"Now look what's happened! You've snuck back like a frost-bitten autumn insect. Let me ask you, where are your personal belongings? Such an unjust item of yours was taken away as 'evidence'?"

"What a fine 'evidence'! I'm afraid your tiny mark has long been smoothed down with a file, and in the blink of an eye, his name 'Ximen' has been carved on it! This item has changed hands, so this is irrefutable evidence. What are you going to do? Go and sue him for robbery? Or will you shamelessly go and ask for it back? Hmm?"

Mrs. Lin became increasingly agitated as she spoke: "You bear the title of a son of an official, yet you act so... disgracefully! This meager inheritance left by our ancestors, this dignity and honor, you treat it like trash! I...I..."

Her chest heaved, and she finally couldn't suppress her angry shout: "What a misfortune for our family! My ancestors! You damned, wretched creature!"

Mrs. Lin, while scolding her son for his cowardly and timid state, was both disappointed and distressed by his lack of ambition: "Listen carefully to what those damned bastards outside are saying!" "Which group said you stole the Ximen family's treasure to marry a prostitute? And this group is saying you gambled at some 'Happy Forest'? What about gambling debts of three hundred taels or eight hundred taels? You...you idiot! When did you go to the capital to gamble again?"

"When your father was alive, not even a stray dog ​​dared to bark in front of the Zhaoxuan Prefecture! Now look what's happened! It's become a latrine for these pigs and dogs to throw tantrums, defecate, and urinate! You, you little beast, have disgraced the Wang family and the Lin clan to the ends of the earth!"

She grew angrier and angrier as she spoke, and suddenly grabbed a white porcelain teacup from the low table and slammed it to the ground with a loud crash, shattering it into pieces!

Wang Sanguan was so frightened by the sound that he trembled and collapsed to his knees on the cold brick floor in front of the kang (a heated brick bed), shaking uncontrollably, and pleaded in a tearful voice:
“Mother! Dear Mother! Your child… Your child was blinded by greed… That day… that day at ‘Happy Forest,’ I only intended to play a little, but who knew my luck would run out… the more I gambled, the deeper I went… and so… and so…”

He recalled the menacing faces of the thugs in the gambling den, and his teeth chattered with fear, making him unable to speak coherently: "Originally there wasn't that much, at most a hundred taels, but somehow it became three hundred taels, and then eight hundred taels."

"Just a little gambling?" Mrs. Lin trembled with rage, her finger almost poking Wang Sanguan's forehead. "I scrimped and saved, hoping you would study hard in the capital and bring honor to our family! And what have you done? At such a young age, you indulge in all sorts of vices! Eight hundred taels? You dare to press those fingerprints with interest-laden loans? Eight hundred taels today, eight thousand taels tomorrow!"

She recalled the filthy swear words of "cheating on men and keeping men" that the scoundrel had hurled at her, which felt like a thousand arrows piercing her heart. She was filled with shame and indignation, and a breath caught in her throat. Her face turned from red to white, then from white to green, and she could no longer speak, only able to gasp for breath.

Seeing his mother so angry, Wang Sanguan was terrified and burst into tears: "Mother! Mother! I know I was wrong! Please...please think of a way! Outside...those fierce demons are about to break down the door! I...I'm scared!"

His voice trembled incoherently, his body curled up, shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind. Where was the dignity of the young master of Zhaoxuan Prefecture? He was nothing but a lump of mud, terrified out of his wits.

Mrs. Lin looked down at her good-for-nothing son at her feet, and listened to the increasingly loud shouts and curses outside the door. She felt a surge of grief, anger and despair rush to her head.

She abruptly closed her eyes, two streams of hot, turbid tears sliding down her fair and graceful face, soaking a patch of the front of her sandalwood-colored jacket: "What can we offer to appease them? Sell your old mother by weight to pay off gambling debts? Give them my third-rank imperial hat, would they even want it? Give them this ancestral house, and my daughter and I are left to wander the streets?"

"If they keep howling like this, I... I'll find a rope and hang myself in front of the ancestral tablets! That way I won't have to suffer this karma in this life, not only disgracing your Wang family's ancestors for eight generations, but also disgracing my Lin family!"

After saying that, she turned away, her shoulders heaving violently. The suppressed sobs, filled with endless shame and indignation, were not worth hiding since there were hardly any servants around.

Wang Sanguan knelt on the ground, looking at his weeping mother and listening to the increasingly loud cursing and banging on the door. He felt dizzy and his vision went black, as if the group of people had already rushed into the mansion. All the bones in his body went limp.

Fortunately, this group of people came from the capital. After shouting and making a ruckus for a while, they gradually withdrew as night approached, only leaving behind harsh words that they would come again tomorrow. The mansion finally returned to deathly silence, leaving only the mother and son facing each other in silence, their eyes filled with bewilderment and heaviness at not knowing how to face tomorrow.

Just as the mother and son were feeling utterly lost and at their wits' end, an old doorman suddenly came in trembling and reported: "Madam, there is a woman outside... outside the door requesting an audience. She claims to be Sister Li Gui, who was invited to perform at the last time. She says... she says she has a way to solve the current predicament of the household."

"Sister Li Gui?" Upon hearing this, Mrs. Lin's already furrowed brows deepened. This name was like a fine needle, pricking her already chaotic heart once more.

She vaguely remembered that the family still owed the opera troupe a sum of money for their performances—was she here now to collect the debt because she had heard rumors about it?

(End of this chapter)