Courtyard House: Starting by inheriting the tradition and suppressing the barbarians.

The atmosphere in the backyard was tense, as if a sword was about to be drawn.

Jia Zhangshi stood with one hand on her hip and the other gripping the weak stalk of a stick.

Spittle flew everywhere as he pointed at Li Xuan's nose and launched into a tirade:

"Where did you eat?"

"Of course, I ate it on your windowsill!"

"Bang Geng already told me that if you put the steamed buns on the windowsill, someone will take them!"

"If you let someone else take it, why did you poison it?"

How can your heart be so black!

Upon hearing this, the neighbors who had come to watch the commotion immediately booed.

"Wow! So you stole someone's food, got sick from it, and then came knocking on their door?"

"Does leaving it on someone's windowsill mean they can take it?"

"What kind of robber logic is this?"

"Jia Zhangshi's skin is thicker than a city wall at a bend!"

As Li Xuan listened to the surrounding discussions, the smile on his face grew even colder.

He slowly stood up, looking at Jia Zhangshi as if she were a clown jumping around.

"Aunt Jia, I need to explain what you're saying to you."

"First of all, I put those steamed buns on my own back windowsill."

"That's my private property; it's not even outside my yard."

"Taking a stick without asking, climbing over the wall and breaking into a house—what's that called? That's burglary!"

"Secondly, who told you those buns were for human consumption?"

"If we don't feed them to people, who will we feed them to? These big, fragrant meat buns!" Jia Zhangshi shouted, her neck stiff.

"That's for mice!"

Li Xuan's face darkened, and his voice suddenly rose, "My house has been infested with mice lately, and they've chewed up a lot of my books!"

"I deliberately mixed strong rat poison into the bait and put it on the windowsill to poison the rats!"

"Who would have thought that these days, instead of catching a rat, the poison would catch a thief!"

"A thief stole my rat poison and now he wants me to pay for it?"

Why didn't you ask the mouse if it agreed?

"Pfft!"

Someone in the crowd couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Immediately afterwards, a burst of laughter erupted throughout the backyard.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"Stealing rat poison and then demanding compensation? The Jia family is truly outrageous!"

Although Bang Geng's stomach still hurt, he understood that Li Xuan was cursing him, and he was so angry that his face turned purple!

He pointed at Li Xuan: "You...you're talking nonsense!"

"I heard everything! That was clearly what you were making offerings to the Kitchen God!"

"To worship the Kitchen God?"

Li Xuan sneered, "Heh, since you said it's for the Kitchen God, what right do you have to take it?"

"You deserve to get an upset stomach from eating it; that's clearly the Kitchen God punishing you!"

"I don't care! My grandson got sick from eating at your house! You have to pay me back!"

When Jia Zhangshi realized she couldn't win through reasoning, she resorted to her trump card—throwing a tantrum!

She sat down on the ground with a loud "ow," slapping her thighs with both hands and wailing loudly.

"This is outrageous! This is bullying! Li Xuan poisoned people and won't admit it!"

"Come quick, everyone! We can't live like this anymore!"

"If you don't pay me 100 yuan for medical expenses today, I'll die right here in front of your house!"

Qin Huairu stood aside, feeling embarrassed, but did not stop it.

There's really no money left at home.

If I could extort some medical expenses, I'd accept it even if it ruined my reputation.

Li Xuan remained completely unfazed by Jia Zhangshi's shameless behavior.

He turned to look at Liu Haizhong in the crowd.

"Sir, what should we do about this?"

"Someone broke into a house and then tried to extort money from the victim; this is a serious public security incident."

Liu Haizhong walked out with his pregnant belly, hands behind his back, speaking in an official tone.

"Well... Madam Jia, that's where you're wrong."

"Bang Geng stole first, so how can you blame Li Xuan?"

"Get up right now, don't embarrass yourself!"

He's too busy currying favor with Li Xuan to possibly help the Jia family.

"I won't get up! I just won't get up!"

"Let's see who dares to touch me!"

Jia Zhangshi was determined to extort money today, clinging to the pillar at the entrance of Li Xuan's house and refusing to let go.

"Fine, you're not getting up, huh?"

Li Xuan nodded. "Since the academy can't solve it, let's seek help from the government."

He looked at his younger brother: "Xiao Tian, ​​go to the police station and see Captain Xu!"

"Just say someone broke into a house and is also suspected of extorting money from the family of a martyr! Ask him to bring his men to arrest them!"

"Okay!"

Li Tian agreed and ran off.

"No! Don't go!"

Qin Huairu was terrified when she heard that the police were going to be called.

Banggeng has already stolen chickens before; if he gets caught stealing meat buns this time, what will happen?

That would ruin the child's life!

Moreover, Captain Xu and Li Xuan have a very close relationship!

Qin Huairu was so frightened that she knelt down in front of Li Xuan and grabbed his trouser leg tightly.

"Xiao Xuan! Don't call the police! Please, please don't call the police!"

"Bang Geng is still a child!"

"We don't want the money! We're leaving now! We're leaving now!"

"Walk?"

Li Xuan looked down at Qin Huairu, his eyes icy. "You think you can just come and go as you please?"

"Do you think this is a farmers' market?"

"Wasn't Jia Zhangshi acting all high and mighty just now? Didn't she say she wanted to die right at my doorstep?"

"It's too late to leave now!"

"Then... then what do you want?" Qin Huairu asked in despair.

"It's very simple."

Li Xuan held up two fingers, "First!"

"Those three meat buns were made with the finest refined wheat flour and pork belly, so they were very expensive."

"Give me five dollars, including principal and interest!"

"Secondly, Jia Zhangshi caused trouble at my doorstep, frightened my mother and sister, and even tried to extort money from me."

"You must pay ten yuan in compensation for emotional distress!"

"Fifteen yuan in total! If it's even one cent less, we'll meet at the police station!"

"Fifteen dollars?"

Jia Zhangshi stopped wailing, jumped up from the ground, and shouted, "Why didn't you just go and snatch it!"

"Three steamed buns for five yuan? Are they made of gold?!"

"And compensation for emotional distress? I was frightened too!"

"You think it's too expensive? Fine, Xiao Tian, ​​hurry up and go!" Li Xuan urged.

"Give it to us! We'll give it to you!"

Qin Huairu screamed; she was truly terrified.

Money can be earned back, or you can just suck the blood of Sha Zhu again.

But if Bang Geng goes to jail, she'll have no hope for the rest of her life.

With trembling hands, she pulled a cloth bag from her inner pocket.

As you open each layer, you find scattered small bills and coins inside.

That was money she had saved for a long time, intended to buy medicine and help Jia Dongxu get through the winter.

She counted as tears streamed down her face.

When he finally managed to scrape together fifteen yuan and handed it to Li Xuan, his hands were trembling, and he refused to let go of the money.

Li Xuan grabbed it, didn't even count, and stuffed it directly into his pocket.

"Why didn't you just give in earlier? Why did you have to be so pathetic!"

He gave Jia Zhangshi and Banggeng a cold look.

"Remember this lesson."

"If you dare to lay your hands on me again, it won't just be money I chop off!"

As Jia Zhangshi watched the huge sum of money go into Li Xuan's pocket, her heart ached so much that she almost fainted.

They tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing the rice instead!

They originally wanted to extort money, but ended up losing both their wife and their money!

Not only did the piglet poop all over its pants, making it a laughing stock, but it also cost the whole family their winter savings!

"Get out!"

Li Xuan waved his hand, as if shooing away flies.

Qin Huairu supported Jia Zhangshi and pulled on the still sobbing Banggeng.

Amidst the disdainful and mocking gazes of all the neighbors, he slunk back to the central courtyard.

That limping figure looked particularly desolate.

"That felt great! So satisfying!"

Xu Damao watched with great interest and gave Li Xuan a thumbs up.

"This is how you deal with scoundrels!"

Li Xuan smiled, took out two yuan from his pocket, and handed it to Xu Damao.

"Brother Da Mao, you worked hard speaking up for me earlier. Take this and buy some wine."

"Oh dear, I can't accept this..."

Xu Damao was polite in words, but his hands readily accepted the gift, saying, "Then thank you for the reward, Master Xuan!"

As the crowd dispersed, Li Xuan closed the gate to the upper courtyard.

He was in a great mood and was comfortably lying in the chair.

"In this era of scarcity, let's see how long your Jia family can survive without money!"

......