Extortion

Upon hearing Zhou Lexing's voice, the gathered crowd quickly made way for him.

This concession allowed Zhou Lexing to clearly see the stalemate that had been building up at his doorstep.

There was a rolled-up straw mat at their doorstep, with an old man lying on it and three or four men in their twenties or thirties standing next to him. One of them was someone Zhou Lexing knew well; he was the greasy man who had tried to take advantage of him in the mountains and then dared to pounce on him!

Zhou's mother stood in front of the gate, protecting Zhou Shusheng, whose eyes were filled with fear, from behind.

Zhou Shusheng, with his large frame, tried to shrink down, his eyes darting around nervously. He looked at the group of people outside as if they were hideous ghosts in the darkness. Only when he saw Zhou Lexing did the muscles in his face, which had become stiff with fear and anxiety, relax slightly.

"elder brother--!"

His voice was hoarse, and it was unclear how long he had been crying.

Zhou Lexing's face turned ashen. He stepped forward and grabbed the greasy man who was arguing with his mother at the door: "You fucking caused trouble in my house?!"

He had a strong grip and actually lifted the person off the ground. Everyone around was so frightened that they all took a step back. Li Jianshan, who had been smug and greasy just a moment ago, was already panting heavily when he saw him.

He rolled his eyes and tried to pry Zhou Lexing's arm, but couldn't even squeeze out a word of begging.

"Enough! I'm not even dead yet and you're already trying to hit me in front of me?!"

Zhou Yuanxiang shouted, "Put him down!"

Zhou Lexing was full of resentment, but he still listened to his mother and threw the person to the ground.

Li Jianshan immediately began coughing and wheezing wildly on the ground.

"Tell me, what brings you to my house?"

The smile that Zhou Lexing usually wore faded from his face, replaced by a hint of ruthlessness. The moment his eyes swept across the group of people, their hearts trembled.

The neighbors around him had all heard of his past reputation, and seeing Zhou Lexing's anger, which seemed like he might lose control at any moment, they all silently took a few steps back.

"They've come to demand an explanation from our family." Zhou Yuanxiang sneered inwardly when she saw that the few arrogant men who had just tried to barge into her house had now become as timid as quails in the face of this troublemaker. However, she still made it clear to her third son.

"Old Zhuang said that this afternoon you and your gang of buddies went to his house to cause trouble, pushed someone down, and now he can't get up and he wants our family to pay for his medical expenses."

Although Zhou Lexing had told her that he was going to take Gu Jiansheng to the foot of the mountain to cut wood to make a cabinet, Zhou Yuanxiang knew that her third son was a troublesome person who liked to fight and held grudges if she couldn't reason with him. That's why she couldn't tell whether what the old Zhuang family said was true or false.

But regardless of whether the matter is true or false, we should wait for Zhou Lexing to come back and confront him, clarify things, and then decide how to deal with it. It's not like they did, forcibly barging into someone's house, looking at the salted fish hanging in her yard like rats seeing a rice jar.

Zhou Yuanxiang was angry with her son, but she also looked down on this group of people, thinking that no one could see through their intentions.

If they were really allowed into her house, not only would they smash things up, but they would also definitely damage her belongings. Not to mention, who knows what rumors would spread about her family afterward. The gossip in the village is all thanks to these bullies who pick on the weak and fear the strong!

Hearing this, Zhou Lexing laughed in anger: "When did I go to your house? You just opened the door and let me in like that? If I really brought a bunch of brothers to your house to cause trouble, wouldn't your neighbors know? Who saw me go to your house, stood up and confronted me, and explained things to me? Even if you want to smear me, at least find a plausible reason. You just make things up like this, do you think I'm a pushover?"

Zhou Lexing didn't get angry, but his forced smile was even more terrifying.

The eldest son of the old Zhuang family swallowed hard and forced himself to stand at the front: "You came at the middle of the day, when everyone was taking a nap. How would we know you, you, you..."

Under Zhou Lexing's gaze, he swallowed hard again, straightened his tongue with difficulty, and continued, "You came to my house, how could we dare to stop you? Everyone saw it, this kid is quick to fight, everyone knows how powerful he is. None of us here could withstand one punch from him, how could we dare to stop him?"

A few soft murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd, but when Zhou Lexing turned to look, they immediately fell silent.

Zhou Lexing knew that at this time, the original owner's reputation as a bully was a powerful weapon. He could use it to intimidate others, but holding it could also hurt him.

The things the original owner did in the past cannot be easily covered up by his recent behavior. Therefore, in the absence of evidence from either side, the villagers tend to side with the seemingly innocent victim.

Zhou Lexing could certainly use his fists to settle things, but that would only further damage the reputation that Zhou Yuanxiang had worked so hard to build, making it difficult for his family to move an inch in the village.

Zhou Lexing could only explain in a low voice, "I went into the mountains this afternoon and wasn't in the village at all."

The eldest son of the old Zhuang family said, "You said you went into the mountains, but who saw you? And who would go into the mountains in the middle of the afternoon?"

Zhou Lexing: "So, in the middle of the day, should I just go to the house of someone I have no grudge against, deliberately knock down an old person, and then leave quietly?"

The eldest son of the old Zhuang family hesitated for a moment, but no words came out.

They had already planned to take advantage of Zhou Lexing's absence, rush to his doorstep to cause trouble, enter, take the valuable and edible items, and leave. If Zhou Lexing came to their house to cause trouble later, it would confirm the unfounded plan, and they could then cry their eyes out again. After all, once the items were in their house, they were theirs, and there were no names engraved on them.

If Zhou Lexing dares to take the things back, that would not only be bullying them, but also ransacking their homes. If things get out of hand, the village chief could intervene and get justice. Given Zhou Lexing's reputation for being a scoundrel, he might even be able to make another quick buck.

You see, the Zhuang family had been eyeing Zhou Yuanxiang's subsidies for a long time, and they had been looking for an opportunity to skim some money off her. If Zhou Lexing hadn't made their reputation worse and worse, they wouldn't have dared to make a move.

In fact, according to Zhou Laozhuang's original idea, he should wait for Zhou Lexing to do another reckless thing to arouse public anger before taking action, which would be more effective. However, Zhou Laozhuang suddenly changed his mind recently and immediately realized that he could not wait any longer.

Just then, Li Jianshan from Lijiacun inquired about Zhou Lexing and was even willing to pay for the project. It was like a pillow being delivered to someone who was about to fall asleep!

They had such a wonderful plan: when Zhou Lexing barged into their house, the oldest man, Zhou Laozhuang, would lie down and pretend to be dead again, and perhaps they could even drive Zhou Lexing out of the village!

In this way, they can benefit from both sides and get rid of Zhou Lexing, a scourge on the villagers. Without Zhou Lexing, Zhou Yuanxiang's other two sons are often away from home, and there's only a mentally challenged person down there, so they can easily manipulate him.

But they didn't expect to get stuck at the very first step. Although Zhou Lexing wasn't there, Zhou Yuanxiang was not someone to be trifled with. This woman was strong and had a strong presence. She protected the door and wouldn't let them break in!

There were several women protecting him, which attracted so many people to come and watch!

Even more unexpectedly, Zhou Lexing, who was not home until midnight last night, came home as soon as it got dark today!

They really caught us completely off guard!

Seeing that his son was ineffective, even Li Jianshan, who had been arrogantly saying he would make Zhou Lexing pay, was now trembling with fear. The relatives they had called to back them up were also silent, only able to point at Zhou Lexing with trembling fingers and say, "It was you, it was you who pushed me..."

Zhou Lexing hadn't felt this stifled feeling in a long time, and he even began to understand why the original man had the urge to punch someone so easily.

After all, he really wanted to punch the people in front of him a few times to perk them up.

Zhou Lexing: "Now that you're accusing me of going to your house and pushing the old man down because I had nothing better to do, you need to provide evidence. What are the names of the people who came with me this afternoon? What do they look like? When did they go? All of that needs to match up. This is a new era; you can't convict someone based on your random fabrications."

"If everyone can just say a few words and pin the blame on others, then I'd also say that if you were hugging and cuddling with a grown man the other day, shouldn't you be charged with indecent assault?"

Zhou Lexing's next words were naturally directed at Li Jianshan. His words were loaded with meaning, which immediately made Li Jianshan break out in a cold sweat.

Those around them, unaware of the details, followed the words and their gazes fell on Li Jianshan. Seeing him slumped on the ground with his legs together, his hands propped up on one side in a sullen manner, and then thinking of him embracing another similar man, they were all disgusted.

"Yes, Lao Zhuang, I know you fell and you're upset, but what you're saying doesn't sound right. Take Le Xing's recent behavior, for example. Everyone has seen it. Even if he really wanted to cause trouble, his ostentatious visit to your house would have made a commotion, even if everyone was taking a nap. How come only you and your relatives know about this, while we neighbors who live next door know nothing?"

The one who stood up to speak for Zhou Lexing was Zhou Lihua, who was on good terms with his family.

"That's true. Didn't everyone know about Zhou Dongqiang, that old widower, falling into the cesspool last time?"

"Can that matter be compared to this? Even without any sound, that smell would be enough to knock someone out, wouldn't it?"

The crowd was noisy, with all sorts of people saying different things.

Although the eldest son of the Zhuang family was afraid of Zhou Lexing, he was not afraid of Zhou Lihua. He immediately retorted, "What business is it of yours, a woman, to talk about what a man should say?! Everyone knows you have a good relationship with that old widow Zhou Yuanxiang, you must... ah!!"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Lexing suddenly put his hand on his shoulder, and he immediately screamed in pain, feeling a sharp pain in the back of his knee. He lost his balance and knelt down.

Zhou Lexing innocently raised his hand from his shoulder, making a gesture of surrender: "What's wrong with you now? Dude, I just patted you on the shoulder to remind you to speak more respectfully, I didn't do anything to you, did I?"

“I haven’t even said those words yet. Even if you want to scam people like your father, at least make it look convincing.”

Although it was nighttime and the light was not very clear, everyone's eyes were more or less focused on Zhou Lexing. They did see Zhou Lexing take a step forward, stand behind the eldest son of the Zhuang family, put his hand on the eldest son's shoulder, and kneel down without making a sound.

"You might have a strong grip, but that's hard to say..."

A relative of the old farmer next door spoke up, though his voice was barely audible, like a mosquito's buzz.

"His shoulder should hurt, what's wrong with him clutching his leg!"

Zhou Lihua was even angrier after being scolded, and she was just about to point at these ill-intentioned people and hurl insults at them.

When Zhou Lexing didn't return earlier, she also chimed in, but since she hadn't confirmed the truth with Zhou Lexing, she wasn't sure and didn't dare to really stand up. However, she did bring a lot of people over, and they all talked at once to stop these grown men from barging into the widow's house.

The fields of Zhou Lihua and Zhou Lanhua's families were right next to each other, so they had watched the four Zhou brothers grow up since they were little. They also knew Zhou Lexing quite well. Although he used to be a troublemaker, he was a man of his word and as stubborn as an ox. However, he would not lie and would say what he meant.

Now that it was clear that these malicious fellows were spewing nonsense, Zhou Lihua immediately perked up and pointed out the blind spot: "Look everyone, he's still clutching his leg and yelling, what a pretentious fool!"

When the old man's eldest son heard this, he didn't know where to cover his hands. He did have severe pain in the back of his leg, and he couldn't think straight. He could only cry out in pain, which made the onlookers think he was being pretentious.

"Ha, I think you're all corrupt from top to bottom, all thinking about swindling money from orphans and widows!"

The eldest son of the old village headman was now truly experiencing the bitter taste of swallowing a bitter pill, unable to express his suffering.

Old Zhuangtou was so angry at the performance of his incompetent teammates that he wanted to sit up from his straw mat, but although he forced himself to remain lying down, he couldn't help but blurt out his words.

"That kid went to my house this afternoon! He brought his three henchmen with him! They're all rascals from the neighboring Li family village. They rode their bicycles all over our village showing off. Zhiqiang's wife definitely saw them!"

Zhou Laozhuang's accent became even stronger with anger, but then he remembered the three rascals his son had accidentally bumped into while keeping an eye on things, and his tone immediately became much calmer, though he was still spitting as he spoke, and sounded quite energetic.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhou Laozhuang chose to insist on the story that Zhou Lexing brought people to his house, and why he acted decisively today.

You know, those three people did indeed appear in their village this afternoon, and coincidentally, Zhou Lexing even went out this afternoon. His son saw this as soon as he went over. Yesterday, he even heard Zhou Meixia, who lives at the end of the village, casually mention that Zhou Lexing was not home in the middle of the night and even came to his house to borrow hemp rope.

Once Zhou Lexing is away from home, he can be gone for more than half a month at a time.

This combination is not just a matter of perfect timing, location, and people!

Although there were many mishaps along the way, now that the show had begun, he was determined to keep going! He wouldn't be satisfied until he squeezed some subsidies out of Zhou Yuanxiang!