After Wei’s downfall, Ruan Dacheng lost his patron in the royal court and was dismissed from his post. However, while he was an official, Ruan Dacheng had plundered a great deal of wealth. With this extorted fortune, he built an imposing garden called the “Shichao Garden” where he financially supported a theatrical troupe to perform the plays he wrote himself. Here he would entertain celebrities with plays and banquets in an attempt to establish a good reputation. Though he was an educated man, well-versed in poetry and music, he was poorly regarded by high- principled scholars, who despised him for selling his soul for his advancement. However, not all men can resist temptation for the sake of principles. Accordingly, money and feasts did begin to work in his favor. Therefore, in spite of Ruan’s notoriety, the Shichao Garden became a place that attracted large number of regulars, including officials and celebrities.
What was happening at Ruan’s garden worried those farsighted scholars in the Restoration Society who firmly believed that Ruan Dacheng would follow in the footsteps of his foster father and become “Wei Zhongxian II”. When the time was ripe and his ideas and actions were seemingly rehabilitated, he would return to his previous practices. To nip the evil in the bud, the Restoration Society distributed leaflets in the name of over one hundred and forty scholars, making Ruan’s wrong-doings and wild ambitions public. Ruan quickly became notorious. Under pressure, many of those who had previously frequented the Shichao Garden began to stay away. Soon, the garden became desolate and deserted. Only a handful of people, such as the governor of Fengyang, Ma Shiying and his brother-in-law, Yang Wencong remained with Ruan as before.
Ruan Dacheng was quiet and inactive for a short period of time during which he secretly assessed the situation. He found that Emperor Chongzhen was suspicious of and did not trust the Donglin Party. Therefore, he concluded that his case would be overturned and sooner or later he would return to power. One year, in the middle of spring, Ruan Dacheng intended to test the water by attending a ceremony worshipping Confucius.
The boisterous and solemn ceremony was held annually at Guozijian (the Imperial Academy) in Nanjing, when and where scholars would come to pay their respects by kowtowing and bowing before the sage. On this day, members of the Restoration Society, including the famous Five Scholars of the Restoration Society, namely Wu Yingji, Yang Weidou, Liu Bozong, Shen Kuntong and Shen Meisheng were present.
When the ceremony started, everyone kowtowed and bowed four times, followed by satin burning, and finally “over” was announced. When everyone was queuing to perform the ritual before the sage, Wu Yingji suddenly discovered that the dark faced fat man with a beard kowtowing next to him was Ruan. Wu glared at him and shouted, “Bearded Ruan, Who do you think you are! You are not qualified to attend the ceremony. Your presence offends the sage and degrades the scholars! Get out of here!”
Originally, Ruan intended to hide himself in the crowd and assess the situation. Now it appeared that he could hide no more, so he stood up reluctantly. Unwilling to submit, Ruan answered back defiantly, “I have passed the highest imperial examination and I am a dignified scholar. What crime have I committed? What right do you have forbidding me to worship Confucius?”
“Everyone knows what the bastards like you and Wei Zhongxian did,” Wu Yingji reproached angrily. “You hit people when they are down and you cooked up stories and spread them around. It is quite clear what crimes you have committed.”
Ruan Dacheng was shamed into anger and said, “How dare you speak so bitingly at the Imperial Academy. I am sixty years old. How can I bear you frivolous youngsters cursing and slandering me like this?”
“How dare the adopted son of the treacherous collaborator rebuke us? We must teach him a lesson.” On hearing these shameless remarks, the scholars from the Society and the other literati present were so furious that they surrounded Ruan and began to beat and kick him. Seeing that the situation was absolutely unfavorable to him and fearing that he might be beaten to death, Ruan ran away from the angry crowd. Though old, Ruan was surprisingly agile, particularly so when trying to protect his own life. The crowd chased after him until he was too far away to catch.
After the event, Wu Yingji told the other scholars, “What we did today has avenged the Donglin Party and added to the prestige of the academy. What a delightful thing we did. Let us be vigilant and ensure that this son of a bitch will not appear in public again!” Back home, Ruan Dacheng was depressed for several days, feeling ashamed and resentful of his humiliation at the Academy. When recalling the event at the Confucius ceremony, Ruan felt a bitter hatred for the Donglin Party members, thinking, “If I return to power, I must take revenge for this humiliation”. One day, as he was finding ways to vent his anger, the doorman brought him a letter. It was from Chen Zhenhui who asked if he could borrow his troupe. The doorman told him, “Mr. Chen invited Fang Yizhi and Mao Bijiang to drink wine at Jiming Dam and they wanted to watch your new play. So they sent people here to borrow your troupe.”
