This news was very pleasing to the commoners.
Outside the county government office, the commoners led the cheer "Long live the fair county prefect" ...
At the same time, Meng Huaining also sent people to seal up the Cui Residence. Cui Wen and his wife Liu were temporarily imprisoned in the County Prison to await interrogation and sentencing.
Today's trial of County Magistrate Cui has come to a temporary end. Meng Huaining once again returned to the study with Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran.
"Brother Mo, Sister-in-law, shall I rearrange a new residence for you now?"
Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran knew Meng Huaining wanted to make their living environment more comfortable.
However, neither of them responded immediately.
If it weren't for the Cui family's deliberate harassment, He Zhiran felt Xi Ling Village was not bad.
When they first entered the village, she noticed that the northernmost part of the village had a very wide river, which meant there was no problem with the water supply here.
There was also such a vast farmland, possibly because Xi Ling Village did not have a large population, and much of the land was obviously left unused.
With so much unused land available, they could also make good use of it in the future without having to worry about not being able to buy farmland.
Xi Ling Village was backed by mountains, and there were several men with high martial arts skills in the family. It would be very convenient to eat some game in the future.
What's more, she also wanted to take advantage of the seeds in her space to create an extraordinary fruit garden.
Considering all these factors, Xi Ling Village was a very suitable place for them to live.
Now that Meng Huaining has come to Yun City as the county prefect, he has dealt with County Magistrate Cui on the very first day. The Cui family must know that their backer has fallen, so they would also have to keep a low profile.
Mo Jiuye liked Xi Ling Village because it was located in a remote place with mountains and waters. As long as they build a good house there next spring, it would be great for the family to live a carefree life there away from worldly affairs.
After the couple discussed their ideas with each other, Mo Jiuye spoke up to reply to Meng Huaining.
"Brother Meng, my wife and I both feel that Xi Ling Village is good, so there is no need to rearrange the residence."
Seeing his sincere attitude without trying to be polite with him, Meng Huaining stood up and said,
"Since this is the case, I will accompany Brother Mo and Sister-in-law to take a look and see what the environment there is like."
In fact, both Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran knew that Meng Huaining accompanying them was not just to take a look at Xi Ling Village.
He wanted to help establish prestige for his relatives and let those villagers know clearly that they were closely related to the county prefect. So if anyone wanted to make things difficult or squeeze them in the future, they would have to think twice.
The two of them did not object to this.
Although they were not afraid of the villagers making trouble, who would dislike a comfortable life?
Mo Jiuye stood up with his fist and said, "Then we'll have to trouble Brother Meng."
Meng Huaining gestured for them to go ahead. He followed Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran out of the study.
In order to make a bigger scene, he also ostentatiously rode a tall horse and brought more than a dozen officers with him.
As soon as the group left the front door of the county government office, Henry ran over.
"Ms. He Zhiran, we haven't set the time and place to meet tomorrow yet."
When He Zhiran heard this, she slapped her forehead.
She really blamed herself for this. She was in a hurry to catch up with Meng Huaining just now and neglected this matter.
She smiled and replied to Henry in English, "Mr. Henry, shall we meet at the front door of the county government office at around 10 am tomorrow?"
Facing the foreigner, He Zhiran did not mention the time in shichens. She just saw a pocket watch chain on Henry's chest, so she could deduce that Henry told time with clocks and watches.
Henry nodded repeatedly, "Good, it's settled then. We have an appointment at 10 am tomorrow morning. It's a promise."
After seeing Henry leave, Meng Huaining ordered the group to set off for Xi Ling Village.
On the way there, Meng Huaining rode alongside the mule cart and chatted with Mo Jiuye to carefully inquire about the situation in Xi Ling Village.
He thus learned that Cui's clansmen were also rampant tyrants in Xi Ling Village.
Meng Huaining already had plans to deal with this. If there was time today, he would dismiss the Cui family members from their official positions and elect a suitable village chief later on.
At that time, it was already shen hour in the afternoon. Winter days were shorter, so Mo Jiuye was worried Five would have an outbreak and urged the mule cart to its fastest speed.
Naturally, Meng Huaining had no trouble keeping up while riding his horse at such a speed.
However, those officers had a miserable time. In order not to fall behind, they ran almost all the way until Mo Jiuye slowed down the mule cart as they approached Xi Ling Village.
The officers were gasping for breath but still did not dare to utter a word of complaint in front of Meng Huaining.
Not only that, they had to line up in neat rows with the two in front banging gongs and shouting to clear the way.
"The county prefect is here. All irrelevant people must make way quickly..."
It had to be said that when Meng Huaining entered Xi Ling Village, he put on quite an impressive show.
The villagers had never seen such a spectacle before. Hearing the sounds, they hurried back into their own yards one after another.
In the past, the highest ranked official to visit Xi Ling Village was County Magistrate Cui. It would always be Cui family members coming out to greet them.
So in the minds of these villagers, when the county prefect came here, it should still be Cui family members coming out to greet him.
And that was indeed the case. The Cui family members who did not yet know that County Magistrate Cui had been dismissed all ran out when they heard the commotion outside.
Village Chief Cui walked in the middle of the crowd. Seeing Meng Huaining, he immediately knelt down.
"Your humble servants pay their respects, My Lord."
However, Meng Huaining made no indication for them to stand up.
The Cui family kowtowed on the ground for a long time but did not hear County Prefect ask them to rise. Some cautiously glanced around with the corners of their eyes.
When they took a look, they saw that the two Mo family members were actually standing beside the county prefect!
When faced with this situation, the Cui family immediately had a bad premonition.
Especially Village Chief Cui. He had originally planned to plead with the county prefect on behalf of himself and his clansmen who were beaten today after the formal greeting.
But what did he see?
He saw that the two culprits who beat people up were actually standing side by side with the county prefect.
Being able to stand side by side with the county prefect was enough to explain one problem.
That was that the county prefect knew these two people and had a close relationship with them.
With this thought, Village Chief Cui clearly felt cold air rushing from the crown of his head. At the same time, his body shuddered involuntarily.
Meng Huaining still showed no intention of asking them to get up. He was in a hurry to see the situation of Mo's family and had Mo Jiuye lead the way, completely ignoring the Cui family as he walked towards the back of the village.
Seeing the county prefect leaving, the Cui family members were in an awkward situation of not knowing whether to get up or remain kneeling.
In the end, Village Chief Cui boldly made a decision for them to get up and follow the county prefect to take a look.
Just in case those exiled people were speaking ill of them behind their backs to the county prefect, they could still find a chance to refute.
On the way to the foot of the mountain, they would pass the Zhao and Zhou families.
Although those people did not dare to come out, with such a high ranked official in the village, they would naturally crouch on top of the walls to watch.
(Side note: Will detoxify Five tomorrow.)
