Old Lady Mo and her husband went to the main hall. As expected, Old Lady Mo had already set up the offering table for the Kitchen God, and the portrait of the Kitchen God painted by Fifth Elder was also hung on the wall.
At this time, the sisters-in-law also came to call He Zhiran. They had already prepared the ingredients and were just waiting for her to start cooking.
Although they had always lived together as a big family, for the Mo Family, celebrating a festival so formally was still He Zhiran’s first time since crossing over.
She was not very familiar with some of the customs here, but she also had an attitude of following local customs and tried her best to integrate into the family.
Today's ingredients were still purchased by He Zhiran, not only that, but also the game caught by Liang Hao and the others from the mountains.
There were too many dishes that needed to be cooked. Even though the sisters-in-law had prepared all the ingredients in advance, He Zhiran was still busy for about an hour.
When all the food was cooked, the sisters-in-law very tacitly took some of it and went to offer it to the portrait of the Kitchen God.
At the same time, Mo Jiuye also took the repackaged Maotai liquor poured by his wife and placed a cup in front of the portrait of Kitchen God.
Everything was ready. Led by Old Lady Mo, the family members began to sincerely burn incense, hoping that the Kitchen God would bless the Mo Family to be safe and sound in the future.
Just as the Kitchen God worship had just ended, it was already evening.
Everyone thought that after Mo Chuhan, who worked in the yamen, came back, they would start dinner.
Soon, Mo Chuhan returned, but unexpectedly, Meng Huaining was with him.
Meng Huaining did not come alone, he also brought a lot of yamen runners.
After many days of sorting out, the Cui Wen case had been settled.
Cui Wen was extremely evil and was directly sentenced to immediate decapitation. His family members and clansmen involved in the case also received due punishment.
The reason why the case took so long to process was mainly because Cui Wen and his clansmen committed too many crimes. Just sorting out the dossier took almost ten days.
Meng Huaining’s main purpose in coming to Xi Ling Village today was to join the Mo Family for the festivities and celebrate the New Year's Eve with them. In addition, it was to distribute the fines confiscated from the Cui Family to the victims of the Zhao and Zhou families in proportion.
Not only that, the land that the Cui Family had fraudulently obtained from the Zhao and Zhou families over the years had to be returned in full.
This move once again caused the Cui Family to wail.
They had sold farmland and barely paid the fines. Now they had to compensate a large amount of farmland to the Zhao and Zhou families.
This would instantly turn them into penniless people, and they would even have no livelihood for the future.
However, the law would not sympathize with those who had done evil before. If you did something wrong, you had to pay the proper price.
The Zhao and Zhou families did not expect that they could still get compensation.
They thought that with the backing of the powerful Cui Family gone, it would be good enough if they no longer had to suffer oppression from the Cui Family. Unexpectedly, the honorable county magistrate was so wise and brave that he even claimed compensation for them.
After receiving the compensation, the members of the Zhao and Zhou families kept kowtowing to Meng Huaining outside the Mo Family's yard.
Meng Huaining immediately ordered Meng An to appease these people. He had already smelled the aroma of the food and did not want to deal with the commoners at this time.
Meng Huaining was invited into the main hall by the three Mo brothers. After taking his seat, the women brought out the dishes one after another.
Undoubtedly, with such good ingredients and He Zhiran's cooking skills, this meal made everyone extremely satisfied.
The mellow Maotai liquor was even more delicious to Meng Huaining. If he could eat such food and drink every day, even an immortal would not change places with him.
The Mo Family women did not know that Meng Huaining would come today. It would be fine if he came alone, but he also brought so many yamen runners.
The food and wine prepared at home was simply not enough for so many people. Fortunately, the sisters-in-law had prepared dumplings in advance to entertain those yamen runners.
No matter what happened before, they were all Mo Chuhan’s subordinates now, not to mention that today was New Year's Eve. It would be inappropriate to let them leave with empty stomachs after arriving at the Mo Family home.
Now Mo Chuhan was the head of these yamen runners. With the county magistrate present at the Mo Family today, even if the Mo Family did not entertain them, they would not dare to say anything.
Unexpectedly, they could even enjoy a delicious dumpling meal here.
Moreover, the taste of the Mo Family dumplings was simply better than even the famous restaurants in the city.
The yamen runners ate their fill and were also filled with complex emotions, especially those who had previously tried to play tricks on the Mo Family to help Cui Wen. They felt particularly apologetic.
No matter what, things had happened, and now regret was useless. They could only make up for their past mistakes by being loyal to Chief Constable Mo in the future.
It was not until the hour of the dog watch that the New Year's Eve banquet began to clear the table. It was so late that Meng Huaining was expected to bid farewell.
Unexpectedly, he was attracted by a sentence from Mo Hanyue.
The surprise in Mo Hanyue's voice could not be concealed at all.
"Ninth Sister-in-Law, come and see quickly, my long-eared rabbit has given birth..."
He Zhiran was cleaning up bowls and chopsticks with the sisters-in-law in the kitchen. Hearing the voice of the young aunt, she immediately ran out.
"Hanyue, I'm coming."
Hearing that the long-eared rabbit had given birth, the other sisters-in-law also threw down what they were doing and ran after He Zhiran to see.
The long-eared rabbit was much larger than an ordinary rabbit, and its appearance was very lovely. If Mo Hanyue was not reluctant to part with it, they would have wanted to ask her for one to raise long ago.
Now that the long-eared rabbit had finally given birth, it meant that they could also have their own little pets.
Meng Huaining was not the kind of person who liked to join in the fun, but today he was a little abnormal.
He had been inexplicably attracted by Mo Hanyue at first sight. This young girl looked bright and lively, and her temperament was not pretentious like the young ladies of wealthy families.
The elders at home had asked him before about what kind of wife he wanted in the future.
At that time, he had answered very simply that he wanted to find one that he felt was suitable and did not put on the airs of a young lady.
Although his requirements were not high, it was not easy to find someone who could meet both conditions.
Although the Meng Family had declined a lot since the death of their grandfather, they were still a prestigious scholarly family. There were still some thresholds when it came to choosing a wife.
Even if Meng Huaining was willing, girls from commoner families might not be able to pass the elders at home.
Mo Hanyue was different. Although the Mo Family was exiled by the court, Mo Hanyue grew up in a prominent family since childhood and received an education that was incomparable to that of commoners.
Especially the old lady of the Mo Family. She herself came from a prestigious family, and the daughters she personally taught could not fail to be outstanding.
Moreover, these Mo Family women all seemed knowledgeable and reasonable. Even when faced with the tragic circumstances of their husband's death in battle and the family's exile, they still maintained an optimistic and positive attitude.
How could girls who grew up in this environment not be optimistic and positive?
