Chapter 32 That day, he adored this "sister"...

Meng Yuanxiao was fiddling with a small bamboo sheep in his hand when he casually said, "By the way, Niu Niu said that Lin Yu once went to her house on behalf of Registrar Xu to convey a message to Madam Ye."

"The moment I saw him, I felt something was off about him. He works for Registrar Xu, so he must be involved in the matter of the Ye family's land being seized, right?"

Cui Xintang paused for a moment, then mumbled, "Probably."

Meng Yuanxiao said indignantly, "They're so bad at such a young age. When we get back to the capital, Brother Tang, you should report the Xu family's evil deeds to the Princess and have the court arrest them all and behead them."

"..."

Meng Yuanxiao said a few more words, but did not hear Cui Xintang respond. She looked up and saw that his brows were slightly furrowed, his smile was faint, and he was looking at her as if he was thinking about something.

He seemed visibly distracted. Meng Yuanxiao asked, puzzled, "Brother Tang, what's wrong? Have you run into trouble with work?"

“It’s alright,” Cui Xintang said. “Yuanyuan doesn’t need to worry about official business in the government office.”

Meng Yuanxiao felt strange. After thinking for a moment, she dropped what she was holding, got off the couch, and ran to him in her shoes.

"Yunping County is quite fun. Let's go out for a stroll and relax."

"...Didn't you just get back?"

Meng Yuanxiao smiled and said, "How can shopping with other people compare to shopping with you, Brother Tang?"

Having said that, she wrapped herself in a cloak, pulled him out, and left.

Having bought almost everything, the two strolled aimlessly through the streets. Meng Yuanxiao remained in high spirits, looking here and there, chattering away with Cui Xintang.

As they strolled from one end of the street to the other, where there were fewer people, Meng Yuanxiao asked, "Brother Tang, is there something you want to tell me?"

He had been absent-minded since earlier, and she naturally noticed it.

Cui Xintang looked down at her for a moment, then suddenly said, "The Ye family is gone."

Meng Yuanxiao had just taken a bite of a candied hawthorn when he heard this and was stunned. "What?"

She had a hawthorn in her mouth, her cheeks were bulging, and there was a little bit of light yellow maltose stuck to her lips.

Cui Xintang raised his hand and removed the candy crystal from her lips, remaining silent without answering.

Meng Yuanxiao suddenly realized that the candied hawthorn in her mouth wasn't sweet anymore.

She swallowed the candied hawthorn in her mouth, opened her mouth, and after a long while asked, "Mrs. Ye... what happened to her?"

Cui Xintang paused for a moment, "Early yesterday morning, a woman from Huai Shu Village who was washing clothes found Ye's body in the Nanhe River. It had been washed to the side of a willow tree. When she was found, she was already lifeless."

Beside the willow trees by the South River.

Meng Yuanxiao suddenly remembered that Mao had said that Ye's uncle's body was found next to that willow tree.

Also, there was that sentence Li's sister-in-law said: "I don't know why, but it seems like Ye Shi doesn't want to live her life anymore."

She suddenly felt a tightness in her chest; she had many questions she wanted to ask, but they were all stuck in her throat, and she couldn't make a sound for a moment.

Cui Xintang looked at her and said, "Also yesterday morning, more than ten members of the Wang clan in Huai Shu Village all lost their lives."

"Someone discovered that Ye had drowned and ran to report to the Wang clan chief, but they couldn't get through to the Wang clan chief's house. Finally, they realized something was wrong, climbed over the wall, and found that the Wang clan chief and his family had died violently."

"Someone put rat poison in the water vat of the Sun village chief's house. When the Wang clan chief's daughter-in-law got up to cook rice in the morning, it was still dark and she did not notice the strange thing in the water vat. She used the water in the vat to cook the rice."

Meng Yuanxiao suddenly recalled Ye's words from that night: "It's just a few rats. I'll wipe out that whole nest of snakes and rats first thing tomorrow morning."

Her pretty face turned deathly pale. "So, in the middle of the night, Ye climbed over the wall into the Wang clan patriarch's house, poisoned the water vat, then went back and handed Niu Niu over to us before throwing herself into the river?"

"Um."

Meng Yuanxiao's eyes suddenly reddened. That day, she only wanted to finish talking with Madam Ye as soon as possible and leave, not wanting to cause trouble for Brother Tang.

But now, upon careful consideration, it is clear that Ye's words that day were telling her what would happen after her death.

Meng Yuanxiao suddenly regretted taking Niu Niu with him. If Niu Niu were still with him, Ye Shi wouldn't have had to take such a desperate step.

Her mind went blank, and tears streamed down her face. "Brother Tang, we could have helped the Ye family."

After saying that, she suddenly realized something, "Brother Tang, you expected this all along, didn't you?"

So when she said she wanted to take Niu Niu away, he clearly disagreed, but in the end he still agreed to her request.

He was clearly remorseful, and even... took this opportunity to go with the flow and let Ye Shi walk down a dead end.

Meng Yuanxiao's heart suddenly sank.

She stood there, tears clinging to her long eyelashes, her almond-shaped eyes filled with surprise, disbelief, and disappointment.

Cui Xintang's hands, hanging by his sides, tightened suddenly. After a moment of silence, he spoke in a hoarse voice, "The Ye family cannot survive."

From the moment Ms. Ye approached him, she left herself no way out.

He did not defend himself, but slowly said, "Only when the Ye family and the Wang family are dead can this matter be exposed, instead of dying silently like Wang Dalang did back then."

He had indeed found some dirt on the Xu family in the past few days, but the evidence was clearly insufficient. The Xu family had deep roots in Yunping County and was protected by Grand Tutor Xu, so the Xu family might not be unable to extricate themselves.

For example, they could have pushed Registrar Xu out to save the Xu family. Given the Xu family's capabilities, they certainly could have done it.

Therefore, it is almost impossible for him to completely bring down the Xu family based solely on the incriminating evidence he has.

The massacre of the Wang family was a major case that even the Xu family, with its vast influence, could not suppress. This allowed the imperial court to use it as a starting point to unravel the mystery.

Cui Xintang did not deny his own selfish desires. For him, it was better to expose this matter in this way than to directly break ties with the Xu family.

He just didn't dare tell Yuanyuan this.

No matter how cold-hearted he was, he couldn't help but be moved when he learned of Ye's death.

So he returned from the county government office early, but found it difficult to speak to Yuanyuan.

Seeing Yuanyuan looking at him like that, he felt a tightness in his chest. He opened his mouth but didn't know how to comfort her. He remained silent for a moment, then raised his hand to wipe away her tears. Under the cover of his cloak, he pulled her into his arms.

Meng Yuanxiao's slender body was tense. Cui Xintang kissed the top of her head and gently stroked her back.

When the person in his arms was no longer so tense, he leaned down slightly and whispered in her ear, "Before leaving the capital, I never imagined that Yunping County, which is only the size of a palm, would have so much unbearable trouble. Ye Shi is just one person Yuanyuan has met, but there are many others like Ye Shi."

“The Wang family deserved to die. Brother Tang promises you that he will not let the Ye family die in vain. Brother Tang will definitely take back everything that belongs to the Ye family and Wang Dalang for Niu Niu.”

Meng Yuanxiao was taken aback.

Since they were outside and the two of them were attracting attention, they couldn't say much.

After crying her fill, Meng Yuanxiao pushed him away without a word and turned to leave.

Cui Xintang followed behind her, and the two walked back to the inn in silence. When they entered, they saw Qingzhu waiting in the lobby.

Upon seeing the two, Qingzhu stepped forward and said, "Master, the head of the Ministry of Revenue was looking for you just now. He has something to report."

Cui Xintang stopped and subconsciously looked at Meng Yuanxiao. Meng Yuanxiao's eyes were red, and she looked at him with pursed lips.

She didn't speak, but Cui Xintang understood what she meant and knew that she was worried about him.

His heart calmed down a little. He reached out and took off the hood of her cloak, tidied her wind-blown hair, and said softly, "It's alright. We'll set off back to the capital in two days. Since the Princess still needs me, she will naturally protect me and won't want your husband to be ruined by the Xu family like this."

Meng Yuanxiao's tense expression eased a little. She pursed her lips, glanced at him again, and then turned and went upstairs first.

Once her figure disappeared upstairs, Cui Xintang turned away and stepped into Qingzhu's room.

Qingzhu quickly invited the head of the Ministry of Revenue to come. The head of the Ministry of Revenue wanted to discuss with him the matter of tax collection in Yunping County. After the two finished discussing official business, the head of the Ministry of Revenue left.

Qingzhu then handed the two letters to Cui Xintang and whispered a few words of advice.

The report was about the information their people had gathered in several places in Yunping County over the past few days. After listening to the report, Cui Xintang opened the letter and read it carefully before casually burning it to ashes on an oil lamp.

He leaned back in his armchair and remained silent for a moment. Qingzhu thought he was going to ask something, but unexpectedly he asked, "How much benefit has the Lin family demanded from the Cui family in the past two years?"

He never interfered in matters of the inner quarters, unaware that his mother had been secretly supporting Lin Yu and feeding the Lin family.

Lin Yu paused for a moment, then reported truthfully, "My lord, my men have inquired with the neighbors of the Lin family, and indeed, some people have visited Young Master Lin several times and given that family quite a few benefits."

Lin Yu was sent to Yunping County at the beginning of last year. Cui Xintang did not simply abandon him. At that time, he ordered people to purchase 100 mu of land in Yunping County and register it under the name of the Lin family. The output of these 100 mu of land was more than enough to cover Lin Yu's school expenses.

They gave the Lin family another sum of money as a reward and to shut them up.

Qingzhu whispered, "Besides the land you had someone buy back then, the Cui family has sent several sums of money since then. Before we arrived in Yunping County this time, the Lin family had just bought a farm on the outskirts of the county town and were going to move there."

Cui Xintang's expression turned cold. After a moment's thought, he said, "After we leave, have someone stay behind and retrieve the estate that the Cui family just gave them."

The Lin family is greedy and insatiable, but their mother, Wu, is shrewd and won't let others profit from her for no reason. She must have tampered with the land, so it won't be difficult to get it back.

Qingzhu paused for a moment, then blurted out without thinking, "That Lin family is so greedy. If we make them give it back, Young Master Lin will inevitably suffer at their hands. I'm afraid that in the future..."

Cui Xintang gave him a cold glance, and Qingzhu immediately understood. He quickly smiled ingratiatingly, "Young Master Lin certainly deserves to suffer. But what if he writes to the Lin family to complain?"

Cui Xintang didn't care. "Then let him ask the Lin family for it. The Cui family has already given him enough."

"If we want to take back the estate, what should we do with it?"

Thinking of his promise to Meng Yuanxiao today, Cui Xintang simply said, "For now, I'll have someone take care of it."

After saying that, he stood up and said, "Stop Lin Yu first thing tomorrow morning. I have something to ask him."

"Yes, Master."

The next morning, Cui Xintang left the post station early, but instead of going to the county government, he went to the teahouse where he had been before.

Qingzhu quickly brought the person over, but the person who had previously been eager to get close to Cui Xintang was unusually timid and hesitant to come in today.

Cui Xintang sat in the armchair, her long legs crossed, and gave him a cold glance. "Come in."

Lin Yu swallowed hard and forced himself to come in. Although he was scared, he still had a smile on his face. "Brother Cui, what do you need me for? I, I should go to the county school. If I'm late again, the teacher will punish me."

“It’s alright,” Cui Xintang said calmly, his expression revealing neither joy nor anger. “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to study? If you don’t want to go, then you won’t go in the future.”

Lin Yu's expression stiffened. Although he had only met this "brother-in-law" a few times, he felt a bit afraid of him deep down.

Before the Lin family's misfortune, he had just been brought from his hometown to the capital, where he was mocked as a country bumpkin by the young masters and bullied at school.

At that time, his sister had just become engaged to Cui Xintang, and his future brother-in-law was very famous among the young men in the capital. He was young and ignorant at the time, so he had the idea of ​​taking advantage of Cui's power.

He directly called him "brother-in-law" in front of outsiders, and even deliberately skipped school to go and wait for him in front of the Imperial College. However, when he did manage to catch him, Cui Xintang didn't pay much attention to him.

Until that time after school, he was bullied again and got into a fight. He was younger and at a disadvantage, and was beaten on top of others, which was witnessed by Cui Xintang.

That day, for the first time, he paid him any attention, stopped, and let Qingzhu pull the man away. He was able to escape, pounce on the man, knock him down, and straddle him, finally getting his revenge.

He became furious, his fists landing repeatedly on the man's face, leaving him bruised and swollen.

Cui Xintang had been observing coldly the whole time, and only spoke calmly when the time was right, "Alright."

That day, he admired this "brother-in-law" so much that he immediately obediently got up from the person and ran to him.

It was rare for Cui Xintang to ask him, "Why did you get into a fight?"

He wiped the blood from his face, his heart leaping with joy. "It's nothing, I just find them an eyesore."

Cui Xintang seemed to know something, and said only: "Just focus on your studies in school, and don't worry about anything else."

"I understand, brother-in-law," he grinned and obediently replied.

But when he uttered the word "brother-in-law," Cui Xintang's expression turned cold.

He was so frightened that he dared not speak again.

That day, he tried to push his luck, using the excuse of wanting to ride in Cui Xintang's carriage to get closer to him.

But Cui Xintang ignored his words, coldly leaving behind the words, "Think about how you're going to explain this to Lord Lin," before turning away and leaving him standing there.