Peng Si blushed immediately. Before he could say anything, Hua Liufang had already straightened his disheveled clothes, walked behind him, put her arm around his waist, and re-tied the belt around his waist.
The weather was already hot, and Hua Liufang's approach made Peng Si's scalp tingle, and he swallowed hard.
By the time he realized what was happening, Hua Liufang had already straightened his clothes. She even patted his shoulder affectionately and said with a smile, "When you're out and about, how can you be disheveled and invite disrespect?"
Peng Si swallowed hard and nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
Then he unfurled his folding fan and ran away quickly.
Hua Liufang saw that his ears were so red they looked like they were about to bleed, and she slightly raised the corners of her lips.
After Fu Changyi's wife and daughter were kidnapped and left the city, the kidnappers went straight to the dock. The mother and her two children were put on a boat and left Qinghe that same day.
After handing over all his affairs, Fu Changyi, disregarding the Cui family's objections, insisted on leaving the city to find his wife.
The Cui family, of course, wanted to maintain appearances by having him report the case first, and then having the officials from the yamen (government office) take them to search for the suspect.
They searched until nightfall, and when everyone was exhausted, someone suddenly realized something.
Fu Changyi has disappeared!
The Cui family immediately understood what was happening and sent someone back to report to the clan chief. The clan chief, Cui, was furious that he had been outmaneuvered by a junior, and sent someone to check on the Fu family.
This visit was shocking; the Fu family mansion was filled with unfamiliar faces. Upon further inquiry, they learned that the Fu family's house had already been sold!
The buyer was none other than the Peng family!
"Outrageous! Outrageous!" Chief Cui couldn't accept it. Why hadn't anyone come to inform him that the house had been transferred through the government office?
It must be Hua Liufang!
That guy is in cahoots with the Peng family!
Thinking of this, Chief Cui's face turned cold and he ordered all the clansmen to find Fu Changyi at all costs!
If he's gone, what will happen to the Fu family's businesses?
Not to mention that no one in the Cui family could take over, even if someone could, the Cui clan chief would only have Fu Changyi nominally take over in order to avoid being investigated by those above.
Even if the Cui family wanted to, they had no legitimate reason to pocket those assets!
Therefore, we must find Fu Changyi!
Meanwhile, Peng Xueying and her second brother Peng Yuji were in the government office. The two of them were squatting under the eaves, eating watermelons without any regard for their image, and competing to see who could spit the watermelon seeds the farthest.
When Hua Liufang arrived and saw this scene, her eyelids twitched violently.
"Second brother, younger brother Peng."
Peng Si looked up at him and snorted.
"Why do you call my second brother 'brother'?"
Peng Er slapped him on the back in an annoyed tone, "Who told you to always bully Little Flower when you were little?"
Peng Si stuck out his tongue, seemingly unconcerned.
"Where did I bully him?" All I did was draw a turtle on his homework and eat his snack while he was sleeping.
However, Hua Liufang was generous and never held grudges against his trivial matters.
"The Cui family has sent people." Hua Liufang's voice was calm, but very serious.
After finishing the last bite of melon, Peng Si took out a handkerchief to wipe the juice off his hands and suddenly asked his brother, "Brother, we've eaten so much melon, what are we going to do if we need to go to the toilet when we start fighting later?"
Peng Er glared at him and cursed, "You idiot!"
Hua Liufang laughed out loud and stepped into the house to change into some more comfortable clothes.
The county government office was locked, and no matter how much the Cui family knocked, no one answered.
An old beggar standing guard at the door yawned and said, "Master Hua knew you were coming tonight, so he asked me to tell you that he has gone on a long trip. If you have anything to say, you can talk to him when he returns tomorrow."
The Cui family refused to believe it, and were even more convinced that Fu Changyi's death was inextricably linked to Hua Liufang.
Immediately, some strong men from the Cui family went to ram the door, and others threw excrement into the yamen.
The yamen runners, who were pretending to be dead, couldn't stand the stench and hid inside, too afraid to go out. But the excrement hit the paper windows, and soon the room was filled with that disgusting smell.
Everyone covered their mouths and noses while continuing to play dead.
"This Cui family is really going too far!" a yamen runner said angrily.
He was a native of Qinghe and knew how powerful the Cui family was in Qinghe before he became a yamen runner; after becoming a yamen runner, he found the job even more difficult.
When handling cases, whenever they encountered anyone related to the Cui family, even if they were just a servant of the Cui family, they had to be humble and subservient.
Going against the Cui family never yields any good. After all, they have deep roots in this area, and their kinship ties are so complex that they are impossible to unravel.
Fortunately, their elders said that their hard times would be over after tonight!
"This whole mess has really ruined our county government!"
Not only did the county government suffer, but people also threw excrement and urine at the entrance of the Peng family's shop. However, the Peng family's employees weren't locally hired. They were loyal servants and thugs brought by Peng Er and Peng Si; how could they possibly just obediently let themselves be bullied without fighting back!
After the Cui family's first wave of attacks ended, the people in the shop rushed out with long sticks and pinned the Cui family members to the ground and beat them.
These men were all burly and strong, while the Cui family members were just ordinary people who usually bullied others. Now, facing real thugs, they were no match for them. Soon, the Cui family members were forced into the pile of excrement and urine they had splattered.
"Damn it, if you guys don't clean this shop up properly today, I'll make you eat all this filth!"
The Cui family had never suffered such a great loss before. They say even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake, but today they've been utterly defeated!
The farce didn't end until dawn. At the county government office, Chief Cui led his men to break down the gate, but Hua Liufang was indeed not inside.
The Cui family members looked grim. As dawn broke, Hua Liufang rode back from the city gate with a group of yamen runners. Seeing the mess in the county government office, his face darkened.
"Chief Cui, what do you mean by this! Our superiors and we searched for people outside the city all night, and you just bring people and smash up our county government office like this!"
Chief Cui was fully aware that he had been tricked by this junior!
Looking for someone? He wasn't like this at all yesterday when they looked for him. Now he's saying he's been looking for someone all night? Who believes that!
"Has Lord Hua been found?"
“If they were found, they wouldn’t have come back,” Hua Liufang said calmly. “The clues provided by Chief Cui are still too few. I have done my best. Now, the person has probably already fled to other counties. If you want to find them, I need to write a document to inform the local county magistrate and ask for their assistance.”
Chief Cui's face was extremely ugly, but at the same time he knew that he had no choice but to suffer this injustice in silence.
Immediately, he waved his hand and said, "Let's go! Lord Hua, there's plenty of time for us to meet again!"
Hua Liufang chuckled lightly. Peng Si had already left, taking with him the memorial he had presented to the Emperor.
A few days later, the Censorate listed all of the Cui family's crimes in the area and impeached the Cui family at the Grand Court Assembly for abusing their power, disregarding the law, oppressing county officials, exploiting the people, and destroying the court.
These crimes enraged Yuwen Wuji, who immediately dispatched officials to thoroughly investigate the matter.
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