When Pei Han woke up naturally, it was already mid-morning. He was surprised to find that Min Yueqing and Pei Ji were still asleep, so he looked out the window again at the sky.
Pei Han assumed that his wife and children had also gone to bed late the night before, so he got out of bed quietly.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he moved, Min Yueqing and Pei Ji on the inside of the bed also opened their eyes one after the other. Pei Ji even sat up abruptly. Hearing the noise, Pei Han turned his head and asked, "Did I wake you up?"
Pei Ji immediately replied, "Father, I woke up a long time ago. I only went back to sleep because I saw you were still sleeping."
Pei Han then understood. He smiled and put his arm around Pei Ji, saying, "Are you waiting for Father to get up together?"
Pei Ji nodded honestly and said, "Father, I waited for you for a long time yesterday, but you didn't come back. I even fell asleep waiting."
Pei Han hugged Pei Ji and kissed him deeply. "Yesterday, your father was doing something very important. This matter concerns whether the people here can live a peaceful life in the future, so I came back late. Can you understand your father?"
Pei Ji was a reasonable and obedient child. When he heard Pei Han explain to him earnestly, and that yesterday's events were so important, he immediately said, "I can, Daddy, I don't blame you anymore."
Min Yueqing, however, became interested and looked at Pei Han, asking, "Have you caught all the bandits?"
Pei Han was surprised by Min Yueqing's quick reaction and replied after a moment of astonishment, "Yes, all three dens in Sanping County have been shut down."
Upon hearing the word "bandits," Pei Ji couldn't help but say, "We also encountered bandits on our way here, but fortunately, Lai Fu and his men drove them away."
As soon as Pei Ji finished speaking, Pei Han's expression changed immediately, and the atmosphere around him instantly dropped to freezing point.
Pei Ji felt the arms holding him tighten suddenly, making his legs hurt. Pei Ji's face involuntarily scrunched up, and he pulled his legs closer together.
Seeing the two of them like this, Min Yueqing knew that Pei Han must have accidentally hurt the little one. She walked over to Pei Han and said, "Jinzhi, you scared Lele. Let go quickly."
Pei Han then realized he had used too much force. He quickly released some of his strength and used his other hand to support Pei Ji's legs. "Lele, is it hurting?"
Seeing that Pei Han had returned to normal, Pei Ji hugged Pei Han's neck and said, "It hurt a little just now, but it's fine now. Daddy, what happened to you?"
Pei Han gave a bitter laugh. "You encountered bandits on the road, but I didn't know. I'm not a good father, am I?"
Seeing his father unhappy, Pei Ji quickly said, "No, Father is fine. You just weren't there then. If you had been there, you would have protected us!"
Pei Han looked at the anxious expression on his son's face and sighed inwardly. When his wife and child were in danger, he wasn't there; wasn't that dereliction of duty?
Seeing this, Min Yueqing comforted her, saying, "One person's strength is limited. You have to take care of so many people, so naturally you don't have the spare energy to take care of us. But it's okay. Look, aren't we taking good care of ourselves? Now our family is together again, and that's the most important thing."
Pei Han freed one hand and squeezed Min Yueqing's soft palm. "You're right. The past can't be changed. From now on, our family must stay together and never be separated again."
Min Yueqing squeezed his hand back and nodded in agreement.
Pei Han, still angry, asked again, "Where did you encounter the bandits? Approximately how many were there? Did they have identification numbers?"
Min Yueqing answered truthfully: "On a mountain about five or six days away from here, there were about twenty or thirty people. They did not register their names. The two leaders were killed by my men, and the rest of the bandits escaped."
Hearing how dangerous the ordeal was, Pei Han felt a wave of fear wash over him again. He said fiercely, "One day, I will wipe out all the bandits in this area!"
Min Yueqing completely agreed with this point; she thought that with Pei Han's abilities, it was only a matter of time.
Filled with anger, Pei Han went to handle official business without even eating breakfast.
Pei Han's attitude toward these captured bandits was very clear.
The ringleader must be executed; otherwise, public anger will not be appeased. As for accomplices, anyone who has taken a life will pay with their life; those who only did odd jobs and did not commit any heinous acts will all go to jail and perform forced labor.
Simply sending them to jail would be too lenient for these wicked mountain bandits.
The patrol officers were happy today; wherever they went, they saw soldiers with beaming smiles. Just thinking about how the bandits who had committed so many atrocities for years had been caught by their own hands yesterday and thrown into prison, made them unable to suppress their smiles.
The young soldiers, in particular, were truly proud of themselves. With this achievement, they could all imagine the warm welcome they would receive from their families when they returned home.
Not only their family members, but everyone in the entire village would praise them, and might even marry their daughters to them.
The more they thought about it, the happier they became. They gathered in small groups, reminiscing about their heroic deeds the day before.
When Pei Han confirmed the punishment for the bandits, the atmosphere in the patrol office became even more heated. Watching the execution became a new topic of conversation, and some people even planned to invite their whole families to watch.
Pei Han sat at his desk writing a memorial to the court to report the victory. He recorded the process of capturing the mountain bandits and the number of people captured. As promised, he also reported all the soldiers who had made contributions in this operation and requested them to be commended.
Wu Dazhuang and the others were naturally grateful for Pei Han's actions, as they all knew that it was Pei Han's way of promoting and protecting them.
But deep down, they didn't really have high hopes for the imperial court's rewards. For so many years, their entire southwest region had been forgotten by the court, which had never made any mention of the banditry and poverty they had suffered.
If there's one good thing the imperial court did for Sanping County, it's undoubtedly sending a good official like Lord Pei.
Before Pei Han came to Sanping County, the previous inspectors and magistrates sent by the imperial court were either incompetent fools who only knew how to eat and drink but not how to manage affairs, or cowards who hid in their offices and dared not go out.
Even more terrifying is that some cowards bully the weak and fear the strong. At the mere mention of bandits approaching, they cower in fear of being killed. When there are no bandits, they prioritize pleasure, taking whatever they fancy from the villagers and robbing any pretty women they deem attractive.
These kinds of officials are more terrifying to the mountain people than bandits. When they are harmed by bandits, they at least have someone to hate and know how to take revenge. But when they are harmed by these cowardly officials who bully the weak, they have nowhere to seek redress.
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