Chapter 190: Disposal (1)
Editor: Atlas Studios
Having slept well, Mu Yangling only opened her eyes when the sun reached her butt.
The moment she opened her eyes, she met Bowen’s bright eyes. Mu Yangling reached out and slowly pushed his face away, before turning over to continue sleeping.
“Sister!” Bowen shouted and pressed himself against Mu Yangling. He shouted in her ear, “Sister, get up quickly. It’s so lively outside.”
Mu Yangling opened her eyes and asked, “How is it lively?”
“There are many people surrounding our door. There are also many people kneeling outside, begging Father to let those people go. Father doesn’t care and doesn’t allow us to go out.”
Mu Yangling yawned and slowly got up. “Father is waiting for me.”
Mu Bowen puffed out his chest and said, “Father said that I’m a man and asked me to discuss with you how to deal with this matter.”
“Then what do you think we should do?” Mu Yangling asked as she put on her clothes.
Without thinking, Mu Bowen said, “Send them to the officials. Since they’re thieves, send them to the officials and let them receive their sentence!”
“No, think again.”
Mu Bowen frowned. “Why not? Teacher said that thieves and robbers should be dealt with by the authorities.”
“Because the government also has a way of dealing with the world, and because the officials aren’t the highest authority in this area.” Mu Yangling sat cross-legged in front of Bowen and said, “Let me ask you, if these thieves are sent to the officials, will the officials definitely sentence him?”
“Of course. They were caught red-handed.”
“Father is a soldier, and those people are civilians. The two sides have always been divided. Since Father and I were the ones who arrested them, they can very well accuse us of kidnapping them randomly. They can also argue that they were just passing by our pastoral area. It might work as long as their families are willing to bribe the officials with some money. Alright, even if the world isn’t so dark and we meet a good official who’s upright and honest. We’re naturally happy to see him sentencing the other party according to the law, but their families will hate us to the core. I can be more careful when we go out in the future. However, we didn’t arrest these thieves to send them to the officials, but to prevent our pastoral area from being robbed again. We want to send the message that even if Father isn’t at home, our Mu family has the ability to protect ourselves and the Mu family’s assets.”
Mu Yangling stroked Bowen’s head seriously and said, “This move emphasizes intimidation, not punishment.” Otherwise, Mu Yangling wouldn’t have let those people off so easily and would certainly have sent them to the officials.
But not this time.
Bowen seemed to understand.
Mu Yangling jumped off the brick bed and said, “Alright, follow me closely later. Our uncles should already be working in the fields. In a while, go and invite them over and let everyone see that although my Mu family is the only family bearing this surname in this area, we have a lot of relatives and friends. We do have support!”
Bowen replied loudly, “Aye!”
Mu Yangling slowly washed up and ate her breakfast before sitting on the chair to drink tea.
Shu Wanniang took the time to look up at her daughter. Seeing her behavior, she couldn’t help but purse her lips and smile. Seeing that this child could hold her temper, she realized she had been worrying in vain this morning.
Mu Shi was sitting in the house reading his son’s homework. Seeing that his daughter was ready, he nodded slightly. “Since you’re done, go out and deal with it. I’ll wait in the house.”
“Father, just watch!” Mu Yangling held Mu Bowen’s hand as she walked out.
The people kneeling outside the door were the family members of the five guys caught last night. They had heard the news and rushed over to plead for leniency. They did want to release the five people on the ground first, but they did not have the guts because there were many people from Chenggu Garrison guarding outside the door. If they really dared to untie the rope, those five people would probably be beaten to death.
There was no need to pay for killing a thief.
When Mu Yangling opened the door, the people kneeling outside looked up and was instantly disappointed upon seeing Mu Yangling. However, they still knelt down and kowtowed. “Young lady, I beg you. Let your father and mother come out and talk to us. Our family head knows his mistake. He won’t dare to do it again. Please don’t report it to the officials.”
Mu Yangling said, “It’s useless to beg my father and mother for this matter. I make the decisions for my family now, and I’m also in charge of this matter. Your family head came to my rabbit shed in the middle of the night to steal rabbits. To think you came looking for me before I could settle the score with you. You’re quite well-informed, aren’t you?”
The person kneeling on the ground was stunned. The surrounding villagers shouted, “Auntie, Ah Ling is right. Miss Ah Ling is in charge of the Mu family now. It’s useless even if you beg her parents. You have to beg her!”
When Thief A’s wife heard this, tears immediately flowed down her face. She crawled forward and wanted to hug Mu Yangling’s leg, not minding that the latter was dodging her. She cried, “Miss Mu, you’re a magnanimous person. Please spare our family head. He’s usually very honest and was merely blinded by greed last night. Please spare him this time. He won’t dare to do it again. Our family depends on him for our livelihood. If you send him to the officials, we won’t be able to live.”
“That’s right, that’s right. It’s the same for my family…” The family members of the other five men all cried.
Mu Yangling said, “My family also has elders and children. At least you have a man to rely on. My father works in the military camp and might not even come back once every few months. Why don’t you pity me? Do those rabbits belong to my family? They belong to Little General and Young Master Fan. If we lose Little General and Young Master Fan’s things, can our family still live? Really, you should be pitying me instead!”
Mu Yangling snorted coldly. “You want me to let them go? Impossible! If I let these five go, who knows how many thieves will show up tomorrow. In any case, after stealing from us, you may flee from this place and change your names to start anew. However, our Mu family’s roots are rooted here. Today, I want to make an example out of you.”
Thief A and the others’ expressions changed drastically as they whimpered at Mu Yangling.
Mu Yangling stepped on him and snorted. “Now you know how to regret it? Why didn’t you feel this way earlier? Judging from your wife’s dressing, you don’t look like you’re starving. Why did you become a thief? Are you bullying our Mu family because we don’t have any backing? Today, I’ll let everyone know that although our Mu family is the only family bearing the surname Mu in the surrounding villages, our in-laws are all here. Bowen, go and invite my uncles over. Let these dog-eyed people see if our Mu family is easy to bully!”
“Aye!” Bowen replied loudly and turned to run. However, at the village entrance, he bumped into Liu Ting and the others who had come over together.
It turned out that Liu Ting had brought a few cousins over early in the morning to help build the straw hut. However, when he saw the situation in Chenggu Garrison from afar, he realized that the Mu family had attracted thieves last night. Without thinking, Liu Ting said to Liu Yuan, “Run back and tell my father to bring a few more people over. I’ll help Rocky. We can’t let them be bullied because they’re outnumbered.”
When Liu Yuan heard this, he immediately ran back to call for help.
However, Liu Daqian felt that they couldn’t just rely on just these few families. He went to Liu He to ask for more support. “Let’s gather the young adults in our Liu family who are at home and make a trip there together.”
“It’s only right for us to do so since Rocky has treated our Liu family well. I’ll go to each family to call for help now.”