Chapter 436: Chapter 436 Grand Arrival Chapter 436: Chapter 436 Grand Arrival The next day
After the village head had breakfast, he led the villagers of the whole village, standing under the scorching sun at the entrance of the village welcoming the county magistrate, until it was almost noon. Everyone was sweating profusely and straining their eyes in anticipation.
A large train of carriages finally appeared in the distance.
Everyone suddenly became excited…
“Look, look, the county magistrate has really appeared.”
“Oh my! Indeed, I’ve lived my whole life and never seen such a high-ranking official come to our village. This time, Mo Family Village has become famous all around the neighborhood.” An old man, drenched in sweat and grinning broadly, chuckled joyfully as if he had found gold.
The village head couldn’t stop smiling, his teeth bared and his eyes squinting: “Yes, it’s our past life’s fortune that the county magistrate could grace our village with his presence.”
In contrast to the villagers’ excitement, Xuexue remained calm. After all, she had been the Crown Princess Consort in her past life, often visiting the Imperial Palace, so a mere seventh rank low-ranking official really wasn’t much in her eyes.
“Clip-clop, clip-clop…!”
Carriages are not ox carts–they travel much faster. In the blink of an eye, they had reached them.
The carriage driver shouted, and the carriages slowly came to a halt.
Meanwhile, behind the carriages followed a long procession of Yamen Runners, about thirty or forty people in total, all of whom had run here following the magistrate’s carriage. Each of them was soaked with sweat and dripping wet–it was summer, after all, and not just from standing in the scorching sun like the magistrate’s carriage.
The villagers, just from standing at the village entrance waiting, were also drenched in sweat at this point.
The village head stretched his neck out anxiously.
The county magistrate pushed aside the carriage curtain with his hand, bent over, and prepared to disembark.
The village head quickly went forward with a cheerful grin, helping him slowly alight from the carriage: “County magistrate, you’ve finally come. Our whole village has been looking forward to your visit.”
The county magistrate glanced at the densely packed crowd and nodded in satisfaction.
“We pay respect to your honor.”
All of a sudden, the villagers simultaneously knelt down and saluted the county magistrate.
These were the instructions previously given by the village head, hence the repeated cautions.
Xuexue had already known that this moment would occur, so before the magistrate’s carriage arrived, she had pulled Big Bull behind a huge locust tree, and luckily, nobody noticed they hadn’t knelt.
“Good, good, good! Everyone, stand up.” The county magistrate said with a smile, for today he hadn’t come specifically to have them kneel; he had other matters to attend to as well.
“Thank you, your honor.”
The villagers all stood up.
The county magistrate looked around, not seeing Xuexue and Big Bull, and turned to ask the village head beside him, “Where is that young man who carried the tiger to the county town that day?”
“County magistrate, you must be talking about Big Bull, he was just here.” The village head turned and searched through the crowd, but despite a long search, he couldn’t spot him. He then asked the nearby villagers, “Have any of you seen Big Bull?”
“He was just here a moment ago,” the villagers responded one after another.
While everyone was shaking their heads and saying they hadn’t seen him.
Big Bull’s voice suddenly emerged: “Village head, are you looking for me?”
Following the voice, everyone looked and, hey! It turned out Big Bull and Xuexue were obscured by a huge locust tree, no wonder they were unseen.
“Big Bull, come over here quickly, the county magistrate is looking for you,” the village head called to him, waving his hand.
Big Bull responded loudly, then muttered under his breath, “This Dog Official, dares to summon me to see him, I think he’s tired of living?”
Xuexue heard everything clearly by his side and couldn’t help but feel a lurch in her heart. What exactly was Big Bull’s real identity, that he didn’t even regard a county magistrate? Then again, she mused, considering the incident at Qinger Building a few days ago, which his friend had sorted out, she wasn’t that surprised.