"Are you lot just freeloading? So many people from Dawu Village ran away, leaving only the old who can't move, and you had no clue? If this official hadn't come to inspect, wouldn't we have... remained oblivious even as the last of them died of old age?"
A government official from Shuize County, with a dark expression on his face, rebuked them furiously, "You're a bunch of useless trash! If those people had escaped from Shuize County, what would you do if the inspectors from the Imperial Heavenly Office came?"
"Moreover, the people assigned to guard the nearby major roads, why is it that only you few are left? Where did the others go? Dead?"
Before the official stood several Shuize County Government Officials, heads bowed, not daring to meet the official's gaze.
Faced with the official's questioning, several Government Officials hesitated...
