Under the scorching sun, County Magistrate Li was in high spirits, chatting and laughing with Li Gengtian without pause. He constantly pointed to the fields and crops, the mountain forests and ponds, putting on the air of a benevolent official who loved his people. But Li Gengtian felt nothing but unease and dread, a stark contrast to how a single word of praise from the previous magistrate, County Magistrate Hu, would have left him too excited to sleep all night.
After carefully choosing his words, he offered a cautious, placating smile. "The folks in our Qingnan Village have only started to recover in the last couple of years. Before that, we couldn't even fill our bellies."
