The constable captain had been focused on the conscription business when Wang San's sudden interruption drew a flash of displeasure across his face.
He shot Wang San a cold glance, warning in his eyes, and said in a low voice:
"Wang San, your personal grudges can wait! This official must handle proper business first!"
Stung by that look, Wang San sheepishly shrank his neck.
He did not dare keep shouting, but the resentment and unwillingness on his face did not lessen in the slightest.
The constable captain ignored him and raised his voice to bark at the panic-stricken villagers:
"Not one person listed on the register may be missed! Now, every household, get back into your homes and shut your doors tight!
This official will search house by house! If anyone hides a man of eligible age, or has another able-bodied man not listed on the register, it will be treated as evasion of labor duty and punished without mercy!"
Those words lashed across everyone's hearts like a whip. The villagers went deathly pale, yet did not dare disobey.
Those who had been entertaining certain thoughts now abandoned them as well.
They could only support one another as they prepared to disperse, returning home to await their unknown fate.
Yet beneath Wang San's lowered face, an involuntary glimmer of delight appeared.
Everyone was going back home? Perfect! When they searched house by house and reached Fang Yuan's shabby little courtyard,
without all these villagers watching, it would be all the easier for him to ply that brat! Whether he ended up round or flat, would it not be whatever Wang San said it was?
Just as the crowd began to stir and was about to disperse, while the constables were preparing to act,
a villager came tumbling and scrambling from