Shiling Town has a population of less than a thousand people. It's the local gentry who handle miscellaneous affairs, and if there's a criminal case, it's reported to Pingnan County. The government office is set in Pingnan County. Small towns are all about cultural connections, and the local clans are closely tied, so many things can be hidden from the higher-ups as long as the lower ranks don't report them. Xie Jue and Fang Chuning went to Pingnan County.
Pingnan County isn't far from Shiling Town, just an hour's ride by carriage. The journey was smooth. Fang Chuning was cautious, afraid that the town's innkeeper might inform the bandits; he purposely took a side road instead of the official route. Pingnan County is bustling and resembles a small city. The government office is run by a ninth-grade County Magistrate named Zhou Yuan.
