Two elderly men, both over fifty, emerged from the crowd and knelt on the ground.
Zhao Kuan saw them and immediately waived the kneeling, letting them stand to reply.
The two elders straightforwardly stood up, then cupped their hands to report their names to Zhao Kuan.
Zhao Kuan glanced down at the reason for their complaint, feeling quite helpless, and asked, "Has your dispute not been mediated by the village chief?"
The two elders indignantly replied, "I don't agree with the village chief's mediation."
"That's right, he's just trying to smooth things over."
"Alright then," Zhao Kuan asked, "Old Zheng, since you're the one who filed the complaint, why don't you start?"
The two elders were arguing over a vegetable plot. They were both displaced refugees from Luoyang who had returned after the war, but this time the resettlement land was in Old Zheng's village. The two had met while fleeing the chaos, and their families had grown close.
