Even for the high-ranking officials, it was an unimaginable sum. A seasoned Vanguard general, who bled on the borders for the empire, made a salary of roughly two thousand taels a year.
Instantly, the atmosphere in the hall ignited. The polite, restrained banquet transformed into a fierce, cutthroat battlefield of vanity and ambition.
For the next hour, the center of the Great Hall became a stage for the civil court's desperate bid for imperial favor.
The daughter of the Minister of Rites stepped up first. Dressed in vibrant pink silk, she performed a breathtaking, gravity-defying ribbon dance while simultaneously playing a small, lap-sized zither. Her ribbons snapped through the air like painted snakes, perfectly on beat with the furious, beautiful melody she plucked from the strings. The noblemen cheered loudly, their faces flushed with wine.
Before her applause could even fade, the top scholars of the Imperial Academy rushed the floor.
