In the fourteenth year of Yanhuang, at the beginning of the year.
The civil and military officials of Kang had weathered one twist after another in just a few short months.
It began last year, when Imperial Censor Gu Chi threw a grand banquet during the New Year holiday. He sent invitations to every civil and military official in court, regardless of whether they got along, how high or low their rank was, or whether they were capital officials or outsiders. As long as they were officials, they got an invitation. The invitations to sixth-rank officials and below merely said that he had adopted a daughter into his clan genealogy. It was the greatest happy occasion in his household, and he earnestly hoped that his colleagues would make time to attend and share in the good cheer.
The invitations to colleagues ranked above sixth rank were entirely different. Their contents could even be called shameless: Gu Chi laid it all out plainly. He had been giving gifts to his colleagues for more than ten years, and it had taken ages for his family to have a proper happy occasion. Who knew how many years it would be before the next one? His colleagues absolutely must not show up empty-handed. As for how much to give, that was up to them.
The civil and military officials: "..."
What was the difference between this and directly holding out his hand for money?
Was their Gu Ya Tai planning to abandon all shame?
"To take advantage of the occasion so brazenly to rake in money, and he isn't afraid of the Censorate—" The man cursing thought of how the Censorate was Gu Chi's stronghold, and his fury abruptly died. "No, no, no. Even if this will offend him, I absolutely cannot yield to