At first, only a handful of guests were angry. Most simply watched from the sidelines.
Several hundred years ago, a person from the Jing Kingdom bowing to the Qing Lord would have been charged with treason and had three generations of their family exterminated. But in the considerably more open era of the New Calendar's Ten Kingdoms, an honest admission that they had bowed to the wrong person would have put the matter to rest.
The people of Xiang Prefecture did not have time to spare. Few would spend it on something like this.
To put it bluntly, far too many people in Xiang Prefecture sold out or betrayed their country, openly or in secret. Anyone with a little sense had long since stopped bothering. If the emperor was not anxious, there was no need for the eunuchs to fret. After all, those traitors had connections reaching to the heavens. Who knew which current grand secretary or former prime minister stood behind them?
So when it happened, everyone inside Yingfang Pavilion went on munching melon seeds, enjoying the spectacle, or discussing it as they pleased. Initially, they treated it as nothing more than an amusing story.
That lasted until Hua Qingniang pointed at everyone present, declared that she had done nothing wrong, and threatened to report anyone who dared discuss it again to the authorities and have them arrested. A handful of people exploded like firecrackers on the spot, launching accusation after accusation at her.
The idle spectators munching melon seeds were stunned too. Yingfang Pavilion was, after all, a property of the Qing River Trading Company and very famous in Baling City. Moreover, the pleasure house was clean, at least on the surface. It was no ordinary brothel, and its singers and dancers were no ordinary prostitutes. All claimed