Hanyang Prefecture was decked with lanterns and colorful banners!
A joyous occasion was approaching: Lord Wang was celebrating his hundredth birthday and planned to stretch a continuous feast from the inner city to the outer city, calling it the "Ten Thousand Lives Banquet."
Every elderly resident over a hundred could collect reward silver and attend the feast!
The Wang Clan was a Fifth-Grade Clan of Hanyang Prefecture, known alongside the Huang Clan as the "Twin Heroes." Calling them the prefecture's two local emperors would have been no exaggeration.
The direct-line disciples of both clans were accomplished, some entering various Dharma Lineages as service disciples or even disciples of the Inner Peaks, others taking court office and enjoying wealth and honor to the fullest.
Such was their prominence that each estate alone occupied a thousand mu, with staggered galleries and winding paths leading into secluded depths. Any ordinary person who walked inside was guaranteed to become hopelessly lost.
"Fang Han, the Second Young Lady praised your work with the horses yesterday! You've kept Thousand-Mile Snow in fine spirits! She's specially rewarded you with fifty taels of silver!"
Outside the stable, the tall, gray-haired Steward Wang spoke in a booming voice.
"Fang Han thanks the Second Young Lady for her reward!"
Dressed in gray with a small cap, Fang Han hastily knelt and raised both hands high above his head, securely receiving five heavy silver ingots.
Fifty taels equaled more than half a year's wages for him-a handsome reward indeed.
As soon as he stood, he respectfully offered the ingots to Steward Wang and said with an ingratiating smile,
"Steward Wang, this lowly servant has too little good fortune to bear such a generous reward from the Second Young Lady. Please help shoulder some of it."
Gray-haired Steward Wang looked aged, but