Outside Banan Prefecture City, the carved wooden doors of the Liu clan ancestral hall banged loudly in the north wind. The copper locks were caked with an inch of frost, and even the bronze mythical beasts guarding the eaves were covered in shells of snow. Sixteen wealthy gentry huddled inside the ancestral hall, clutching the brocade cushions on their rosewood chairs so tightly that deep wrinkles formed. The charcoal brazier crackled loudly, casting flickering lights and shadows across their faces like petty ghosts on trial in the underworld.
"Eight qian of silver a month!" Tian Wanjin, head of the Tian clan, slammed his palm down hard on the table. His jade thumb ring snapped with a sharp crack, and the jade fragments sprayed into the charcoal brazier, kicking up sparks. "Xia Huai'an is trying to dig up our ancestral graves!" His bulky frame made the armchair creak in protest, and the golden nanmu armrests nearly broke.
"Stay calm, Brother Tian." The white-bearded elder Li Chongwen stroked his goatee, revealing the lower half of a Great Qian Code peeking from his cuff. "In my view, this wage-cap order may not even be enforceable. The laws of our Great Qian have never stipulated the wages for hired labor. Xia Huai'an is legislating beyond his authority!"
Chapter 119