"Oh but Ouyang’s not a Grade 6, so he couldn't possibly take over the city guard, the job he is literally doing right now–-" Every civil service is alike.

I do like how the emperor is totally locked out this normal conversation between Prince Jing and his mother by virtue of being the emperor, and also a dick. This is a book about affluenza's effects on the brain--the hunger for anything normal and the impossibility of sating it while clinging to power.