The sound of three thousand golden platters clattering against the marble floor echoed across the Supreme Harmony Plaza like rolling thunder.
A dead, frozen silence fell over the ten thousand banquet guests.
On the high northern terrace, Emperor Ji Wudao stood rigidly before his dragon throne. His chest heaved with boiling fury. Grand Preceptor Sima Quan stood beside him, clutching his bruised nose where Old Wang’s greasy apron had struck him.
Nearby, Chief Palace Eunuch Wei was still dripping foul black sewer mud, his red-painted lips trembling in hysterical outrage.
“Mutiny! High treason!” Eunuch Wei shrieked, clawing frantically at his mud-caked face as he stumbled down the terrace steps. “You filthy kitchen scum! You ungrateful ditch-rats! Pick up those royal platters! Pick them up this instant, or His Majesty will have your skin stripped for drumheads! You will hang from the palace battlements before the sun sets!”
Eunuch Wei lunged forward, trying to block the base of the floating white jade staircase with his outstretched arms.
Head Imperial Chef Old Wang did not even slow his heavy stride.
He marched straight toward the floating stairs. When he reached Eunuch Wei, Old Wang grinned fiercely, revealing his missing teeth. With one massive, soot-stained arm, Old Wang shoved Eunuch Wei aside like an empty sack of flour, sending the shrieking eunuch tumbling backward straight into the palace koi pond with a loud SPLASH!
