Standing in the center of the elevated white-jade banquet stage right right beside the ten-foot Five-Tier Immortal Longevity Peach Cake. Second Prince Qian Ye [Regressor Halo: 10%] puffed out his gold-embroidered chest and pointed an accusing finger straight at Gu Changsheng’s table.
Because he had his back turned to the Golden Dragon Throne, Qian Ye assumed his father Emperor Qian Long was already slumping into a comatose stupor from the drugged wine. Worse still, his static-ridden brain had not yet noticed the warm peppermint tingle of the Rank 4 Truth-Serum Sweet Plum Cider rising from his stomach toward his tongue.
In his deluded mind, his grand coup had finally arrived.
“Ministers of the Grand Secretariat! Generals of the Northern Frontier! Envoys of the Four Quarters!”
Qian Ye’s theatrical voice echoed across the gold-pillared Hall of Supreme Harmony and carried out over the ten thousand guests seated in the Grand Imperial Plaza.
“Tonight, before we slice the birthday cake for Father Emperor, I—Second Prince Qian Ye, blessed by the heavens with prophetic foresight—must expose a monstrous conspiracy against the throne of Great Qian!”
Reaching into his left sleeve, Qian Ye pulled out a fabricated black-parchment dossier and waved it dramatically toward the central guest table.
