Chapter 7: The Banquet Cup

The Mid-Autumn banquet filled the Hall of Clear Moon with two hundred guests and a smell of osmanthus and hot oil.

Su Ming sat on a low stool at the Emperor's left, below the dais, with Qiu Ye behind him holding his kettle.

Before the guests came in, he had drunk two full cups of his own black tea, until his stomach was a hot stone.

"You are afraid," said Xiao Jue quietly, without turning his head.

"This one is prepared. It is different."

"Tell me what you expect."

"A big dose, in a cup I will be asked to drink in front of everyone," said Su Ming.

"I will name it if I can. If it is too large I will say so, and you must trust me."

"I do not trust anyone," said Xiao Jue.

"Then trust that I want to live, Your Majesty. It is the one thing I have never lied about."

The Emperor was silent for a breath.

"I will be watching the cup," he said. "Not you."

The dancers finished, and the drums stopped.

The Dowager raised her hand from her chair at the dais edge, and the whole hall hushed.

"It is the custom of this palace," she said sweetly.

"The Noble Consort, who has served His Majesty longest, welcomes a new consort with the cup of honor. Come, my dear."

The Noble Consort rose in a robe of white and gold.

Behind him came his young attendant, carrying a jade ewer with a spout shaped like a crane.

Two small cups sat on a tray in the attendant's other hand.

The attendant poured, once, from the crane spout, into one cup, and then the second.

The Noble Consort took the first and held it out in both hands.

"Consort Su," he said, smiling. "Be welcome. May you live as long as the moon."

The hall waited.

Su Ming rose and took the cup in both hands.

He bowed, and he lifted the cup to his face, and he breathed in.

Dawn-vine.

It was thick, bitter and deep, and it was not a grain or two.

It was a handful, ground and steeped in a spirit, enough to put three strong men in their graves by the third day.

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