A pause was given to give them time to absorb the information. "The Cleric will then open their eyes and choose which person they want to save. They can choose anyone but themselves each night. We repeat the cycle until either all wolves are dead or half the remaining players are wolves." I explained. I also answered questions they had. I made a servant fetch some paper for me to write the roles on during my explanation. I put the folded paper scraps in an empty tea pot and had each of them join me a few paces off to get their role. I had all 8 seats arrange into a loose circle. Because there were going to be 7 players here, there were going to be 2 wolves this time. I wondered who they would be. Wang Wuying and Lai Chang were chosen as the Wolves. Bao was the Hunter. The Cleric was Cui Yahui. We all sat in our chairs in the circle. Hong sat at my feet. Huo was with Bao. Yi, our happy princess, sat on Wang Wuying's lap. "Alright. Let's take 10 minutes to discuss amongst ourselves who the wolves could be. Let the game begin." I said, looking at each of them. They started.
Just as I thought, Wang Jing turned to his mother. "How do you think we should go about this? There has to be a way." he said. She turned to me. "Is there a way?" I just smiled and said "This is a social detection game. There is no way to do so on the first round of the game unless you are an expert with a strategy, or you know all of the other participants better than they know themselves." The others grumbled a bit. "In that way, you might actually be unnaturally qualified for this round due to your family position, Empress Dowager." I added. "Are you saying she is going to win?" Lai Chang said, miffed. "Not necessarily. Wang Jing and his sister can just as easily tell when she is lying or trying to shade the truth. I would hope so at least. That was why I was against Huo playing with Bao. It can be very mean-spirited game if you were the kind to enjoy people dancing in the palm of your hand." Wang Jing looked concerned. "You wouldn't lie to me, would you mother?" he asked. She just smiled and said "Of course not." He then turned to his wife. "You wouldn't either, right?" he asked.
Keeping a neutral face, she just nodded. Wang Jing said "I don't like the idea of this game." I said "Wang Jing, you were the one that wanted to join in. Your family and favored concubines are all rooting for you. Show us all your wit and do your best." He looked at everyone and nodded. "Fine! Let's find those wolves." he said. Everyone cheered. They then went back and forth on who it could be. The shrewder of the bunch were scanning the room looking for lies to pounce on. At the end of the 10 minutes, I said "Time is up. Let's vote for 1 person to be eliminated." They all looked perturbed. "We have nothing to go on. Are you sure we have to?" Wang Jing asked me. I saw the others felt the same way. I said "You can choose not to vote at any point. But the time the wolves will eliminate someone will come. Will that change your opinions?" They were content to wait. "Alright. Everyone playing has to close your eyes and only open them when I tell you to. The children can look but they have to keep what they see a secret. If they want to play along you can close your eyes."
