Relatively quickly, Cui Yahui said "I'm sure that some are... slower to learn these roles than others, but they will be entertaining to play with." Lai Chang had a different view on it. "This game tests the abilities that a concubine with a nice eye for promotion will need. Detection of lies, lying, swaying the opinions of a crowd, getting people to trust you, reasoning out problems in front of you, logic and hiding secrets. That sounds like a harem alright. Or a spy in the dead of night. I think we will be surprised with how fast they get it." That made everyone go deathly silent. "If you wish to train those around you in this game you can. Be sure that this does not backfire. The last thing I would want is for these... lessons to be misused by unscrupulous women." "That's the last thing I need." Wang Jing said with a sigh. "You would probably lose then. You are generous, trusting and kind. That makes you the exact prey that a wolf in sheep's clothing would love to eat." I said. He looked concerned. Lai Chang chuckled despite herself. "Yawen, the biggest wolf in the harem might just be you." she said.
I just said "Hopefully." I got some dirty looks from the circle for that remark. "I can ask you to remember the duel with Mao Gengxin if you don't think its accurate." I said, leaning forward. That was a touchy subject for most of the ladies present. Chuan Min, Wang Jing and his mother and sister all flinched at the memory. "I was not there at the time, what happened?" Cui Yahui asked. Wang Wuying told the story. She was still disgusted at what she saw. I took the condemnation on the chin. The 2 not present looked at me with a new light in their eyes. I got up and said "Let's play one final round with the children. I wonder how clever they can be if they put their minds to it." I added another role: the Doctor. "The Doctor can check the player who was voted off and determine whether they were human or wolf. The overseer will mouth it to them." "Are you going to play?" Wang Jing asked. "I'd rather oversee it." I said. "We would all rather you play the round with us." Lai Chang said. I sighed and added the role to the teapot. I was going to join. I was just a human this time. That was totally fine.
Seeing through to the end of the room was a bit hard. By the mid game, everyone would suspect me and try to vote me out. I only got to win once out of the 4 times we played. After the last game finished, I got up. I think that is enough treachery for one day. They agreed. "I was just getting the hang of the game. I wonder if I can fool the other concubines." Wang Jing said. "There are still more roles to master and there will be more wolves in play with all the extra players." I told them. They all looked surprised at this. I just laughed. "If you thought I'd give you everything before the real game, that would be like cheating. But the general themes of the game won't change." I told them. "It really is never boring with you around." Lai Chang said. I looked at Hong and held out my hand. He took it and we went back to my room. Zhizhu and Analim were still talking. When we came back, Hong told them all about the game. I told them it was time to go to bed. All of the boys groaned but complied. Analim looked at me and said "This trip was actually really nice. Thank you for coming with me."
The trip at the resort lasted 3 days. We went back and forth on all the trails looked at all there was to see and then relaxed. The others wanted to play werewolf. I played a few rounds with them before going off on my own. Their desire to play was also a game to learn secrets and weaknesses. Therefore, I facilitated more games than played. After we had our fun, it was time to go back to the capitol. All in all, I had fun. When we got back to the harem, it was an immediate desire of theirs for us to gather up and play. I sighed and went to Wang Wuying's palace. She was hosting the event. I explained the game and added the roles of the Doctor and Guard Duty. As the facilitator, watching them was fun. Like I suspected, there were some that were cleverer that others. There were others that were more charismatic. There were still some others that were very adept at keeping themselves unnoticed in order to watch the others and see what the group would do. Wang Jing was playing as well, so there was no excuse for the concubines not to come. The event was a major hit in the harem.
Under a few weeks, all the concubines knew all the roles and were playing amongst themselves regardless of rank. It certainly raised the profiles of the ones that were in a class of their own at the game. Whether they found fortune or disaster as a result was up to whether they had any backing or alliances from those higher up than them or not. There was always a use for clever pawns. There were also always reasons to get rid of an upstart before they became too disruptive or powerful as well. I thought it would be good. A harem full of clever and shrewd women that were loyal to him would only be a boon. He would need the help. Wang Jing was a bit too gullible for his own good. The games would slowly raise that stat, but you could never be too careful. Even the royal children and milk siblings like playing. The older children were understandably better at it with a few exceptions. Huo was an open book and took most things at face value. Min was raised by his mother and was used to using airs to make himself seem in a better position than he was. He was still very easily flustered.
