Liu Two-Dog wrapped Princess Guantao's severed head in pig-fat paper and hung it from the tallest flagpole on Zhuque Avenue.
A freshly picked crimson "Dragonseed Flower" was stuffed between her teeth.
Next morning in the Palace of Eternal Trust, Empress Dowager Dou coughed up a mouthful of black blood.
The crane-top venom she had brewed twenty years ago had finally crawled home through her own veins.
Physicians knelt in rows; none dared name the poison.
Dou clawed the dragon-armrest until her nails snapped, then laughed like tearing silk:
"Well played… Chen Piggy. This old woman truly underestimated you."