"Ah..." Tai Dian's expression changed drastically.
Zi Shou sighed. "My ministers, isn't this strange? Why would turtles come and eat my horses' cruppers for no reason?"
A crupper was the leather strap that ran around the hindquarters of a carriage horse.
There was a single character that could simplify that complicated description: Zhou.
A crupper was a zhou.
Condensed into four Chinese characters, the dream of the Three Turtles became: three turtles devour Zhou.
What was Zhou?
Zhou was interchangeable with Shou. Like his ancestor Cheng Tang, who had styled himself King Wu, King Zhou had chosen it as a royal name for people to address him by.
Although King Zhou now called himself the First Emperor, more people still addressed him as King Zhou. The name Zhou was already deeply rooted in their hearts.
The meaning of this dream...
Oh dear, this was disastrous. King Zhou had been eaten by turtles.
"Your Majesty..." Tai Dian said with difficulty. "My learning is shallow. I cannot interpret this dream."
Never mind its deeper implications-he did not even dare explain its literal meaning!
Three turtles devour Zhou. Who would dare interpret that?
Zi Shou laughed heartily. "If you cannot interpret it, then listen. I know a little of dream interpretation. I shall explain it myself."
"A crupper is a zhou, and Zhou is my royal name. Turtle, gui, sounds the same as gui in 'nobility.' This dream says that the nobles want to devour me!"
Zi Shou looked at the Si Family Head. "Look at what happened today. In my view, this Si Lan is one of the three turtles. Insatiable greed makes turtles swallow Zhou! Drag him away. In three days, behead him in the busy marketplace for all to see!"
He had to be killed. That was certain.
But Zi