June 9, 2023 Dream - Dream Cinema: A Scandalous Inter-warring Chinese Kingdom

 

I drop in from above on tightrope at a family gathering at a restaurant. My mom's side family--aunts , uncles and some cousins are sitting at a round table. There is a coffin on the side in view by those who are dining but the contents are just out of sight by them. The coffin top is raised and the diners are afraid to peek in as my cousin F, who is a prince, is missing from the dinner without word and there is fear that it might be him.

The diners continue to eat and maintain an air of normality. I peek into the coffin and see that it is not a corpse but the living body of a friend of my cousin F. He can not just step out casually as he is naked and in an embarrassing situation and would become the center of a scandal if he were recognized.

I assure the diners and settle any suspicions of tragedy and simply say, "this is not F", and as I do, I use chopsticks to pluck out a morsel of food for myself from the table as I stand without joining the diners.

I am a trickster and begin to deduce what has happened...

The restaurant staff who work for royalty are trained in upholding discreetness and nonchalantly cover up and remove the coffin the same way they also retrieve used dishes back to the kitchen to be cleaned. From there, the man in the coffin could then discretely exit from his undesirable situation.

Flashback to an earlier scene. A night club attended by the royal youth and their entourage-- high members of the court, the aspiring, followers and consorts. There are two long tables within sight of one another, each occupied by opposing factions. It is late now and One by one many members of each party have dropped out for different reasons.

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I am on the right side of the room and for the most part those remaining are low members of standing including Consorts who were not selected to entertain guests who selected others and have already left. There is one high ranking princess who is attended by a couple of her maidens but she is not there to have a fling.

It turns out that earlier in the evening members from the two tables were strategizing scandals against the other side. Some of the consorts had been trained to entrap some of the high ranking youth. My cousin F was one of the targets, but his friend, T, got mistook as him.

Flash to a scene where T is shown compromised and being blackmailed, and trying to negotiate an exit by bribing the consort with all the silver he is carrying on him in his purse. But the consort laughs at his offer as that bounty is insignificant compared to what they would fetch if they had actually captured Prince F. T is a newly ascended member of the court and cannot afford to be involved in scandal either but is now in a challenging situation that he cannot easily be escaped now. He comments that it was much easier to have a fling in the past before he was of higher social status!

T is the significant other to Denise?- A powerful crime boss who negotiates his release. There is a meetup between powerful women in two opposing crime syndicates. From what I can tell I am the only man in attendance and stand on one side of the line. One of the women on the other side gives a gesture of respect to me. The elders of both sides give a little speech to all. There will be no fight here but the tension between both sides palpable.

As a trickster i have a grand idea to replace the coffers in my family's treasure hall with fake items as I discover a burglary and attempted kidnapping by the opposing side is about to take place. I also carry with myself fake items expecting to get robbed at some point.

I instruct a young prince to do the same and watch the scene unfold.

A party of bandits, thieves and gangsters begin their mission to rob the targeted treasure hall. Some members begin to search for the young Prince. I appear from afar and throw balls of smoke bombs and firecrackers at the bandits and they do the same to me, but since we are so far apart nobody really gets hurt. Their robbery plan is thwarted somewhat. The offending party does not realize they have stolen fake treasures and now attention has been aroused and they find themselves in a hard spot to escape.

My plan is to force the bandits to come my way and to rob me and my fake treasures...