Concubine Lin's eyes sharpened and she fixed a hard stare on the girl. "What. Did. You. Say?"

"Uh, I-" 

"Insolence!" Concubine Lin bellowed. "Did I just hear you talk back to me?"

Beside me, a girl who had been silent before suddenly curtseyed and said "May I talk, dear Concubine?"

Concubine Lin frowned, and nodded. "Say it fast."

"Thank you for allowing me to express my humble opinion," the girl began. "Earlier, Lady Gao explained that she was unsure of why we had come here. I believe she said that because she was not able to hear you clearly. The winds today are big, my lady, and so we at the back were deprived of hearing your beautiful voice guide us. Please pardon Lady Gao. She is just young and does not understand the rules of the palace."

I looked at her in silent admiration. This girl was also younger than me, about 14, and she had thick black hair that flowed down her back, high cheekbones, and glowing, snapping eyes. It made you want to look at her twice. When you did, you began to notice other things about her that made her so beautiful: her rosy lips, small and adorable like little cherries; her curved eyelashes; her symmetrical features. 

She was young, pretty and clever, just what Wan En had described the Emperor as wanting to find. A feeling told me that she would definitely make it high in the hierarchy, although how high, I was not to find out until years later. 

Concubine Lin let out her breath with a sigh and then said curtly, "Very well. I will excuse you on the grounds that this is your first time in the palace. Everyone, follow me now."

Girls swarmed forward, and instead of pushing, the three of us- Lady Gao, the strikingly clever girl, and me- stayed behind a little to wait for the crowd to cease. I looked at the girl. "You were so clever," I praised. "What's your name?"

"Wu Zhao," she said daintily. Her eyes looked me up and down, just like Chancellor Wu had, and she said finally, "I believe you are Wang Min."

"How did you know?"

She smiled. "My father showed me portraits of all the girls who are entering the palace. I like to know the faces of my competitors well."

Woah. Okay.

"Is your father...Chancellor Wu?" I asked.

"Yes." She looked at me with a newfound respect. "You're the first girl to figure it out. Although I thought it was very obvious."

Lady Gao cleared her throat. "Thank you so much for helping me," she bowed to Wu Zhao. "I'm so grateful to you."

Wu Zhao scoffed coldly, "You're lucky I was here today. I won't help you the second time."

Lady Gao nodded meekly. By this time, the girls had all gone in, so we quickly entered the Jade Building. It was really not impressive. The ceiling was low and lanterns hung everywhere- this amazed me because at home, having a single lantern meant you were rich, and here, they were everywhere I turned.

Tubs of water were laid out and girls with their sleeves pushed up were scrubbing away at cloths. As we walked further in, I saw girls sewing pretty birds, butterflies, and flowers. Then there were girls who were dipping brushes in water and practicing writing calligraphy, and girls who were painting each other's portraits. Then there were girls playing chess, or singing and dancing.

"I suppose you want to try calligraphy?" Wu Zhao's confident, yet soft, voice said at my side. 

"Yes," I laughed, following her gaze. "I want to learn to write. Do you know how to?"

"Of course," she said. "My father insisted that I learn. He said I should learn such skills."

"Oh, you're lucky, then. My father said I shouldn't. I think girls should learn all these, though," I added in a burst of confidence. "They're just as clever as boys."

"Exactly."

"Ten girls to a room," Concubine Lin's obnoxiously loud voice announced. "First ten here. You ten, there." She bustled out and away, leaving us to ourselves. 

A wooden platform ran on either side of the room, and a basket of thick quilts was right in the middle. I saw that we had to take a quilt each and lay it out on the wood to sleep. I'd never slept on an elevated surface before, so I looked on with some excitement and some trepidation. 

"I can't wait for my own quarters," a girl sighed. She flipped her long hair over her shoulder, looking crossly down on her quilt. "I don't even have private space here."

We stashed our meagre belongings and clothes in little compartments under the wooden ledge, and I placed my humble grey bag there. It had been so normal in the village, but here, everyone was bringing out embroidered bags and mine just looked out-of-place. Wu Zhao was on my right, and Lady Gao, whose real name was Gao Ling, was on my left. 

"Your pin dropped," Wu Zhao said, pointing.

I snatched up the jade pin and shoved it into my bag, then into the compartment. "Thank you so much, Wu Zhao."

She nodded. "I can see it means a lot to you."

I flushed. "Uh-"

"No worries," she said casually. "I was just curious. Hairpins are often gifts from a lover to another."

Wu Zhao was clever all right. But in lying, I was equal to no one. I was very good at it. I knew that was a sin too, and probably would bring me karma, but now I had to use my skills and wits to survive. "In fact, I bought it for myself. Had I known it was a symbol of love, I wouldn't have saved up to buy it."

"You must have worked very hard."

"Oh, yes. I had to sew many pouches to sell in the village market," I explained. 

"You have to show me how you sew a pouch one day," she laughed. 

I returned a smile. "Naturally."

The tension between us was broken by Lady Gao, or Gao Ling, as I preferred to call her, who said excitedly, "Isn't all this fun, though? Living with so many girls?"

Wu Zhao ran her eyes over the many girls she would have to defeat to make it into even one of the Emperor's own ladies. I was thinking the exact same thing as her, but we both said in response to Gao Ling, "Definitely."

---

The days went by quickly. Wu Zhao was assigned to laundry duty, doing the Emperor's bedsheets. I was assigned to Empress Zhangsun's bedsheets. Gao Ling, on the other hand, was put into etiquette class first.

I was equally as rough as her, but perhaps the difference between us was that she spoke quite a lot, while I was quieter. I only liked speaking with people I was close to, so I rarely opened my mouth. When I did, I tended to be cautious. This was because I never wanted anyone to find out about Liang Wen. He was a secret I wanted to hug close to myself. 

I was also afraid that if anyone found out, I would be sentenced to death, or Liang Wen would. No! That wouldn't happen!

I smoothed down the red and gold bed sheets of Empress Zhangsun. They were really heavy and soft and I sure wished I could sleep on such a bed. Because of my daydreaming, the case I was holding slipped out of my hands and crashed onto the ground. I heard voices and turned, dread filling my heart.

The Empress Zhangsun was standing in the doorway, addressing her servants. Oh no. I knelt quickly and said, "Lady Wang 拜见皇后."

(拜见皇后 bài jiàn huáng hòu= a respectful way of saying meeting the queen.)

The Empress nodded, barely looking at me. "Please forgive me for dropping your vase," I pleaded mercy, throwing myself on the ground.

"Oh, it's okay," she said in a gentle voice, and soft hands helped me up. Empress Zhangsun looked at me kindly. "No worries, you were just careless. Are you new here?"

"Yes, I was brought from the countryside."

"So you are one of the new 24 ladies," said the Empress.

I nodded. "Yes, your majesty."

"Alright, you're dismissed," the Empress said.

I gathered the broken porcelain shards and quickly scurried out, going through the Empress' Gardens and Jade Gardens to finally reach the Jade Building.

Wu Zhao was walking in the Jade Garden with Gao Ling, who was ectastically pointing out all the birds and flowers she liked. Wu Zhao looked very bored, so when I appeared she hurried over to me.

"Wang Min, why're your hands bleeding?"

"Let me dispose of this first," I told her and rushed to the back, where I threw the shards into a bin. Returning, I explained the whole thing to her.

Wu Zhao looked interested. "So how was the Empress like?"

I recalled what she'd told her servants. Ask the doctor to come, I want to confirm it..."She seemed pregnant."

"Wow, the first heir to the throne will be born soon!" Gao Ling exclaimed.

We shushed her. "Don't say that so loudly. It's just a guess," I whispered.

I glanced at Wu Zhao. She had a calculating look on her face, and she seemed like she wanted to do something. This palace was full of formidable ladies, not just Concubine Lin...I realised Wu Zhao was just as formidable as the concubines.

Yet I liked spending time with her. She was interesting to be around, and told me many stories and poems. Gao Ling and I had also become closer. I appreciated Gao Ling's innocence and the joy she took in simple pleasures. However, I tended to be the middleman between Wu Zhao and Gao Ling, as it was obvious that Wu Zhao didn't like her.

"Looks like things are about to get interesting," Wu Zhao said finally.