Two weeks later, a hundred more girls arrived.

More and more girls poured in every day, and Wu Zhao and I agreed that something was about to happen. Indeed it did.

"We're having an inspection today," Concubine Lin announced. "Everyone is going to wait in the Jade Gardens while the palace physician and other eunuchs examine you one by one."

A wave of terror spread across the crowd. Wu Zhao laughed coldly, and told me, "Well, this is where they cut out half of us."

"Will they send us back home?" I asked excitedly.

She gave me a strange look. "No. Once you enter the palace, you cannot leave. The rest will just be normal maids."

"Okay, that is not going to happen to me." I had not left my family and Liang Wen to serve stinky concubines.

Wu Zhao smiled. "That's the spirit."

Gao Ling was called before us, because it was alphabetical. She threw us a nervous look as she went in. We all had no idea what the inspections would be about. All we knew was that the girls who failed it came out crying bitterly and were ushered away. There were some who didn't come out. I think that meant they had passed.

"She will make it," Wu Zhao said. Was that a trace of regret in her voice? "Gao Ling's body is perfect and she is graceful, even if what comes out of her mouth is not." No, I decided, her voice wasn't saturated with regret, it was full of scorn.

"Why don't you like her? And why do you like me?" I asked her finally. "I'm not much better than Gao Ling. I am not smarter, prettier, or more appealing; I am just myself, a poor village girl."

Wu Zhao looked at me, and the fire in her eyes took my breath away. "Must you know why?" She asked finally, after staying silent for a good two minutes.

"Yes!"

She smiled. "I will tell you after this, if you still remain."

Oh, cruel, cruel! Wu Zhao knew how to play people. I sighed and asked her, "So you think I won't stay?"

She smiled that supercilious smile again and shrugged. "I never said that."

You implied it, I thought defiantly. Sometimes I couldn't understand Wu Zhao. It was like her thoughts went much deeper than anyone else's, like she was already plotting ten years ahead of everyone. It scared me.

I was called first, and hurried forward to enter the house. Wu Zhao watched me, a lazy smile on her face, her thoughts faraway. We didn't wish each other good luck. I had not a single idea how to define our relationship...were we friends or foes? Or were we allies? We seemed to support each other, yes, but what if it was fake? 

I shook these thoughts out of my head and focussed on the task ahead. It was difficult all right. Many palace officials stood in the room holding scrolls of paper, and they frowned when I entered. Quickly, I adjusted my posture, straightening my back and walking with more poise than before. 

"Finally, one that isn't too short, too tall, too fat, or too thin!" ejaculated one official.

My face glowed red-hot. E-excuse me? 

The eunuchs were standing in a line, and the first one beckoned to me. I walked forward and was closely inspected- the eunuch intensively examined my body. It was unnerving and I just wished...I just wished I could go home. No one in my village examined my body. 

The second eunuch commanded me to speak. Luckily, I got a nod of approval for my voice, although I didn't know what they were looking for. 

The official from earlier exclaimed, "Great! Your voice isn't too high or too low!"

"Uh-"

Concubine Lin interjected, "Just hurry up."

The third eunuch made me walk in a straight line. Never had walking seemed so painful and difficult to me. The fourth eunuch examined my feet. Yes, my feet! The eunuch bent down and looked closely at them. I wished only two things: that I had cut my toenails, and that I had applied some fragrant cream to them. I was sure my feet stank. They must have looked like a witch's feet! I tried to lift my skirt a little and peek down. 

"Hands," said the last eunuch. 

I displayed my hands. 

"Good! Not too skinny or too meaty, and not too dark or too fair!" The official cried.

"Uh, well-"

Concubine Lin rolled her eyes. "Just hurry up."

The eunuchs and officials huddled together and whispered for a long time. I saw the one who had inspected my feet waving furiously and gesturing to his nose. Then I saw the loud official gesturing even more and waving his hands in a frenzy. At last, they all turned to me. The official announced, "You have passed. However, Lady Min, you must...ahem, work on your feet."

I flushed again and nodded, bowing. "Lady Min thanks everyone."

"There are still more tests to come," Concubine Lin said loftily as I passed her. "If you are to survive, I advise you to make your feet smell better."

Surely everyone had stinky feet! Why was I suddenly getting attacked for my feet, for goodness sake! 

I was let out of the back door, and into a garden. It was the back part of the Jade Gardens. Girls who had passed were there, talking softly to each other and walking around. Gao Ling raced up to me and smiled, linking her arm in mine like we did back in Guizhou. "We passed!"

"Good job," I told her sincerely.

Gao Ling looked at me and then dropped her voice. "Did they...comment on anything about you?"

"Um...can you be more specific?"

She looked embarrassed. "Well, like your feet?"

I gasped. "How did you know?"

"You too?"

We turned to each other and exclaimed, "So they criticised your feet?"

"Yes," we replied at the same time, and then started to laugh.

"I think that eunuch just has a very sensitive nose. Surely my feet don't smell that bad," Gao Ling muttered sheepishly.

"You should smell it," I suggested. I pointed to a cluster of trees. "We should go there and see if the eunuch was being too sensitive or was actually right."

When we lifted our feet- yes, it was ridiculous and childish, but I felt like it was great to return to being a child again, especially in this awful palace- Gao Ling and I had two vastly different reactions. Gao Ling gagged and nearly fell over. I wrinkled my nose and said angrily, "Mine don't even smell!"

"Wang Min," Gao Ling said. "Do you have a blocked nose?"

"No, I-" I gasped as a pungent smell wafted to my nose. "Woah, put your shoe back on, please. My eyes are watering."

Gao Ling laughed. "Alright, my feet stink. Yours are fine, though...I guess that eunuch is just very picky."

"I wonder if Wu Zhao is done," I mused. "She was going to tell me..."

"Tell you what?" Gao Ling asked.

"Just a story. You know she tells me a lot of historical stories," I said quickly. Gao Ling didn't need to know this.

When Wu Zhao came out, she looked coldly at Gao Ling, and Gao Ling walked off to talk to other girls. I went to meet her. "You should be nicer to Gao Ling."

"Should I?" she asked coolly. 

"Why don't you like her?" I pressed.

"Should I?" 

"Well, no, but you should try-" I faltered. Then I thought of something and asked eagerly, "So will you tell me why you seem to, well, not dislike me?"

She shook her head and pushed a lock of her beautiful dark hair behind her ear. "No."

"You promised!"

"I never did, Wang Min. I may break people and break objects, but I do not break promises."

"Wu Zhao!" I was angry beyond belief. I had never been lied to before-

and yet I had lied to others.

I stopped. "Well, will you promise to tell me?"

"Never," she tossed back. Her bright eyes sharpened. "Wang Min, you should know not to trust people so easily. In this palace, everyone lies. Including your friend Gao Ling over there."

"What if you're lying right now?"

"You won't know," Wu Zhao laughed cruelly. 

I also wouldn't know it now, but in later years, I would hear that cruel laugh everywhere- in my dreams, in my nightmares, and in real life. It would haunt me wherever I went, and I would never be free of it.

Sorry, I was in a "random" mood so wrote this.