After many girls had been eliminated from the unexpected inspection, the atmosphere in the Jade Building was noticeably more tense. Girls who had stayed on ranged from triumphant to relieved. I was definitely the latter, because why would I be happy to stay on?

I learnt that Wan En, the sweet servant who'd kept me company when I had first journeyed here, was not really my servant after all. She had just been assigned to my carriage. I didn't have any servants, because my rank was not high enough. Yet. I promised myself that I would have a high rank one day. Of course, I was just doing this because I had no choice. It wasn't because I secretly wanted the power.

Still, she worked in the Jade Building, and so we always said hello when we passed each other. She whispered quickly to me, "I'm so glad you could stay, Wang Min. You're so pretty and nice."

I smiled at her. I was pretty, but not a nice person and I knew it. Still, it would be to my advantage if people thought I was nice, because then I wouldn't be a threat. Not like Wu Zhao, who was so charming, so outstanding, that she instantly gained enemies left and right (jealous girls). Or Gao Ling, who was too outspoken and rash, and gained even more enemies than Wu Zhao. I heard the whispers when I walked by girls drawing or washing dishes.

One day, Concubine Lin strode in, her face pale and her lips moving without any words coming out. Gao Ling nudged me. "She's worried about something," Gao Ling declared loudly.

"Shut up," Wu Zhao muttered, smiling brightly at Gao Ling as she did so. Everyone would think they were having a civil conversation, but as I was in the middle of them, I knew better.

"What's wrong with expressing my opinion?" Gao Ling asked sweetly.

Wu Zhao scoffed, "Because no one wants to hear it."

"Okay, stop. Be quiet, both of you. Concubine Lin might snap at you," I warned.

They subsided into a sulky silence, and I sat there awkwardly in the middle of both of them, practising writing Chinese words. I was trying to write a letter home, but so far, my ink had blotched half of the paper. Wu Zhao glanced at my messy paper and stained fingernails, and a corner of her mouth twisted into a smile. She didn't offer any help, even though Wu Zhao was the best in calligraphy amongst all of us girls.

Deftly, Wu Zhao applied a few strokes to the thin square paper in front of her, and soon the entire paper was full of neat, even Chinese characters. She held it up to the lamp and said critically, "This really doesn't seem good."

I gritted my teeth. She was rubbing it in on purpose, as payback for me telling both her and Gao Ling to be quiet. I had to remind myself often that although Wu Zhao never seemed to hate me, she didn't like me either. Probably, she simply tolerated me.

Suddenly guards stormed in, brandishing swords. "Halt!" They yelled.

My heart leaped, and my calligraphy brush fell onto the paper, destroying the letter I had slaved over for an hour. Wu Zhao didn't seem to be fazed by the guards at all, and instead cooed over my failed letter. "My goodness, what happened? The poor letter! The words were so beautifully written, too!"

"Wu Zhao," I began, but she picked up the brush, telling me she would help, and instead accidentally dropped it on my skirt. This left a long black line down the centre of my skirt.

"Sorry, didn't mean that," she said, then turned away to watch the commotion.

I would have rushed to scrub it off, but now my attention was on the scene in front of me. Gao Ling was wailing already, watching through her hands.

Concubine Lin had been forced to a kneeling position on the floor, her hands bound behind her back. "I didn't do it!" She screamed, a shrill sound of desperation. "Believe me!"

She turned and caught the hands of one of the guards. "You know I didn't!" Concubine Lin shrieked. Clawing at her hair, she continued to repeat those words, pulling on the guard's hands.

I almost dropped the brush again when I saw the guard's face. Wang Kai! My brother! Did he know I was here? He didn't spare me a glance, and focused on Concubine Lin. "Please act appropriately, Concubine Lin." My brother's cool and clear voice rang through the air.

Tears gushed down her cheeks, ruining her makeup until her face resembled my blotchy letter. "Wang-"

My brother talked over her quickly, saying, "She's hysterical. Perhaps we should put her in a room alone first until Consort Yuan comes."

"You!" Concubine Lin cried. "I trusted you!"

"What's she saying?" asked another guard.

My brother shook his head, his bushy eyebrows drawing together. "I don't know."

I saw his left hand tremble. That's when I knew he was lying. I didn't understand what was going on, and why my brother was lying and why he'd become like this. The Wang Kai I had known as a child never lied.

The guards dragged a screeching Concubine Lin away, her howls fading in the distance. They left behind a deathly silence. Gao Ling broke it first. "What was that?" she asked, her eyes round with shock.

Wu Zhao inspected her fingernails. "I hear Her Majesty Empress Zhangsun is sick."

Quickly, I put two-and-two together. The Empress had been with child, and now she was sick. It didn't seem like a coincidence. This meant that someone had harmed her, and it looked like Concubine Lin was the suspect.

Gao Ling was confused. "I don't see what that has to do with anything," she said.

Wu Zhao looked at her, losing her patience. "I don't even understand how someone like you got into the Palace. With no brains, it's a wonder you aren't dead. Maybe you will be soon," she hissed. She stood up, throwing down her brushes. "Wang Min, you should do something about your dress. It looks repulsive."

She stood up and left.

"Try not to anger her, okay?" I told Gao Ling. "She's in the wrong now, but you can be patient with her."

Gao Ling rolled her eyes and then stood up too, storming off. I was left there confused. I stared at my messed-up letter. Should I continue? Oh! Maybe I could find my brother now! Yes, Wu Zhao and Gao Ling were both gone. This would be the best time to talk to him alone.

Cautiously, I made my way to the back of the Jade Building, the very back, where there was an empty room. I assumed they would have put Concubine Lin in there. Nearing the room, I peeked around the corner and immediately saw my brother. He was looking in my direction too, and we made eye contact. He froze.

I moved forward impulsively, but he shot daggers at me and then said something to his fellow guards, taking off down the corridor towards me.

"Min," he breathed, pulling me into a quick hug before releasing me. The hug was so brief I could barely believe it had happened. I wanted to be safe and sound with my older brother again. Just staring at his broad shoulders, thick eyebrows and strong hands always made me feel protected.

"Kai," I murmured.

"You should never have come," he said, shaking his head. "The Palace is so dangerous. You saw what happened to Concubine Lin, she's lost her position."

"What?"

His face looked grave. "She's been accused of poisoning Empress Zhangsun." As he said that, he blinked a few times.

I was speechless. Wang Kai sighed and said, "Never mind. I can't talk much with you, but you have to stay safe, okay?"

"Is there a way I can return home?"

"I'm afraid not," my brother confirmed what everyone else had already told me. Still, hearing it from him made it more real, and any hope I'd had was destroyed instantly.

"I'm trying to write home," I told him. "I learnt to write."

He smiled at me. "Great job, Min. I love you. I've to go back to duty now. See you."

Reaching down, I squeezed his hand and we parted ways. On the way back to the central area, I bumped into Wan En, who was carrying a platter of spring rolls. "Oh!" she cried, then lowered her voice. "Wang Min, you shouldn't be here. This area is for-"

"The discarded Concubine Lin?" I asked.

Wan En looked scared. "Yes. The Empress is always kind and rarely angry, but this time...Concubine Lin will have no chance. It is the Emperor's flesh and blood she is carrying in her womb, after all. She will not tolerate anyone..."

"I know. I'll leave quickly," I said.

I made my way back, and found that it was dinner time. Today there was rice and a big pot of soup for everyone, as well as fresh green vegetables. Just as I reached out to take a bowl and ladle out the soup, Wu Zhao took it from me and set it down on the table. "Don't drink it."

"What?" I hissed.

She pulled me away and once we were in a corner of the room, Wu Zhao clarified, "I know someone poisoned the soup."

"Was it you?" I asked.

"Would I warn you if it had been me?" Wu Zhao tapped her head. "Use your brain, Wang Min."

"How did you find out?" I asked, still not believing her.

I could tell she was thinking of how to reply that- or she had perhaps already thought of an ambiguous answer to my question, when a scream made me whip around.

A girl, the first one who had taken the soup, had just spat out blood onto her friend's dress.

Wu Zhao snapped her fingers. "Called it."

"How did you know?" I backed away from her slowly, my eyes not leaving the crying girls in front of the soup pot.

She laughed. "That isn't important. It isn't how I get there, it's whether I do."

Annoyed with how cryptic she was being, I marched away and joined the throng of girls gathered around the poor friends. The first girl was still coughing out blood. I could see Wu Zhao shaking her head form the corner of my eyes. We were all helpless, though. Concubine Lin had been removed, and no one had been sent in her place. The servants were trained only to wash and cook, not to heal. The palace physician would not come for such lowly people as us...the girl was doomed to certain death.

Sure enough, by the next morning, she was dead, and her friend was sobbing as we laid her in a plain grey coffin. She wasn't the only one. Gao Ling lay ill in bed, coughing away, along with six other girls. We needed to get a doctor fast, if not they would all die.

That same morning, more trouble came.